
GEN. SIMON PERKINS 



CENTENNIAL HISTORY 



OF 



SUMMIT COUNTY, OHIO 



AND 

REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 

EDITED AND COMPILED BY 

WILLIAM fi. DOYLE, LL. D. 

^^ 
"History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples" 



PUBLISHED BV 

BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

liEDRGE Richmond. Pres. C. R. Arnold. Sec'y and Treas. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

1908 



s^ 



X)(^ 




preface 




I UK aim of the publishers of this volume and of the author o£ the 
history has been to secure for the historical portion thereof 
full and accurate data respecting the history of the county from 
the earliest times, and to condense it into a clear and interesting 
narrative. All topics and occurrences have been included that 
were essential to this object. Although the original purpose was to 
limit the narrative to the close of 1906. it was found expedient to touch on many 
matters relating to the year 1907. 

It is impossible for the editor to enumerate all those to whom he feels that 
thanks are due for assistance rendered and kindly interest taken in this work. He 
would, however, mention Hon. J. A. Kohler, Dr. Samuel Findley, and Aaron Teeple, 
Esq., among others, as those to whom he feels under special obligations. 

In the preparation of the history reference has been made to, and in some cases 
extracts taken from, standard historical and other works on different subjects herein 
treated of. Much information has also been obtained from manuscript records not 
heretofore published. 

The reviews of resolute and strenuous lives which make up the biographical 
department of this volume, and whose authorship is for the most part independent 
of that of the history, are admirably calculated to foster local ties, to inculcate 
patriotism, and to emphasize the rewards of industry dominated by intelligent pur- 
pose. They constitute a most appropriate medium of perpetuating personal annals, 
and will be of incalculable value to the descendants of those commemorated. These 
sketches, replete with stirring incidents and intense experiences, are flavored with a 
strong human interest that will naturally prove to a large portion of the readers of 
this book its most attractive feature. 

In the aggregate of personal memoirs thus coUated will be found a vivid epitome 
of the growth of Summit County, which will fitly supplement the historical statement, 
for the development is identified with that of the men and women to whom it is attrib- 
utable. The publishers have endeavored to pass over no feature of the work slight- 
ingly, but to fittingly supplement the editor's labors by exercising care over the 
minutest details of publication, and thus give to the volume the three-fold value of a 
readable narrative, a useful work of reference, and a tasteful ornament to the library. 
We believe the result has justified the care thus exercised. 

Special prominence has been given to the portraits of representative citizens 
which appear throughout the volume, and we believe that they will prove not its least 
interesting feature. We have sought in this department to illustrate the different 
spheres of industrial and professional achievement as conspicuously as possible. To 
all those who have kindly interested themselves in the successful preparation of this 
work, and who have voluntarily contributed most useful information and data, or 
rendered other assistance, we hereby tender our grateful acknowledgments. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 

Chicago, III., January, 1908. 



$lote 

All the biographical sketches published in this volume were 
submitted to their respective subjects or to the subscribers, from 
whom the facts were primarily obtained, for their approval or cor- 
rection before going to press; and a reasonable time was allowed in 
each case for the return of the typewritten copies. Mo'^t of them 
were returned to us within the time allotted, or before the work was 
printed, after being corrected or revised; and these may therefore be 
regarded as reasonably accurate. 

A few, however, were not returned to us ; and as we have no 
means of knowing whether they contain errors or not, we cannot 
vouch for their accuracy. In justice to our readers, and to render 
this work more valuable for reference purposes, we have indicated 
these uncorrected sketches by a small asterisk (*), placed imme- 
diately after the name of the subject. They will all be found on 
the last pages of the book. 

BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



Contents 



CHAPTER I. 

Topography axd Geology oj 

Description of the Physical Features of the County — Its Economic Geology — The Soil; Its Drainage and 
Fertility — Coal — Gas — Oil. 

CHAPTER n. 

Settlement and Organization of Summit County 29 

Pioneer Conditions— Indian Trading— Wild Game— Home-Made Garments— Pioneer Hospitality— Social 
Amusements — First Published Description of Summit County — Making of Summit County — Western 
Reserve— Organization of the County— County Scat Selected — County Seat Contests— Adams' Reception- 
Territorial Changes. 

CHAPTER III. 

County and Other Owici als 47 

A Roster of Officials from the Organization of the County Down to 1907. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Akron — The County Se.\t 56 

Introductory — Economic Causes and Growth of Akron — Its Settlement and History — Public Improvements — 
Akron an Incorporated Town — City Government — Mercantile Akron — Fire and Police Departments — Riot 
of 1900 — .\ftermath of the Riot. 

CHAPTER V. 

Townships and Towns 101 

Settlement and Organization of the Townships — Settlement and Founding of the Towns — Sketches of 
Barberton, Cuyahoga Fall,?, Hudson, Tallmadge, Peninsula, Etc. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Public Institutions 1-3 

CHAPTER VII. 
Agriculture '30 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Transportation Facilities HO 

Steam and Electric Railroads— The Ohio Canal— The Ohio and I'eniisv l\ ani.i Canal. 



12 . CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX. 

Manufactures 147 

The County's Chief Manufacturing Establishments of the Past and of the Present — Clay Products — 
Cereal Mills — Agricultural Implements — The Rubber Industry — Printing and Publishing. Etc. 

CHAPTER X. 

Banks and Banking 168 

History of the Banks of Summit County — Banks Inadequate — Akron's Financial Reputation — Akron a 
Large Borrower — Panic of 1904 — Clearing House Statement — Future Prosperity Certain. 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Public Schools 173 

CHAPTER XII. 
History of Buchtel College 202 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Religious Development 219 

First Churches and Pioneer Clergy — General History of Religious Organizations — Churches and Clergy 
of To-day. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Press 224 

CHAPTER XV. 

Greatness Achieved by Sum mit County Sons 231 

John Brown — Edward Rowland Sill. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Military History 239 

Revolutionary War — War of 1S12 — Mexican War — War of the Rebellion — Militia Organizations — Spanish- 
American War. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Fraternal Organizations 247 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Medical Profession 253 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Bench and Bar 261 

Early History —The Present Bar and Its High Standing. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Statistics : 319 

Biographical 303 



Index 



Biograpbical 



TAGE 

Abele, John 970 

Adams, F. H 1112 

Adams, Francis X., M.D 916 

Adamson, A 393 

Adamson, C. F 964 

Adler, Jacob 394 

Akers, Alfred 495 

Akers, Charles E 3SU 

Alexander, Hon. J. Park.... 361 

Allen, I. F 598 

Allen, Albert 764 

Allen, Andrew H 805 

Allen, Arthur M 408 

Allen, George G 318 

Allen, Jesse 391 

Allen, Miner Jesse 391 

Allen, Levi 391 

Allen, Levi 678 

Allen, Robert II 408 

Allen. W. G 633 

Ailing. Williston 450 

Ammerman. Lharles 297 

Andress, H. E 285 

Andrews, J. H 518 

Armstrong, R. E 336 

Arnold, John D 543 

Atterholt, Frank M 267 

Auble, A., Jr 980 

Aultman Brothers 851 

Aultman, George W 851 

Aultman, William J 851 

Averill, Frank E 605 

Avcrill. William F 758 

Babb, George W 622 

Babcock, Austin 681 

Bachtel, A. C 505 

Baird, Charles 270 

Baldwin, Harvey 347 

Baldwin. Joseph A 386 

Bales, Frank S 953 

Barber, George 765 

Barber, Ohio C 765 

Barder, B. R .' 410 

Barker, Jared : 637 

Barker, Lanson 618 

Barker, William 618 

Barker, William P 534 



PAGE 

Barnett. William 335 

Bartges, Dr. Samuel W 255 

Bartlett, John S 1110 

Bates, George D 358 

Bauer, Daniel 1063 

Bauer, Frederick J., ALD.... 579 

Bauer, Howard A 550 

Bauer, Jonas 675 

Bauer, Joseph D 1062 

Bauer, William D 1061 

Baughman, John 701 

Baughman, Reuben B 701 

Baum Family 1067 

Baum. James M 1068 

Baum, O. W 501 

Baum, Thomas 1067 

Beardsley, Talman 594 

Beck, J. Martin 407 

Beese, John 961 

Bennage, A. W 833 

Bennage, Jacob 995 

Bennage, Jacob W 994 

Benner, Charles C 275 

Benner, Joseph S 406 

Berger, Capt. D. F 938 

Berger, John H 933 

Bernard, Charles B 266 

Betzler, J. F 577 

Bierce, Lucius V 831 

Bierce, Gen. Lucius V 263 

Bienz. Peter 400 

Bill, Albert H., M.D 1036 

Billow. Capt. George 339 

Billow, George V 1114 

Bisbee, George A 643 

Bishop, Charles E 888 

Bishop, George T 861 

Bishop, Zephaniah 88t> 

Blackburn, Harry F 76S 

Blackburn, John 976 

Blackburn, Thomas 863 

Blackburn, William 076 

Blackwell, Henry 1006 

Blessman. August 1047 

Bliler, Daniel 990 

Bliler, Joel 990 

Bliler, William H. 990 

Bliss. Ambrose W 717 



PAGE 

Bliss, George 263 

Bliss, Lorin 717 

Bloomfield. Col. John C 405 

Boesche, W. A 341 

Bolanz, H. Frederick 932 

Boltz, Charles 864 

Boltz, Peter W 864 

Borst, C. H 371 

Botzum, Capt. Adam 836 

Botzum, George A 734 

Bouton, Charles 768 

Bowen, Dr. William 255 

Bower. William H 474 

Boyd. James P., M.D 986 

Bradley, Charles 3S6 

Bradley, George H 945 

Bradley, James 944 

Brady, John W 673 

Brandau, H. G 335 

Braucher, Daniel R 753 

Breen, James P 756 

Breitenstine. John 949 

Brewster, Albert J 995 

Brewster Familv 419 

Brewster, Haye's W 348 

Brewster, Hiram 348 

Brewster, James G 349, 430 

Brewster, Stephen 349, 419 

Briggs, C. Lee 584 

Brittain, John 654 

Brittain, John G 663 

Brittain, John T 654 

Brooks, Andrew T 501 

Broun, James W 757 

Broun, Rev. John B 521 

Brouse, Cornelius A 406 

Brown, Josiah 737 

Bruner, C. 1 506 

Brunswick, William F 500 

Bryan, Constant 366 

Buchtel, John 996 

Buchtel, Hon. William 398 

Buetch. Ernest C 954 

Burkhardt, G. F 402 

Burroughs, Allen 64* 

Burroughs, Levi 644 

Butler, Frank 834 

Butler, F. W 1006 



14 



INDEX 



rAGi; 

Calu.w, Danic-l H 105+ 

Cahow, -Milo «S4 

Cahow, Robert 0S4 

Caldwell, Abncr L S47 

Call, Charles A 054 

Camp, Horace B -^lO 

Camp, H. H 518 

Camp, L. W b*^ 

Campbell, John B 8^4 

Campbell, J. R 909 

Campfield, William L 449 

Canfield, Horace G ''78 

Capron, Alfred 521 

Carkhuff, Stacy G 483 

Carmany, Isaac 5SG 

Carmanv, Webster F 586 

Carpenter, Abraham o3o 

Carpenter, A. Lincoln 633 

Carpenter, James S 263 

Carper, George 615 

Carper, Samuel S 61-> 

Carr, Charles B., M.D IIOS 

Carter, Charles A 96(' 

Carter, Edwin H 550 

Carter, Joseph B S95 

Carter. William 966 

Case, James H 1059 

Cassidy, Frank D 3iti 

Castle, H. F 298 

Castle, L. D ^01 

Chaffee, Comfort J 551 

Chalker, James, Jr 1091 

Chalker, Newton 300, 1090 

Chamberlain, William 1 937 

Chamberlin, Horace 798 

Chamberlin, Z. F '!'98 

Chapman, C. l' 1035 

Chapman, John 667 

Chapman, John L 666 

Chase, Dr. Byron S 255 

Christy, James 430 

Christy, Will 523 

Church, Rev. A. B 569 

Clapper, Jacob 616 

Clapper, John VV 616 

Clark, Benjamin F 796 

Cleaver, J. V., M.D 653 

Clerkin, William 965 

Click, Samuel A 943 

Coates, Edward SOS 

Cobbs, Charles S 293 

Coburn. Dr. Stephen H 254 

Cochrane, Harry A "i't 

Coffman, Matthias 935 

Cofifman, Samuel 935 

Cole, Dr. Arthur M .523 

Cole, Dr. Joseph 254 

Columbia Chemical Company 590 

Commins, Alexander H 28S 

Commins, Alexander H 516 

Comstock, Allen 1035 

Comstock, John L 1035 

Conaghan, C. Charles 556 

Conaghan, Charles C 556 

Conger, Col. Arthur L 495 

Conn, Hon. Eli 701 

Converse, Chauncey •. . 472 



1".\I!E 

Converse, I'rank J 472 

Conway, James 1001 

Conway, Michael 1001 

Cooke, F. M 1085 

Cooke. Joseph 430 

Cooper, Joseph 583 

Cooper, Samuel 527 

Cooper, WiUiam 469 

Cormany, Frank 914 

Courtney, Joseph 461 

Cpwen, Jsaac Sheldon 453 

Cowen. John 453 

Cowling, George H 586 

Cox, Edward D 1103 

Cranz, Eugene F 1016 

Crisp, George 741 

Crisp, John 712 

Crisp, John and Son 1068 

Crosby, Dr. Eliakim 253 

Cross, James B 643 

Crouse, Hon. George W 353 

Crumb, Clarence D 617 

Cunningham, Sylvester T 445 

Dallmga. Jacob 746 

Dallinga, Richard J 746 

Dangel. Joseph 609 

Davidson, Harry S., M.D 443 

Davidson, J. M 577 

Davis, Hon. Charles A 558 

Davis. George S 378 

Day, E. S 813 

Deacon, Horace L 865 

Decker, Seney A 273 

Deeds, Philip F 1060 

Deeds, Reed 1060 

Deibel, Ernest C 441 

Dellenberger. John H 379 

Dice. Jeremiah 782 

Dice. John F 1113 

Dice, William A 783 

Dick, Gen. Charles 1077 

Dickinson, Alexander 1003 

Dickinson. George W 1003 

Diehl. Clarence E 1084 

Dietrich. A. J . . . .' 638 

Dictz, G. Carl 445 

Dixon, Charles A.. M.D.... 797 

Dobson. Russell T 726 

Dodge, Burdettt L 984 

Dodge. William M 268 

Donaldson, G. C 803 

Doncaster, Burt 865 

Dox, Clinton A 415 

Dox, James Alonzo 414 

Doyle. Hon. Dayton A 318 

Doyle, Peter W 1074 

Doyle. Hon. William B 276 

Dreisbach. Charles 544 

]:)rcisbach. George 544 

Duncan, Adam 880 

Duncan, R. H 880 

Durstine, Albert G 7S5 

Ebright. Hon. Leonidas S... 369 
Edgerton, Hon. Sidney 365 



rAGK 

Ellsworth, Fred T 40U 

Emerman, H. J 834 

Emery, William J., M.D 333 

Emmett, J. Ira 715 

Enright, J. T 491 

Essig, John A 876 

Essig. John W 876 

Etling, William E 566 

Ewart. Charles C 693 

Ewart. John 093 

Ewart. John 524 

Ewart, Perry G 524 

Farnbauch. J. S 748 

Farris, William J 928 

Fenn, Florenzo F 1033 

Fenn, Nelson W 653 

Fenn, Treat 632 

Fenton, Almus 621 

Fenton, Curtis 621 

Fergusson, David R 733 

Fergusson, Dr. J. C 621 

Fette, Albert 956 

Feudner, J. J 516 

Fillius, Hon. Ernest L 1105 

Fillius, Philip 1105 

Firestone, Harvey S 333 

Firestone. T. L 816 

Fisher, Cornelius 429 

Fisher, James Albert 439 

Fisher, John T 831 

Fitch, Willard N 1113 

Flower, James T SSI 

Folger, Walter A 953 

Foltz, Abner E 1071 

Force, L. K 543 

Foster, Coulson M 868 

Foster Family 1031 

Foster, Edwin F 999 

Foster, L. R 1031 

Foster, Lyman 1031 

Foster, Pardon 999 

Foster. Tod C 999 

Fouse. Frederick 896 

Fouse. John M 895 

Foust, George W 1084 

Fowler, Clyde K 433 

Fowler, Seymour S 432 

Frain, C. P 406 

Frank, John C. 278 

Frank. John W 773 

Frank. Julius 1103 

Franklin, C. F 553 

Franklin, Walter A 333 

Frase, John 334 

Erase, John A 600 

Frase, Noah 600 

Frase, Orrin 6S6 

Frase, Peter M 334 

Frederick, Henry 335 

Frederick, Jacob 336 

Frederick, Jacob 10S9 

Frederick, Samuel 1089 

Frederick, U. G 357 

Fritch, Elue 441 

Fryman, Joel 903 

Fryman, Wiliam Jacob...... 903 



INDEX 



15 



PACK 

Fuclis. F. William 477 

Fulmer, Adam J 72.) 

Fiilmer, Jacob Sf)4 

Fulmer, Kent A 864 

Gammeter, Emil 993 

Gardner, G. E S74 

Garman, Benjamin 843 

Garman, Jerry J 878 

Garman, Jacob 87S 

Garman, Urias 842 

Gates, Henry 548 

Gates, Robert C 548 

Gault, Elmer A 691 

Gauthier, John W 754 

Gaylord, Charles X 801 

Gaylord, Jonathan 801 

Gaylord, Leonard E 934 

Gehree, J. A . . ^ 676 

Gibbs, Henry A 875 

Gibbs, H. H 875 

Gifford, B. J 545 

Goldsmith, Solomon M 514 

Gonder, Gregory J 702 

Good, J. Edward 946 

Goodhue, Hon. Nathaniel VV. 265 

Goodman, F. B 7S5 

Goodrich, Dr. Benjamin p.. 1009 

Goodrich, Charles C 1010 

Gougler, Ami C S77 

Gougler, Calvin 515 

Gougler, Daniel 515 

Gougler, Soweras 1111 

Grafton, George P 327 

Grant, Hon. C. R 314 

Greenbaum, A. b 673 

Green, E. P 267 

Greenberger, X. M 287 

Grether, George 1041 

Grill, John 787 

Grill, John 787 

Grose, Emsley 754 

Grubb, Earl James 793 

Hague, William R 706 

Hale, Andrew 463 

Hale, Hon. Charles 993 

Hale, John P 463 

Hale, Jonathan 847 

Hale, Thomas 655 

Hall, Philander D 747 

Hall, Philander D.. Jr 904 

Hall, Lorenzo 747 

Halter, Lawrence 763 

Hamlin. Ray F 284 

Hammond, Rolland 268 

Hanawalt, D. R 358 

Hankey, David 506 

Hankey, John F 735 

Hankey, Samuel 506 

Hankey, Samuel 735 

Hanson, Charles E 824 

Hanson, Richard 824 

Harbaugh, B. F 798 

Hardy, Charles D 8S6 

Hardy, Xathaniel 1108 

Hardy. Xorton R SS6 



PAOE 

Hardy, Perry D 1108 

Hagelbarger, Henry M 304 

Haring, Charles A 527 

Haring, Daniel 527 

Haring, Louis 876 

Haring, Samuel 876 

Harold, Harry W 814 

Harpham, Fred M 499 

Harpham, William 499 

Harrington, Albert C 973 

Harrington, Frederick L.... 974 
Harrington, Capt. Gurden P. 887 

Harrington, Job 973 

Hart, Benjamin 657 

Hart, George W 593 

Hart, Ira L 703 

Hart, Col. John C 593 

Harter, Daniel 415 

Harter, Jeremiah 647 

Harter, Jesse 620 

Harter, John 647 

Harter, Oliver ". . 647 

Harter, Otto N 851 

Hatch, Charles 53D 

Haupt, Howard W 605 

Haupt, William F 778 

Haver, William H 415 

Hawk Daniel 646 

Hawk, Philip 647 

Hawk, Michael 574 

Hawkins, A. Wesley 431 

Hawkins, Eber 1101 

Hawkins, Eugene A 903 

Hawkins, George W 963 

Hawkins, J. Horace 493 

Hawkins, Nelson C 431 

Hays, K. H 333 

Heer, George 1107 

Heintz, George 891 

Heintz, George P 540 

Heintz, Philip J 867 

Held, Charles E., M.D 757 

Heifer, George H 1106 

Heifer, William 1107 

Heller, Charles P 1065 

Helmstedter, George 393 

Heminger, M. C 975 

Hemington, J. F 1002 

Hemphill, James R 326 

Henry, Albert R 704 

Henry, Charles 513 

Henry, Hiram C 656 

Herberich, Charles 432 

Herbruck, John C 960 

Herbruck. Philip 960 

Herman, Jacob 618 

Hess, Rosseau 05S 

Hiddleson, C. S., -M.D 632 

High, U. G 631 

Hill, Brace P 706 

Hill, David E 1062 

Hill, George R 1068 

Hill, Joseph 931 

Hill, Joseph C 464 

Hiltabidle, Capt. W. iL...10,-.6 

Himelright, Alton 962 

Himelright. Jacob 902 



P.lOK 

Hine, H. A 429 

Hitchcock, Dr. Elizur 355 

Hoertz, John M 651 

Hoffman, Allen F 1077 

Hoffman, Benjamin F 632 

Hoffman, George P 1006 

Hoffman, Philip 632 

Holibaugh, Daniel 848 

Hollinger, David D . . '. 990 

Hollinger, Jacob 991 

Hollinger, Walter C 674 

Holub, Max 399 

Holzhauer, Lewis 979 

Hopkins, Roswell 677 

Horn, James W 965 

Horn. Stephen h 963 

Horn, Stephen j 963 

Horner, La Fayette H 959 

Hough, Wayland S., M.D... 994 

Houriet. Floriant 1037 

Houriet, Ulysses' 1037 

Housel, Ernest C' 270 

Howard, Dr. Elias W 254 

Howe, Henry W 369 

Howe, Henrv Willett 1030 

Howe, Richard 1031 

Hower, Harvey Y 414 

Hower, John H 413 

Hower. Milton Otis 692 

Howland, Clarence 725 

Hoye, Michael W 491 

Huber, P. C 1102 

Huddilston, Adam 458 

Humphrey, Calvin P 267 

Humphrey, C. M., M.D 991 

Humphrey, Van R 262 

Hunsicker, Fred 763 

Hunsicker, Horace 765 

Hunsicker, John Jacob 763 

Hunt, W. H 651 

Hyde, J. Grant 388 

Ingersull, Henry W 26S 

Innian, Charles T 4S4 

Inwood, W. A 423 

Iredell, R. S. 753 

Irish, William P 939 

Jacobs, Hon. Thomas K.... 377 
Jacobs, William Cloyd, M.D. 377. 

Jacobs, Dr. William C 35S 

Jahant, A. P 881 

Jaite, Charles H 463 

Jaquith, Charles W 1048 

Jaquith, William Henry 1048 

Jewett, Dr. Mendal 254 

Jockers, William A 995 

Johnson, Charles S 530 

Johnston, Cornelius A 625 

Johnston, John Moore 969 

Johnston, Wiliam 625 

Jones, Gomar 976 

Tones. John D 975 

Joy, Harold E 754 

Kasch. G. F 343 

Kauffman, John 1083 



16 



INDEX 



I'ACiK 

Kauffman, L. M 1083 

Kauffnian, William 108j 

Keenan, W. C 73S 

Keller Brick Company 807 

Keller, William F 807 

Keller, W. L., M.D 763 

Kemery, John 860 

Kempel, C. A 885 

Kempel, Hon. Charles W...1103 

Kempel, John A 756 

Kendall, Joseph 844 

Kendig, D. W 842 

Kent, Roswell 1033 

Kent, Russell H 1032 

Kepler, Adam 985 

Kepler, Houston 509 

Kepler, Jacob 509 

Kepler, Jacob A 784 

Kepler, S. A B06 

Kepler, Solomon 7S4 

Kile, Salem 1029 

King. John W 560 

Klein, Johii 745 

Kline, Clint W 897 • 

Knapp. Nicholas 837 

Koch, Jacob 383 

Kohler, Albert A.. Al.D 999 

Kohler, George C 269 

Kohler, Hon. Jacob A 304 

Koonse. Henry 687 

Koonse, William 686 

Koplin, Christian 340 

Koplin, L. C 684 

Koplin. Solomon .' 340 

Kreighbaugh, Hiram F 673 

Kreighbaum, Andrew J 290 

Kreighbaum. Johnston B.... 396 

Krisher. Jacob J 045 

Kuhlke. M. D 479 

Kuhlke. Frederick 804 

Kuhn, Luther A 712 

Ladd, Hon. Charles G 313 

Laffer. James M 453 

Lahmers. F.. M.D 594 

Lahr, Charles H 344 

Lahr, John 674 

Lahr, William H 674 

Lance, George 1026 

Lance, George E 1035 

Lance, Harvey 1036 

Lane, Chauncey B 1071 

Lapp. Jacob 833 

Laubach. Edward P 1104 

Laubach. William F 913 

Lauby, Jacob S84 

Lawton, E. A 773 

Leeser, Levi M 841 

Leeser, Peter ,s-Sl 

Leiby, Isaac 905 

Lepper, John A 5.11 

Lepper, Peter 531 

Leser, Edward W 735 

Levy, C. D 471 

Limbach, Martin. Jr 1(IS5 

Limbert, Hiram W 5u3 



Limric. John 517 

Livermore, F. B., M.D 854 

Lodge, George H 792 

Lodge, Ralph H 940 

Lodge, William R 950 

Lodwick, A. R 855 

Loeb, Louis 598 

Lombard, Nathaniel 384 

Long, David C 766 

Long, Homer G., M.D 483 

Long, Mahlon S 786 

Long, W. H 983 

Looker, J. B 328 

Loomis, Byron H 815 

Loomis, Frank Fowler 1096 

Loomis Hardware Co 814 

Loomis, Harry E 928 

Loomis, Irving L 815 

Loomis, L. W 814 

Ludwick, Simon P 783 

Lusk, Alfred G 444 

Lutz, Charles G 1041 

Lyder, Dr. John W 358 

Lyman, A. E 964 

Lyon. O. G 479 

Lvons. James 816 

McAllister Brothers 554 

McCaman, Elihu 900 

McCaman, Elmer 1 900 

McCausland Brothers 848 

McCausland, James C 848 

McCausland. John J 848 

McChesney, Edward A 1044 

McChesncy, Frederick VV...1090 

McChesney, John 545 

McChesney, William 545 

McChesney, William H 545 

McClellan, Robert A 546 

McClellan, William A 881 

McClure. Samuel W 264 

McColgan, David A 567 

McConnell, George A 463 

McConnell, Isaac S 614 

McCourt. P. T 944 

McCov, George W 541 

McCoy. Robert 541 

McDowell. John W 970 

McEbright, Dr. Thomas 355 

McFarland, William P 341 

McFarlin, William 388 

McGarrv. Daniel 837 

McGowan. S. C 1041 

Mcintosh. W. W 453 

McKinney, Hon. Henry 364 

McKisson. Alfred E. . ." 1004 

McKisson. Arthur 1004 

McNamara. Hon. James 510 

McNamara. Hon. John 431 

McNiece. Leonard 458 

McShaffrey, Edward 636 

McShaff rev. Thomas E 636 

Maag. George 1054 

Mackev, James 981 

Macke'v. John P 1073 

Mahaffv. J. A 3." 

Mahar. Rev. T. F 433 



PAGE 

Major, Col. Thomas E 607 

Major, Rev. Thomas 607 

Mallison, Albert G 334 

Mallison, Albert H 436 

Malony, Frank T 430 

Mansfield, William A., M. D.. 855 

Manton, H. B 875 

Manton, Irvin R 899 

Marks, A. H 773 

Marshall. Willis G 898 

Marsh, Harvev A 687 

Marsh, Frank 'G 277 

Marsh, Samuel C 688 

Martin, William E 1042 

Marvin, David L 268 

Marvin, Hon. Ulysses 269 

Mason, F. H 815 

May, Louis R 835 

May, R. A ". . . . 791 

Mell, Joseph R 1043 

Memmer, John 1104 

Mentzer. Alexander 724 

Mentzer, John F 724 

Merrill. Edwin H 989 

Merrill. H. E 989 

Merriman, Charles. M. D 843 

Merriman, Scott H 844 

Merriman. Wells 844 

Mertz. John T 416 

Metzler. David A 421 

Metzler. William M 767 

Middleton. Jesse 813 

Middleton. Ward B 813 

Middleton. William H 856 

Miles. Lucius C 826 

Miller, August C 972 

Miller, Charles C ■. 493 

Miller. Charles N 547 

Miller. Cvrus 733 

Miller. Edward B 379 

Miller. Frank F 973 

Miller, Frank H 708 

Miller. George 348 

Miller. John F 347 

Miller. Jonas F 4S4 

Miller. Lewis 331 

Miller. Lewis A 507 

Miller, Lute H 492 

Miller. Perrv R 733 

Miller. Stephen C 297 

Miller. Col. Stewart 363 

Miller. Uriah A 484 

Miller. Warren 478 

Miller. William 478 

Miller. William F 867 

Mills. Harry B 824 

Milliken. C. W 1096 

Mills, Ithel 824 

Moon. H. G 682 

Moore, Arthur A 600 

Moore. C. W 585 

Moore. Tohn A 401 

Moore, McConnell 1013 

Moore. Miller G 1062 

Moore. Orison M 728 

Moore. Ralph 1014 

Moore. Richard L 451 



17 



p.u.;k 

Moore, Samuel L 7:u 

Moore, William 451 

Morgan, Charles R 473 

Morgan, Crannell 953 

Morris, Mordecai J 1079 

Morriss, Aaron 731 

Morse, Nathan 318 

Morton, C. H 566 

Morton, William A 543 

Mottinger, Arthur S 270 

Motz, John 483 

Munn Brothers 696 

Miinn, Abram C 696 

Munn. Amos R 696 

Munn, Hiram 696 

Myers, Alpheus 585 

Myers, Harvey A 585 

Myers, Henry 872 

Myers, I. S S73 

Myers, Joel 606 

Myers, Samuel 606 

Nash, Hophni 921 

Nash. Capt. Sumner 921 

Neale, A, S 707 

Neale. John 708 

Nerhood, Amos 560 

Nerhood, Isaac 559 

Nesbit, Alexander 502 

Neuman. M. M 505 

Noah. A. H 788 

Noland. James D 1020 

Noland. James P 1020 

Nolle. Frank 508 

Olin. Alonzo B 575 

Olin. John G 575 

Olin. Samuel 575 

O'Marr. Daniel 675 

O'Neil, M 410 

O'Neil, William J 392 

Oplinger, Augustus O 1009 

Orr, James W S82 

Otis, Edward P 389 

Otis, Ellsworth E 289 

Oviatt, Benjamin 863 

Oviatt, Edward 268 

Oviatt, L. H 863 

Oviatt, Loran L 507 

Palmer, C. H 898 

Palmer, Ebenezer 982 

Palmer, J. Dwight 1111 

Palmer, Josiah 795 

Palmer. Lewis S 795 

Palmer. Richard F 781 

Palmer, William N 578 

Parker, David L 1011 

Parker, T. M., Sr 1072 

Parks, Charles T 771 

Paul. A. J 614 

Paul. Edward W 604 

Paul. George 681 

Paul, Robert S 603 

Paul, T. Dwight 812 

Paulus. James B 822 



PAliK 

Payne, John W 900 

Peck. Edward R SIS 

Peebles. Robert R 441 

Perkins, Charles E ,1110 

Perkins, Col. George T !l0]9 

Perkins, Col. Simon 325 

Perkins, Gen. Simon 327 

Peterson, Dr. James H 258 

Petersen A 505 

Pettitt, Charles 845 

Petlitt. Nathaniel 845 

Pettitt, Willis E 454 

Pfeiffer, Frank 573 

Pfeiffer, Frederick 573 

Pflueger, Ernest A 486 

Pflueger, George .\ 735 

Pflueger, J. E 354 

Plumer, George W 841 

Polsky, A..; 465 

Post. Frederick R 983 

Post, William M 983 

Poulson, James M 271 

Powell, William J 1066 

Priest, Rev. Ira A 454 

Prickett, Samuel H 703 

Prior. Emory A 304 

Prior. Frank S 462 

Prior. Henry W 295 

Prior. Simeon 305 

Prior. William 295 

Putterill Brothers 405 

Putterill, Edward 405 

Putterill, Thomas 405 

Quinc. C. R 794 

Rabe, James W., M. D 755 

Rankin. George T.. Jr.^M. D...45n 

Rankin. Irving C, M. D 899 

Rannev. Jake L 694 

Ranney. Luther K 827 

Rannev. Moses 694 

Rattle.' William 446 

Rattle. William J 446 

Rawson. Levi 972 

Raymond. C. B 793 

Read. Matthew C 373 

Reagle. Daniel 986 

Reagle, Jacob A 986 

Ream. Capt. Frederick K 952 

Reed. Frank C, M. D 408 

Reed. Hiram 400 

Renner. George J 438 

Replogle. Mark A 480 

Rhodes. Thomas 1065 

Richey. Andrew F 713 

Richey, Andrew K 538 

Richey, Jacob F. J 528 

Richey. Thomas 528 

Ries. Frederick 721 

Ritchie. George G 817 

Ritchie. Thomas P 817 

Roach. Albert E 773 

Robinson. B. W 1012 

Robinson. Elmer 857 

Robinson. Henry 992 

Robinson. Leonard 787 



r. ■ r.\i;E 

Robmson. Robert S57 

Rockwell. F. J 270 

Rockwell. F. W 376 

Rodd, Robert J 641 

Rodd, William J 641 

Rodenbaugh, .Abraham 385 

Rodenbaugh, Bert, M. D 1113 

Rodenbaugh, Norman F., M. D. 384 

Roeger, Charles 736 

Roeger. George W 726 

Roepke, Edward S94 

Roethig, Ferdinand J 437 

Roethig, Harrison T 437 

Roethig, William W 604 

Rogers, Edward E 868 

Rogers, George W 390 

Rogers, Norman 868 

Rogers, Samuel G 317 

Rohrbacher, A. C 470 

Rook, William H 1002 

Root, Frank Lewis 853 

Root. George H 852 

Rose, George 915 

Rose, John 915 

Rothrock, xAmos A 821 

Rowley, Arthur J 287 

Rowley, Enoch 416 

Rowlev, William 416 

Ruckel, Albert H 663 

Ruckel, Clinton 1095 

Ruckel, George W 692 

Saalfield, Arthur James 428 

Sackett, Clark 595 

Sackett, Clark A 595 

Sackett, George 375 

Sackett, W. A., M. D 906 

Sackett. William C 906 

Sackmann, Walter L 916 

Sadler, O. L 294 

Sadler, RoIIin W 267 

Salisbury, Chancy 1047 

Sanford. Hon. Henry C 311 

Sanford. Ransome M 1025 

Saunders, Col. Wilbur F 263 

Sawver, William T 317 

Scheck, Christopher 624 

Schnabel, Charles W 431 

Schnabel, George Philip 393 

Schnabel. Philip R 430 

Schott. Louis 724 

Schneider. P. H 459 

Schumacher. Ferdinand 422 

Scott, Dr. Daniel A 255 

Scott. L. H 645 

Scudder. Arthur W 776 

Scudder. Walter 776 

Searl, William A., M. D 610 

Seedhouse. Edwin 671 

Seiberling, Charles W 487 

Seiberling. Francis 293 

Seiberling, Frank A 443 

Seiberling, Hon. Gustavus 1053 

Seiberling, John F 326 

Seiberling, Milton A 711 

Seiberling. Wilson F 643 



18 



Sell. D. llciiry !isl 

Senn, Charles 7'.)5 

Senter, James B 4G.') 

Senter, Joliii 4()o 

Serfass, Peter 038 

Seward, Amos 034 

Seward. John VV 634 

Seward, Louis D 290 

Sevbold, Louis 350 

Shaffer, Frederick N 90G 

Shaw, Arthur R •. . . .1100 

Shaw, Bert L 685 

Shaw, E, C 904 

Shaw, Frank J 570 

Shaw, George A 555 

Shaw, Harvey F 705 

Shaw, Merwin 570 

Shaw, W. H 705 

Sheldon, C. E 745 

Sherbondy, Frederick G .52S 

Sherbondy, Harry Nelson 933 

Shirey, J. L., M. D S04 

Shoemaker, W. Lewis S26 

Shook, George A 946 

Shook, Solomon E 424 

Short, Wade G 283 

Shumaker, M. B 728 

Shumaker, William 72S 

Shriber, George W 698 

Sicherman. Armin. M. D 1019 

Sieber, Hon. George W 298 

Sippv, Asher F., M. D 471 

Skinner, Bradford W 549 

Slabaugh, Watson E 288 

Slater. J. D 8,83 

Smead, George A 1114 

Smith, Alonzo 1060 

Smith, David C 3,32 

Smith, Fred E 774 

Smith, George E 1066 

Smith. Tames Albert .538 

Smith. John 624 

Smith, L-ewis •. 342 

Smith, William H 341 

Snyder, Abraham 588 

Snvder, George M 457 

Snvder, Harvey A.. M. D 874 

Snvder, Hiram F 583 

Snvder, Jacob A 1049 

Snyder, John G 1015 

Snyder, Maurice G 370 

Snyder, Michael 583 

.Snyder, Mrs. Susannah 1015 

Snvder. Thomas T 457 

Snvder, William E 299 

Sorrick. John W., M. D 1082 

Souers, David 910 

Souers, William 910 

Sowers. John 356 

Spade. Calvin 554 

Spangler, Charles S 826 

Spangler, Trvin H 584 

Spangler, Joseph 584 

Spangler. Joseph 826 

Sparhawk. Arthur 677 

Sparhawk, FTarvev A 676 

Spaulding. Rufus 'P 262 



P.VOE 

Spencer, W. A 278 

Sperry, Henry B 494 

Spielman, Andrew A 955 

Spriggle, Frank 587 

Stahl, Charles H 287 

Stall, A. H., M. D 846 

Stanford, George 854 

Stanford, George C 853 

Stanford, James 854 

Starr, George 469 

Starr, John J 788 

Starr, Simon 470 

Stauffer, Reuben 711 

Stebick, T. J 763 

Steele, Henderson 613 

Steele, Isaac 613 

Steele, St. Clair 934 

Steese, Abraham 1056 

Steese, Alexander 1056 

Steigner, William 932 

Stein, Daniel P 636 

Stein, Harvey E 538 

Stein, Henrv 626 

Stelzer, A. j ; 950 

Stettler, . James A 564 

Stettler, William 565 

Stipe, Frank G 427 

Stocker, Philip 487 

Stone, N. C 371 

Stone. Nelson B 401 

Stoner. William H 461 

Stotler, Sherman B 449 

Stratton, Preston D 782 

Strobel, George 537 

Strobel, Lorenzo 537 

Strobel, William 537 

Stroh, Freeman W 714 

Stroh, Henry 714 

Stroman, Charles Henry 1023 

Stroman, John 1023 

Stuart, Hon. E. W 299 

Stubbs, George J 751 

Stuhldreher, Augustus F 423 

Stump, Elmer E 751 

Stump, Eohraim 59() 

Stump, Hiram 559 

Stump. Jacob 590 

Stump. John 590 

Sturgeon. Samuel H.. M. D... 983 

Sullivan, James 831 

Swain, Forest 693 

Swartz, J. V 488 

Sweitzer, Louis S., M. D 981 

Swigart. Aaron .A 542 

Swigart. Cbarles H 59ft 

Swigart. George 516 

Swigart, George A 516 

Swigart. Homer A 517 

Swigart, Joseph 542 

Swinehart. J. A 383 

Switzer. Charles 912 

Tavlor. Daniel 496 

Taylor, H. H 736 

Taylor, Theodore 496 

Teeple, Aaron 397 



I'AGE 

Teeple, J. Frank S2a 

Theiss, F. B 306 

Thomas, Charles E 871 

Thomas, David J 661 

Thomas, George C 871 

Thomas, John 061 

Thompson, Benjamin F 362 

Thompson, Dr. Moses 1099 

Thompson, Otis Reed 363 

Thompson, Sherman P 1099 

Thompson, Sylvester 1100 

Thompson, Virgil 409 

Thornton, Aaron 652 

Thornton, Harvey '. . 652 

Tibbals, Hon. Newell D 308 

Tifft, John D 858 

Tifft, Smith D 858 

Tobin, W. T 514 

Tod, Hon. David 741 

Todd, Harry D., M. D 604 

Tracv. Benjamin F 1113 

Treash, Philip B 386 

Treman, Milan 617 

Triplett, Austin J 355 

Triplett, John 356 

Triplett, William 356 

Tryon, Charles B 703 

Trvon, Jesse 703 

Tschantz. Charles 897 

Turner, Robert 380 

Tweed. Fred W : 508 

Underwood, E. S., M. D 474 

Underwood. Ira L 858 

Underwood, Warren J., M. D. 477 

Upson, Anson 628 

Upson, Edwin 628 

Upson, Philo B 365 

Upson, Rufus P 626 

Upson, Reuben 366 

Upson. Hon. William H 272 

Vallen, Abel 619 

Vallen, Durastus 619 

Vandersall, William L 911 

Van Horn, Milton A 460 

Van Horn, Robert 460 

Vaughan, John R 313 

Vaughan, William T 313 

Viali. Fred S 466 

Viall, George 338 

Viall, John F 563 

Viall, Otis K 563 

Viall. Sullivan 472 

Viall, Svlvester G 471 

Viele, Henry C 959 

Vogan, F. Daton 764 

Vogt. Christian 1086 

Vogt, Daniel 682 

Vogt. Henry 623 

Vongunton, Gottlieb 1110 

Voris. Hon. Alvin C 306 

Voris. Edwin F 305 



INDEX 



19 



PAGE 

Wadsworth, George H 1054 

Waggoner, William aia 

Wagoner, George 372 

Wasjoner, Henrv L 722 

Wayriner, Philip" 372 

Was. .nor. William H 529 

Wainwriglit, Walter 74S 

Wakcman, T. W 29'.) 

W al<lUu-ch, John 936 

Walker. Richard B SOI 

Walhice, Hiram H 901 

Walhice, James VV 90:; 

Wal.'^li, John W 7C(J 

Walsh. William 700 

Walters. William 971 

Waltz, David 597 

Waltz, Frank 758 

Waltz, Madison 597 

Wannamaker. rion. R. M . . . 314 
Warbiirton, Joseph. M.D.... 630 

Ware. Israel 539 

\\'are. Norman 539 

Warner, Adam K 885 

Warner, C. C 342 

Warner. Frank S77 

Warner, Henry 927 

Warner, John 927 

Warner, John A .s,s4 

Warner. John J 71,! 

\Varner, Milton H 4.T5 

Warner, Samuel 1074 

Warner, Samuel 877 

Warner. Solomon 435 

Warner. William A ....926 

Warner, W. Wallace 486 

Waterman, Lawson 892 

Waters, Lorenzo Dow 269 

Walters, Charles H 1012 

\\ ay, Ezra 372 

W^ay, Joseph : 375 

^\'ay, Loren 372 

Weber, John C 442 

Weber, John ri.. AI.D 478 

Weeks. .Arthur I :;87 



PAGE 

Weeks, Frederick H lull) 

Weidcner, Charles A 773 

Weimer, Adam 718 

Weimcr, Henry H 718 

Welton, Allen S93 

Werner, Paul E 811 

Wesener, Joseph E 883 

West, H. A 794 

Wetmore, Charles B 564 

Wetinore, Edwin 564 

Wetmore, Silas 564 

Weygandt, John F 354 

Weygandt, Jonathan 354 

White, Abia OSS 

White, John W 595 

White, Milo OSS 

White, Walter A 705 

Whitman, John 580 

Whitman, John A 580 

Whitmore, George T 1043 

Whitney, Joseph A. P 500 

Whittemore, F. E 280 

Wickline, Charles W 551 

Wigley, Joseph 777 

Wilcox, Frank A 896 

Wilco.x, H. C 970 

Wilcox, Orlando •. . . 284 

Wildes, W. J 557 

Williams, Harrv 934 

Williams, John K 926 

Williamson, Julius 825 

Williamson, Palmer 825 

Wills, W. J 557 

Wills, J. M 552 

Wilson, R. M 916 

Wilson, W. E 1080 

Windsor, John T 680 

Windsor, William, Jr 685 

Winegerter. Dr. Joseph 752 

Winkler, A 385 

Winter, William H 717 

Winum, Joseph 985 

Wise, Bvron P 444 

Wise. Charles E 913 



PAGE 

Wise, Daniel 913 

Wise, Harvey .\ 573 

Wise, Henry 573 

Wise, Louis J., ai.D 763 

Wise, Norman 893 

Wise, W. G 438 

Witner, Urias C 1099 

Wolcott, Christopher 1' 20.! 

Wolf, Fred W 911 

Wolf, John 845 

Wolfsperger, Waller R 783 

Wood, Alfred 599 

Wood, Benjamin 599 

Wood. Frederick 807 

Wood. Frederick C 800 

Wood, Thomas 1005 

Wood, William N 1005 

Woo-ds. A. T., M. D 378 

Woolf. Clark E 568 

Worden, Lynn 609 

Work. Alanson 419 

Work, B. G SIS 

Work, Gerald S 764 

Worron, George H 437 

Wright, Dr. Amos 254 

Wright, Elizur 065 

Wright, Col. George M 279 

Wright, Francis H 004 

Wright, James F 697 

Wright, Hon. Thomas 736 

Wuchter. George W 1029 

Wuchter, William 1029 

Wunderlich. Freilerick 576 

Yeager, Joseph 493 

Young, William E 317 

Zeller, Fred G 774 

Zeller, George 623 

Zilio.x, Samuel F 803 

Zimmerlv Brothers 668 

Zindel, Fred 339 

Zwisler. Clarence M 006 



Index of Dkm 



Akron Brewing Company's Plant, Akron. The 112 

Akron City Hall SS 

Akron City Hospital and Nurses' Home 25S 

Akron Public Library 96 

Akron 'Views — 

Adolph Avenue, Looking South 96 

Entrance to Akron Rural Cemetery 106 

Entrance to Grace Park 106 

From West of the Canal — 1S53 42 

From West of the Canal — 1904 43 

Main Street Looking South From Market 150 

West Market Street 150 

American Cereal Mills 53 

Big Falls — The Gorge 1 00 

BucHTEL College "Views — 

Academ\' 208 

Buchtel Hall 208 

Campus 208 

Crouse Gymnasium 208 

Residence of the President 86 

Brown. John. Home 230 

Campus, The, Hudson 42 

Children's Home. Akron 126 

Churches — 

Baptist, Akron 323 

First Church of Christ 8fi 

First Congregational, Akron 232 

First Congregational, Hudson 116 

First M. E., Akron 222 

First Presbyterian, Akron 86 

First Universalist, Akron 232 

Grace Reformed, Akron 222 

High Street Synagogue, Akron . . . . : 233 

St. Bernard's Catholic, Akron 58 

St. Mary's Catholic, Akron 58 

St. Paul's Episcopal, Akron 58 

St. Vincent De Paul's Catholic. Akron 58 

County Infirmary 106 

County Jail, New .53 

Court House, New 456 

Court House, Old 52 

Cuyahoga Falls— Square Showing the Churches 116 

Cuyahoga River, A "View on the 116 

Diamond Match Company, Akron 150 

Diamond Rubber Works, Akron 150 

Dobson Building, Akron 250 

Fire Engine House, No. 5, Akron 52 

First National Bank, Akron 250 

Flatiron Building, Akron 250 

Fisher Bros.' Plant, The, Akron 112 

German-American Music Hall 52 



Glens, The, Cuyahoga Falls ' 116 

Goodrich, B. F. Company, Akron 150 

Hamilton Building, Akron 112 

L O. O. F. Building, Akron 250 

In Perkins Park 456 

Lake Anna, Barberton 106 

Lakeside, Summit Lake 96 

Market House, Akron 150 

Masonic Temple, Akron 126 

Moody & Thomas Mill, Peninsula 870 

Nursery, Mary Day, Akron 126 

Old Maid's Kitchen, The Gorge 106 

Post Office, Akron 96 

Residences — 

Andrews, James H 76 

Baldwin, Harvey 136 

Baughman, Reuben B 700 

Breitenstine, John 948 

Conger, Mrs. A. L 76 

Franklin, Walter a 136 

Gault, Elmer A 136 

Hoye, M. W 456 

Manton, H. B 258 

Marvin, Mrs. Richard P 76 

Mason, F. H 258 

Perkins Homestead 76 

Raymond, Charles B 258 

Seiberling, Hon. Gustavus 1057 

Seiberling, Milton A 708 

Warner, Milton H 434 

Work, Bertram G 76 

Work, Mrs. Etta W 76 

School Buildings — 

Crosby School, Akron 182 

Findley School, Akron 182 

First High School 456 

First School House 456 

Fraunfelter School. Akron 86 

High School, Akron 86 

High School, Cuyahoga Falls 116 

Kent School, Akron 183 

Miller School, Akron 86 

St. Bernard's School, Akron 58 

St. Mary's School, Akron 58 

St. "Vincent De Paul's School, Akron 136 

Spicer School, .\kron 182 

Silver Lake Park 52 

L'nion Depot, Akron 113 

Werner Company, Plant and Office of The 160 

Y. M. C. A. Building, Akron 88 

V. W. C. A. Building. .Vkron 456 



f)\ms of Sutntnlt County 



CHAPTER I 



TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 



Description of the Physical Features of the County — Its Economic Geology — The Soil; 
Its Drainage and Fertility — Coal — Gas — Oil. 



The surface of Summit County presents a 
remarkable vai'iety. The AVesterner, stand- 
ing in the midst of "The Plains." as the terri- 
tory lying north of the city of Akron used to 
be called, sees much to remind him of Ne- 
braska and Kansas. Parts of other townships 
are also as level, or as gently rolling, as the 
prairies of the West. Stand on the summit 
of some of the Northampton Hills, and the 
view reminds you of the fine scenery of New 
England. Ponds abound in all parts of the 
count}'. Silver Lake and Wyoga Lake are 
the principal ones in the northern part; Tur- 
key-foot Lake and Long Lake lie ensconced 
among the green hills in the southern town- 
ships; Springfield Lake is a beauty spot in 
the eastern part, and Shocolog Pond and 
White and Black Ponds diver.-ify the west- 
ern portion, while Summit Lake occupies the 
central part of the county and gives to the 
citizen of Akron the advantages of a water- 
ing place within the very limits of his city. 

Brooks and rivers flow in nearly every di- 
rection. Their economic ui3es are many. The 
Cuyahoga River bisects the northern half of 
the county and furnishes extensive >.vater 
power for manufacturing purposes. In many 



places its watei-s are diverted for irrigating 
purposes, and the fortunate farmei-s who till 
the land along its course fear no season of 
drought. In the southern part of the county 
the same advantages are furnished by the Tus- 
carawas River. These are Summit County's 
principal streams. They have many 
branches or tributaries which ramify even to 
the remotest corners of the county. Among 
others should be named Wolf Creek, Pigeon 
Creek, Yellow Creek, Tinker's Creek, Brandy- 
wine Creek, Mud Brook and Sand Run. This 
enumeration will give the reader some idea of 
the wonderful way in which this favored 
county is watered bj- running streams. In 
earlier times the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas 
rivers were navigable by boats of consider- 
able size. New Portage, at the southern ter- 
minus of the Portage Path, was the head of 
na\agation on the Tuscarawas, while boats 
from Lake Erie ascended the Cuyahoga as far 
;is Old Portage, at the northern end of the 
Path. 

Perhaps all will agree that the most strik- 
ingly beautiful section of Summit County is 
the Cuyahoga Valley, which begins at Akron 
and gradually grows in depth and increases 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in width as it approaches the northern limits 
of the county. In Cuyalioga County it parts 
with much of its beauty. Finally the hills 
and great bluffs cease altogether and the river, 
murky, nuiddy and ill-smelling from the con- 
tamination of several hundred thousand citi- 
zens of Cleveland, flows lazily into Lake Erie. 
There is an interesting geological story con- 
nected with this river which will be told later 
on in this chapter. Another striking feature 
of the topography of this county is the Gorge 
of the Cuyahoga, which extends from Cuya- 
hoga Falls, a distance of about three miles 
west, or almost to the meeting-place of the 
waters of the Big and Little Cuyahoga. It 
has many of the elements of beauty which 
characterize Watkins Glen and other famous 
resorts for travelers. The Gorge was caused 
by the erosion of the river, which now flows 
at the foot of precipitous cliffs, two hundred 
feet or more below the surface of the sur- 
rounding country. On both sides the land 
stretches away in level fashion, and the trav- 
eler approaches without any warning from 
Nature that a great chasm yawns in front of 
him. Suddenly he stands on the edge of 
the precipice, and through the interwoven 
branches of the hemlocks sees the foaming, 
tossing water far below him, in the cool depths 
of the Glens. About half way down the 
Gorge the river tumbles over a ledge of harder 
sandstone and makes a very pretty cascade 
known by the prosaic name of "Big Falls." 
It is a pity that so charming a spot sliould 
be called by so commonplace, if not ugly, 
name. At Cuyahoga Falls there are more 
cascades, but their beauty is largely destroyed 
by the factories and buildings, which line the 
banks of the river there. There is a remark- 
able variety in the flora of these glens. The 
procession of the flowers is uninterrupted from 
the first skunk-cabbage of early April to the 
last aster and witch-hazel blossom of lat€ 
October. The oaks, the maples, the elm, the 
ash, many of the nut trees and several of the 
evergreens flourish here most luxuriantly. 
Only the great, dripping walls that rise sheer 
to the top are bare of vegetation, and even 
these are covered in places with mosses and 



lichens, and here and there one can see a little 
green hemlock that has obtained a root-hold 
in a crevice in the cliff. 

A close second in the popular choice for 
beauty is the famous "Lake Region," stretch- 
ing from the southern limits of Akron to the 
extreme south part of the county. The hills 
rise here to a considerable elevation — the 
highest being more than eleven hundred feet 
above sea level. A chain of lakes fed by 
springs and subterranean streams stretches 
north and south between them. These lakes 
are a legacy from the great glacier, or glaciers, 
which in the ice age flowed down from the 
north and covered all this region. Th&se hills 
of sand, gravel and boulders had their birth 
at that period, too. In fact, the face of Sum- 
mit County, as we know it at the present time, 
is largely the result of the titanic forces of 
Nature, which operated during the so-called 
Ice Age, in North America. This is not the 
place to refer to the proofs that a great ice 
sheet did at one time cover all the northern 
and western portions of Ohio; it is perhaps 
sufficient to say that the investigations of 
geologists have demon.strated beyond reason- 
able doubt the glacial hypothesis first ad- 
vanced by Louis Agassiz. The terminal mo- 
raine which marks the .southern boundary of 
the ice has been traced across Ohio by Prof. 
George Frederick Wright, of Oberlin, with 
great accuracy. This terminal moraine is the 
deposit of boulders, gravel and drift which 
was left upon the original surface by the 
melting of the ice. Akron lies a few seconds 
north of the 41st parallel, north latitude. Be- 
ginning in Western New York at the 42nd 
parallel, the southern ice limit crosses into 
Pennsylvania and takes a course almost di- 
rectly south to Homewood, which is on the 
41st parallel. It then turns almost due west 
and passes through Massillon, and when it 
reaches Mansfield it turns at an angle of 
ninety degrees and proceeds due south to 
Logan. Its course is then southwest, through 
Chillicothe and across the 39th parallel into 
Kentucky. It passes a few miles south of 
Cincinnati, and near Louisville it turns 
abi'uptly north and proceeds into Indiana to 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



23 



near the 40th parallel. All the land lying 
north of this line was covered for centuries 
with a river of solid ice, which was not less 
than 200 feet in thickness or depth, and 
which may have been as great as 500 or 600 
feet. It is spoken of as a "river" of ice. That 
means it was flowing. It advanced very 
slowly — about a quarter of a mile each year. 
It required nearly a thousand years for it to 
cross the State of Ohio. The gi-eat Canadian 
boulders, which were brought by the ice from 
their original home in the Laurentian Hills 
and deposited about Cincinnati, were, per- 
haps, more than 2,000 years in making the 
journey. Is it any wonder that their sharp 
edges and angles were worn off and that we 
find them today smooth and rounded? 
Countless boulders of this kind are distributed 
over the whole surface of Summit County. 
No metamorphic or granite rocks occur here 
naturally. Our "hard-heads," as the farmers 
call them, were all transported, then. When 
detached from the parent, cliffs or ledges they 
were all of sharp edges and possessed of many 
sharp angles. The grinding and rolling and 
abrasion to which they were subjected as the 
great ice river rolled them on made them 
smooth and rounded as we find them today. 
The citizen who keeps house nowadays will 
understand that ice is hea\nt-. Perhaps it is 
possible to a.scertain mathematically the power 
exerted by a moving mass of ice several hun- 
dred miles wide and 500 or 600 feet in thick- 
ness. Whether that be true or not, we can 
see about us the results of such tremendous 
forces. On Keeley's Island in Lake Erie, for 
instance, there ai'e places where the pre-gla- 
cial limestone surface was planed off as smooth 
as a floor. In other places axe grooves six to 
twenty-four inches in depth, and as wide, 
where a granite boulder was pushed bodily 
through the hard limestone, with as much 
ease, apparently, as though the resisting sur- 
face had been so much butter. So, the great 
ice sheet ploughed and planed its way south, 
scooping out depressions, scraping off the 
hills, and widening the old canyons and val- 
leys. When it reached the Ohio River it 
made a dam 500 or 600 feet high acros.s the 



Ohio valley. The dammed up waters spread 
out on all sides and as far back as the head- 
watei"3 of the Allegheny and Monongaliela 
rivers. This made a deep lake more than 400 
miles long and 200 miles wide. The geolo- 
gists have named it Lake Ohio. The present 
.site of Pittsburgh was then 300 feet under 
water. The present site of Summit County 
was under as many feet of solid ice. The 
northern shore of this lake did not extend be- 
yond Massillon. The Cincinnati ice-dam may 
have held these waters impounded for cen- 
turies, but, like all other laies, there came a 
time when its existence miLst end. When the 
climate ameliorated, the cold of winter was 
no longer able to repair the ravages made on 
the ice by the increasing heat of the summer 
sun. The ice-barrier weakened and at length 
gave way. The imprisoned waters rushed in 
tremendous fury down the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi valleys to the sea. What a flood there 
must have been then ! 

When the recession of the ice sheet began 
these floods became an annual affair. Taking 
as a basis Professor Agassiz's figures as deter- 
mined by his observations in Switzerland, it 
is easy to estimate that from the natural melt- 
ing of the glacier during each summer enough 
water was formed to cover the ice-free portion 
of the State to a depth of 40 feet. These 
floods, occurring annuall\' for many years, 
washed gi-eat quantities of gravel and sand 
toward the south. Thus the gi"eat gravel hills 
in the southern part.s of Summit Count}' were 
formed. The glacier, as it ploughed its way 
south, uncovered subterranean water-courses 
and made many depressions in the surface of 
the land. Thus our lakes were formed. For 
many centuries thej' were supplied with water 
from the melting ice, slowly retreating north- 
ward. Since then the loss by evaporation has 
been replenished by rainfall and the water 
from bottom springs. 

Finally, in the retreat of the ice-sheet be- 
fore the victorious forces of the Sun, the great 
watershed of Ohio was reached. Summit 
County occupies a position on this watershed. 
Until Akron was reached all the water from 
the melting glacier had flowed toward the 



24 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



southeast, as the slope of the land in the State 
south of this locality was in that direction. 
But as you go north from Akron, the slope of 
the land is northerly. Hence, when the ice- 
sheet- had passed over the crest of the land 
here, the water from its melting was unable 
to find an outlet until it had risen high 
enough to flow over the height of land at 
Summit Lake and then pursue the usual and 
natural com-se toward the southeast. Al- 
though the slope of the land was toward the 
north, yet the water could not flow in that 
direction as a great barrier of ice 200 or 300 
feet high effectually blocked the way. This 
barrier filled not only the old valley of the 
Cuyahoga, but covered the whole northern 
portion of the State. Thus the floods from 
the great ice-mass filled the whole valley be- 
tween the high land at Akron and the face of 
the glacier slowly retreating northward. By 
the time Cleveland was reached the whole 
valley, as we know it now, was one great lake 
extending from Cleveland to Akron. This 
lake had its outlet through a short river which 
flowed from North Akron, in the bed of the 
present Ohio Canal, to a point south of Sum- 
mit Lake, where the Tuscarawas meets the 
canal. Professor Claypole gave to this river 
the name "Akron River." The great lake, 
which in its deepest part must have been al- 
most 300 feet deep, he called "Cuyahoga 
Lake." It is difficult to estimate the length 
of time this lake and the Akron River were in 
existence. It was probably many centuries. 
They existed until the ice-sheet was well be- 
yond Lake Erie, and the Niagara River and 
the St. Lawrence were open to the sea. AVIien 
this happened, then the Cuyahoga Lake was 
drained rapidly into Lake Erie and the Akron 
River started to flow north and finally ceased 
to flow at all, except as a very small outlet for 
the lake on the summit now called Summit 
Lake. While Cuyahoga Lake existed it was a 
very muddy lake. The grinding of the sur- 
face by the movement of the glacier produced 
an immense amount of fine mud which was 
carried by the water from the melting ice into 
the lake. Here, aftcT a. time, it was deposited 
a.s a fine sediment n]wn the bottom of the 



lake. The occasional deposits of boulders or 
gravel are accounted for by the fact that ice- 
bergs or floes, becoming detached from the 
face of the glacier, and beaiing on their sur- 
faces a burden of gravel or boulders, floated 
out into the lake, and there melting, made 
the deposits referred to. In the "Geology of 
Ohio," volume 1, page 552, occurs the first 
mention of the existence of this ide-dam, 
which stopped the northward flow of all the 
rivers emptying into Lake Erie. The credit 
for the discovery must be given to Dr. New- 
beiTy. 

A former Akron citizen who was professor 
of geology, Dr. E. W. Claypole, has written 
very entertainingly of this episode in the geo- 
logical history of Summit, and we will do well 
to listen to his own words as he describes it. 

"As the conditions of existence of all these 
lakes were essentially identical, a description 
of all of them would be tedious and involve 
much useless repetition. My purpose here is 
not to present all the details of the retreat 
of the ice, but to show its general course and 
its inevitable results. I will therefore select 
one of these as an illustration, and merely 
name the rest. For this purpose I choose the 
Cuyahoga River, which I have carefully 
studied. This river rises in Geauga County, 
and, after flowing for almost 50 miles in a 
southwesterly direction, turns sharply to the 
north near Akron, and thence follows this 
course until it falls into the lake at Cleve- 
land. 

"The caiLse of this sudden change of direc- 
tion in the channel of the Cuyahoga River, 
is the following: Along the earlier part of 
its course, it is flowing in a post-glacial chan- 
nel on the top of the plateau of Northern 
Ohio. As it approaches Akron it passes 
through a deep gorge in the lower carbon- 
iferous rocks cut by itself since the ice re- 
treated. This gorge is, in it? lower part, not 
less than 300 feet below the level of the ad- 
joining country and its length is between two 
and three miles. At the lower end of the 
gorge the river escapes from its imprisoning 
walls of rock into a wide-open valley — -its 
own pre-glacial channel — which retains it for 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



25 



the rest of its course. This channel extendi 
backward in a southeasterly direction above 
the point where the Cuj-ahoga now enters it 
for several miles, passing between Akron and 
the present river. It is occupied by a small 
branch stream — the Little Cuyahoga. It 
gradually ri^es and becomes less distinct, be- 
ing heavily clogged with drift, which has 
most likely been the cause of diverting the 
water that pre-glacially flowed along it into 
the present channel. 

"Let us take our stand on one of the so- 
called hills overlooking the vale of the Cuya- 
hoga, between Akron and Cleveland, nea.r 
Peninsula, for example. The broad valley lies 
about 200 feet beneath our feet. Through 
it the lazy stream slowly meanders in a chan- 
nel cut in one place through deep, soft de- 
posits of drift, and in another through solid 
rocks of the Cuyalioga shale. But the valley 
is a pigmy besides that deeper and older one 
in which the Cuyahoga used to flow before 
the Great Ice Age came on. The hill on 
which we now stand did not then exi?t. The 
plateau, or terrace, out of which it has been 
carved, is a deposit of drift, left here during 
the retreat of the ice. Over on the western 
side of the vaJley is another terrace on the 
same level and of the same age, ©.Iso cut and 
scarred by water-courses. Deep' under both, 
and in mo.st places below the present level of 
the river, is the solid rock floor of the valley, 
not yet cleared of its cumbering load of gla- 
cial drift. The .stream is now crowding the 
left or western bank of its pre-glacial valley. 
The ground there rises abniptly, and less than 
a quarter of a mile from the river the solid 
sandstone (Berea Grit) is quarried above the 
water level. Turn now and look eastward, 
and there, at a distance of about two miles, 
we see the massive carboniferous conglomerate 
in almost vertical cliffs rising at least 100 feet 
above the plateau on which we are standing, 
and forming the well-known 'Boston Ledges.' 
These are the old banks of the Cuyahoga, and 
mark the pre-glacial channel of the river. 
Between these on the east and a similar out- 
crop on the west was a valley deeper than the 
present, and nearh^ three miles wide, scooped 



out by the river itself during post-carbonif- 
erous ages, and along this valley flowed the 
old Cuyahoga, not necessarily a lai'ger stream 
than its successor, but one of vastly greater 
antiquitJ^ 

"Go back now in imagination to that period 
of the Ice Age when the edge of the retreat- 
ing glacier had crossed the waterehed of Ohio 
on its backward march, and, extending across 
the country from east to west, was lying a 
little north of our present position ; that is to 
say, between Peninsula and Cleveland. Our 
former point of view is now untenable; it is 
under water. But we can stand on the top 
of Boston Ledges and look across the vallej' to 
the westward. The whole is one lake of ice- 
cold water. If it is summer, the shores are 
clad with a hardy vegetation suited to an arc- 
tic climate and the neighborhood of the 
glacier. If winter, the landscape is covered 
with snow, and the glittering ice-fr'ont is 
plainly in sight. Soundings show us that 
the water in the lake is more than 200 feet 
deep. If we trace its margin we find it cut 
by deep fiords reaching back into the coun- 
try, and, of course, full of water up to the 
lake level. Its main course is due south until 
a point is reached about a mile north of 
Akron, where the bank turns slightly to the 
eastward and curves sharplj^ around the head 
of an inlet which forms the real end of the 
lake. This point was neai' the 'Old Forge.' 
Returning to the west along its south shore 
we reach another deep bay stretching south- 
ward, in which the water rapidly shallows, 
and here we find the outlet of our lake 
through the valley in which now lies the city 
of Akron. A small stream is flowing south- 
ward along a channel where formerly was a 
tributary to the Cuyahoga, and pas.sing over 
the edge of the watershed, which forms in 
reality the southern border of the lake, it 
reaches the Tuscarawas, by which its water 
passes into the Muskingiim, and then to the 
Ohio, thus making the Lake Region tribu- 
tary to the Gulf of Mexico. 

"Oro.s.sing this small river and returning 
northward along its we.stern bank, we regain 
the main bodv of the lake, the shore of which 



26 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



runs westward for a short distance. It then 
•turns northwai'd and, tracing it, we reach, 
after making several circuits around deep in- 
lets, a point opposite to our previous station 
at Peninsula. 

"To this body of water, never seen by man, 
other than the early paleolithic savage, the 
distinct ancestor of our present Esquimaux, 
clinging to the margin of the retreating ice- 
sheet, I propose to give the name 'Lake Cuya- 
hoga' in order to associate it with the exist- 
ing river, and to connect the present with that 
which has passed away. 

''Lake Cuyahoga, then, was a body of 
water pounded back against the watershed by 
the retreating ice-front, and rising higher 
and higher, until it at last it found an outlet 
at the lowest point — the Akron Water Gap. 
Its dimensions varied from time to time. Now 
the glacier advanced under accumulating 
snow and ice in the cold winter, and pressed 
the water over the outlet. Now again it re- 
treated under warm skies and diminution of 
snow, and the water from its melting filled the 
space from which the ice had disappeared. 
Alternately receding and advancing, the ice- 
front determined the size of the lake. In sum- 
mer a furious torrent, white with glacier- 
milk, swept down the Akron Valley and 
through Summit Lake to the Tuscarawas 
River; the whole length of this stream was 
about four miles. In winter it flowed in si- 
lence, its sources frost-locked and its w'aters 
ice-bound. 

"To this temporary stream, a product of the 
retreating ice-sheet, whose very existence 
would now be unknown save for the researches 
of geologists, I propose to give the name 'The 
Akron River.' ***** 

"In all probability, a hardy vegetation of 
pines, firs, hemlock-spruce, and red-cedar fol- 
lowed close upon the retreating ice, and soon 
clothed the shores of the lake and the adjoin- 
ing country with a dark forest, under which 
various northern plants and animals found a 
congenial home. Man himself hugged the re- 
treating ice, withdrawing with it to the north. 

"It is po&gible even now to find in the damp, 
cool gorges along the Cuyahoga Valley strong 



organic confirmation of the probability sug- 
gested. Here linger many plants whose 
home is far north in Canada — survivors from 
a time when the climate conditions were such 
as suited a northern flora. The secular rise 
of temperature has exterminated them from 
the high lands, but in these shady moist glens 
they still find a congenial habitat, and main- 
tain a somewhat precarious existence. Among 
those plants may be mentioned the follow- 
ing: 

Hemlock Spruce, Abies Canadeiijis, 
American Arbor-vitse, Thuja Occidentalis, 
Canadian Yew, Taxus Canadensis, 

Mountain Maple, Acer Spicatum, 
Paper Birch, Betula Papyracea, 

Red-berried Elder, Sambucus Pubens, 
Purple Raspberry, Rubus Odoratus, 
Pale Touch-me-not, Impatiens Pallida, 
Calla, Calla Palustri'^, 

(caltha paulustris). 
Swamp Saxifrage, Saxifraga Pennsylvania, 
Goldthread, ' Coptis Trifolia, 
Mountain Shield-fern, Lasterea Montana, 
Long Club-moss, Lycopodium Lucidulum. 

"All these, with other plants of northern 
affinity, may be found in or near the deep 
gorges of the Cuyahoga Valley, and give to 
them a character unlike that of other places 
in the vicinity. It is scarcely possible to 
explain their presence on any other theory 
than that above adopted — that they are relics 
of a similar flora that once covered the whole 
country, but which has been exterminated by 
change of conditions." 

AVhen the great cosmic forces which formed 
the continents had subsided and the last 
great upheaval had taken place, other natural 
forces began to operate toward the prepara- 
tion of the land lift by the receding oceans 
for the coming of man. We call it land in 
contradistinction to the water of the oceans; 
but the surface of the dry portions of the 
world disclosed no vegetation or soil and pre- 
sented no aspect save that of bare rock. Here 
it stretched away in the long billows of the 
plains; there it was heaved up in lofty, 
ragged mountain ranges. The atmosphere, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



27 



the rains, the frost, and the sun then began 
the work of soil-making. Under their in- 
fluence the rocks began to disintegrate, and 
gradual]}' the soil M'as formed. When the 
natural conditions became such as to favor 
vegetation, the forests and the grass took their 
places in the mundane sj'stem. In the pre- 
glacial era it is probable that the general sur- 
face appearance was much as it is today. 
Great rivers had eroded deep valleys and can- 
yons; the hills were forest-clad; luxuriant 
grasses abounded in the intervales; swamps 
like ours were common, and lakes diversified 
the topography. 

Then the great ice-sheet pushed down from 
the frozen North. AVe may well believe that 
it was a destroyer. Of course, no vegetation 
could survive. The damage, if such it may 
be called, was more fundamental, however, 
than the destruction of the things growing in 
and upon the soil. The soil itself was de- 
stroyed. The great mass of ice, steadily mov- 
ing forward, pushed up the soil from the un- 
derlying rocks and washed it away in the 
great glacial floods which attended the melt- 
ing of the ice. Its melting also left the 
great moraines of gravel and stones upon the 
bare surface of the mother rocks. It did more 
than these things; it even planed and fur- 
rowed these constituent rocks themselves. 
Thus the hills were reduced in elevation and 
the valleys raised. The canyon eroded by the 
pre^glacial Cuyahoga was widened into the 
valley as we know it today. The river of 
that time flowed in a bed two hundred feet 
below its present bed. It is flowing now upon 
the top of two hundred feet of glacial drift. 
We must look to the glacier for the reason 
why the northern portion of our county is 
covered with heavy clay, difficult to till, but 
very rich in desirable soil qualities; while 
the southern portion is sandy and gravelly. 
It must not be inferred from the foregoing 
that Nature had her work of soil-making all 
to do over again after the final departure of 
the ice. The glacial deposits and the sedi- 
ment of glacial lakes, left upon the surface 
of the earth, were a long step forward in the 
work of restoring the soil. As pointed out 



by Prof. Claypole, our flora is considerably 
richer by reason of the Arctic conditions 
which attended the coming of the ice. 

Fortunately for us, the erosion of the Cuya- 
hoga and the various deep borings made in 
this vicinity in the search for water and oil 
and coal make the determination of the 
geological structure of Summit County an 
easy matter. There are various out-croppings 
of the different strata, also, which greatly as- 
sist the geologist in this work. 

The lowest formation in the county is the 
Erie Shale, which occurs in the upper part 
of the Devonian. It is almost homogeneous 
in its nature and is a soft shale of a bluish- 
gray color. It is sometimes varied with bands 
of calcareous sandstone and is occasionally 
found carrying fossils. It is exposed at 
Peninsula and -in some of the gorges opening 
into the Cuyahoga Valley. When the quar- 
rying for the improvement of the Arcturus 
Springs in the Sand Run Gorge was done, 
some beautiful specimens of the blue iron 
stone with bands of a rich brown color were 
broken off the Erie shale out-crop there. 

Above the Erie shale is the Cleveland 
shale, which is black and highly bituminous. 
It is probably a lower member of the Waver- 
ly or subcarboniferous . It is rich in carbon 
and, upon distillation, gas and oil may be 
obtained from it. This shale may also be seen 
to good advantage in the steep cliffs along the 
Cuyahoga. The next formation is the Bed- 
ford shale, which takes its name from Bed- 
fordjin Cuyahoga County. It is exposed in Bed- 
ford Glens. One peculiarity of this stratum is 
the thin bands of sandstone, from which flag- 
ging for side-walks, etc., can be easily made. 
Above the Bedford shale is found the Berea 
sandstone, which comes to the surface in the 
southern part, of Boston township. It also 
outcrops on the high land in Northfield town- 
ship. The large quarries at Peninsula are 
constituted of Berea sandstone. It 1= of a 
uniform white or .gray color and its close 
texture and resisting qualities make it a 
splendid stone for building. It is capable 
of being quarried in large blocks. In the 
lower parts of the Peninsula quarries the 



28 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



saiul,~tone is extremely Iiai'd and posst^sses a 
sharp grit which makes it especially valuable 
for the manufacture of niill-stoues. Much of 
it is used for this purpose and also for making 
grind-stones. It is topped by a thin layer of 
black, bituminous shale. Below Cuyahoga 
Falls this sandstone may be seen exposed and 
the cascade in Brandywine Creek is over this 
formation also. Next above the Berea sand- 
stone comes Cuyahoga shale, so called because 
of its fine exposure in the bluffs below Cuya- 
hoga Falls. In the main,: it is composed of 
a soft argillaceous shale, but also contains a 
bed of hard, fine-grained sandstone. The Big 
Falls at the Old Maid's Kitchen are due to 
this hard sandstone resisting the eroding pow- 
ers of the river. It is foTmed on the surface 
in parts of Northfield township. A bed of 
limestone occurs near the top of this shale 
just below Cuyahoga Falls, from which quick- 
lime was made at the time of the construc- 
tion of the Ohio canal, as alluded to else- 
where in this history. A very good cement 
could doubtless be made from it. In Rich- 
field township a bed of fossiliferous limestone 
occurs, in which some very remarkable fos- 
sil plants and animals have been found. 

Next above the Cuyalioga shale comes the 
most common rock formation to be found in 
the county. It is Carboniferous Conglomer- 
ate. It is well to remember the name, for it 
is the surface rock of the townships of North- 
ampton, Copley, Portage, Tallmadge, Spring- 
field, Coventry, Norton, Twinsbui'g, Hudson, 
Stow, Boston, Richfield and Bath. It is an 
extremely coaree sandstone and generally con- 
tains, thickly imbedded in it, small, round, 
white quartz pebbles. The stone is of a yel- 
lowish color, except where it has been stained 
red or brown by oxide of iron. This sand- 
stone is extensively quarried just above Old 
Portage at the plant of the Akron White Sand 
Company. After grinding and washing, the 



product is shipped to various centers to be 
used in the process of glass-making. At Bos- 
ton Ledges and on the top of the bluffs about 
Old Maid's Kitchen it may also be studied to 
good advantage. This stratum averages about 
100 feet in thickness. On account of its 
strength and durability it is much used for 
rougher construction purposes, such as foun- 
dations, bridges and culverts. 

It is not po.?sible to find coal north of the 
place of outcrop of the Carboniferous Con- 
glomerate, for the coal measures all lie above 
it. Sometimes it is missing and the coal beds 
lie directly above the Cuyalioga shale. The 
rocks containing the coal measures all lie in 
the southern part of the county. In them are 
found four different seams of coal. The top 
and bottom seams are about 200 feet apart. 
The lowest, of course, is the best coal. In the 
Ohio Geological Reports it is called Coal No. 
1. It is of the same grade as the best Ohio 
bituminous coal. It is found in basins or 
])ockets which were the swamps of the coal- 
forming period. It occurs about twenty-five 
feet above the Carboniferous Conglomerate, 
or, when the latter is wanting, the Cuyahoga 
Shale. The next seam gives us coal No. 2, 
which is of little value. Coal No. 3 comes 
to the surface near Mogadore. It is a thin 
stratum and is of value only because of the 
under-clay, which is used in making sewer- 
pipe and coarse pottery. In the southeastern 
part of the county coal No. 4 is found. It is 
of little value, except for local consumption. 
A bed of lime-stone is sometimes found above 
both No. 3 and No. 4. This lime-stone car- 
ries a low-grade iron ore, of which use was 
made in the early days of Summit County. 
The last blast-furnace has long since drawn its 
fires, and the only use which can be made of 
this lime-stone bed at the present time would 
be the manufacture of lime, cement, or mate- 
rial for road-making. 



CHAPTER II 



SETTLEMENT /ND ORGANIZATION OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Pioneer Conditions — Indian Trading — Wild Garae — Home-Made Garments — Pioneer Hos- 
pitality — Social Amusements — First Published Description of Summit County — Making 
of Summit County — Western Reserve — Organization of the County — County Seat Se- 
lected — County Seat Contests — Adams' Reception — Territorial Changes. 



Unfortunately for the purposes of the mod- 
ern historian, the early settlers of Summit 
County left no written record of their expe- 
riences in breaking the forest and founding 
homes in the wilderness. Only a few meager 
accounts contained in letters and recorded in 
journals, exasperatingly deficient in details, 
have been left to give succeeding generations 
an idea of how the pioneers in the land lived. 
Many oral traditions have survived, however, 
and many vivid stories are still being told 
which have never been seen in pi'int. 

In 1904 the total valuation of property in 
the State of Ohio was $2,113,808,168. The 
real wealth of Ohio in this year — 1907 — is 
probably not far from five billions of dollars. 
In respect to wealth, ours is the fourth State in 
the Union, only New York, Massachusetts and 
Pennsylvania exceeding it. It is difficult to 
realize that this has practically all been ac- 
cumulated within one century. Every nook 
and corner of the State has ' kept pace with 
the growth of American culture and refine- 
ment. Ohio is abreast of the times in every 
desirable respect. The humblest today enjoy 
advantages which would have been extreme 
luxuries for their predecessors of only two 
or three generations back. Contrast the life 
of today with the following picture of the 
everyday experiences in the early years of the 
past century found in Carpenter and Arthur's 



History of Ohio. It was written at an early 
time, when the first cornel's were still with us 
and were fond of relating their early hard- 
ships. 

PIONEER H.-VRDSHIPS. 

The present resident's of the now flourish- 
ing State of Ohio, living in the midst of 
plenty, can form but a faint conception of the 
hardships and privations endured by their 
predecessors. The first object of the pioneer, 
after selecting a suitable spot, was to build a 
log cabin of proper dimensions as a residence 
for his family. The walls of his cabin were 
constructed of logs piled one upon another, 
the space between being completely closed 
with tempered clay. The floor was made of 
puncheons or planks, formed by splitting logs 
to about two and a half or three inches in 
thickness, and hewing them on one or both 
sides with a broad-axe. The roof and ceiling 
-were composed of clap-boards, a species of 
pioneer lumber resembling barrel staves be- 
fore they are shaved, but split longer, wider 
and thinner. The walls of the log cabin 
having been erected, the dooi^ and windows 
were then sawn out; the steps of the door 
being made with the pieces cut from the 
walls, and the door itaelf formed of the same 
material a." the floor. The apertures in the 
walls intended for windows were pasted over 



30 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



with paper lubricated with bear's oil or lard, 
which was used as a substitute for glass. This 
paper resisted the rain tolerably well, and at 
the same time subdued the direct rays of the 
sun, and admitted into the mde apartment a 
light beautifully softened and mellowed. 

The furniture of the log cabin corresponded 
to the cabin itself in simplicity and i-udeness 
of construction. The bedstead was usually 
formed in the following manner. Two round 
poles were first fixed in the floor as uprights, 
at a distance from each other and from the 
walls of the cabin, equal to the intended 
length and breadth of the bedstead. A pole 
was then inserted into either post as a side 
rail, and two poles were also fixed in them, at 
right angles to the plane of the wall, their 
ends being wedged into the crevices between 
the logs. Some puncheons were then split 
and laid from the side-rail across the bed- 
stead, their ends being also inserted into the 
chinks of the log wall. This constituted the 
bottom of the bedstead. The skins of the 
bear, the buffalo and the deer formed the 
bedding. The shelves of the log cabin 
were made of clap-board, supported on 
wooden pegs driven in between the logs, and 
on these were displayed such wooden, pewter 
and earthenware plates and dishes as the 
pioneer was fortunate enough to possess. One 
pot, kettle and frying-pan were considered to 
be the only articles absolutely indispensable, 
though some included the tea-kettle. The 
few plates and dishes on the clap-board shelf 
were sufficient for the simple wants of their 
owners, who relished their food none the less 
that it was eaten from common trenchers and 
from a puncheon table. The great scarcity 
of domestic utensils among the settlers often 
taxed their ingenuity to supply the want when 
an influx of visitors unexpectedly trespassed 
upon their hospitality. 

"A year or two after we arrived," writes 
one of the earlier pioneers, "a visiting party 
was arranged by the ladies in order to call 
on a neighboring family who lived a little out 
of the common way. The hostess was much 
pleased to see us, and immediately commenced 
preparing the usual treat on such occasion.* — 



a cup of tea with its accompaniments. She 
had only one fire-proof vessel in the house — 
an old, broken bake-kettle — and it was some 
time before tea was ready. In the first place, 
some pork was fried in the kettle to obtain 
lard; secondly, some cakes were made and 
fried in it; thirdly, some short cakes were 
prepared in it; fourthly, it was used as a 
bucket to draw water; fifthly, the water was 
boiled in it; finally, the tea was put in, and 
a very excellent and sociable dish of tea we 
had." 

The seats in the log house were generally 
three-legged stools, for, owing to the uneven- 
ness of the puncheon floor a chair with four 
legs could not readily be made to stand even- 
ly upon its surface. Some of the wealthier 
families might have a few split-bottomed 
chairs, but more frequently stools and benches 
occupied the place of chairs and sofas. 

After the pioneer had completed his log 
house, the next thing to be done was to effect 
a "clearing" around it for a "corn-patch." 
When the trees were cut down the ground 
was usually ploughed with a shovel-plough, 
this 'being the best instrument with which to 
force a way among the roots. As the clear- 
ing expanded, many were the farinaceous 
delicacies M^hich covered the settler's puncheon 
table. The johnny-cake, made of corn-meal, 
hominy, or pounded maize, thoroughly boiled, 
and other savoury preparations of flour and 
milk. The forest furnished him with an 
abundance of venison and wild turkeys, while 
corn "pone" supplied the place of every va- 
riety of pastry. Hogs and sheep were, how- 
ever, seldom raised, on account of the wolves 
and bears which infested the woods. 

The corn of the first settlers was either 
pounded in a "hominy block," which was 
made by burning a hole into the end of a 
block of wood, or ground in a hand-mill. 
After the corn was sufficiently pounded it 
was passed through a sieve, and the finer por- 
tion of the meal having been made into bread 
and mush, the coarse remainder was boiled 
for hominy. The supper of the pioneer usu- 
ally consisted of mu.sh and milk. A capacious 
pot containing this preparation was sometimes 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



31 



placed on the table, and all the guests invited 
to help themselves. More commonly, how- 
ever, each person was furnished with a pew- 
ter spoon, and a tin cup containing milk, into 
which he infused the pure mush in propor- 
tions most agreeable to his taste. 

The pioneers had frequently great diffi- 
culties to surmount before they could get 
their corn ground. Notwith.standing, the 
rich harvests of maize yielded by their clear- 
ings, meal was a very scarce article in their 
cabins. To procure it they had to choose 
between the hominy mortar or a toilsome 
journey of upward of thirty miles, over an 
Indian trail, to the nearest mill. In 1791 
flour was so scarce and dear, that the little 
which could be afforded in families was laid 
by to be used only in sickness or for the en- 
tertainment of friends, for, although corn 
was then abundant, there was but one float- 
ing mill on the Little Miami. It was built 
in a small fiat-boat tied to the bank, its wheel 
being slowly turned by the force of the cur- 
rent. It was barely sufficient to supply the 
inhabitants of Columbia (the second settle- 
ment in Ohio) with meal; and, sometimes, 
from low water and other unfavorable cir- 
cumstances, was of little or no sers'ice. At 
such times the deficiency in flour had to be 
supplied by hand mills, a most laborious mode 
of grinding. 

About this time each house in Cleveland, 
Cuyahoga County, had its own hand grist- 
mill in the chimney corner, which has been 
thus described: "The stones were of the com- 
mon grindstone gi'it, about four inches thick 
and twenty inches in diameter. The ninner 
was turned by hand, with a pole set in the 
top of it near the verge. The upper end of 
the pole went into another hole inserted into 
a board and nailed on the underside of the 
joist, immediately over the hole in the verge 
of the runner. One person turned the stone, 
and another fed the corn into the eye with his 
hands. It was very hard work to grind, and 
the operators alternately changed places." It 
took the hard labor of two hours to supply 
enough for one person for a single day. 

About the year 1800 one or two grist-mills. 



operating by water, were erected. One of 
these was built at Newbury, in Cuyahoga 
County. In Miami County the most popular 
millers were Patterson, below Dayton, and 
Owen Davis, on Beaver Creek. But the dis- 
tance of many of the settlements from these 
mills, and the want of proper roads, often 
made the expense of grinding a single bushel 
equal the value of two or three. 

It was not an uncommon thing for the 
pioneer to leave his family in the wilderness 
with a stinted supply of food, and with his 
team or pack-horse travel twenty or thirty 
miles for provisions. The necessary ap- 
pendages of his journey were an axe, a pocket- 
compass, a blanket and bells. He had to cut 
a TOad through the woods with the axe, wide 
enough for his team, ford .almost impassable 
streams, and, as the day drew to its close, look 
out for a suitable place for a night's encamp- 
ment. Having decided on the spot, he then, 
by means of flint, steel, and a charge of pow- 
der, kindled a fire to dissipate the gloom and 
damps of night, to drive off the mosquitoes, 
and to prevent the approach of wild animals. 
The harness being removed from the cattle, 
the bells were attached to their necks, and 
they were driven forth to find such pasturage 
as the forest afforded. After having par- 
taken of his solitary meal, the blanket was 
spread on the ground in the neighborhood of 
the camp-fire, and the wearied backwoodsman, 
wrapped in its warm folds, .slept soundly be- 
neath the trees. In the morning, or more 
frequently, long before the break of day, he 
listened to catch the sound of bells, to him 
sweet music, for not unfrequently hours were 
consumed in tedious wanderings before he 
could recover his stray cattle, harness them to 
his team, and resume his journey. On 
reaching his place of destination, if he could 
only get his grinding done by waiting no 
longer than a day and a night at the mill, he 
esteemed himself fortunate. The corn hav- 
ing been ground, the pioneer retraced his 
steps to his lonely and secluded family, and 
not unfrequently had scarcely time to rest 
and refresh himself, before the same journey 
had to be repeated. 



32 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Jacob Foust, one of the Ohio backwoods- 
men, when his wife was sick, and he could 
obtain nothing to eat that she relished, pro- 
cured a bushel of wheat, and, throwing it on 
his shouldere, carried it to Zanesville to get 
it ground, a distance of more than seventy- 
five miles from his dwelling, bjf the tortuous 
path he had to traverse. His object accom- 
plished, he once more resumed his load, and 
returned homo, fording the streams and camp- 
ing ovit at nights. 

The animal food which covered the table of 
the settler was chiefly obtained from the 
woods. Hunters, the better to elude the ever- 
watchful eye of the deer and turkey, wore 
hunting-skirts of a color suited to the season 
of the year. In spring and summer their 
dress was green; in the fall of the year it 
resembled the fallen leaves, and in winter, as 
nearly as possible, the bark of trees. If there 
was any snow on the ground, the hunters 
put on a white hunting-shirt. As soon as 
the leaves had fallen, and the weather became 
rainy, the hunter began to feel uneasy at 
home. "Everything about him became dis- 
agreeable. The house was too warm, the bed 
too soft, and even the good wife for the time 
was not thought to be a good companion." A 
party was soon formed, and on the appointed 
day the little cavalcade, with horses carrying 
flour, meal, blankets, and other requisites, 
were on their way to the hunting-camp. This 
was always formed in some sheltered and se- 
questered spot, and consisted of a rude camp, 
with a log fire in the open air in front of it, 
the interior of the hut being well lined with 
skins and moss, the only bedding on which 
these hunters were accustomed to sleep. 

It was to the spoils of the chase that the 
pioneers and Indians trusted for the skins and 
furs to barter for the few necessaries they re- 
quired from tlie Eastern States. An Indian 
trail from Sandusky to the Tuscarawas, passed 
by the residence of Mr. Harris, who formed 
the first regular settlement at Harrisville, .in 
Medina County. It was a narrow, hard- 
trodden bridlepath. In the fall the Indians 
traversed it from the west to this region, re- 
mained through the winter to hunt, and re- 



turned in the spring; their horses laden with 
furs, jerked venison, and bear's oil, the last 
an extensive article of commerce. Their 
horses were loose, and followed each other 
in single hunter's file, and it was by no means 
remarkable to see a single hunter returning 
with as many as twenty horses laden with his 
winter's work, and usually accompanied by 
his squaw. 

INDIAN TRADING. 

The mode in which business was con- 
ducted with the Indians by the fur traders, 
was as follows: The Indians walked into 
the merchant's store, and deliberately seated 
themselves, upon which the latter presented 
each of his visitors with a small piece of 
tobacco. Having lighted their pipes, they 
smoked and talked together awhile. One of 
the Indians then went to the counter of the 
merchant, and, taking up the yard-stick, 
pointed to the first article he desired to pos- 
sess, and inquired its price. A muskrat skin 
^vas equal in value to a quarter of a dollar ; a 
raccoon skin, a third of a dollar; a doeskin, 
half a dollar, and a buckskin, a dollar. The 
questions were asked after this manner : "How 
many buckskins for a shirt pattern?" The 
Indian, learning the price of the fii-st article, 
paid for it by selecting the required number 
of skins, and handing them to the trader, be- 
fore proceeding to purcha.se the second, when 
he repeated the same process, paying for 
everything as he went along. While the first 
Indian was trading the others looked on in 
silence, and when he was through, a.nother 
took his place, until all were satLsfied. No 
one desired to trade before his turn, but all 
observed a proper deconim, and never offered 
a lower price, but, if dissatisfied, passed on 
to the next article. They were careful not 
to trade when intoxicated; but usually re- 
served some of their skins with which to buy 
liquor, and close their business transactions 
with a frolic. 

To such of the pioneers, however, as did 
not hunt, the long winter evenings were 
rather tedious. They had no candles, and 
cared but little about them, except at such 




GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 






GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE 



GEN. Wm. HENRY ITARRLSON 




GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR 



GEN. J0SL4H HARMAR 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



35 



seasons. The deficiency in light was, how- 
ever, partially remedied by torches made of 
pine-knots, or the bark of the shelly hickory. 
To relieve the tedium, the pioneer would read 
aloud to hi>s family from such books as his 
cabin afforded, or engage in the usual opera- 
tions of the season, such as shelling corn, 
scraping turnips, stemming and twisting to- 
bacco, plaiting straw for hats, or ci'acking 
walnuts and hickory nuts, of which the in- 
mates of every cabin usually laid in a' good 
winter's supply. 

AVILD GAME. 

The wolf for a considerable time caused 
much trouble to the pioneers, and prevented 
the profitable raising of sheep and hogs in 
the neighborhood of the "clearing." In or- 
der to preserve the hogs from the attacks of 
these animals, it was necessary to build the 
walls of the hog-pen so high that the wolf 
could neither jump nor climb them. Their 
depredations were so great that the state of- 
fered a bounty of from four to six dollars 
apiece on their scalps. This made wolf hunt- 
ing rather a lucrative business, and called into 
action all the talent of the country. Some- 
times these ferocious animals were taken in 
traps. The wolf-trap resembled a box in ap- 
pearance, formed of log-s, and floored with 
puncheons. It was usually made about six 
feet in length, four feet in width, and three 
feet in depth. A very heavy puncheon lid 
was moved by an axle at one end, the trap 
being set by a figure four, and baited. On 
one occasion, a hunter went into a wolf-trap 
to adjust the spring, when the lid .suddenly 
fell and hurled him into the pit. Unable to 
raise the cover, and several miles from the 
nearest house, he was imprisoned for a day 
and night in his own trap, and would have 
perished but for a passing hunter, who heard 
his groans and instantlj' relieved him. 

Bears and panthers were at one time com- 
mon in the northwestern territory, but their 
depredations on the hog-pen were not so fre- 
quent as those of the wolf and the wild-cat, 
and they were tisually more shy in tlicir 
habits. 



HOMK-MADE GARMENTS. 

Most of the articles of dress worn by the 
first settlers were of domestic manufacture. 
Wool was not yet introduced into the country, 
and all their home-spun garments were made 
from flax or hemp, or from' the skins of the 
deer, which, when nicely dressed, afforded 
warm and comfortable clothing. Such was 
the settler's everyday and holiday garb. A 
common American check was considered a 
superb article for a bridal-dress, and such a 
thing as silk or satin was never dreamt of. 
A yard of cotton check, which can now be ob- 
tained for twelve and a half cents, then cost 
one dollar, and five yards was deemed an 
ample dress pattern. The coarser calicoes 
were one dollar per yard, while whiskey was 
from one to two dollai's per gallon, and as 
much of this article was sold as of anything 
else. The country merchants, however, found 
it advantageous to their business to place a 
bottle of liquor on each end of the counter 
for the gratuitous use of their customers. 

In the fall of 1800, Ebenezer Zane laid out 
a town in Fairfield County, and in compli- 
ment to a number of emigrants from Lan- 
caster County, Pennsylvania, who had pur- 
chased lots, called it New Lancaster. It re- 
tained that name until 1805, when, by an 
act of the legi.slature, the word "New" was 
dropped. Shortly after the settlement was 
made, and 'while the stumps were yet in the 
streets, the cheapness of whiskey occasionally 
led some of the settlers to indulge in drunken 
frolics, which not un frequently ended in a 
fight. 

In the absence of law, the better disposed 
part of the population held a meeting, at 
which it was resolved tliat any person in the 
settlement foimd intoxicated .should for every 
such offense either dig a stump out of the 
street, of which there were many, or suffer 
personal chastisement. The result was. that, 
after several of the offenders had expiated 
their offenses, dram-drinking cea.sed. and so- 
briety and good conduct marked the char- 
acter of the people. 

For many years the pioneers lived together 



36 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY- 



on the footing of social equality. The rich 
and the poor dressed nearly alike. What lit- 
tle aristocratic feeling any new settler might 
bring with hini', was soon dissipated, for all 
soon found themselves equally dependent. 
The pioneers knew who were sick for manj' 
miles ai-ound, and would very cheerfully 
tender their assistance to each other under 
such circumstances. All sympathized on 
these occa-sions, and the log cabin of the in- 
valid would be visited, not only by those in 
his own immediate neighborhood, but by set- 
tlers from a distance, who would keep him 
well supplied with the best of everything their 
primitive habits could afford. 

PIONEER HOSPITALITY. 

The stranger ever received at the log cabin 
of these pioneers a generous welcome. The 
rough fare on the puncheon table was most 
cheerfully shared, and any offer of remunera- 
tion would offend them. Even the Indian, 
in times of peace, was no exception, and would 
be received and kindly entertained with such 
fare as the cabin afforded. The pioneer hos- 
pitality, together with its happy effects on 
one occasion, is well exemplified in the fol- 
lowing confession of converted Wyandot chief, 
named Rohn-yen-ness. He had been chosen 
by his tribe to murder Andrew Poe, a woods- 
man, celebrated in border warfare, who had 
slain, among others, one of the bravest war- 
riors in the Wyandot nation. This Indian 
proceeded to Poe's house, where he was re- 
ceived with utmost kindne.ss and hospitality. 
Poe, having no suspicion whatever of his de- 
sign, furnished him with the very best which 
his cabin afforded. When bedtime came, a pal- 
let was carefully prepared for their Indian 
guest by the hospitable couple in their own 
chamber. The unsuspicious hunter and his 
famih'^ having fallen into a deep sleep, the 
Indian had now a fair opportunity to accom- 
plish their destruction. He thought of the 
duty he owed to his nation, of the death of its 
most valiant warrior, and of the anger of his . 
tribe : but Poe had received him with so much 



kindness, had treated him so much like a 
brother, that he could not summon a suffi- 
cient amount of resolution to kill him, and in 
this unsettled state of mind he lay till about 
midnight. Once more he arose from his pal- 
let, and approached his sleeping host. His 
sinewy arm was uplifted, and the murderous 
weapon glittered in his hand. Again the 
kindness of the sleeping pioneer overcame 
the resolution of the Indian, who, feeling it 
to be unworthy the character of a warrior to 
kill even an enemy who had reposed in him 
such generous confidence, returned to his pal- 
let and slept till morning. During the war, 
however, it was necessary to be more guarded 
in entertaining Indians, and, although the 
following incident is more romantic than 
tragic, it affords a good general illustration 
of the danger to which the settlers were ex- 
posed. 

One night, just before retiring to rest, a 
backwoodsman of the name of Minor Spicer, 
residing near Akron, in Summit County, 
heardi some one call an front of his log 
cabin. He went out and saw a large Indian 
with two rifles in his hand and a deer quar- 
tered and hung across his horse. Spicer asked 
him what he wanted. The Indian replied in 
his own dialect, when the other told him he 
must speak English or he would unhorse him. 
He finally gave Spicer to understand that he 
wanted to stay all night, a request which was 
reluctantly gi-anted. The rifles of the Indian 
were laid in a corner, his venison hung up, 
his horse stabled in an out-house, and the 
Indian invited to enter the dwelling of the 
settler. 

The savage now cut a piece of venison for 
Mrs. Spicer to cook for him, which she did 
in the usual way, with a liberal supply of 
pepper and salt. He drew near the table and 
ate only sparingly. The family being ready 
to retire, he placed his scalping-knife and 
tomahawk in the corner with his rifles, and, 
stretching himself upon the hearth before 
the fire, was soon apparently asleep. After 
a while he was observed to raise himself 
slowly from his recumbent position and sit 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



upright on the hearth, looking stealthily over 
his shoulder, to see if all was still. Having 
satisfied himself that the family slept, the 
savage rose to his feet, and stepped lightly 
across the floor to the corner where lay his 
implements 'of death. At this juncture the 
feelings of Spicer and his wife may be imag- 
ined, for they were only feigning sleep, and 
were intently watching. The Indian stood 
half a minute to see if he had awakened any- 
one, and then slowly drew forth from its 
scabbard the glittering scalping-knife. At 
the moment when Spicer was about to lay 
his hand upon his rifle, which stood near his 
bed the Indiim crossed quietly to the venison, 
cut several steaks from it. and was soon after 
busily engaged in broiling a supply for him- 
self, freed from the pepper, which had pre- 
viously offended his unsophisticated taste. 

SOCI.\L .\MUSEMEXTS. 

The social amusements of the pioneers 
originated in the peculiarities of their habits, 
and were especially characteristic. On the ar- 
rival of a new settler, every one was expected 
to perform a certain amount of gratuitous 
labor at the "log-rolling," or the raising of 
the new cabin. Some felled the trees and cut 
them the proper length: others prepared 
puncheons for the floor, and clap-boards for 
the roof, while another neighbor with his t-eam 
hauled these materials to the site on which 
the cabin was to be erected. A large num- 
ber of persons usually assembled at this place 
on the day appointed for the raising, by whom 
the walls of the house w-ere speedily con- 
structed. The labors of the day having 
ended, the evening was spent in dancing and 
other innocent amusements. If the company 
had no fiddler, which was not unfrequently 
the case, some of the party would supply the 
deficiency by singing. 

Marriages among the pioneers wpi'p gen- 
erally contracted in early life, and on these 
truly festive occasions the youth of both sexes 
in the immediate neighborhoods, and for fif- 
teen or tw^enty miles around, would be gath- 



ered together. On the morning of the wed- 
ding day the bridegi'ooni and his friends, with 
their numerous visitors, assembled at the 
house of the bride, and, after the ceremony 
was performed, the company were enter- 
tained with a most substantial backwoods 
feast of beef, pork, fowls, with plenty of po- 
tatoes, cabbages and other vegetables. After 
dinner the young people engaged in various 
rural sports until dancing commenced, which 
was kept up for the remainder of the day, 
and not unfrequently through the whole of 
the night. The dances most in vogue being 
ordinarily three and four-hand reel-, or 
square sets and jigs. 

The next day the whole party were accus- 
tomed to return to the house of the "''groom" 
to partake of the "infair." On arriving 
within a mile of the dwelling, two young nif n 
would volunteer to race for the bottle. 
Mounted on ponies (the rougher the road the 
better) both started with an Indian yell, and 
away they went over logs, brush, muddy hol- 
lows, hills and glens, the obstacles on the road 
only serving for a better display of rival in- 
trepidity and horsemanship. The bottle was 
always filled and ready to be presented to the 
first who reached the door. The successful 
competitor having drank the health of the 
bride and groom, then returned in triumph 
to distribute potations among the company. 

Although among the pioneers disputes 
would occasionally arise, biit few ever thought 
of settling them by legal proceedings. There 
were other modes of adjudication. Some- 
times a duel would decide all difficulties. At 
others the pugilistic ring was formed, and, 
after a fight, which often afforded an oppor- 
tunity of displaying great courage and im- 
mense powers of endurance, the conqueror 
w-ould shake hands with the vanquished, and 
a perfect good feeling would usually be re- 
stored betw-een the contending parties. It is 
true there were some justices of the peace, 
men generally chosen by the pioneers on ac- 
coimt of their strong, natural sense, who ad- 
mirably answered all the purposes of their 
selections. 



38 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



THE FIRST PUBLISHED DESCRIPTION OF 
SUMMIT COUNTY. 

In the spring of 1755, James Smith, a 
youth of 18 years, was taken captive by 
three Indians, about five miles above Bedford, 
Pennsylvania. He was taken by them to 
the banks of the Allegheny River, opposite 
Fort Duquesne, where he was compelled to 
run the gauntlet, consisting of two long I'anks 
of Indians, two or three rods apart. He es- 
caped with a slight tomahawk injury, and his 
fleetness and skill awakened such an admira- 
tion among the Indians that they spared his 
life and adopted him into the tribe, the name 
of which wa^ Caughnewaga. Several years 
later, upon the conclusion of a treaty with 
the whites, he was released and returned to 
civilization. In 1799 there was published 
in Lexington, Kentucky, by John Bradford, a 
book entitled "Narrative of the Captivity of 
Colonel James Smith Among the Ohio In- 
dians, Between May, 1755, and April, 1759." 
It is a most thrilling .story of Jame.s Smith's 
experience during his Indian life, and its 
authenticity is unimpeached. In his Indian 
hunting trips he traversed our portage path 
and has left us the first description of the 
adjacent country which has been published. 
It is given in Colonel Smith's own words and 
is as follows: 

"Sometime in October another adopted 
brother, older than Tontileango, came to pay 
us a visit at Sunyendeand and asked me to 
take a hunt with 'hiin on Guyahaga. A.s they 
always used me as a freeman, and gave me the 
liberty of choosing, I told him that I was at- 
tached to Tontileango, had never seen him 
before, and, therefore, asked some time to 
consider this. He told me that the party he 
was going with would not be along, or at the 
mouth of this little lake, in less than six 
days, and I could in this time be acquainted 
with him, and judge for myself. I consulted 
with Tontileango on this occasion, and he 
told me that our old brother, Tecaughretanego 
(which was his name) was a chief and a bet- 
ter man than he was, and if I went with him 
I might expect to be well used, but he said I 



might do as I pleased, and if I stayed lie 
would use me as he had done. I told him 
that he had acted in every respect as a brother 
to me, yet 1 was much pleased with my old 
brother's conduct and conversation, and as 
he was going to a part of the country I had 
never been in, I wished to go with him. He 
said that he was perfectly willing. 

"I then went with Tecaughretanego to the 
mouth of the little lake, where he met with 
the company he intended going with, which 
was composed of Caughnewagas and Ottawas. 
Here I was introduced to a Caughnewaga sis- 
ter, and others I had never seen before. My 
sister's name was Mary, which they pro- 
nounced Maully. I asked Tecaughretanego 
how it came that she had an English name. 
He said that he did not know that it was an 
English name, but it was the name the priest 
gave her when she was baptized, and which 
he said was the name of the mother of Jesus. 
He said there were a great many of the 
Caughnewagas and Ottawas that were a kind 
of half Roman Catholics, but as for himself 
he said that the priest and he could not agree, 
as they held notions that contradicted both 
sense and reason and had the assurance to 
tell him that the book of God taught them 
these foolish absurdities, but he could not be- 
lieve that the great and good spirit ever taught 
them any such nonsense, and, therefore, he 
concluded that the Indians' old religion was 
better than this new way of worshi)iing (Sod. 

"The Otta\A'as have a very useful kind of 
tents, which they carry with them, mad-^ of 
flags, plaited and stitched together in a very 
artful manner, so as to turn the rain and wind 
well. Each mat is made fifteen feet long and 
about five feet broad. In order to erect this 
kind of tent they cut a number of long, 
straight poles, which they drive into the 
ground in the form of a circle, leaning in- 
wards; then they spread the mats on 
these poles, beginning at the bottom and 
extending up. leaving only a hole in the top 
uncovered, and this hole answers the place of 
a chimney. They make fire of dry split wood 
in the middle, and spread down bark mats 
and .skins for bedding, on which they sleep 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



39 



in a crooked posture, all around the fire, as 
the length of their beds will not admit of 
their stretching themselves. In place of a 
door they lift up one end of a mat and creep 
in, and let the mat fall down behind them. 
These tents are wai'm and dry, and tolerab- 
ly clear of smoke. Their lumber they keep 
under birch bark canoes, which they carry 
out and turn up for a shelter, where they 
keep everything from the rain. Nothing is 
in the tents but themselves and their bedding. 
"This company had four birch canoes and 
four tents. We were kindly received and 
they gave us plenty of hominy and wild fowl 
boiled and roasted. As geese, ducks, swans, 
etc., here are well grain-fed, they were re- 
markably fat, especiallj^ the green-necked 
ducks. The wild fowl fed upon a kind of 
wild rice that grows spontaneously in the 
shallow water, or wet places along the sides 
or in the corners of the lakes. As the wind 
was high and we could not proceed on uur 
voyage we remained here several days and 
killed abundance of wild fowl and a number 
of raccoons. 

"When a company of Indians are moving 
together on the lake, as it is at this time of 
the year, often dangerous sailing, the old men 
hold a council, and when they agree to em- 
bark, every one is engaged immediately in 
making ready, without offering one word 
against the mea.sure, though the lake may be 
boisterous and horrid. One morning, though 

..e wind appeared to me to be as high as in 
days past, the billows raging, yet the call was 
given yohohyohoh, which was quickly an- 

vvered by all -ooh-ooh, which signifies agreed. 
'.7e were all instantly engaged in preparing 

' start, and had considerable difficulties in 
•juibarking. As soon as we got into our ca- 
r )es we fell to paddling with all our might, 
working out from the shore. Though this 
sort of canoe rides waves beyond what could 
be expected, yet the water several times dashed 
into them. When we got out about half a 
mile from shore we hoisted sail, and as it was 
nearly a west wind, we then seemed to ride 
•the waves with ease, and went on at a rapid 
rr.^e. We then all laid down our paddles, ex- 



cepting one that steered, and no water 
dashed into our canoe until we came near 
shore again. We sailed about sixty miles that 
day and encamped some time before night. 
The next day we again embarked and went 
on very well for sometime, but the lake being 
boisterous and the wind not fair, we were 
obliged to make the shore, which we accom- 
plished with hard work and some difficulty in 
landing. 

The next morning a council was held by 
the old men. As we had this day to pass by 
a long precipice of rocks on the shore about 
nine miles, which rendered it impossible for 
us to land, though the wind was high and 
the lake rough, yet as it was fair, we were 
all ordered to embark. We wrought ourselves 
from the shore and hoisted sail (what we 
used in place of sail cloth were our tent mats, 
which answered the purpose very well), and 
went on for some time with a fair wind, until 
we were opposite to the precipice, and then it 
turned toward the shore, and we began to 
fear that we should be cast upon the rocks. 
Two of the canoes were considerably farther 
out from the rocks than the canoe I was in. 
Those who were farthest out in the lake did 
not let down their sails until they had passed 
the precipice, but as we were nearer the rock, 
we were obliged to' lower our sails and paddle 
with all our might. With much difficulty we 
cleared ourselves of the rock and landed. 

This night the wind fell and the next 
morning the lake was tolerably calm and we 
embarked without difficulty, and paddled 
along near the shore, until we came to the 
mouth of the Cuyahaga, which empties into 
Lake Erie on the south side betwixt Cane- 
sadooharie and Presque Isle. We turned up 
Cuyahaga and encamped, where we stayed 
and hunted several 'days, and so we kept 
moving and hunting until we came to the 
forks of Cuyahoga. 

"This is a vers'- gentle river and but few 
ripples or swift running place? from the 
mouth to the forks. Deer here were tolerably 
plentv, large and fat, but bear and other game 
scarce. The upland is hilly and principally 
second and third-rate land: the timber chiefly 



40 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



black oak, white oak, hickory and dog-wood. 
The bottoms are rich and large, and the tim- 
ber is walnut, locust, mulberry, sugar-tree, 
redhaw, blackhaw, wild apple trees, etc. The 
west branch of this river interlocks with the 
east branch of Muskingum, and the east 
branch with the Big Beaver Creek that emp- 
ties into the Ohio about thirty miles below 
Pittsburg. From the forks of Cuyahaga to 
the east branch of Muskingum, there is a 
carrying place, where the Indians carry their 
canoes, etc., from the waters of Lake Erie 
into the waters of the Ohio. 

"From the forks I went over with some 
hunters to the east branch of .Muskingum, 
where they killed several deer, and a number 
of beavers, and returned heavy laden with 
skins and meat, which we carried on our 
backs, as we had no horses. Tlie land here 
is chiefly second and third-rate, and the tim- 
ber chiefly oak and hickory. A little above 
the forks, on the east branch of Cuyahaga, 
are considerable rapids, very rocky for some 
distance, but no perpendicular falls. 

"The party then built for themselves a 
'chestnut canoe' of large dimension? and en- 
joyed a fine paddling trip down the river. 
They then skirted the south shore of Lake 
Erie until they passed the mouth of San- 
dusky, where they put in on account of the 
wind having arisen. The narrative contains 
the following paragraph on profanity, which 
may not be -without a useful lesson even in 
these regenerate days. 

"I remember that Tecaughretanego, when 
something displeased him, said 'God damn it.' 
I asked him if he knew what he then said. 
He said he did and mentioned one of their 
degrading expressions, which he supposed to 
be the meaning, or something like the mean- 
ing of what he had said. I told him that it 
did not bear the least resemblance to it, that 
what he had said was calling upon the Great 
Spirit to punish the object he was displeased 
with. He stood for some time amazed, and 
then said: 'If this be the meaning of these 
words, what sort of people are the whites?' 
"When the traders were among us these 
words semed to be intermixed with all their 



discourse. He told me to reconsider what 
I had said, for he thought I must be mis- 
taken in my definition. If I was not mis- 
taken, he said, the traders applied these words, 
not only wickedly, but oftentimes very fool- 
ishly, and contrary to sense or reason. He 
said he remembered once of a trader's acci- 
dentally breaking his gun lock, and on that 
occasion calling out aloud, 'God damn it.' 
"Surely,' said he, 'the gun lock was not an 
object worthy of punishment for Owananeeyo, 
or the Great Spirit.' He also observed the 
traders often used this expression when they 
were in good humor and not displeased with 
anything. I acknowledged that the traders 
used this expression very often in a most irra- 
tional, inconsistent and impious manner, yet 
I still asserted that I had given the true mean- 
ing of these words. He replied, if so, the 
traders are as bad as Oonasharoona, or the 
underground inhabitants, which is the name 
they give to devils, as they entertain a no- 
tion that their place of residence is under the 
earth." 

THE MAKING OF SUMMIT COUNTY. 

GEOGRAPHICAL. 

The two northernmost townships of Sum- 
mit County are situated in the very center of 
the Western Reserve. The full designation of 
this district is "The Western Reserve of Con- 
necticut." The connection of the name Con- 
necticut with land in Ohio, situated six hun- 
dred miles distant from the state of that name, 
came about in this way. In the year 1662, 
King Charles II of England granted a charter 
to Connecticut, which, after recognizing the 
claims of that colony resting upon former 
grants, conveyed to it all the land now occu- 
pied by it and, in addition thereto, all the ter- 
ritory lying west of it between the 41st and 
42nd North Paxallels, or the extent of its 
breadth, from sea to sea. Thus, the colony 
of Connecticut had a legal title to all the land 
lying west of the Delaware River between 41° 
and 42° 2' N. Latitude, to the Pacific Oceaii. 
Certain terms in the charter excepted from its 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



provisions the Hudson valley, which was part 
of the territory of New York. Had this claim 
not been abandoned and had Connecticut's 
title been held valid, she would have possessed 
nearly two-fifths of the state of Pennsylvania, 
about one-third of Ohio, a portion of Michi- 
gan and all the western states whose extent 
is intersected by those parallels. This claim 
of Connecticut gave rise, later, to serious dis- 
putes and much bloodshed and suffering. 

The royal ignorance of American geog- 
raphy, in England, was astounding. Con- 
flicting grants had been made on a large scale 
and nearly all the colonies were making claim 
to parts of Pennsylvania and the western 
lands. Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey 
were each trying to obtain possession of the 
southern part of Pennsylvania. Several of 
their charters contained conveyances which 
overlapped. Each colony thought that it was 
in the right and relied upon the validity of 
its own royal grant. Nineteen years after 
making his grant to Connecticut, Charles II 
made another grant, by a royal charter, con- 
veying to Pennsylvania the territory she con- 
tinues to occupy and extending as far North 
as the 43° N. Latitude. Thus Connecticut's 
territory was overlapped by one degree and 
the way prepared for a tremendous contro- 
versy. Perhaps in justice to the memory of 
Charles II, it should be said that the bestowal 
of these lands upon the Penns was made after 
a report by the Attorney for the Crown, that 
"The tract of land desired by William Penn 
seens to be undisposed of by his Majesty, ex- 
cept the imaginary lines of New England pat- 
ents, which are bounded westwardly by the 
main ocean, should give them a real, though 
impracticable, right to all those vast terri- 
tories." (The italics are our.s.) 

Connecticut's cl.vims: western reserve. 

In 1653, Connectic;it be2;an to assert her 
rights in a physical way. She took possession 
of several towns on Long Island which were 
located within the limits of her claims. She 
made trouble for the Dutch on Manhattan 
Island, a readable account of which is con- 



tained in Washington Ii-ving's "Knicker- 
bocker History of New York." Just one hun- 
dred years later she formed the Susquehanna 
Company, which soon numbered over 1200 
persons. It was organized for the sole pur- 
pose of taking possession of and colonizing 
the beautiful Wyoming valley in Pennsyl- 
vania, which Connecticut exploring parties 
had discovered three years before. This com- 
pany purchased for about $10,000.00, from 
the Six Nations, the Indian title to all the 
land lying within the Wyoming valley. The 
attempt at colonization, which followed, gave 
rise to the "Pennanite War." 

In 1762, the first settlement was made and 
the first massacre of Wyoming came in Oc- 
tober of that year. Although driven out time 
and time again, imprisoned, subjected to every 
kind of maltreatment, and many of them 
killed, the Connecticut colonists persisted in 
their purpose. Upon the commencement of 
the Revolutionary War, nearly six thousand 
people from Connecticut had taken possession 
of land in Pennsylvania. On July 3. 1778, 
occurred the awful massacre of the peaceful 
inhabitants of Wyoming at the hands of the 
combined forces of Indians and British. This 
was one of the bloodiest, most atrocious and 
fiendish deeds of which history ha.s made any 
record. The entire settlement of Wyoming 
was obliterated. The earnestness of the peo- 
ple of Connecticut may be seen from the fact 
that in November of the same year, they 
returned, in numbers, to possess themselves 
of this valley of blood. 

When the Revolutionary War was over and 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which 
in the meantime had acquired the title of the 
heirs of William Penn to all the land in dis- 
pute, could give her attention to the contro- 
versy ; she appealed to the Congress organized 
under the Articles of Confederation. She 
presented a petition on the 3rd day of No- 
vember, 1781, praying that Congress would 
adjudicate the claims of the different states 
to the disputed territories. Congress granted 
the petition and appointed a Board of Com- 
mi.ssioners, selected by the delegates of Con- 
necticut and Pennsylvania, to pass upon the 



42 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



respective claims. The verdict of the Com- 
mission was as follows: "We axe unani- 
mously of opinion that the jurisdiction and 
preemption of all territory lying within the 
charter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by 
the State of Connecticut, do of right belong 
to the State of Pennsylvania. We are unani- 
mously of the opinion that Connecticut has 
no right to the lands in controversy." 

It is probable that this award was made on 
grounds of policy only. Connecticut's claims 
in law were well founded and her rights, 
therefore, were .superior to Pennsylvania's, 
but the conflicting claims of the other col- 
onies, particularly Virginia, New York and 
Massachusetts, were bringing the young na- 
tion to the verge of civil war. It is not alto- 
gether improbable that a compact was made 
with Connecticut to reimburse her in some 
other way, by land located elsewhere, in 
return for her surrender of Pennsylvania 
settlements she had made. There are many 
who believe that she was allowed to retain her 
title to the Wfestern Reserve on this account. 
This tract contains more land than the parent 
state itself, and now has a larger population. 
Thi^m^as what Connecticut received as a balm 
forTRr feelings, .so nidely wounded by the 
decree of the Trenton Court, as the Board 
of Commi&sioners was called. 

One of the greatest problems befove the 
new American nation was the settlement of 
the land claims made by the different states 
composing it. Congress made an appeal direct 
to the states that all claims to western lands, 
or any territory lying outside the boundaries 
of the respective states, should be ceded to the 
general government, for the benefit of all. 
This appeal succeeded. In 1780, the state of 
New-York granted to the United States all 
her right, title and interest in and to all 
western lands. In 1784, Virginia did the 
same. Massachusetts followed in 1785. On 
the 11th day of May, 1786, the state of Con- 
necticut relinquished all her right, title, in- 
terest, juri-sdiction and claim to all lands and 
territories lying west of a line 120 miles west 
of and parallel with the western boundary 
line of the state of Pennsvlvania, biit she ex- 



pressly reserved from her conveyance all the 
land lying between 41° and 42° 2' North 
Latitude, and bounded on the East by the 
west line of Pennsylvania, and on the West 
by a line parallel with the west line of Penn- 
sylvania and 120 miles west of it. This re- 
served land contained 3,366,921 acres, as a 
subsequent sui-vey showed. This was nearly 
200,000 acres more than the parent state con- 
tained. It embraced what is now the coun- 
ties of Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Trumbull, 
Cuyahoga, Portage, Medina, Lorain, Erie, 
Huron and parts of the counties of Maho- 
ning, Summit and Ashland. The popular 
designation of this tract was soon established 
as "The Connecticut Western Reserve." On 
September 14, 1786, Connecticut made a 
deed to Congress of the po.s3essions and in- 
terests enumerated in her offer and duly re- 
served the lands which Congress agreed should 
remain in her name. 

In 1792, Connecticut set a.side half a mil- 
lion acres of land, being the extreme western 
end of her reser\'ed territory, for division 
among those who had suffered by incursions 
of British soldiers and their Indian allies 
during the Revolution. Mo.st of those who 
had suffered in this way had met their losses 
owing to the British having burned several 
Connecticut towns. For this reason, the tract 
of half a million acres which was at first called 
the Sufferers' Lands was afterwards given tlie 
name of "The Fire Lands." which is retained 
to this day. 

Connecticut determined to sell the balance 
of her land in the Western Reserve. In May, 
1795, the Connecticut legislature, in session 
at Hartford, passed a resolution providing for 
the sale of all land in the Western Reserve, 
except the Fire Lands. The legislature ap- 
pointed a committee, who eventually sold the 
lands offered, for the total sum of $1,200,- 
000.00. Forty-eight different deeds were 
made to as many different grantee.s. In the 
same year these forty-eight buyers formed the 
Connecticut Land Company. The Company 
was composed of some of the best and most 
prominent men in Connecticut. 

In ilav, 1796, General Moses Cleaveland 



t*»f»T<«^- 




AKRON FROM WEST OF THE CANAL— 1853 




AKRON FROM WEST OF THE CANAL— 1904 




THE CAMPUS— HUDSON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



43 



led an expedition of fifty-two persons, for the 
purpose of making a survey of the lands just 
purchased. He was a veteran of the Revo- 
lutionary ^^'ar, a lawyer by profession, and 
a graduate of Yale. It wa^ on this surveying 
expedition, in July, 1796, that Cleveland was 
founded and the site surveyed into city lots. 
On July 10, 1800, Congress made the whole 
Western Reserve one county and gave it a 
government. It was named Trumbull County, 
of the Northwest Territory, being so named 
in honor of Jonathan Trumbull, who was 
then governor of Connecticut. "Warren was 
made the county seat. 

ORG.\NIZATION OF SUMMIT COUNTY. 

Summit County is one of the counties form- 
ing the southern half of the Reserve. All 
but its two southernmost townships, Green 
and Franklin, lie within the boundaries of 
the "Western Reserve. These townships are 
six miles square, while the others of the 
county are each five miles square. In 1833, 
a few citizens in Akron, which at that time 
was situated in Portage County, began to agi- 
tate the question of forming a new county, 
with Akron as its nucleus. Ravenna was 
the county seat of Portage Coimty, and it 
was a long and difficult trip there. Akron 
had grown very fast and began to covet 
the advantages of being the seat of govern- 
ment of the county. The new county project 
of course had the support of all the villages 
adjacent to Akron and of all the farmers liv- 
ing in that vicinity. 

Doctor Eliakim' Crosby was the prime 
mover in this matter, as he was in every laud- 
able enterprise. The energy and versatility 
of the man are worthy of remark in any his- 
tory of Summit County. He was the most 
indefatigable of all the founders of Akron, 
or of all who have wrought for her welfare 
and advancement. He made an ofiFer to give 
$2,000.00 toward the erection of the new 
county buildings, if Akron should be made 
the county seat of the new county. The 
proposition encountered much vicorous op- 
position, especially on the part of Ravenna 



citizens. For six years the projectors kept at 
work, trying to arouse sentiment in favor 
of the project and especially trying to get the 
representatives from the counties interested to 
present a bill in the legislature for the creation 
of the new one. 

At last it was accomplished by means of a 
political deal. The Whigs of Akron and vi- 
cinity voted with the Democrats of Portage 
County and succeeded in electing two repre- 
sentatives from Portage County who were 
pledged to the creation of the new county. 
The new State Senator for the district was 
Colonel Simon Perkins, who was in favor of 
the project. The legislature convened on the 
first Monday in December. 1889, and a bill 
was introduced by Hon. Rufus P. Spalding, 
the new representative, providing that the 
townships of Twinsburg, Northfield, Boston, 
Hudson, Stow, Northampton, Portage,- Tall- 
madge, Springfield and Coventry in Portage 
County; Richfield, Bath, Copley and Norton 
in Medina County, and Franklin and Green 
in Stark County, be erected into a separate 
county, to be known by the name of "Sum- 
mit." In order to restore the constitutional 
area to Medina County, the bill transferred 
Homer and Spencer townships from Lorain 
to Medina County. It provided for the col- 
lection of taxes, the maintenance of suits at 
law, the continuance of officials in office until 
the election of their successors and that 
Franklin and Green townships should not be 
taxed for the erection of county buildings 
during a term of fifty years after the passage 
of the Act. It stipulated the first election for 
officers of the new county should be held on 
the first Monday in April, 1840, and that 
courts should be held in Akron until the 
county seat was located. This was to be done 
by commissioners to be appointed by the 
State. 

The name "Summit" expressly given as the 
name of the new county, was obtained from 
the summit level of the Ohio canal, which 
level begins in the south part of Akron. It ex- 
tends from Lock one to New Portage. This 
long stretch of canal without a lock, being lo- 
cated upon the very highest land along the 



44 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



whole length of the canal, was called Summit 
Level. It is probable that the name was se- 
lected 'by Dr. Eliakim Cro.sby, Colonel Simon 
Perkins, or Judge Rufus P. Spalding. The 
last named probably drew up the bill. 

With the introduction of this bill, began 
one of the hottest legislative battles of the ses- 
sion. A powerful opposition arose at once. 
If the bill passed, Medina, Lorain, Portage 
and Stark counties would lose some of their 
best townships. The constituents of the legis- 
lators representing these counties were op- 
posed to it to a man. These legislators were, 
therefore, fighting for personal prestige as well 
as principle. They enlisted the support of the 
legislators of all other counties which had 
been threatened with a like fate. A strong 
lobby went to Columbus to work against the 
bill. Not a stone was left unturned in a search 
to find weapons to bring about its defeat. The 
opposition brought all possible filibustering 
tactics into play. They moved postpone- 
ments, laying on the table, referring to com- 
mittees, amendments, adjournments and every 
parliamentary device allowed by the rules of 
procedure. The ground was fought inch by 
inch. 

The result was a .splendid victory for the 
new representatives. It reflects much credit 
upon their skill and sagacity. On Feb. 6, 
1840, the bill passed the House of Represent- 
atives, thirty- four votes being cast in its favor 
and thirty-one against. The margin by which 
success had been won was very small. On 
the 28th it emerged triumphant from a battle 
in the Senate, equally as fiercely contested. 
Here the vote stood 19 in its favor and 15 
against it. On March 3, 1840, it was signed 
by the Speaker of the House and the Presi- 
dent of the Senate and became a law. 

The legislature then appointed James Mc- 
Connell, of Holmes; Warren Sabin, of Clin- 
ton, and Jacob Williard, of Columbiana, as 
a Board of Commissioners to establish a 
county seat for the new-created county. Sum- 
mit was put in the Third Judicial District, 
with A.shtabula, Portage and Trumbull and 
into the Fifteenth Congressional District of 



Ohio, with Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina and 
Portage. The people of the neighboring 
counties were much discomfited by their de- 
feat, and for a long time, looked upon the 
inhabitants of Akron as robbers and despoil- 
ers. The news of the passage of the bill 
through both houses reached Akron on the 
evening of March 2, 1840, and an impromptu 
celebration was held, lasting nearly all the 
night. On the 4th a formal celebration was 
had, consisting of a parade of all the military 
companies and bands in the county; a ban- 
quet in the open air in the grove on the 
"Gore," about where the present Court House 
stands; speeches by prominent citizens of the 
county ; and, in the evening, a big dinner and 
ball in the "Ohio Exchange," an hotel which 
stood on the southwest corner of Main and 
Market streets. According to the newspapers 
of the time, the affair was a great success and 
the new county w-as started on its successful 
career under the happiest auspices. 

The first officers elected for the new county 
offices were temporary ones. They were to 
hold office only from the time of the spring 
election in April until the regular state and 
county election, which, at that period of the 
State's history, was held in October. Thus, 
on the first Monday in April, there wcve 
chosen: For county treasurer, William 
O'Brien, of Hudson ; auditor, Birdsey Booth, 
of Cuyahoga Falls; recorder, Alexander .John- 
ston, of Green; sheriff, Thomas Wikon. of 
Northfield; county attorney, Geo. Kirknm, of 
Akron ; coroner, Elisha Hinsdale, of Norton ; 
county eommi-ssioners, Augastus Foot, of 
Twinsburg; John Hoy, of Franklin, and 
Jonathan Starr, of Coplev; appraisers, Fred 
A. Sprague, of Richfield; Milo Stone, of Tall- 
madge, and Thomas Jones, of Franklin. No 
probate judge was elected, as the laws of the 
State did not provide for such courts at that 
time. Temporary quarters for the county 
officers were secured in the Stone Block on 
the ea.st side of Howard Street, near Market, 
the third floor being used as a court-room 
with the jail in one corner. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



45 



COUNTY SEAT SELECTED. 

In May the Board of Commissioners for lo- 
cating the county seat appeared upon the 
scene and called a public meeting to hear 
arguments in favor of the different sites pro- 
posed. Only three were seriously considered 
— Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and Summit City, 
the new town just laid out by Dr. Eliakin 
Crosby as the w^estern terminus of his "Chuck- 
ery Race." The advocates of each of these 
sites had promised that the new court-house 
would be erected free of cost to the tax- 
paj'ers of the county if their particular site 
should be selected. The commissioners de- 
cided unanimously in favor of Akron and set 
off land on the "Gore," which had been do- 
nated to the county through the generosity 
of General Simon Perkins, of Warren, as the 
place at which to build the new court-house. 

As this site was just midway between North 
Akron, or Cascade, as it was sometimes called, 
and South Akron, the older village, both 
places joined in another celebration. A com- 
mittee of sixteen citizens was appointed for the 
purpose of raising money by subscription; 
$17,500.00 was raised. The county commis- 
sioners then appointed Dr. J. D. Commins, 
Richard Home and Col. Simon Perkins, Jr., 
as a building commission to collect the .sub- 
scriptions, make all contracts and have full 
charge of the work of erecting the new 
building. They were the first "Court-House 
Commission." The second was appointed in 
1905. They let the contract to Ithiel Mills, 
of Akron, and by January, 1841, he had com- 
pleted the foundations. 

COUNTY SEAT CONTEST. 

In the meantime trouble was brewing and 
Akron was in a fair way of losing her ad- 
vantage as the county seat of Summit. It 
happened in this way: The orator who pre- 
sented the claims of Cuyahoga Falls, at the 
meeting called by the commissioners, was 
Elisha N. Sill, of that village. His defeat 
rankled and he was waiting and watching for 
a chance to retrieve it. He was a man of 
much force of character and occupied an in- 



fluential place among the Whig party of the 
county. Upon the expiration of the term 
of Senator Perkins, Mr. Sill secured the Whig 
nomination, as his successor, and was elected. 
Among his first acts as a legislator, was the 
introduction of a bill to re-locate the county 
seat of Summit County. Mr. Sill's influence 
with his party was sufficient to overcome the 
opposition in both houses and it became a 
law. When this news reached Akron there 
no celebration. Her citizens were almost in 
despair. 

The new legislative commission consisted 
of Jacob Hoagland, of Highland; William 
Kendall, of Scioto, and Valentine Winters, of 
Montgomery. In May, 1841, they came to 
Akron, looked over the competing sites and 
conducted an exciting meeting in the old 
stone church on North High Street, which 
lasted all day. Senator Sill spoke for Cuya- 
hoga Falls and Hon. Rufus P. Spalding for 
Akron. Interested citizens of these two places 
filled the church to the doors. The excite- 
ment was intense. The next morning the 
commissioners astounded the whole commu- 
nity by announcing that a majority of them 
were in favor of Summit City, the paper- 
town on what is now North Hill. It was evi- 
dently a compromise decision. Mr. Kendall 
made a minority report in favor of Akron. 
The particular site staked out by the com- 
missioners was about half way up North Hill, 
nearly where the Bryan School now stands. 
The crowd which accompanied them expressed 
such disapproval that the majority commis- 
■sioners became much nettled, pulled up the 
stakes and drove on to Cuyahoga Falls, where 
they located the new court-house on the south 
?ide of Broad Street, between Front and Sec- 
ond Streets. 

The county officials divided on this ques- 
tion. Some moved their offices to Cuyahoga 
Falls; others retained theirs at Akron. The 
building commissioners stopped work on the 
new court-hou.se at Akron. Cuyahoga Falls 
made no move to build one there. All felt 
it would be necessary to await the next session 
of the legislature for decisive action by that 
bodv. 



46 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The Whig party held its convention at 
Cuyahoga Falls that year and nominated for 
representatives Amos Seward, of Tallmadge, 
and Hai-vey Whedon, of Hudson, both favor- 
able to Cuyahoga Falls as the proper site for 
the county seat. A Peoples Convention was 
called to meet at Akron and a bi-partisan 
ticket was nominated. Hon. Rufus P. Spald- 
ing, a Democrat, and Colonel Simon Perkins, 
a Whig, were the nominees for representa- 
tives. In the election which ensued, this 
ticket was triumphantly elected. The Whig 
ticket was simply snowed under. The vote 
for the Akron ticket was nearly three to one. 

When the legislature assembled, the new 
Representatives began the work for which 
they had been sent there. Feeling confident 
because of the result of the last election, which 
had, in reality, been an issue simply between 
Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, they agreed to 
lea.ve the matter of locating the county seat 
to a vote of the citizens of Summit County, 
and prepared and introduced a bill for the 
purpose. Senator Sill fought it vigorously in 
the Senate, but it passed both houses and was 
signed March 2, 1842. 

On the first Monday in April the election 
to choose the county seat was held. A poll of 
the votes showed that Akron had received 
2,978; Cuyahoga Falls, 1,384; Summit City. 
101, and other places, 24. Thus Akron's 
plurality and majority were each more than 
the total vote cast for Cuyahoga Falls. It was 
felt all over the county that this decisive 
victory settled the question for all time to 
come, and so it proved. 

The court-house was finished and accepted 
by the coimty commis.sioners December 6, 
1843. The minutes of this meeting show that 
"having examined the court-house, the board 
proposed as an offset to the gpnernl had char- 
acter of the work, which the building trustees 



fully admitted, to accept it, if the windows 
were made to work, * * * the doors better 
hung, * * * and the windows screened, 
etc." In spite of this sweeping condemna- 
tion, the building stood sixty-four years, or 
until this year of grace, 1907, in which it is 
proposed to demolish it, because of the erec- 
tion of the fine new court-house just west of 
it. In 1867 wings were added on the north 
and south sides. 



ADAMS RECEPTION. 

On the morning of Nov. 2, 1843, it was 
learned that ex-President John Quincy 
Adams, who w-as on his way to lay a corner 
stone for a public building at Cincinnati, was 
coming up the canal from Ckveland and 
would stop over in Akron while his packet 
was being "locked" through the local 21 
locks. Bells were rung, whistles blown, and 
almost the entire population were notified in 
a short time that the distinguished visitor 
would make an address in the court-room. 
Although it was not yet nine o'clock in the- 
morning, the court-house was crowded and 
Mr. Adams received a most enthusiastic wel- 
come. This was the first meeting held in the 
old (then new) court-house. 

TERRITORIAL CHANGES. 

The only changes which have been made 
in the territory of Summit County, were to 
establish townships co-extensive with the mu- 
nicipalities of Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and 
Middlebury, for purposes of government. 
Thus in 1851 Cuyahoga Falls Township was 
created; in 1857, the township of Middlebury, 
and, in 1888, the township of Akron. 



CHAPTER III 



COUNTY AND OTHER OFFICIALS 



A Roster of Officials from the Organization of the County down to 1907. 



The following is a complete roster of all 
the officials of Summit County for the year 
1907. A list of all county officials occupy- 
ing the more important positions since the 
beginning of the county will be found at 
the end of the chapter. 

Judges of the Circuit Court for the Eighth 
Judicial Circuit: Ulysses L. Marvin, of 
Akron ; Louis H. Winch, of Cleveland ; F. A. 
Henry, of Cleveland. 

Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for 
the Second Subdivision of the Fourth Judi- 
cial Circuit: George C. Hayden, of Medina; 
Clarence G. Washburn, Elyria; Reuben M. 
Wanamaker, Akron; Dayton A. Doyle, 
Akron. 

Probate Judge, William E. Pardee; treas- 
urer, Isaac S. Myers; auditor, Marcus D. 
Buckman ; clerk of courts, Clint W. Kline ; 
sheriff, Dan P. Stein; recorder, .John Sowers; 
county commissionere, L. H. Oviatt, Hudson ; 
Gus Seiberling, Barberton, and John Frank, 
Fairlawn; prosecuting attorney, Henry M. 
Hagelbarger; coroner, H. S. Davidson, Bar- 
berton : referee in bankruptcy, Harry L. Sny- 
der. Infirmary directors, W. H. Wagoner, 
Coventry township; Z. F. Chamberlain, Ma- 
cedonia, and J. M. Johnston, Akron. 

Superintendent of infirmary, S. B. Stotler. 
Jury Commissioners: W. H. Stoner, P. G. 
Ewart, of Springfield; George Edwards, of 
Twinsburg, and W. H. McBarnes. Surveyor, 
Joseph A. Gehres. County detective, H. M. 
Watters. Stenographer of courts, W. H. Col- 



lins. Trustees of the Children's Home: A. 
M. Armstrong, J. B. Senter, of Northfield 
township; F. M. Green and Charles Hart. 
Superintendent of the Children's Home, D. 
R. Braucher. Members of the Court House 
Building Commission: L. H. Oviatt, chair- 
man; John C. Frank, secretary; Gus Seiber- 
ling; J. Park Alexander, R. F. Palmer, W. A. 
Morton and John Frank, of Fairlawn. Mem- 
bers of the Board of Countv School Examin- 
ers: M. S. Kirk, of Akron'; H. 0. Bolich, of 
Copley township, and C. A. Flickinger, of 
Peninsula. Deputy State supervisors of elec- 
tions: F. C. Wilson, chief deputy; R. E. 
Lewis, clerk. Members of the Summit County 
Soldiers and Sailors' Relief Commission : John 
C. Weber, of Akron ; John C. Reid, of Cuya- 
hoga Falls, and J. R. Campbell, of Akron, 
secretary. Deputy probate judge, Ora Lytle. 
Deputy clerks of courts: Ed. Mitchell, Har- 
riett M. Baad and Maud Gostlin. Deputy 
recorder, B. F. Clark. Deputy auditor, John 
Moore. Deputy sheriff, B. C. Garman. Su- 
perintendent of Court Hou.se, Earl Shepherd. 

OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF .\KR0N. 

Mayor, Charles W. Kempel ; solicitor, Clyde 
F. Beery ; auditor, William A. Durand ; treas- 
urer, Fred E. Smith; engineer, John W. 
Payne; poor director, Joseph Kendall; city 
physician. Dr. A. W. Jones; superintendent 
of streets, Edward Dunn, Jr. ; .superintendent 
of markets, John Wolf. Board of Public 



48 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Service: William J. Wildes, president; J. H. 
Burt, vice-president; James J. Mahonej'; 
Charles H. Watters, clerk. Board of Public 
Safety: C. C. Warner, president; E. C. Hou- 
sel; W. H. Kroeger, clerk. Police Depart- 
ment: John Durkin, chief of police; Robert 
Guillet, captain; Alva G. Greenlese, lieuten- 
ant; Bert Eckerman, detective; Harry Welch 
and Charles Doerler, special duty officers. 
Fire Department: John Mertz, chief; Frank 
Rice, assistant chief; Frank F. Loomis, me- 
chanical engineer; Julius D. Olsen, lineman; 
H. M. Fritz, captain Station No. 1; C. M. 
Smith, captain Station No. 2; C. S. Jost, cap- 
tain Station No. 3; C. E. Tryon, captain 
Station No. 4; John Cummins, captain Sta- 
tion No. 5 ; J. D. Dorner, captain Station No. 
6; N. P. Smith, captain Station No. 7. 

City Council: Ira A. Priest, president; 
Ray F. Hamlin, clerk ; Joseph Dangel, Adam 
G. Ranck, Harry A. Palmer, councilmen- 
at-large. Members from wards — Ward 1, H. 

F. Treap; 2, F. J. Gostlin; 3, Milo S. Wil- 
liams; 4, J. W. Gauthier; 5, John Beynon; 
6, Louis D. Seward; 7, C. H. Gardner.' 

Board of Health: Charles W. Kempel, 
president ex officio; Dr. A. A. Kohler, health 
officer; Michael W. Hoye, sanitary policeman 
and milk inspector; James D. Chandler, 
George W. Crou.se, John C. Weber, A. P. 
Woodring and William E. Young. 

Library Board: John C. Frank, George P. 
Atwater, William T. Vaughn. Henry Kraft, 

G. D. Seward and M. V. Halter. 

Board of Education: F. G. Stipe, presi- 
dent; J. F. Barnhart, clerk; F. E. Smith, 
treasurer; H. V. Hotchkiss, superintendent 
of instruction; Charles Watson, truant officer; 
J. T. Flower, I. C. Gibbons, F. G. Marsh, 

E. W. Stuart, A. E. Kling, F. G. Stipe and 

F. W. Rockwell, members. 

Teachers' Examination Committee: H. V. 
Hotchkiss, Lee R. Knight and L. D. Slusser. 
Special teachers : N. L. Glover, music ; Grace 
C. Sylla, drawing; D. E. Watkins, elocution. 
Principals of Schools: High School, D. C. 
Rybolt; Allen School, J. L. McFarland; 
Bowen, Margaret L. McCready; Bryan, M. E. 
Campbell ; Crosby, Harriet M. Jones ; Findley, 



Mame E. Knapp; Fraunfelter, Jessie V. 
Waltz; Grace, Agnes W. WatkinS; Henry, J. 
H. App; Howe, E. P. Lillie; Kent, W. H. 
Kopf; Lane, Sue E. Vincent; Legget, Eliza- 
beth Camp; Miller, W. C. Bowers; Perkins 
Normal, Lee R. Knight; Spicer, J. R. Smith. 
Parochial Schools: St. Bernard's, Sisters 
of St. Dominic; St. Mary's Sisters of St. Jo- 
seph; St. Vincent's, Sisters of St. Joseph. Sa- 
cred Heart Academy. German Lutheran 
Parish School. 

BARBERTON VILLAGE OFFICIALS. 

Mayor, James McNamara; clerk, George 
Davis; solicitor, C. M. Karch; treasurer, E. 

A. Miller; engineer, H. W. Alcorn; Marshal, 
D. R. Ferguson; chief of Fire Department, 
J. M. Royston; health officer, B. Roden- 
baugh; sanitary policeman, J. P. David. 
members of council: W. A. Bryan, B. C. 
Chandler, H. Y. Herman, A. W. Sample, 

B. C. Ross, Charles Worthen. Trustees of 
public affairs, F. A. Hale, M. C. Hastings, 
W. S. Mitchell. Board of Education: C. A. 
Carlson, president; 0. N. Craig, clerk; T. J. 
Davies, H. S. Davidson, W. P. Welker, U. G. 
High. Superintendent of Schools, J. M. Carr. 
The schools of Barberton are the High School, 
Baird Avenue, Rose Street, Hopocan Avenue, 
Portage, Riverside, Central and St. Augus- 
tine's Catholic (parochial) School. 

SUMMIT county's HONORED SONS OF THE 
PAST. 

Perhaps all will agree that the one Summit 
County citizen whose fame has spread the 
farthest was John Brown, the hero of Har- 
per's Ferry and the Kansas struggle. He was 
not a native of the county, having been born 
in Connecticut, but, at the age of four years, 
his father brought him, with the rest of his 
family, to Hudson. There his early days 
were spent; there he was educated, and there 
it was he married the wife of his youth. He 
spent twenty-one years in Hudson, two in 
Richfield and two in Akron. Thereafter, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



49 



Massachusetts, New York and the Nation 
claimed him. Hudson can justly claim that 
it was his rearing in the atmosphere of free- 
dom and sentiment of anti-bondage, which 
has always prevailed there, that was the in- 
spiration of his later life, and furnished the 
animus of the acts that brought his fame. 

The Summit County man, w'ho has risen 
highest in the official public life of the nation 
and who has brought to his county its great- 
est distinction in this respect, is our own hon- 
ored and beloved United States Senator, 
Charles Dick. He was born in Akron and 
has never lived anywhere else. He is proud 
to say that all he is, he owes to Summit 
County. When Senator Marcus A. Hanna 
died in 1904, the legislature of Ohio obeyed 
the wishes of the Republican party of the 
State when it made Charles Dick his successor. 
He served the unexpired part of Senator 
Hanna's term, and, in 1905, began the serv- 
ice of a full term. Summit County will, 
therefore, claim a United States Senator until 
1911, at least. If he desires a re-election al 
that time, his splendid record in the public 
service should bring him the title to another 
term. 

A high place in the Summit County Tem- 
ple of Fame belongs to Sidney Edgerton, a 
name that all the older residents, and many 
of the younger, will never hear mentioned, 
save with the deepest feelings of love and 
respect. Sidney Edgerton came to .Vkron in 
1844 from New York State, where he was 
born. He was then about twenty-five years 
of age. He taught school and .studied law 
until 1852, when he was elected prosecuting 
attorney of the county. In 1858, and again 
in 1860, he was elected to Congress. In 1863, 
President Lincoln appointed him Chief Jus- 
tice of Idaho, from which he resigned (o 
accept the appointment of Governor of the 
Territory of Montana. He resigned in 1866 
and returned to Akron, where he practiced 
law until his death. 

Russell A. Alger can hardly be credited to 
Summit County, a? he was born in the ad- 
joining county of Medina, and spent the 
active vears of his career as a citizen of 



Michigan. Most of his education, however, 
was secured in Richfield, where he attended 
the old Richfield Academy. He also taught 
school there two winters while pursuing his 
course. He spent the years 1857 and 1858 
in Akron, studying law in the office of Wol- 
cott and Upson. In 1860 he left Cleveland, 
where he had been practicing law and took 
up his residence in Michigan. He rose to 
the rank of major-general in the Civil War; 
was made Governor of Michigan in 1884; 
became secretary of war in President McKin- 
ley's Cabinet in 1897; and in 1901 was 
elected United States Senator, which position 
he held at the time of his death in 1907. 

Other temporary residents of Akron for 
short periods who afterwards reached high 
places in the national life were: 

David K. Cartter, who practiced law in 
Akron from 1836 to 1845, coming here from 
New York State; in 1848, and again in 1850, 
he was elected to Congress ; in 1861 appointed 
minister to Bolivia; and in 1863 appointed 
chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
District of Columbia. 

Wilbur F. Sanders, came to Akron in 1854, 
from New York State; taught school and 
studied law here until 1861, when he entered 
the Union Army ; in 1863 he became a citizen 
of Montana, and when that territory was ad- 
mitted to the Union in 1890, he was elected 
United States Senator. 

Samuel B. Axtell, who for some years had 
his residence in Richfield, was elected to 
Congress from a California district; in 1875 
appointed governor of Utah; in the same 
year, governor of New Mexico; in 1882 chief 
justice of New Mexico. 

William T. Coggeshall, lived in Akron 
from 1842 to 1847, was appointed minister 
to Ecuador in 1865, where he died in 1867. 

Christopher P. Wolcott was born in Con- 
necticut December 17, 1820; graduated at 
Jefferson College in 1840 ; was admitted to the 
bar and come to Akron in 1846. He was the 
senior member of the distinguished firm of 
Wolcott and Upson. In 1856, he was ap- 
pointed attorney-general of the State of Ohio 
to fill a vacancv. and was afterward elected 



50 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



twice to that office. In 1862, President Lin- 
coln appointed him assistant secretary of war. 
He served under his brother-in-law, Edwin 
M. Stanton, until within two months of his 
death. He died at his home in Akron, April 
4, 1863. 

Eufus P. Spalding, a native of Martha's 
Vineyard, Massachusetts, came to Akron in 
1840, and in 1841 was elected Speaker of the 
Ohio House of Representatives; in 1848 ap- 
pointed justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. 
At the expiration of his term he moved to 
Cleveland, and was afterward elected to Con- 
gress for three terms. 

One of the most distinguished names in 
Summit County history is that of William 
H. Upson. He was born in Franklin County, 
Ohio, in 1823, but came to Tallmadge with 
his parents in 1832. He has been a resi- 
dent of the county, continuously, since that 
time. He came to Akron in 1846, a few 
months after his admission to the bar. He 
was prosecuting attorney 1848-1850; Ohio 
State Senator, 1853-1855; elected to Congress 
in 1869, and again in 1871 ; delegate to Na- 
tional Republican Convention in 1864, and 
voted to renominate Abraham Lincoln ; dele- 
gate-at-large from Ohio to the National Re- 
publican Convention in 1876; in 1883 was 
appointed justice of the Supreme Court of 
Ohio; in 1884, elected judge of the Circuit 
Court, and re-elected in 1886 and 1890. In 
1896 he retired from active practice and re- 
sumed his domestic quiet in Akron, where he 
still lives. 

In addition to those already mentioned, 
Summit County has had the following Rep- 
resentatives in Congress : George Bliss, 1852- 
1854; David R. Paige, 1882-1884; George 
W. Crouse, 1886-1888, and Charles Dick, 
1898-1904. She has had Presidential electors 
as follows: 'Stephen H. Pitkin, 1868; John 
R. Buchtel, 1872; Nathaniel W. Goodhue, 
1880, and Ulysses L. Marvin, 1884. 

This senatorial district has often called 
upon Summit County to represent the dis- 
trict in the Ohio Senate, as witness these 
names of Senators: Simon Perkins, 1838- 
1840; EHsha N. Sill, 1840-1842; William 



Wetmore, Jr., 1844-1846 ; Lucian Swift, 1848- 
1850; William H. Upson, 1853-1855; George 
P. Ashmun, 1857-1859; Lucuis V. Bierce, 
1861-1863; Newell D. Tibbals, 1865-1867; 
Henry McKinney, 1869-1871; N. W. Good- 
hue, 1873-1875; D. D. Beebe, 1877-1881; 
George W. Crouse, 1885-1887 ; J. Park Alex- 
ander, 1887-1891; George W. Sieber, 1897- 
1899; Nation 0. Mather, 1905-1907. 

Common Pleas Judges — Van R. Hum- 
phrey, 1840-1848; George Bliss, 1851-1852; 
Robert K. Du Bois, 1840-1845 ; Charles Sum- 
ner, 1840-1845; Hugh R. Caldwell, 1840- 
1847; John B. Clark, 1845-1846; James R. 
Ford, 1845-1849; Sylvester H. Thompson, 
1846-1852; John Hoy, 1847-1852; Samuel 
A. Wheeler, 1849-1850; Peter Voris, 1850- 
1852; James S. Carpenter, 1856-1861; Sam- 
uel W. McClure, 1870-1875; Newell D. Tib- 
bals, 1875-1883; Ulysses L. Marvin, 1883; 
Edwin P. Green, 1883-1891 ; Alvin C. VorL^, 
1891-1895; Jacob A. Kohler, 1895-1905; 
Reuben M. Wanamaker, 1905 to date, and 
Dayton A. Doyle, 1906 to date. 

Probate Judges: Charles G. Ladd, 1851- 
1852; Roland 0. Hammond, 1852; Constant 
Bryan, 1852-1853; Noah M. Humphrey, 
1854-1860; William M. Dodge, 1860-1861; 
A. H. Lewis, 1861; Stephen H. Pitkin, 1861- 
1868; Ulysses L. Mamn, 1869-1875: Samuel 
C. Williamson, 1875-1881; Nathaniel W. 
Goodhue, 1881-1883; Charles R. Grant. 1883- 
1891 ; Edward W. Stuart, 1891-1897 : George 
M. Anderson, 1897-1903 ; William E. Pairdee, 
1908 to date. 

Countv Clerks: Rufus P. Spalding, 1840; 
Lucian Swift, 1840-1847; Lucius S. Peck, 
1847-1851 ; Nelson B. Stone, 1851-1853 ; Ed- 
win P. Green, 1854-1861; John A. Means, 
1861-1864; Charles Rinehart, 1864-1870; 
John A. Means, 1870-1873; George W. 
Weeks, 1873-1879; Sumner Na.«h, 1879-1885; 
Othello W Hale, 1885-1891; Nathaniel P. 
Goodhue, 1891-1897; Edward A. Hershey, 
1897-1903 ; Clint W. Kline, 1903 to date. 

County Treasurers: William O'Brien, 1840- 
1842; George Y. Wallace, 1842; Milton Ar- 
thur, 1842-1848; William H. Dewev, 1848- 
1850; Frederick Wadsworth, 1850-1852; 



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NEW COUNTY JAIL 



OLD COURT HOUSE 





SILVER LAKE TARK 



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THE AMERICAN CEREAL MILLS 



FIRE ENGINE HOUSE, NO. 5, AKRON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



53 



Chester W. Rice, 1852-1854; Houston Sisler, 
1854-1858; Sullivan S. Wilson, 1858-1863; 
George W. Grouse, 1863; Israel E. Carter, 
1863-1867; Arthur L. Conger, 1867-1871; 
Schuyler R. Oviatt, 1871-1875; David R. 
Paige, 1875-1879; Henry C. Viele, 1879- 
1883 ; Arthur M. Cole, 1883-1887 ; James H. 
Seymour, 1887-1891 ; Emmon S. Oviatt, 1891- 
1895; R. L. Andrew, 1895-1897; Lucius C. 
Miles, 1897-1901 ; Homer Berger, 1901-1905 ; 
Fred E. Smith, 1905-1906; Ulysses Grant 
High, 1906 ; Isaac S. Myers, 1907 to date. 

County Auditors: Birdsey Booth, 1840- 
1842; Theron A. Noble, 1842-1848; Na- 
thaniel W. Goodhue, 1847-1852 ; Henry New- 
berry, Jr., 1852-1854; Charles B. Bernard, 
1854-1858; George W. Crouse, 1858-1863: 
Sanford M. Burnham, 1863-1871; Hosea 
Paul, Jr., 1871 ; Edward Buckingham, 1872- 
1881; Aaron Wagoner, 1881-1887; Charles 
Dick, 1887-1893; Charles Grether, 1893- 
1896; Louis E. Sisler, 1896-1904; Marcus D. 
Buckman, 1904 to date. 

County Recorders: Alexander Johnston, 
1840-1843; Nahum Fay, 1843-1849; Jared 
Jennings, 1849-1852; Henry Purdy. 1852- 
1858; Phillip P. Bock, 1858-1864; J. Alex- 
ander Lantz, 1864-1870; Grenville Thorpe, 
1870-1872 ; Henry C. Viele, 1872 ; George H. 
Payne, 1872-1878: Albert, A. Bartlett, 1878- 
1884; Henry C. Searles, 1884-1890: Benja- 
min F. Clark, 1890-1896; Willi=ton Ailing. 
1896-1902 : John Sowers, 1902 to date. 

County Sheriffs: Thoma.s Wilson, 1840- 
1844; Lewis M. James, 1844-1848; William 
L. Clarke, 1848-1852 ; Dudley Seward, 1852- 
1856; Samuel A. Lane, 1856-1861; Jacob 
Chisnell. 1861-1865; James Burlison. 1865- 
1869; Augustus Curtiss, 1869-1873; Levi J. 
McMurrav, 1873-1877; Sam'l. A. Lane, 1877- 
1881; William McKinnev, 1881-1885; Wil- 
ham B. Gamble, 1885-1889; David R. Bunn, 
1889-1893; William Williams. 1893-1897; 
Horace G. Griffith, 1897-1901 : Jarcd Barker, 
1901-1907 ; Dan P. Stine, 1907 to date. 

Prosecuting Attorneys: William M. Dodfje, 
1840-1842; George Kirkum, 1842-1844: Wil- 
liam S. C. Otis, 1844-1846; Samuel W. Mc- 
Clure. 1846-1848; William H. Upson, 1848- 



1850; Harvey Whedon, 1850-1852; Sidney 
Edgerton, 1852-1856; Henry McKinney, 
1856-1860; Newell D. Tibbals, 1860-1864; 
Edwin P. Green, 1864; Edward Oviatt, 1864- 
1868; Jacob A. Kohler, 1868-1872; Henry 
C. Sanford, 1872-1874; James M. PouLson, 
1874-1876; Edward W. Stuart, 1876-1880; 
Charles Baird, 1880-1884; John C. Means, 
1884-1886; Edwin F. Voris, 1886; George W. 
Sieber, 1886-1893; Samuel G. Rogers, 1893- 
1896; Reuben M. Wanamaker, 1893-1902; 
Henry M. Hagelbarger, 1902-1908. 

County Surveyors: Ru-ssell H. Ashmun, 
1840-1843 ; Peter Voris, 1843-1846 ; Frederick 
Seward, 1846-1849; Dwight Newton, 1849- 
1852; Schuyler R. Oviatt, 1852-1855; Hosea 
Paul, 1855-1870; Robert S. Paul, 1870-1874 
and 1877-1883 ; John W. Seward, 1874-1877 ; 
Charles E. Perkins, 1883-1893: Sherman 
Swigart, 1893-1896; Joseph A. Gehres,' 1896- 
1908. 

Infirmary Superintendents : Abraham 
Sichley, 1849-1855 ; William Chandler, 1855- 
1861 ; Francis T. Husong, 1861-1868 ; George 
W. Glines, 1868-1878; G^eorge Feichter, 1878- 
1879 ; Julia F. Glines, 1879-1882 ; Willard F. 
Hamlin, 1882-1887; Sherman B. Stotler, 
] 887 to the present time. 

SUMMIT COUNTY OFFICERS, 1907. 

Judges of Circuit Court, Eighth Judicial 
Circuit of Ohio — Hon. Ulysses L. Marvin, 
Akron; Hon. Louis H. Winch, Cleveland; 
Hon. F. A. Henry, Cleveland. 

Judge.? of Common Pleas Court, Second- 
Sub-division, Fouth Judicial District of 
Ohio — Hon. Geo. C. Havden, Medina; Hon. 
C. G. Washburn, Elyria;'^ Hon. R. M. Wana- 
maker, Akron. 

Probate Judge — W. E. Pardee. 

Commissioners — Philip Wagoner, Akron ; 
Eber Hawkins, West Richfield'; L. H. Oviatt, 
Hudson; Gus. Seibcrling, Barbcrton (elect). 

Auditor — M. D. Buckman. 

Treasurer — Fred E. Smith. 

Clerk of Courts— Clint W. Kline. 

Sheriff— Daniel P. Stein. 

Recorder — John Sowers. 



54 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Prosecuting Attorney — H. M. Hagelbar- 
ger. 

Coroner — L. B. Humphrey. 

Infirmary Directors — W. EAVaters, Akron ; 
Z. F. Chamberlain, Macedonia; J. M. Johns- 
ton, Fairlawn. 

Superintendent of Infirmary — S. B. Stot- 
tler. 

Jury Commissioners — W. H. Stoner, F. A. 
Green, P. G. Ewart, W. H. McBarnes. 

Surveyor — J. A. Gehre*. 

County Detective — H. M. Watters. 

Stenographer — W. H. Collins. 

Trustees Children's Home — A. M. Arm- 
strong, Akron; J. B. Senter, Northfield; F. 
M. Green, Akron; J. H. Brewster, Coventry; 
Mrs. R. E. Grubb, superintendent. 

Court House Commission — L. H. Oviatt, 
chairman ; J. C. Frank, secretary ; Philip 
AVagoner, Eber Hawkins, J. Park Alexander, 
R. F. Palmer, W. A. Morton. 

County School Examiners — M. S. Kirk, 
Akron ; F. L. Lytle, Hudson ; W. M. Glasgow, 
Barberton. 

County and City Board of Elections — E. H. 
Bishop, Akron, chief deputy; F. E. Whitte- 
more, Akron, clerk; R. C. Ellsworth, Rich- 
field; F. C. Wilson, Akron; L. C. Koplin, 
Akron; office, 520 and 522 Hamilton build- 
ing. 

Summit County Soldiers' and Sailors' Re- 
lief Commission — J. C. Weber, John C. Reid, 
Cuyahoga Falls; A. P. Baldwin, secretary. 

CITY OFFICERS. 

Municipal Offices and Council Chamber, 
East Mill, corner Broadway; City Prison, 86 
East Mill ; Treasurer's Office, Court House ; 
Infirmary Director's Office, 90 South Howard. 

Mayor — Charles W. Kempel. 

Solicitor — C. F. Beery. 

Auditor — W. A. Durand. 

Treasurer — Fred E. Smith. 

Engineer — J. W. Payne. 

Infirmary Director — Jo.seph Kendall. 

Superintendent of Streets — Edward Dunn, 
Jr. 

Superintendent of Market^ — John Wolf. 



Board of Public Service— W. J. Wildes, J. 
H. Burt, J. J. Mahoney; C. H. Watters, clerk. 

City Council — Meets first and third Mon- 
day evenings of each month: Ira A. Priest, 
president; Ray F. Hamlin, clerk; Joseph 
Dangel, A. G. Ranck and J. R. Mell, coun- 
cilmen at large. First Ward — J. M. Amund- 
son; Second Ward— F. J. Go.stlin; Third 
Ward- M. S. Williams ; Fourth Ward— J. W. 
Gauthier ; Fifth Ward— John Beynon ; Sixth 
Ward— L. D. Seward; Seventh Ward- S. R. 
Thomas; Board of Public Safety— C. C. 
Warner, E. C. Housel. 

Police Department — J. F. Durkin, chief; 
Robert Guillet, captain ; A. G. Greenlese, lieu- 
tenant. 

Fire Department— J. T. Mertz, chief; F. F. 
Loomis, mechanical engineer. 

Fire Station No. 1 (Central) — Corner High 
and Church streets; H. M; Fritz, captain. 

Fire Station No. 2 — Corner East Market 
and Exchange, East Akron; C. M. Smith, 
captain. 

Fire Station No. 3 — South Maple, corner 
Crosby ; Frank Rice, captain. 

Fire Station No. 4 — South Main, corner 
Fair; C. E. Tryon, captain. 

Fire Station No. 5 — East Buchtel avenue; 
John Cummins, captain. 

Fire Station No. 6 — Wooster avenue; C. S. 
Jost, captain. 

Fire Station No. 7 — North Howard; N. P. 
Smith, captain. 

Board of Health— Meets first Friday of 
each month : Mayor C. W. Kempel, presi- 
dent; Dr. A. A. Kohler, health officer; M. W. 
Hoye, sanitary police and milk inspector; G. 
B. 'Courson, clerk; J. D. Chandler, G. W. 
Crouse, J. C. Weber, A. P. Woodring, Wm. E. 
Young. 

Library Board — Meets first Friday of each 
month at library, corner Market and High 
streets; J. C. Frank, T. J. Mumford, J. W. 
Kelley, W. T. Vaughan, G. D. Seward, Henry 
Kraft. 

Parks — Fountain Park (Summit County 
Agricultural Society's Fair Grounds), East 
North, near city limits. Grace Park, corner 
Prospect and Perkins; Hill Park, corner East 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Market and Broad ; Neptune Park, West Mar- 
ket, corner Valley; Perkins Park, south of 
Maple at west city limits ; Perkins Square, cor- 
ner Exchange and Bowery; Pleasant Park, 
corner Thornton and Washington. 

Cemeteries — Akron Rural Cemetery, west 
end Glendale avenue; German Catholic Cem- 
etery, South Maple, adjoining Rural Ceme- 
tery; East Akron Cemetery, East Market, 
Sixth Ward; St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery, 
West Market, west of Balch; Mount Peace 
Cemetery, North Valley, north of Doyle; C. 



P. Hass, superintendent; Old Cemetery, New- 
ton, near east city line. 

Board of Education — James T. Flower, 
Isaac C. Gibbons, Frank G. Marsh, Frank W. 
Rockwell, Frank G. Stipe, Edward W. 
Stewart, A. E. Kling. 

Board of Review — A. J. Weeks, 0. L. Sad- 
ler, John Cook. 

Trustees of Sinking Fund and Board of 
Tax Commissioners — C. I. Bruner, Harry 
Hamlen, Joseph Thomas, H. E. Andress. 



CHAPTER IV 



AKRON-THE. COUNTY SEAT 



Introductory — Economic Cau-ies and Growth of Akron — Its Settlement and History- 
Public Improvements — Akron an incorporated Town — -City Government — Mercantile 
Akron — Fire and Police Departments — Riot of 1900 — Aftermath of the Riot. 



Akron, the City of Busy Hands! The 
place of rubber-making, of sewer-pipe and 
clay goods, of the printing of books, of the 
grinding of grains and the making of cereal 
foods! All these are done here on the largest 
scale seen in any one place on the Ameri- 
can continents. You may add to them, large 
factories making linoleum, steam-engines and 
mining equipment, steam boilers, traction-en- 
gines, electric dynamos and motors, steam 
drilling machinery, twist drills and agricul- 
tural implements, belting, twine and cordage, 
varnishes and a host of small enterprises, mak- 
ing nearly everything needed by man or re- 
quired for the gratifying of his luxurious 
tastes. 

Industrialism then is the one striking fea- 
ture of Akron and Akron life. Her triumphs 
have been triumphs of her industries. Her 
dark days have been the results of stagnation 
of business. The influence of the shop per- 
meates her whole sphere of activity. By far 
the larger part of her population is connected 
directly with the shop and it would be sur- 
prising if this interest in them were not 
deemed the paramount one generally, and the 
city's social, spiritual, educational and even 
mercantile interests, modified in no small de- 
gree by this all-pervading sentiment. 

Herein we may find ample excuse for the 
"talking shop," which the vistor notices at 
once. For the same reason we may sym- 



pathize with the citizen who is willing to sub- 
ordinate even his personal comfort to the pre- 
vailing spirit. Any agitation to abolish the 
smoke evil is sure to meet with the objection 
that smoke imeans turning wheels, and busy 
men and women, and streams of wages and 
prosperity. If a big factory wants a street 
vacated or opened, a bridge built or removed, 
a street paved, a sewer built, or an extension 
of the fire department, the Akron citizen has 
not, for a moment, a thought of objection. 
Nay, rather he digs into his pocket and brings 
forth the ready cash. Mind you, he meets 
every request of this kind with great per- 
sonal gladness and joy. He is perfectly 
happy in doing something to benefit the 
"shops." If you want to kill any projected 
movement in Akron just hint that it will be 
deleterious to the factories, or that the manu- 
facturers will find it necessary to oppose it. 
On the other hand the popular policy is one 
that will aid to develop manufacturing and 
business. 

With such a favorable atmosphere is it any 
wonder that Akron has grown to be one of 
the great manufacturing cities of the United 
States? Is not this the very best inducement 
outside capital can have to locate here ? Akron 
has never paid a cent, or donated a foot of 
ground, or exempted any enterprise from tax- 
ation for a day, to secure the location of any 
kind of business. When they do come she 




J - --"^ :^"V^> ; ^ 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



59 



makes it easy for them to stay and to prosper. 
She welcomes them with open arms and shows 
a most benignant manner ever after. This 
has been the accepted policy for half a cen- 
tury. How well it has succeeded read in the 
history of Akron, marvel in the figures of the 
statistician, and beliold in the multiplica- 
tion of factories and enterprises. The history 
of Akron then is a record of business activ- 
ity primarily. And it proves good reading — 
this record, beginning with the conception 
of an idea in the mind of a business man, 
covering struggles, ambitions and disappoint- 
ments of early days and ending in triumph 
for sagacity, courage and honesty. Such is 
an oftrrepeated storj^ in Akron life. ■ The 
triumph has many times brought with it a 
princely fortune. 

AKRON A CITY OF MANUFACTURES. 

These business successes have made the 
name of Akron well known in every corner 
of the earth. All her products are finished 
goods, ready for immediate use or consump- 
tion. She makes no raw materials. Many' 
of her manufacturing rivals produce raw 
materials largely and they are sent away to 
other cities, where they are worked over and 
their identity lost. When they reach the con- 
sumer they bear the name of the last city 
which had a hand in the making of them. 
Akron-made goods never lose their identity. 
Their exportation is very large, and hence 
Akron labels, boxes and bales may be found 
all over the earth. Akron travelers abroad 
are often surprised at the fame of their lit- 
tle city in the far-away corners of the world. 
Akron cereal goods are shipped to every coun- 
try in Europe, mining machinery and agri- 
cultural machines to Africa and South Amer- 
ica and rubber products to Japan and China. 
Smaller exportation? of other products are as 
widespread. 

The storv- of Akron, then, is a story of 
manufacturing, and, if a very large part of 
this history is devoted to the city's industrial 
progress, it is accounted for by this fact. The 
great name? in Akron historv are the names 



of manufacturers — Perkins, Miller, Conger, 
Werner, Schumacher, Goodrich, Barber, 
Grouse,, Crosby, Commins, Seiberling, Buch- 
tel, Robinson. Their activities were the mak- 
ing of Akron. They furnished the true basis 
for the city's development. 

EDUCATION. 

Reader, do not get the impression that 
Akron people live and have lived for the 
making of things alone. Such is far from 
being the case. Manufacturing is not deified. 
The shops are not set up as idols. The manu- 
facturers are not worshipped, and the all-es- 
sentials that are needed to make character 
and perfection of manhood are not slighted. 

No city in Ohio makes so large a per capita 
expenditure for the maintenance of public 
schools. Ohio is famous for the excellence of 
its schools, but no city in the state can boast of 
better schools than Akron, or a healthier pub- 
lic sentiment back of them, or a greater pride 
in educational achievement. The "Akron 
idea" of graded schools originated here and 
took its name from this city. Ohio's whole 
school system has for its basis the idea of the 
Akron Congregational clergyman, who started 
Akron's schools on the march forward six 
decades ago. 

This is the seat of Buchtel College, founded 
by, and taking its name from one of Akron's 
most prominent citizens, and one foremost in 
every good work. If a large part of this his- 
tory is devoted to the story of the rise of 
Buchtel College it is because of the important 
place Buchtel College occupies in the heart 
of the Akron citizen. He is proud of the 
position it has earned, he glories in the op- 
portunity it offers for the higher education 
of his children, right at his very door, and 
he sympathizes with "The College" in her 
calamities and struggles and ambitions.' 

The Catholic Church has provided many 
excellent parochial schools for the training 
of youth of that communion. 

The law making attendance at school com- 
pulsory is rigorously enforced in Akron. 



00 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



There has been a public library, open to all 
citizens, from the earliest days of the com- 
munity. Lyceum entertainments, lecture 
courses and the very bCvSt concerts have had 
their part in the popular education of the 
people. 

Successes in education have made the 
names of Jennings, Bryan, Leggett, Find- 
ley, Fraunfelter, Rood and McAllister hon- 
ored ones in the city's history. 



THE CHURCHES. 

The churches occupy a relatively more 
important place in Akron life than is true 
of most municipal communities. In view of 
the overwhelming importance of the manu- 
facturing interests it is hard to believe that 
this is so. Close study of conditions, how- 
ever, demonstrates its truth. Every import- 
ant Christian denomination is represented 
by a live and thriving church organization. 
Akron is one of the important church cen- 
ters for at least two of the denominations — • 
the Methodists and the Universalists. The 
"Akron Plan," in church ai-chitecture has 
been an important factor in the former, 
and the church life, of which Buchtel Col- 
lege is the center, in the latter. The history 
of the Methodist Church in America will be 
incomjilete without a record of Chautauqua 
and Lewis Miller. Many ministers and 
priests have won large successes in their la- 
bors in Akron, and her citizens will always 
remember with earnest reverence such men 
as Carlos Smith, Monroe, Burton, Day, 
Young, Ganter, Scanlon and Mahar. There 
is a roll of honor among laymen, also. The 
leaders of the past in the manufacturing 
world have also been leaders in church and 
charitable work. Take the names of the 
captains of industry first above given ; there 
is only one of them who ha.s not had a very 
prominent part in the work of some Akron 
church. That list might be extended almost 
indefinitolv. 



THE PROFESSIONS. 

Akron's reputation as a manufacturing 
and business center has attracted a host of 
professional men. Most of them have been 
capable practitioners and have made useful 
and respected citizens. Of the doctors who 
have gone, many like Crosby, Bowen, Co- 
burn, Bartges, McEbright and Jacobs, not 
only held high positions in their profes-sion, 
but did much for the material advancement 
of Akron's various interests. At the present 
time all schools of medicine are represented 
here by exceedingly accomplished phy- 
.sicians. 

From its ranks of lawyers Akron has sent 
forth men who have taken high places in 
public life, both in the service of the state 
and the nation. Memory recalls readily the 
names of Bierce, Bliss, King, McClure, 
Edgerton, Spalding, Sanders, Cartter, Alger, 
Wolcott, McKinney and Upson. The pre.s- 
ent junior senator from Ohio is a member 
of the Summit County Bar. Very few coun- 
ties in Ohio are able to bring forward better 
lawyers than tho.se who make vip the local 
bar. Business; both manufacturing and 
mercantile, brought the lawyers. Large in- 
terests, great producing and distributing, big 
deals and intricate enterprises demanded 
competent hands for their legal protection 
and direction. In the early days there were 
great enterprises exploited here, such as the 
canals, the Crosby projects, etc. They were 
directed by strong men, who demanded 
strong men as legal advisers. The associa- 
tion of such men attracted the ablest of the 
young lawyers then commencing practice. 
The high .standard then established ha.s been 
maintained until the present day. The great 
Akron companies entrust their legal matters 
entirely to members of the local bar. It is 
a rare thing for outside counsel to be called 
into a local ca.se. On the other hand, Akron 
lawyers are frequently called into other 
counties of the state for legal advice and 
services. 

In the last decade Akron has begun to at- 
tract attention in a new respect. The city 



AND REPRESENTATI^nS CITIZENS 



61 



lies in the midst of nearly twenty small 
lakes, most of them possessing great natural 
beauty. The city itself is most attractively 
located on more hills than ancient Rome 
possessed, and with magnificent views down 
and across the Cuyahoga Valley. These 
things have been gradually becoming known 
and it began to be whispered about that there 
was good fishing in the Akron lakes and good 
camping sites on their shores. Thus the 
summer invasion began. Great improve- 
ments have been made, those at Silver Lake 
alone costing $100,000. Summit Lake has 
a beautiful new casino which will seat 3,000 
people. Many beautiful cottages have been 
built at Turkey-Foot Lake and Springfield 
Lake. During the season the attractions of 
Akron as a summer resort bring thousands of 
people to the city. Merchants find their trade 
correspondingly larger and there is no dull 
season known to our mercantile circles. The 
local summers are never exc&ssively hot. 
There will be. perhaps, two or three periods of 
hot weather when the thermometer will reach 
87, or. in extreme cases, 90 degrees. These 
periods are of very short duration, seldom last- 
ing more than four or five days, and the rest 
of the summer consists of delightful days, 
with the air clear, and the sky blue, and the 
thermometer ranging from 70 to 80 de.grees. 
The high altitude of the city, the higher por- 
tions being nearly 1.100 feet above the sea 
level, and the proximity to Lake Erie combine 
to lower the temperature in .summer and to 
make the city a healthy and delightful place 
in which to live. 

Many beautiful residences and private parks 
attest the prosperity of Akron's citizens. All 
the important streets are paved with brick, 
stone or a.sphalt. Beautiful and well kept 
public parks are situated in all parts of the 
city. Here is one of the finest Music Halls 
in the state and one well adapted for large 
conventions, music festivals and other im- 
portant public occasions. Here, also, are 
three fine theaters, one of them — -the beautiful 
Colonial Theater — presenting the best at- 
tractions to be seen on the American stage. 

The Y. M. C. A. has been reorganized and 



is enjoying a new home, costing about $100,- 
000. The Akron City Hospital is now com- 
pletely established in a new six-story build- 
ing and making use of an equipment that 
cost $150,000. It will compare favorably 
with any hospital in America. 

The Y. W. C. A. has moved into a fine 
new home on High street, where it possesses 
every possible requisite for the successful 
prosecution of its admirable work. No 
more praiseworthv work is being done in 
Akron than that of the Y. W. C. A. 

Two beautiful new ward school buildings 
have just been erected and the High School 
nearly doubled in capacity by a splendid new 
building adjoining the old building on the 
west. 

The old court house built in 1840 has been 
supplanted by a superb structure of stone 
crowning the old court-house hill, and costing 
about $300,000. Many fine new business 
blocks were erected in 1906. The additions 
made to the store of The M. O'Neil Company 
in 1907 make it the largest store in Ohio and 
one of the great department stores of the 
United States. 

Akron always takes time to rejoice in its fire 
department. It is housed in seven modern 
buildings in different parts of the city, and 
furnished with the latest appliances and equip- 
ment for extinguishing fires. The pei-sonnel 
of the department is very high and the citi- 
zens have ab-solute confidence in its efficiency. 

The city has equal faith in its custodians 
of the law. The police force is a capable one 
and is guided by trustworthy hands. Life and 
property, therefore,, enjoy here as large a 
measure of protection as the best American 
municipalities afford. 

The city supports three enterprising and 
successful newspapers. They are clean, able, 
and fearlessly edited, and reflect great credit 
upon the community which reads and sup- 
ports them. 

Akron's retail stores are a satisfaction to 
her people. The stocks of goods are as com- 
plete and timely as those of the best city 
stores and the prices are considerablv lower 
than in most cities of Akron's size. The old 



62 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tendency to run to Cleveland to do purchas- 
ing is a thing of the past. If there ever was 
any necessity for such a course it no longer 
exists. When the public learned that the 
same quality of goods could be purchased in 
Akron at prices equal to the lowest anywhere, 
shopping in Cleveland became a mere affecta- 
tion and accordingly has not been fashionable 
for a considerable time. 

Akron's growth in population has been at 
the rate of 5 per cent per annum in late 
years. Accordingly the year 1908 will find 
nearly 60,000 people dwelling within her 
borders. 

Such is a rapid pen-picture of Akron as it 
exists in 1907. In the following pages will 
be found an accurate account of the rounding 
of the city, the purposes its founders had in 
mind, its early struggles, its pioneer citizens, 
its growth in many diverse ways, its disasters 
and misfortunes and its complete triumph in 
the year of its greatest prosperity, 1907. The 
reader will also find reliable historical state- 
ments concerning Summit County, its town- 
ships, its villages and all the various activities 
of Summit County citizens since the begin- 
ning. 

ECONOMIC CAUSES AND GROWTH OF 
AKRON. 

It is inaccurate to say that the Ohio Canal 
made Akron. The city as it stands today is 
the resultant of many causes. Many and 
different influences, and various men and 
measures, have co-operated toward the end 
now attained. The start was made long be- 
fore the Ohio Canal was built. • Within the 
present limits of the city, settlements at two 
different points had been made, which ante- 
date the canal by nearly two decades. In 1807 
the first settlement had been made in Middle- 
bury. In 1811 Miner Spicer had started 
"Spicertown." In the same year Paul Wil- 
liams settled upon the lands immediately 
west of the Spicer settlement and adjoining 
the land of General Simon Perkins on the 
east. When the canal was opened in 1827 
Middlebury was an important village. It had 



attracted many settlers from the East, prin- 
cipally from Connecticut, and boasted of half 
a dozen mills and factories, a dozen stores, 
three inns and about five hundred inhabitants. 
It certainly deserved a place on the maps of 
the time. 

Let us search that we may find, if we can, 
the economic reasons for the existence of 
Akron. The sentence that begins this chap- 
ter contains the idea that is ordinarily ad- 
vanced as the sole reason for the Akron of 
today. The unthinking man repeats: "The 
canal made Akron." The wTiter on Akron 
history records: "Dr. Eliakim G. Crosby 
made Akron." 

The truth is, no one thing and no one man 
made Akron, but that all the men who have 
ever worked for Akron, from the earliest be- 
ginning until this centennial year of 1907, 
aided by certain natural advantages, "made" 
Akron. The term "men" is here used in the 
generic sense, and includes the army of noble 
women who planned, worked, and sacrificed, 
and made man's work worth the while. All 
the minds and all the hands; all the labor 
and all the capital; all the faith and all the 
hope — these have been working for one hun- 
dred years to produce the results we now be- 
hold. 

If the canal did not make Akron, it was 
the largest single factor in the making. Where 
so many causes have been working together 
it is impossible to say that the result would 
not have been possible without any one of 
them. There is reason to believe, however, 
that without the early advantages of the first 
canal the great industries and the teeming 
population of the present would not have been 
Akron's. 

Allusion ha." been made above to certain ad- 
vantages which Nature provided for the future 
citJ^ A study of the economic reasons under- 
lying the location of any city vnW assist us 
in determining what they are in the present 
case. 

What induced the five hundred inhabitants 
of Middlebury in 1827 to locate there in the 
twenty years succeeding its founding? Leav- 
ing the Alleghenies behind, the boundless 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



63 



West was before them and they were free to 
settle here or there, as their judgment dic- 
tated? Then why Middlebury? To one who 
knows New England and Middlebury the an- 
swer is not hard to find. What turns the 
mills at Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke and all 
the towns on the Merrimac and Connecticut 
and other rivers of New England? New 
England's manufacturing prestige is due to 
the overwhelming advantages its unsurpassed 
water-power gives it. It is a power, cheap 
and easily transmitted. New England even 
in the early part of the last century was full 
of dams and sluices and waterwheels. The 
man from Massachusetts and Connecticut was 
brought up with a knowledge of these things. 
They were a familiar part of his environ- 
ment. He knew water-power when he saw it. 

The early Middlebury men were from 
Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was the 
power in the fall of "the river there that at- 
tracted them. The early Middlebury fac- 
tories, including the Cuyahoga furnace, a 
saw-mill and a large grist-mill, were all oper- 
ated by the power derived from a dam thrown 
across the river at the point where the plant 
of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company 
now stands. Later other dams were built and 
the use of the power extended. All this 
was done prior to the building of the Ohio 
canal, or even before the preliminary steps 
were taken. 

The Portage, or carry, between the Cuya- 
hoga and the Tuscarawas rivers was not of suf- 
ficient importance to cause any extensive set- 
tlement along its length or to influence any 
that might be made in its vicinity. We, of 
today, are inclined to overestimate its im- 
portance. There is no reason to believe that 
it was ever extensively used. It was in no 
sense of the word a great pioneer highway, 
such as some of those that brought about the 
establishment of the large trading-posts of 
the early days. The latter were powerful fac- 
tors in founding settlements that grew into 
cities later when the sway of the white man 
began. Travel over the Portage Path was 
little enough. The long carry of nine or 
ten miles, part of it up and down steep hills. 



was enough to deter all travelers, but those 
pressed by the greatest necessity. War par- 
ties passed in numbers at tdmes, but trappers 
and traders went by other ways. There was 
far greater travel over the east and west high- 
way, part of which is now called the Smith 
Road, and extensive settlements were made 
at various points along its course. 

At the southern end of the Portage Path, 
however, there was built up in the years 1806 
and 1825 one of the most promising of all 
the settlements in northern Ohio. This 
was not because of any advantage derived 
from travel over the Path, but because of the 
fact that here was the head of navigation on 
the Tuscarawas. The Indians and pioneers 
used the waterway as far as they could and 
then took various trails leading in other di- 
rections. The river was then of much greater 
volume than today and was capable of sup- 
porting an extensive traffic. Navigation was 
open from New Portage to the Muskingum 
and the Ohio, and extensive trading sprang 
into existence along these waterways. 

The Path, then, was of little or no bene- 
fit to the region we know as Akron. Neither 
did this immediate locality have any water- 
power. It was covered with thick forests of 
oak, ash, hickory, chestnut and maple. 
Splendid springs issued from the hillsides. 
Game was abundant. But the lake country 
only a few miles to the south offered much 
better hunting-grounds and richer fields in 
the fertile bottom lands along the creeks. 

Early in the year 1825 a great and sudden 
activity was manifested all along the base of 
the high hill, which stretches north and 
south from the Cuyahoga River at old Portage 
to Summit Lake, and along the top of which 
runs the Portage Path. This narrow zone of 
activity met the Path at both these points, 
and about halfway between them it bent 
away to the east about a mile and a half. 
It followed the base of the hill closely and 
lay in the lowest part of the territory con- 
tiguous to these points. 

This activity was the work of excavation 
for the Ohio Canal. The ditching alone 
would be a work of some magnitude even for 



64 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



these days of steam-shovels and earth-convey- 
ors. The earth was excavated to a depth, in 
the center, of five or six feet and of a width 
averaging, perhaps, twenty-five feet. In the 
distance between the Summit Level and Old 
Portage the greatest engineering works of the 
whole project were made necessary. Be- 
tween these two points there is a rise of nearly 
two hundred feet. This necessitated a series 
of locks and twenty-one of them were built, 
in massive style, of great sand-stone blocks 
and ponderous oak gates. By the side of each 
was built a sluice, or overflow, for the pas- 
sage of the. water when the gates were closed. 
This work brought into this neighborhood a 
small army of engineers, contractors, dig- 
gers, drivers, stone-masons, carpenters, black- 
smiths, and a subsidiary army to do the com- 
missary work for these. Like all camps of 
the kind, this was followed by the slab-saloon 
and the grocery, and almost in a day a town 
arose. It required two years' time to com- 
plete these works and by the time they were 
finished the new town numbered half as 
many inhabitants as Middlebury, two miles 
to the east and now in the twentieth year of 
its existence. 

Then commenced the great traffic over the 
Ohio Canal. If the Portage Path was not a 
highway, the canal certainly was. It is hard 
to realize now how important an avenue of 
commerce this great waterway was in the 
early days of Ohio. It is difficult to estimate 
accurately the great part it played in the 
development of the state. The danger to the 
student of these results will be to overstate 
them. The village at the mouth of the Cuy- 
ahoga had grown rapidly. Cleveland enjoyed 
an extensive commerce and the products of 
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the East were 
being distributed thence throughout the 
West by lake carriage. Ship-building in the 
vicinity of Cleveland became an established 
industry. The Cuyahoga at this time was a 
much larger stream than it is at present and 
many lake vessels were built as far inland as 
Old Portage. 

South of Akron were many village com- 
luunitv of older settlement. The canal 



opened an easy way of communication with 
these. It removed the obstacles in the 
journey to Cleveland. When completed it 
formed the bast method of inland transpoi-ta- 
tion then known, between Lake Erie and the 
Gulf of Mexico. Under favorable conditions 
loaded boats could navigate nearly as fast 
as a train behind George Stephenson's 
"Rocket." Travel by packet on the canal was 
not looked upon as a hardship, but welcomed 
as a great improvement over a journey by 
pioneer roads. Previous to the opening of 
the canail, the products of the community, 
which consisted mainly of flour, wool, hides, 
charcoal, potash, and dairy and farm prod- 
ucts were taken to Cleveland and Pittsburgh 
by wagon. These were of the prairie-schooner 
type and oftentimes immense loads would be 
hauled by eight-horse teams hitched to them. 
On the return trip merchandise of various 
kinds was brought in. The owners of these 
wagon routes were important men in the com- 
munity, and they were often intrusted with 
the execution of extensive commissions. No 
inconsiderable part of the buying and .-ellmg 
between Akron and the outside points was 
done through them. The most prominent 
among these early carriers were Patrick 
Christy, the grandfather of Will Christy, the 
electric railway magnate, and George Crouse, 
grandfather of the present Akron bu.siness- 
man, George W. Crouse, Jr. 

In one respect Akron was the most impor- 
tant point on the Ohio Canal. Students of 
economic causes have learned that great nat- 
ural obstacles to travel on important high- 
ways are the points most likely to attract set- 
tlement and become a nucleus for future devel- 
opment into village and cit^^ Thus a ford in 
a stream, a rapid or fall in a navigable river 
necessitating a portage, interrupts the jour- 
ney, causes delay and becomes the natural 
stopping place for travelers. At Akron, the 
traveler by canal met the greatest obstacle in 
all his journey. Here was a series of twenty- 
one locks through which his boat must pass 
before he could resume his journey. Four 
hours at the best would be consumed in the 
operation of locking, and delays were very 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



65 



frequent. The traveler could walk the entire 
distance between the extreme locks in one- 
fourth the time hi^ boat took in going 
through. Here, then, was a splendid site for 
the merchant. Here was a steady stream of 
travel and commerce passing, for more than 
eight months of the year. Here that travel 
must halt for a large part of the day. Thus 
the way-faring man was forced into an ac- 
quaintance with Akron ; thus the fame of 
Akron was carried throughout Ohio and be- 
yond. 

In the boyhood days of the writer of this 
chapter, that part of the town lying north of 
Federal street and west of Summit was known 
as "Dublin." This name was given to the 
locality when the locks were being built. As 
remarked above, it took two years to build 
them and a host of laboring men were busy 
in the work. Now, in the twenties the great 
tide of immigration from Italy and Germany 
and the other countries of the European con- 
tinent had not started to flow toward our 
shores. The Chinese coolies did not arrive 
until the building of the Union Pacific rail- 
way. The oppression of the peasantry in 
Ireland, however, had driven a horde of her 
population to seek easier conditions. The 
first great immigration was from Ireland. The 
"Dago" and the "Hunkie" of the twenties 
and thirties was the Irishman. "Paddy" 
built the railroads and made the highways 
and dug canals. Thait is, he handled the 
pick and shovel and carried the hod. He was 
the carrier of water and the hewer of wood. 
Well, the men from the Shamrock Isle who 
came to Akron to work on the canal, built 
their cabins in the locality referred to and 
lived there during the time they were work- 
ing on the locks. Whether they named the 
place themselves as a tender tribute to the 
"auld sod," which was still the focus of their 
fondest longings, or whether the place was 
facetiously dubbed by the bluer-blooded in-, 
habitants of Cascade or Middlebury, is un- 
known and immaterial. The present genera- 
tion neither knows the name nor has any 
dealings with the ancient district of "Dub- 
lin." Today it might be more appropriately 



called "Naples," for the Irish have pros- 
pered and moved into better city quarters, 
while the Italian, a late comer, has taken the 
old houses and become the predominating 
influence in the locality. The territory has 
been conquered in succession by Ireland, 
Africa and Italy. 

How much the canal did for the new town 
or rather towns, — for there were two of them, 
one, called Akron, centering at the corner of 
Main and Exchange streets and the other 
named Cascade and located near the corner 
of Market and Howard streets, — is seen from 
the growth of population that took place on 
this narrow strip of land along the canal and 
extending from Chestnut to Beech streets. At 
the end of the first decade this territory num- 
bered more than one thousand people. In 
1840, or fifteen years after the beginning of 
construction, the United States census showed 
a population of 1,381. It had left Middle- 
bury far behind. Practically the whole of 
this number had moved in from other places. 
Akron was already known as one of the most 
promising towns in the northwest territory, 
and this report was attracting new settlers by 
the hundred, annually. Most of the men em- 
ployed in building the locks remained here 
when the work was completed. So did the 
keepers of boarding-houses and taverns and 
the merchants who had been supplying the 
demand for groceries, clothing and such goods 
as the presence of so large a body of labor- 
ing men made necessary. These constituted 
a fine nucleus for the coming city. Thus, 
it was the canal, undoubtedly, that gave 
Akron its start. 

For twenty-five years the canal, too, was the 
only means of communication Akron had 
with the outside world. When her citizens 
traveled they went by packet, between the 
verdant banks of the canal. Their products 
found the outside market and their merchan- 
dise was brought in to them by boats plying 
on that same canal. The canal was as of 
much relative importance in Akron life of 
the period as it was in Holland. Venice, it- 
self, was not more dependent on, or prouder 
of, her waterways than Akron before 1852. 



6() 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The masters of canal boats were duly re- 
spected and, in the public estimation, occu- 
pied desirable places. 

On the 4th day of July, 1852, the first 
railway train rolled into Akron. It came in 
from Hudson over the Akron branch of the 
Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. It 
marked the end of the old order of things. 
It closed an epoch. The steam-propelled train, 
running on level iron tracks, had worked a 
revolution in the world outside. All business 
had to be adjusted to meet the changed con- 
ditions. The world had moved on apace. 
Akron was practically where the thirties had 
left her. Communication by canal was now 
isolation. The railway came and growth be- 
gan anew. Akron was nearing the time 
when she was to strike her real pace. The 
real making of the city, as we know it today, 
was still a thing of the future. The city 
grew as a few men prospered. When the 
sun of prosperity shone upon Ferdinand 
Schumacher, Arthur L. Conger, John F. Sei- 
berling, Lewis Miller, David E. Hill, Henry 
Robinson, James B. Taplin, J. D. Cummins, 
the Aliens, the Howers, 0. C. Barber, and 
one or two others, then began the era of real 
progress. From that time on, Akron has had 
a steady and even growth. 

The gi'owth has never been phenomenal. 
Its citizens have never experienced the excite- 
ment of a "boom." Real estate values have 
never taken a decided step upward. The con- 
trary is true, that the price of real property 
has lagged behind. Of course, the increase 
in population and wealth has brought with it 
higher prices for land and buildings, but the 
increase in the latter has not been commen- 
surate with the former. This fact will serve 
to indicate how gradual, normal, and 
healthy has been the growth of Akron. It 
was fortunate for the city that, when some 
of the industries founded by the above 
named men fell upon hard times and gave 
way under the stress of untoward circum- 
stances, others, started subsequently, grew 
amazingly and more than filled the gap. It 
was like the springing of second-growth trees 
to replace the falling of century-old monarch? 



of the forest. Of the above names, four of 
the men who bore them, and who had 
amassed great fortunes from their enterprises, 
went to their graves, broken in fortune. 
Three of the great businesses were closed up 
forever, and their names forgotten in the busi- 
ness world. In the joy of possessing the 
greater industries that have taken their places, 
few make room for the emotion of regret that 
ordinarily would have attended the departure 
of the older. Thus it has happened that 
Akron has been known successively as "The 
Oatmeal Town," "The Match Town," "The 
Place Where They Make Mowers and Reapei-s" 
"The Sewer-pipe Town," and lastly, "The 
Rubber City." When the magnitude of The 
Werner Company is considered, we can say 
with rea.son that it might well be called "The 
City of Graphic Arts." The renown of the lat- 
ter publishing house on the American Conti- 
nents would easily make it the one over- 
shadowing feature of many of Akron's rival 
cities, were they fortunate enough to possess 
it. 

Among the economic reasons for the re- 
markable growth of Akron, an important 
place inust be given to the extraordinary ad- 
vantages derived from certain mineral de- 
posits discovered in Summit County, early in 
its history. Even the most unreflective reader 
must be aware of the desirability of cheap 
fuel in a district devoted to manufacturing. 
Water-power was a good thing so far as it 
went; but that was limited, not only in the 
amount of the horse-power it could develop, 
but in the kinds of manufacturing which it 
could subserve. Thus, it was unavailable for 
the largest part of the operations of the pot- 
teries and for such work as operating the 
"driers" of the cereal mills. 

Fortunately, Nature was prodigal of her 
gifts to the territory of which Summit County 
is a part. To the south and east of Akron lie 
gread beds of bituminous coal, some of it 
of superior quality. The "Turkey-foot Coal" 
is the same as that of the Massillon field, and 
on combu.stion is capable of producing as 
many heat imits. Steady mining for more 
than half a centurv has not exhausted these 



AND REPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



resources; it has not even determined their 
full extent. New mines are opened from 
time to time, and the out-put continues to 
furnish the major part of the Akron supply. 
A short haul of five, ten, or fifteen miles 
brings this splendid fuel iv the doors of 
Akron's big factories. Thus, this city has an 
advantage over her manufacturing rivals, who 
must add to the cost of production the ex- 
pense of transporting fuel, sometimes for long 
distances. 

The "burning" of sewer pipe, brick and 
earthenware requires large quantities of fuel. 
These were among the very earliest of the 
city's industries. Contemporaneous were the 
furnaces for reducing iron ore to metal. 
They, too, needed heat rather than power. 

Coal was not the only fuel, for magnificent 
forests covered the entire country, and rich 
peat beds filled the swamps in many localities. 
Long after the coal is exhausted it will be 
possible to obtain excellent fuel by resorting 
to the peat deposits in Coventry, Copley and 
Springfield townships. Oil can also be ob- 
tained by refining the carboniferous shales 
which abound in various sections of the 
country. 

Akron sewer-pipe is the standard for the 
world. Specifications often read: "Sewer- 
pipe used must be equal to the best Akron." 
It cannot be doubted that the superior quali- 
ties of the finished product are due in large 
measure to the superexcellence of the raw 
material. Great beds of fine clay extend over 
the to^mships of Tallmadge, Springfield, 
Coventry and Green, while other townships 
posse,?s smaller deposits. 

Reference has been made in previous pages 
of this history to the existence of iron-fur- 
naces in Middlebury and Akron. None exist 
now, and have not for many years. Only 
the oldest inhabitants -uall remember them. 
The present generation a.sk in surprise, "Well, 
where in the world did they get the iron ore?" 
The answer, too, is surprising. It was ob- 
tained right at home. The furnaces were 
built here because the ferrous ores were here. 
They are still here, but are the so-called "boo;- 
iron." and the process of reduction is so ex- 



pensive that they cannot compete with the 
richer ores mined in other parts of the coun- 
try. Hence, when use was made of the great 
deposits in the Lake Superior district, the 
Akron furnaces went out of business, and 
now nothing remains of them but the .slag 
and cinder heaps which they left behind. 

In Springfield and Green townships there 
exists a four-foot stratum of limestone, of fair 
quality. Limestone, very impure, also occurs 
scattered in other portions of the county. Be- 
low Cuyahoga Falls, it was quarried in the 
early days of the county, and burned for 
water-lime. It is said that quantities of this 
local lime were u.sed in the masonry of the 
Ohio Canal, at the time of its' construction. 

Akron and Summit County have had the 
oil and gas fever from time to time. Many 
attempts have been made in the last forty 
years to find these minerals, with varying 
successs. Mr. Ferdinand Schumacher drilled 
a deep well, about twenty-five years ago on 
the site of the former Cascade Mill. His de- 
sire was to obtain gas sufficient to provide 
fuel for the operation of his mills. He was 
not successful, though gas in moderate quan- 
tities was obtained. Somewhat later J. F. Sei- 
berling drilled several holes in Springfield 
Township near Brittain, but after drilling 
to a great depth the wells were abandoned on 
account of the poor showing. In Bath and 
Northampton, surface oil has been known to 
collect in wells, and farmers have often been 
excited over the indications of petroleum. In 
Peninsula, the largest flow of gas ever found 
in the country comes from a well drilled 
there, and in the year 1907 the flow was con- 
tinuing unabated. 

In 1905-1906, the most ambitious attempt 
to search for oil that has been made in this 
district was undertaken. James and Mathew 
Lang organized the Interstate Oil Company, 
and secured much capital in Youngstown, 
Akron, and other cities, for the purpose of 
making a thorough test of this locality. 
Their theory was an ingenious one, and ap- 
peared plausible enough to any but e.xpert 
geologists. In explaining the theory it was 
said that oil was all about us. To the east 



68 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and south wese the Pittsburg, Pai'lcersburg 
and Marietta fields ; on the west were the Lima 
and Findlay fields, while north of us, some 
oil had been found in Canada and the Islands 
of Lake Erie. The oil in all these places 
had been found in the stratum of rock known 
as the Trenton formation, and this dipped 
from all these points toward Akron. In other 
words, Akron is built over the center of a 
great basin, the bottom 'of which is formed 
of Trenton rock. Therefore, all that was nec- 
essary in order to reach the greatest supply 
of petroleum ever tapped, was to drill in the 
neighborhood of Akron until the Trenton 
formation was encountered. Geologists are of 
the opinion that this rock lies more than 
4,000 feet below the surface of Summit 
County. These parties overlooked one 
thing, which is the weak point in their the- 
ory: The pressure of so tremendous a mass 
of the earth's crust would certainly force all 
oil and other liquids to ascend through the 
geological faults or porous strata, like the 
shales, to regions where that pressure was not 
so great. Is it not worthy of belief that this 
pressure has forced the oil from the central 
and lower parts of the basin to the rim of it, 
and that the surrounding fields have oil be- 
cause it has been forced out of the territory 
of which Akron is the center? In the years 
last mentioned, several wells were drilled near 
Thomastown, and oil in paying quantities 
was found far above the Trenton rock. Drill- 
ing was then stopped, and the oil has been 
steadily pumped from these wells since, in 
moderate quantities. A well is now being 
drilled near the State Mill, in Coventry Town- 
ship, and is said to be down 3,000 feet, with 
no indications of oil. It is extremely im- 
probable that Akron will ever enjoy an oil 
"boom." Most geologists are of the opinion 
that oil and gas do not exist in Summit 
County in sufficient quantities to make a 
search for either very profitable. Nature has 
so plenteously enriched this region with other 
resources that no one must be heard to com- 
plain that one or two gifts "have been with- 
held. 



AKRON S EARLY DAYS. 

On the 6th day of December, 1825, there 
was duly recorded in the records of Portage 
County, Ohio, by the recorder thereof, a plat 
of a new village. It consisted of about 300 
lots of land, and occupied the territory lying 
between the present i-ailroads, St. Bernard's 
Church, the Goodrich Rubber Plant and the 
Perkins School. The prime mover in this 
allotment was General Simon Perkins, of 
Warren, who owned considerable land in the 
county, a part of which was included in the 
amount platted. With him was associated Mr. 
Paul Williams, who owned the land adjoin- 
ing Gen. Perkins' on the east. These men 
were the founders of Akron. The city cannot 
appropriately celebrate its first centennial 
until 1925, although 1907 completes the first 
century since the settlement of Middlebury, 
which is now a portion of it. 

The survey for the Ohio canal had been 
made, and, by studying tlie altitudes of vari- 
ous places on its length, it was seen that the 
site of this new village occupied the very 
highest point. There is a Greek word, Akros, 
which translated means "high." At the sug- 
gestion of a lawyer fi-iend. General Perkins 
adopted the name "Akron" as a very appro- 
priate one for his new town. She is the 
original Akron. She has been a prolific pa- 
rent, for new "Akrons" are found in New 
York, Colorado, Indiana and many other 
states. The city does not occupy the highest 
land in the state, as is often erroneously as- 
serted. The highest altitude in the city is 
about 1,100 feet above the level of the sea. 
The highest point in the state is in the town 
of Ontario, not far from Mansfield, where the 
elevation reached is 1,373 feet. 

The first building built upon the new allot- 
ment occupied the corner where the Peoples 
Savings Bank is now located. It was built 
by Henry Clark, and was used by him for 
hotel purposes. Soon a store building was 
built on the lot diagonally opposite. When 
the work on the canal began, and dwellings 
and store buildings and shops and ware- 
houses sprang into existence as though stim- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



6y 



moned by the wave of a magician, there was 
large demand for the lots, and many of them 
were sold in a few months. The enterprise 
was a splendid success, and the new town 
started under the happiest auspices. A ship- 
yard was started inside the town limits at 
what was afterward called the Lower Basin, 
and on June 27th, 1827, the first canal boat 
built in Akron, and the first to regularly 
navigate the canal, and called the "Ohio," 
was launched. 

So Akron grew until August 10th, 1833, 
on which day the territorial extent of the 
city was doubled by the filing of a new plat 
by which all the lands lying north of the 
town as far as the Little Cuyahoga River, 
and between what is now th^ railroads on the 
east and Walnut and Oak Streets on the west, 
were allotted. As in the former plat, streets, 
parks, and alleys were provided for, and a 
little city was carefully laid out on paper. 
This plat also gave the name of the town em- 
braced by it as "Akron." This last allotted 
territory belonged mainly to Dr. Eliakim 
Crosby. He associated with him Judge Lei- 
cester King and General Simon Perkins, both 
of Warren. Dr. Crosby had settled in Mid- 
dlebury in 1820, coming thence from Can- 
ada, although he had been born in Litch- 
field, Connecticut. He embarked in various 
ventures in Middlebury, operating at times 
the Cuyahoga furnaces, a lime kiln, a grist 
mill, saw mill, etc. He sold them all by 
1831, and conceived a prospect larger than 
any of them. His plan was to carry the 
water of the Little Cuyahoga River by means 
of a hydraulic race, from Middlebury to a 
point on the Ohio Canal near Lock Five, near 
the foot of Mill Street. This would give a 
fall of water which could be used for power 
purposes from Lock Five to the northern 
limits of the town. Work on the race was 
commenced in 1831, and in the spring of 
1833 the waters of the river were flowing 
through it, and giving the power the en- 
gineer of the enterprise, Colonel Sebried 
Dodge, estimated they would. This is the 
race -which now Rcms through the Old Forge, 
around the Rocky Bluff above and just to the 



south of Fountain Park, the present fair 
grounds, and, crossing Summit, Broadway 
and High Streets, is conveyed by a conduit 
under the center of Main Street and down 
Mill Street from the Central Savings Bank 
Corner to the "Old Stone Mill," at Lock Five. 
The mill was built in the year 1832-1833 
to make use of the new power. On the maps 
the new race was called the "Cascade Mill 
Race." The old village had been called 
Akron for eight years and the people looked 
upon the addition as another and separate 
village. The name of the race they adopted, 
therefore, as the name of the town, and it 
was known as "Cascade" for many years 
thereafter, both at home and abroad. This 
name was later given to a newspaper, a hotel, 
and an important store; all named from the 
town of which they were a part. When the 
territory between the old and new village 
became better settled they were often referred 
to as North and South Akron, but gradually 
the distinction was obliterated. Today, by 
"South Akron" the citizen refers to tenitory 
lying south of Thornton Street, and extend- 
ing to a point three miles from the center 
of North Akron. 

The sixth Federal Census did not recognize 
Akron. It was the census of 1840. It gave 
Cleveland, 6,071 ; Steubenville, 4,247 ; Zanes- 
ville, 4,766; Chillicothe, 3.977. It gave the 
number of inhabitants in Summit County as 
22,560. In 1850, the name of Akron appears 
for the first time, and the town is credited 
with 3,266 population. In 1860 this had 
grown to only 3,477. The new railways had 
been in operation only five or six years, and 
their influence was not yet firmly felt. The 
older part of the town was exceedingly jeal- 
ous, in the early days, of the new upstart 
just north of it. Although they were both 
founded by General Simon Perkins, and had 
much in common, still, the rapid growth and 
many superior advantages of the northern 
section was quite sufficient to disturb the 
equanimity of the older community. The 
former possessed the "Stone Mill," and it was 
the largest manufactnring industry in any 
of the three towns. Here, also, was the new 



70 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



"Cascade House"; the most modern and best 
of all the hotels in the vicinity. Here was 
the "Cascade Store," occupying the south- 
west corner of Main and Market Streets, 
founded by Jonathan F. Fenn and Charles 
W. Howai'd, and purchased in 1835 by Mr. 
Philander D. Hall, and many other advan- 
tages were enjoyed e.xclusively by the new 
village. Middlebury was also envious and 
jealous, and there was a three-cornered rivalry 
which at times approached to a feeling of 
bitterness. Finally, the contest settled down 
to a conflict between the two Akrons, and 
oftentimes the business rivalry took the form 
of a contest of force. The newspapers of the 
time frequently contained long articles of the 
most bitter recriminations. The two towns 
were separated by a narrow strip of land, per- 
haps 600 or 70(3 feet wide, extending from 
Quarry to Center Streets. This was owned 
by General Perkins, and was neutral ground. 
It was called the "gore," whether because of 
its shape, or the amount of blood it caused 
to be spilled, is not known. This strip be- 
longed to neither of the villages and, lying 
exactly between them, was good compromise 
ground. Hence, when the church congrega- 
tions of that day wished to build a place of 
worship, the partisans of the two sections 
fought each other to a standstill, and then de- 
cided to meet halfway and erect their temple 
on the neutral ground. In order to insure ab- 
solute fairness in the matter, the churches 
were faced toward the west. In this way the 
original Methodist, Baptist and Congrega- 
tional churches were built. The latter occu- 
pied the site of the present Court House, 
while the Baptist was built on the corner of 
Quarry and High Streets. The reader will 
doubtless reflect by this time that the County 
Court House, built in 1841, occupies the site 
on this neutral ground. When the Baptist 
Church was built, it was proposed to make 
it face toward the south. This provoked a 
quarrel that foimd its way into the newspa- 
pers, and was waged with much feeling. 
Many of the members living in North Akron 
withdrew their church membership; some of 
the contributors to the building fund, who 



lived north of the "gore," refused to pay 
their subscriptions, and the church was nearly 
rent in twain on account of this sectional 
warfare. The original Congregational society 
was broken up and disbanded, and the Meth- 
odists engaged in an internecine struggle that 
caused each party to accuse the other, when, 
in 1841, their church building burned down, 
of having set it afire. Judging from the news- 
paper accounts, the fire was not incendiary 
at all. 

But, the contest up to the time of the Post- 
Office War, was mild by comparison with 
what happened during that memorable affair, 
and the year or two next succeeding. Then 
was reached the climax. Up until December, 
1837, the post-office had been located in South 
Akron. It was established in 1826, the year 
after the founding, by President John Quincy 
Adams. He appointed a young lawyer named 
Wolsey Wells as the first postmaster. Mr. 
Wells built a large house on West Exchange 
Street, on the corner of Water Street, and in 
it conducted the operations of the postal serv- 
ice and collected the tolls on the Ohio Canal, 
for he was both postmaster and toll collector, 
and, when he had time, attended to the duties 
of justice of the peace, in addition. It prob- 
ably required the revenues from the combined 
offices to support the one incumbent, and even 
then his salary was doubtless only a modest 
one. 

In 1883, Mr. WelLs moved away from 
Akron and President Jackson appointed Lewis 
Humiston, who was then keeping the Clark 
Tavern, on the corner of Main and Exchange 
Streets, as his successor in the post-office. He 
built a small building in the rear of the hotel 
on the north side of Exchange Street, just 
east of Main, and established the post-office 
in it. Early in 1837 Mr. Humiston resigned 
owing to his removal from Akron and the 
war was on. 

There was a large number of applicants 
for appointment to the vacancy. The contest 
finally settled down to a struggle between 
Constant Bryan and Harvey H. Johnson. 
They were both lawyers and both residents 
of the north village. The former was after- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



71 



ward elected probate judge of the county, and 
was the father of Major Frederick C. Bryan. 
The contest grew so acrimonious that the gov- 
ernment threatened to abolish the office un- 
less the community would announce its deci- 
sion at an early date and arrive at it in a 
peaceable manner. The South Akron candi- 
dates then withdrew and, with their respective 
adherents, gave their support to Mr. Johnson 
in return for his promise, it was alleged, that 
the site of the post-office should remain in 
South Akron. This action gave Johnson the 
support of a large majority of the voters of 
the two villages, and accordingly he received 
the appointment. 

He took possession of the office in June, 
1837, and all South Akron rejoiced with him. 
They felt that they were sharers of his good 
fortune. Had they not retained one of the 
greatest factors in the upbuilding of their 
section of the city? The new postmaster was 
received with open arms as a new neighbor. 
They of the North End were inwardly dis- 
pleased. Mr. Johnson was one of them, but, 
by maintaining his office in the South End 
he was giving aid and comfort to the enemy. 
Their displeasure soon manifested itself out- 
wardly and the columns of the newspapers 
bore evidence of their state of feeling. Mr. 
Johnson's "treason" was .strongly denounced, 
and every possible argument for the removal 
of the post-office to the growing North Akron 
was set forth. Surely the South Akronites 
could not object to its removal to the neutral 
ground, called the "Gore"! The churches 
had compromised on this strip, and here was 
the logical and reasonable site for all their 
common activities, the location of which 
might be in dispute. 

South Akron could see nothing to arbitrate. 
They could not see that it was "logical" to give 
up so desirable an acquisition as the post- 
office. For them, to go to the post-office was 
merely to go around the corner or across the 
street, while the north citizens must trudge 
a mile or more in snow, mud and burning 
summer heat to get their mail and buy their 
.'tamps. It is to be feared that the South 
Enders taunted them as they pas.«ed and im- 



moderately rejoiced in their own good for- 
tune. Human nature is the same in all ages. 

So the summer and autumn passed and 
South Akron had settled down to the full 
enjoyment of the post-office as their own prop- 
erty. The reader can imagine then, the sur- 
prise, the absolute consternation, which seized 
South Akron, one morning in December, 
1837, when it looked for its beloved posses- 
sion and could not find it. It searched for 
its post-office everywhere within its four cor- 
ners; it rubbed its eyes and searched again. 
There was no mistaking the fact that some- 
body had done something with the post-office. 
At length the information was brought in 
that it had gone north during the night. It 
had not even stopped on the compromise 
ground. It was not to be a neutral thing, 
it was not to be possessed in common with the 
enemy. It had gone over to the enemy. 
It was resting and operating smoothly in the 
Buckley Building, on the corner of Howard 
and Mill streets. The North Enders were tak- 
ing but a step or two to reach it, while they 
of the South End were trudging a mile in the 
snow to buy their stamps, and a weary mile 
back, nursing their wrath and planning sat- 
isfaction. 

If newspaper articles are a means of satis- 
faction in such a contingency, they had it in 
full. "We can well believe that the North 
Enders enjoyed the storm while their cra'^t- 
fallen rivals thundered their vituperation and 
insinuation in the local press. The postmaster 
was denounced as a "traitor" and a "viper." 
The ugliest charges, l)acked up by affidavits, 
were printed in the newspaper. Mr. Johnson 
replied by other articles and made use of 
many personalities calculated to drive his as- 
sailants to cover. Finally the editor of the 
paper refused to extend further the courtesy 
of his columns for the purpose of continuing 
the wordy war, and the contestants took to 
pamphleteering. Sixteen-page pamphlets 
were used to give vent to the feeling of out- 
rage on the part of the South .\kron citizens, 
and their leading men assisted in preparing 
them and lent their names to the cause. It 
speaks well for the self-restraint of the com- 



72 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



munity that the warfare was confined to the 
newspapers and that no violence of any kind 
waa done or attempted. 

The injured feeling on the part of the 
South Enders soon passed away. The North 
End, from that time on, rapidly surpassed it 
in population, wealth and influence. Many 
of the citizens of the south village moved their 
business and residences to the North End. 
The spirit of partisanship or rivalry soon 
disappeared, never to be renewed. The post- 
office was moved many times thereafter with- 
out a note of protest from anybody. Dr. 
Dana D. Evans, the successor of Mr. John- 
son, moved it twice, each time further north. 
The first move was into the Stone Block, on 
the east side of Howard street near Market; 
the second was to the large stone "Good 
Block," on the corner of Market and Maiden 
Lane. 

In 1849, postmaster Frank Adams moved 
it back to the east side of South Howard 
street, where Remington's jewelry store is now 
located. In 1853, his successor, Edward W. 
Perrin, moved it a few doors further north to 
a room in the Matthews Block, where it re- 
mained until July 1st, 1870, when the new 
postmaster, James B. Storer, just appointed 
by President Grant, moved it south to the 
corner room in the Msisonic Temple on the 
corner of Howard and Mill streets. The lease 
on the room in the Masonic Temple expired 
before the new government building was 
ready for occupancy, and the post-office took 
temporary quarters in the old office of The 
American Cereal Company, on the south-east 
corner of Mill and Broadway, which had 
been vacated when that company moved its 
general offices to Chicago. Here it remained 
until the completion of the government build- 
ing, on the corner of Market and High 
Streets, where, in all probability, it will re- 
main so long as Akron people will have need 
of postal services. The separate post-office of 
Middlebury has been discontinued and a 
branch of the Akron office installed in its 
place, yet there was no objection to the move 
on the part of anyone. At the present time 
there is no rivalrv between anv of the manv 



sections of the city, but, everywhere, the 
visitor sees evidence of a new spirit, a uni- 
versal desire to pull together for the good of 
Akron. 

AKRON AN INCORPORATED TOWN. 

The real history of Akron as a municipal 
corporation commences on the 12th day of 
March, 1836, for it was on that day that the 
legislature of the State of Ohio duly passed 
a resolution granting to the two villages. South 
and North Akron, a town charter, in accord- 
ance with their joint request, as contained 
in a petition they presented to the General 
Assembly in 1835. In addition to the land 
contained in the original town plats of Gen- 
eral Perkins, Paul AVdlliams, Dr. Crosby and 
Leicester King, this act of the legislature 
added to the municipal territory more than 
three square miles just east of and contiguous 
to the said plats. The east corporate line 
under this grant of municipal rights extended 
a trifle east of the present Spicer Street and 
from about Hamilton Avenue across Fir, Mar- 
ket and North Main and Howard Streets to 
the Little Cuyahoga River. 

The incoiporating act provided a complete 
scheme of government for the new munici- 
pality, including officers, elections, forms of 
taxation, legislation, boards of education, etc. 
It provided for the election of a mayor, a 
recorder and five trustees. It prescribed that 
the first town election should be held on the 
second Tuesday in June, 1836. The terri- 
tory out of which Akron was formed wa- 
taken from both Coventry and Portage town- 
ships. For the purpose of the first election, 
the usual polling place of Portage Township 
was to be used — the old Clark Tavern, on the 
corner of Main and Exchange Street*. 

In 1836, the North End contained more 
electors than the South End, and, in the 
caucuses of both the Whig and Democrat par- 
ties, it captured the nominations. In the 
election following, political lines were oblit- 
erated, as they always should be in municipal 
elections, and the results showed that the 
voters split on sectional lines of cleavage in- 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



73 



stecad. The Whigs nominated Seth Iredell for 
mayor. He was a Quaker who had come 
from Pennsylvania about the time of the 
completion of the canal, and had been in- 
timately connected with the affairs of the 
norlh town since the beginning. Their can- 
didate for recorder was Charles W. Howard, 
a son-in-law of Dr. Crosby's, who, of course, 
was strongly identified with the interests of 
North Akron. The nominees of the Demo- 
crats for m.ayor and recorder were Dr. Elia- 
kim Crosby and Constant Bryan, respectively, 
one the founder of North Akron and the 
other one of its most prominent citizens. 

It was rather poor politics to localize the 
nominations in this way, but the North End- 
ers had the power, and the temptation to u.se 
it to the utmost was too strong to be with- 
stood. The South Enders showed their feel- 
ings by voting against the man who was 
most responsible for the existence of the North 
End, and all others who were intimately con- 
nected with him. The total vote cast in the 
ensuing election was one hundred and sixty- 
six, and the strong interest in the election. 
produced by the warfare of the sections, 
doubtless drew out a full vote. The votes 
were soon counted and it was ascertained that 
Mr. Iredell had been elected by a majority of 
sixteen, while Mr. Bryan w-as elected by a 
majority of twelve. 

The vote was as follows: 

FOR MAYOR. 

Seth Iredell, Whig 91 

Elilakim Crosby, Democrat 75 

FOR RECORDER. 

Constant Bryan, Democrat 87 

Charles W. Howard, Whig 75 

FOR TRUSTEES. 

Erastus Torrey, Whig •. 153 

Jededlah D. Commins. Democrat 143 

Noah M. Green, Whig 124 

William B. Mitchell, Democrat 114 

William E. Wright, Whig S8 

By the terms of the charter, all the above 
officials were to constitute the Town Council 
and possess within themselves all the execu- 
tive, administrative, legislative and appointive 



functions. The charter provided for a mar- 
shall, treasurer, engineer, solicitor, all to be 
appointed by the Town Council, and for such 
police and fire officers as it might deem ex- 
pedient. 

When the council organized, it was learned 
that Mr. Mitchell had declined to act as 
trustee and Justus Gale, a Whig, was chosen 
to fill the vacancy. After sei-ving a few 
months Mr. Commins also rasigned as trustee 
and the council appointed William K. May 
as his successor. 

The grant of municipal powers from the 
state provided that town officials should hold 
office only one year. These just elected had 
but got well acquainted with their respective 
duties and had settled down to a reasonable 
enjoyment of the honors so hardly won, when 
the time for their exit from the stage of pub- 
lie affairs arrived. Whether they were dis- 
satisfied with their offices or the people with 
their officials, the truth remains that not one 
of them remained in his office for a second 
term'. Akron has earned for herself a repu- 
tation for fickleness in this r&spect that en- 
dures to the present day. 

At the second election, held in 1837, John 
C. Singleton, Jr., wa.s elected mayor, William 
E. Wright, recorder, and William K. May, 
William T. Mather, Dave D. Evans, Jesse 
Allen and Eben Blodgett, trustees. When 
the new council met it elected Moses Cleve- 
land, marshal, and Horace K. Smith, treas- 
urer. The new mayor was a young man of 
twenty-seven years. His predecessor was 
nearly sixty-three. Mayor Singleton came 
of a wealthy family, living at Streetsboro, 
Portage County. He had graduated at Western 
Eeserve College, at Hudson, with the class of 
1835, and was esteemed later as a very bril- 
liant man. He made some very unfortunate 
business ventures upon coming to Akron after 
his graduation, and his inexperience in the 
law prevented his securing many or profitable 
clients, so he was better known in Akron for 
his debts and his poverty than for any especial 
abilities, at the time of his candidacy. 

The fame he won by his first term brought 
him a re-election over such a strong candidate 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



as William M. Dodge, who was afterward 
elected probate judge of the county. 

In June, 1839, General Lucius V. Bierce, 
a most remarkable man in many ways, was 
elected as mayor. He had just returned from 
the ill-fated "Patriot" expedition into Can- 
ada. In 1838, it was believed by many 
American citizens that Canada was ready for 
revolution. A Canadian editor, William 
Lyon Mackenzie, was the originator of the 
movement. On the American side, all the 
territory bordering on the Great Lakes, be- 
came interested in it. In the beginning it 
took the form of a fraternal order with the 
accompanying ritual, secrecy, oaths, etc. 
"Hunters Lodges," as they were called, were 
established in many places. A prosperous 
lodge was formed in Akron. The object of 
the order was to assist Canada in throwing 
off the yoke of Great Britain. 

On the burning of the filibustering schooner 
"Caroline" by the Canadian authorities in 
December, 1837, great excitement prevailed in 
Akron and public meetings were held by all 
the prominent citizens and resolutions adopted 
demanding the prompt interference of the 
President of the United States. General 
Bierce was a brigadier-general of Ohio mili- 
tia. He had always been a student of mili- 
tary matters and had early inter&sted himself 
in the State Guard. The Canadian movement 
found him ready to begin hostilities at the 
drop of a hat. A convention of "Patriots" 
was called at Buffalo. General Bierce at- 
tended and so impressed the other delegates 
with his military knowledge that he was 
chosen as military commander-in-chief of the 
whole movement. The movement never 
reached any serious proportions. Judging 
from its size, the character of the men be- 
hind it, and the preparations made for carry- 
ing it out, it never got beyond the stage of 
boys' play. 

An attack of two hundred men was made 
in Canada in the St. Lawrence River district, 
and repelled without appreciable difBculty, 
and the leader of it hanged. Mackenzie was 
driven from Canada. December 4, 1838, Gen- 
eral Bierce at the head of 137 men, made the 



second and last incursion into Canada. It 
started from Detroit and got as far as A\"ind- 
sor, just across the river. Fifty British -sol- 
diers were guarding the barracks here. The 
"Patriot Army," as the commander-in-chief 
delighted to call his squad, .succeeded in set- 
ting fire to the baiTacks and also in burn- 
iing a non-belligerent little steamer, "The 
Thames," lying at the wharf. They were 
soon attacked by 400 Canadian soldiers, and, 
of the 137 who crossed the river, only thirty 
returned. The rest were either killed or 
taken prisoners. 

The captured were transported to Van Die- 
man's land. 

This was the last of the effort to "free" 
Canada. It was a most inglorious affair. It 
is difficult to see now how anyone could pos- 
sibly draw any credit from it, except, perhaps, 
the Canadian soldiers and the American fed- 
eral authorities, who promptly and energetic- 
ally did all they could to break up these fili- 
bustering expeditions and lo maintain our 
ordinary status with the British government 
as a power with whom we were on friendly 
terms. General Bierce, it is alleged by many, 
did not acquit himself with extraordinary 
valor. He has been critici.'^ed for being among 
the first to cross in the little canoe to the 
American side after the disastrous sequel. 
Be that as it may, he returned to Akron with 
.splendid stories of his exploits and speedily 
became a hero in the eyes of his fellow 
citizens. It was something to have an Akron 
man put in command of the "combined Pa- 
triot forces," if they did number only one 
hundred and thirty-seven. Anyhow, the next 
year General Bierce stood for mayor and was 
triumphantly elected. His military renown 
stood him in such good stead that he was 
elected mayor again in 1841-1844-1849-1867- 
1868, and was made president of the Board of 
Education at its first organization, in 1847. 
Other well-known men who have held the 
office of mayor are George W. McNeil. Wil- 
liam T. Allen, George D. Bates, Sr., James 
]\Iathews and Samuel A. Lane. 

In 18.^1, the people of the State of Ohio 
.ndopted a new constitution. Acting under 




"IRVING LAWN," 
RESIDENCE OF MRS. A. L. CONGER, AKRON 




RESIDENCE OF JAMES 11, A Nil )|;K\\ s, .\KRONI; 





THE PERKINS HOMESTEAD, AKRON 



RESIDENCE OF BERTRAM G. WORK. AKRON 





RESIDENCE OF MRS. RICHARD P. MARVIN, AKRON RESIDENCE OF MRS. ETTA W. WORK, AKROj 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



77 



powers granted by it, the legislature made a 
classification of municipalities according to 
population. In it Akron was classified as a 
village and henceforth was known as the "In- 
corporated Village of Akron." The popula- 
tion then was little more than three thousand. 

December 14, 1864, recorder Henry W. 
Ingersoll, acting under instructions from the 
council, took a local enumeration and found 
the population living within the corporate 
limits of Akron to be 5,066. According to 
the mimicipal classification this entitled 
Akron to be advanced to the grade of "city 
of the second class." On the 25th day of 
Decembei-, 1864, the Village Council passed 
a resolution that the necessary steps for ad- 
vancement be taken and petitioned the State 
authorities to that end. This was done on 
the 21st day of January, 1865. John Brough 
was then Governor of Ohio. On that date 
the "City of Akron" had its inception. Here- 
tofore there had been no wards or precincts. 
Under the enabling act, the Council imme- 
diately met and laid out the city into three 
wards and took the steps for holding the 
first city election on the first Monday in the 
coming April. Hitherto the village elections 
had been held in June. 

April 3, 1865, the first city election was 
held and James Mathews was chosen as the 
first mayor of the new city. The first council, 
elected at the same time, was thus constituted : 
First Ward — Charles W. Bonstedt, elected for 
one year; George W. Crouse, elected for two 
years. Second Ward — John E. Bell, one year; 
Henry W. Howe, two years. Third Ward — ■ 
J. Park Alexander, one year; Lewis Miller, 
two years. This council organized by elect- 
ing Mr. Miller as president and Jeremiah A. 
Long as clerk. 

One of the important acts of this council 
was adding additional territory lying imme- 
diately east of the city. A small strip lying 
between the two municipalities of Akron and 
Middlebury was thickly settled and desired 
the benefits of city government and improve- 
ments. Their petition was acted upon favor- 
ably by the city and the countv commission- 
ers, and, on September 6, 1865, the second 



territorial addition was made to Akron. This 
strip was bounded roughly as follows: On 
the west by the east corporation line of 
Akron, running about the present location 
of Spicer and Fir streets; on the south by 
Exchange Street, running on the same 
courses as it does today; on the east by the 
west line of the village of Middlebury, which 
extended as far west as the present junction 
of East Market Street and Buchtel Avenue. 

Early in 1870 there commenced an agita- 
tion in favor of the annexation of Middle- 
bury. The two municipalities touched each 
other and to all intents and purposes were 
as one. In Akron the sentiment was unani- 
mous in favor of consolidation and in Middle- 
bury a strong feeling in that direction began 
to set in. At length, public sentiment there 
ripened to such a degree that the Middlebury 
Village Council passed an ordinance submit- 
ting the question of annexation to Akron to 
a vote of the village electors. This ordinance 
was passed August 24, 1871. The Akron 
City Council passed a similar ordinance on 
the 5th day of February, 1872. It was 
agreed and provided that the question should 
be voted upon at the regular spring election 
to be held in 1872. 

It was held on the first Monday in April, 
and the annexationists were triumphant in 
both municipalities. In Akron only .-ix 
votes were cast against the project; in Mid- 
dlebury only twenty-six. The total vote in 
favor of annexation was 1,182, of which 
Middlebury gave 140. The Akron Council 
then chose, as members of the joint commis- 
sion to arrange the details of annexation, th6 
following citizens : William T. Allen, George 
W. Crouse and David L. King. The Middle^; 
bury Council selected the following represent- 
ative Middlebury men as its commissioners : 
Frank Adams, George F. Kent and Dr. Men- 
dal Jewett. ■ • 

This joint commission met at once and 
quickly agreed upon all the terms incidental 
to the process- of annexation, such as arrang; 
ing for equitable distribution of the publjc 
debts, taxation, assessments, etc. Their agree- 
ment was incorporated into an ordinance 



78 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



which was passed by the Akron Council on 
April 24, 1872, and by Middlebury April 19, 
1872. By this Act, the city of Akron in- 
creased its population about one-fifth and 
added to its domains a large extent of terri- 
tory which possessed great resources. 

Middlebury had been known for its water- 
power and its clay-beds especially. It also 
brought into the city a substantial, sturdy 
citizenship which was bound to make its in- 
fluence felt in muTiicipal advancement. By 
the ordinance of March 9, 1871, the Akron 
City Council had redistricted the city and 
created two new wards in addition to the 
original three, rather they had made five new 
ones of the original three, and, when Middle- 
bury was annexed, it was provided by ordi- 
nance of May 27, 1872, that it should form 
the Sixth AVard of the city. As such it con- 
tinued until 1900, when the annexation of 
much territory on the south, the west and 
the north, made another redistricting neces- 
sary. It then became the Second Ward of 
the city. In 1904, the ward numbers were 
changed again and the old number of Sixth 
was given to the district of Middlebury. In 
the year 1907 it is known as the "Old Sixth" 
ward of the city of Akron. 

On October 28th of the same year (1872) 
a small district lying south of East Exchange 
was made a part of the city of Akron. Ten 
years later, a large district lying to the north- 
east was annexed. This new territory wa's 
in Tallmadge and Portage townships and had 
been known for years as "The Old Forge." 
It had received the name from the wrought- 
iron industry established there in 1817 by 
Asaph Whittlesey, of Tallmadge. Aaron Nor- 
ton and William Laird, of Middlebury. It is 
known today as the "Old Forge" district. The 
ordinance for this annexation passed the 
council of February 18, 1882, and by coun- 
cil action taken on March 1, 1886, it was 
made a part of the Sixth Ward. 

By an ordinance dated March 15, 1886, 
the council took the necessary steps to bring 
about the annexation of part of Coventry 
Township, on the south, and part of Portage 



Township, on the west and north. When this 
action was completed, the south corporation 
line had been extended to about South Street, 
on the south, and to a line running north 
and south and crossing Beck and Byers Ave- 
nues and Market Street, on the west. By this 
action nearly 700 acres of land, well popu- 
lated, was added to the city. These additions, 
made during the decade, lent much interest 
to the census of 1890, and the citizens 
awaited impatiently the announcement of the 
results of the count. The total of 27,601 was 
very gratifying and every true Akronian felt 
that from that time onward the world would 
be compelled to take notice of the existence 
of the city of Akron. 

In 1899-1900, by action of the City Coun- 
cil and the county commissioners, the city of 
Akron took additional territory from both 
Coventry and Portage Townships. The city 
had outgrown its old limits. In South Akron 
a district extending beyond the railroads, at 
Falor's and Wingerter's crossings, was thickly 
populated. The desirable residence features 
of North Hill had attracted many new resi- 
dents there. On the west both Perkins Hill 
and West Hill now contained the costliest 
and mo.st fashionable residences in the city. 
Many of these had been built outside the old 
corporation line. This territory on the south, 
west and north was all annexed to the city at 
this time. The new city limits now extended 
beyond Falor's Crossing and Summit Lake 
on the south, passed through the Count}' 
Farm, where the Tnfirmary is located, and 
intersected North Portage Path, near the 
Country Club, on the west ; added a populous 
district on Merriman road, and intersected 
Cuyahoga Falls Avenue on the north. The 
annexation was made in time to have the 
additional population included in the census 
of 1900 as a part of the enumeration for 
Akron. The official count that year showed 
that Akron had a population of 42,728. The 
growth since 1900 has been steady, and at 
the present time the population is close to 
60,000. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



79 



MERCANTILE AKRON. 

As early as 1843 Horace Greeley said, in 
the Neiv York Tribune after a visit to Akron : 
"This place, with a population of 2,500, has 
five woolen factories, an extensive blast fur- 
nace, a machine shop, a card manufactory, 
nine dry-goods stores, and about as man\ 
other stores; two weekly newspapers, four 
lai'ge flouring mills,- a court house, four 
churches and two more being erected." 

For the purposes of this chapter Mr. Gree- 
ley's reference to the dry-goods stores is alone 
of importance. Now, as then, the Akron mer- 
cantile concerns devoted entirely, or in part, 
to the sale of dry-goods outnumber those deal- 
ing in any other one line of life's so-called 
necessities. 

Up to 1825, the mercantile life of the 
town — as was true of all else savoring of a 
settled community — was centered in Middle- 
bury, which in the year mentioned had some 
ten or twelve stores and was the trading center 
of a considerable portion of northern Ohio. 

The canal was important in Akron's be- 
ginning. It brought the first con.siderable 
number of customers for prospective mer- 
chants. It is recorded that soon after work 
was begun upon the canal, a man named 
Benedict erected a two-story frame store at 
the southwest corner of Main and Exchange 
streets. Mr. Benedict was probably the pio- 
neer merchant of Akron proper. The busi- 
ness which he established was continued for 
many years under the name of the "Mam- 
moth Store," and carried such a variety of 
goods suitable, of course, to the multitude of 
needs of a more or less primitive population, 
that it may rightly be termed Akron's first 
department store. 

Mechanics and laborers poured into the 
infant city. Manufacturers located conven- 
iently near; farmers clustered about the out- 
skirts, and Benedict's "Mammoth Store" soon 
had many rival seekers for the trade of the 
active and progressive population of Akron 
in the twenties. 

In the village of Cascade, the northern one 
of the settlements out of which modem Akron 



was formed, the first store building was one 
erected by the late Seth Iredell in 1832, at 
the southwest corner of Market and Howard 
streets, on the site now occupied by Green- 
wood Brothers. 

In 1832 Jonathan F. Fenn and Charles 
W. Howard established themselves in Mr. 
Iredell's block with a varied line of merchan- 
dise, but after three somewhat stormy years 
these early and disappointed "merchant 
princes" gave up the struggle. In 1835 Phil- 
ander D. Hall acquired a lease of the prop- 
erty and entered into the conduct of the busi- 
ness founded by Messrs. Fenn and Howard. 
He was much more successful than they had 
been, and proceeded, with his brother, to 
build a business and a fortune. The business 
was discontinued only on the death of the 
brothers, a few years ago. Such were the 
beginnings of the "general store" or "depart- 
ment store" business in Akron. It has grown 
as Akron has grown. Hundreds of mercan- 
tile establishments founded and conducted on 
a small basis have made the names of their 
thrifty proprietors household words in the 
localities where they affixed themselves. 
Many such businesses through the judicious 
investment of profits, created comfortable 
fortunes. 

But good fortune in Akron has not been 
more nearly universal than elsewhere. For 
instance, no more pathetic and at the same 
time no more remarkable figure has been 
identified with Akron's mercantile life than 
that of the venerable Joseph E. Wesener, still 
among the living, though past eighty years 
of age. Born in Pennsylvania in 1827, Mr. 
Wesener came to Akron from Canton in 
1846, and as a youth of twenty gained a prac- 
tical insight into mercantile affairs by clerk- 
ing in Akron stores for four years. Then he 
entered into partnership with the late Allen 
Hubbard. Two fires were encountered (but 
survived) in a few years, but Mr. Wesener 
pushed on, sometimes alone, and again with 
various partnei-s, dealing in wool, conducting 
dry-goods stores, .speculating where legitimate 
opportunity presented itself, and for a third 
of a century continuing to do a phenomenally 



80 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



successful business in Akron. He was at one 
time rated as Akron's wealthiest citizen. Then 
came reverses. One, venture after another 
proved unsuccessful. Disaster after disaster 
visited itself upon him; his properties were 
swept away, and this venerable "captain of 
industry," his wealth vanished, his fame en- 
feebled by the relentless wear of the years, 
is ending his days in dire poverty. 

The following are some of those who have 
had an active part in Akron's commercial life 
since 1840, arranged so far as possible, in 
chronological order: Frank J. Kolb, 1840; 
Major Erhard Steinbacher, druggist and gro- 
cer, 1851 ; Jacob Koch, clothier, beginning 
as a clerk for Koch & Levi in 1854 ; John 
Cook, grocer, 1855 (afterward succeeded by 
his sons) ; Cornelius A. Brouse, 1859 ; C. W. 
Bonstedt, John B. Houghton, John Wolf, 
1862; George C. Berry, 1866. Others who 
have made their names in Akron's mercantile 
affairs were Brouse & Co., O'Neil & Dyas 
(now conducted by Michael O'Neil as The 
M. O'Neil & Co.), who first conceived the 
idea of a modern department store for Akron, 
an idea which has been worked out to huge 
success under the present management; Mur- 
ray & Watt (later the Boston Store, which was 
discontinued within the present year) ; Myers 
& Polsky (still conducted successfully by A. 
Polsky and his two sons) ; Wendel Mangold, 
Dague Brothers (whose business was recently 
purchased by the C. H. Yeager Co.) ; Burke 
C. Herrick, 0. H. Remington, J. B. Storer, 
Dwight A. Hibbard, George J. Neiberg, C. 
M. Hibbard, William J. Frank, D.H.McBride 
and E. C. McBride, George S. Dales, Alfred 
M. Barber, Levi Kryder,"C. M., F- L. and 
J. H. Kryder; Augustus Jabaut, John C- 
Weber, William Gray, John Kreuder, James 
N. Baldwin. George A. Bisbee, Charles W. F. 
Dick, David K. and Albert T. Paige, George 
Viall, Burdette L. Dodge. George W. Weeks, 
Albert T. Kingsbury, Louis Loeb, Fred 
Kuhlke, Shepard B. Lafferty, Nicholas Las- 
karis, Antonio Masino. J. M. Laffer, S. K. 
Black. John D. Rampanelli. Henry A. Akers, 
Emil Ganmeter, Charles A. Pouchot, John 
S. Herrold, George A. Kempel. Oliver A. Sor- 



rick, Josiah J. Harter, A. C. Rohrbacher, John 
Gross, James T. Diehm, William Durr, J. W. 
Little, R. M. Pillmore, and a host of others. 

As will be noticed, many of the names 
which were familiar to commercial Akron a 
generation or more ago are familiar now. 
Business conditions have changed somewhat, 
it is true. The city has acquired metropolitan 
qualities, and the people metropolitan 
requirements. The business details that made 
a concern popular and successful a generation 
ago might easily be shown to be valueless 
now. And such merchants of that other 
Akron as are still in business were obliged 
to be progressive. And they were. There 
are many new names in the mercantile roster 
for 1907. Each of them indicates the city's 
added greatness. 

The double line of business houses which 
formerly extended for a block on Howard 
street and for a short distance on Market 
street, has been found too small to do the 
city's mercantile business. Main street has 
been changed from a rough and rubbish- 
strewn canal bank to a first class business 
thoroughfare of which, in its mercantile as- 
pect, any city might be proud. 

Haeey S. Quine. 

FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS. 

AKRON FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Up to the year 1839, Akron had no fire 
department of any kind, the inhabitants be- 
ing notified by one calling to another or in 
the ringing of the church bells. But in De- 
cember, 1839, an ordinance was passed pro- 
viding for a volunteer fire department. From 
this arose the "North Akron Fire Company," 
formed January 28, 1840, with its twenty- 
six members. And to the people, certificates 
of membership were issued. February 10, 
1846, eight more were added and the numeral 
one was added, thus making them No. 1. 
The equipment of this company was gotten 
by private subscription, it consisting of a ro- 
tary Iiand engine costing $600, with the sub- 
scribers paying $25.00 each toward the en- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CtTIZENS 



81 



gine. This company bought also for itself 
fifty feet of hose and finally, in 1841, was 
ofifered a small building for headquarters on 
Mill Street. 

"Niagara Fire Engine No. 2" was started 
December 20, 1845, and its membership num- 
bered thirty-seven. A hook and ladder com- 
pany w^as formed in 1847, with the energetic 
name of "Tornado Fire Company No. 3." 
Various other companies were formed from 
time to time, but all volunteer. It was not 
until May, 1858, that there was a paid de- 
partment, and then it was two dollars per 
year for each member. The Niagara Com- 
pany was equipped with a new engine pur- 
chased by the town, with headquarters, finally, 
in the small brick building still standing on 
Federal Street. The West Side had its in- 
dependent company, called the "West Kill- 
ers." Later there was a German hook and 
ladder company called "Washington No. 3." 
Still another organization was known as the 
"Mechanics Hook and Ladder Company." 

At the present time the fire equipment in 
Akron is as good as any in the country. It 
will be recalled that one of the fruitfiil sources 
of improvement in this line has been the 
steady increasing factor of fire insurance. 
Other things being equal, the city with the 
best fire department obtains the lowest rate. 
To see that fire rules are strictly observed, to 
keep buildings free from inflammable mate- 
rial, insurance agents and fire department co- 
operate. The estimating a rate on a given 
dwelling, the construction and exposure are 
considered, and for any building used for 
other than residence purposes there is a sep- 
arate rate. Maps of every street are made and, 
in short, fire protection has changed from a 
matter of convenience and local pride to a 
purely business proposition. 

This being true, it has a marked reaction on 
the fire department. Fire cisterns are located 
over the business centers of the city and a 
superbly equipped and finely organized body 
of men is at the se^\^ce of the city. Civil sen'- 
ice rules prevail strictly and almost military 
discipline is enforced. Every night there is 
drill and so perfect is the discipline that the 



equipment can get away in eleven seconds 
from the first sounding of the alarm. Each 
man is allowed one day off out of five and 
fourteen days vacation in a year. 

Particularly should Akron feel proud of 
its fire and police alarm system. In the year 
1873 there was only one box in the city and 
that was located in the engine house. But 
about 1880 Engineer Loomis began the pres- 
ent system. At first it was a key for each 
box with the key at the nearest house. Now, 
of course, the alarm is turned in as soon as 
the door is thrown open. 

This entire equipment was put in by En- 
gineer Loomis at a cost of three thousand dol- 
lars, whereas, if put in by regular methods, it 
would have cost twelve thousand dollars. To 
look after the details of this intricate system, 
the mechanical engineer, an expert lineman 
and three operators give their entire time. 

The engine-houses in Akron are seven in 
number. No. 1 is the Central, where is lo- 
cated the headquarters of the alarm system. 
Here also are two separate and distinct compa- 
nies, an engine company and a truck com- 
pany. Here also, as at all the engine-houses, 
may be seen the fire district system. The re- 
sult of this is that in case of a fire aff'ecting 
a certain district, the blaze L« attended to by 
the fire company in that district. This leaves 
that engine-house without an equipment. To 
meet this situation the engine companies 
move up according to a regular schedule. 

Engine-house No. 2 is located in East 
Akron and is in charge of Captain Smith. In 
addition to the gymnasium and dining room 
the house has a beautiful fountain presented 
to it by the late D. E. Hill. Probably of this 
fire company more than any other is it true 
that there is a distinct local pride in it. For 
the site of the engine-house is that of the 
town hall of the historic town of Middlebury, 
and local pride is still strong. 

Station No. 3 is located on the West Side. 
Here is the home of Assistant Fire Chief Rice 
and here is one of the new engine-houses. 
Being in a community of wealth many pleas- 
ant social features are seen in connection with 
the regular routine of duty. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Station No. 4 is located in the South End, 
with Captain Tryon at its head. In addition 
to the splendid equipment there is also a 
branch of the public library. 

Station No. 5 is another new station on 
Buchtel avenue. Here is the official home of 
Chief Mertz, and also one of the finest sta- 
tions in the city. 

Station No. 6 is located on Wooster avenue 
and is in command of Captain Dorner. This 
station has a larger territory than any other 
house in the city. 

Station No. 7 is the latest addition and is 
on North Hill, with Captain N. P. Smith in 
charge. Here the equipment is a combined 
hose and chemical wagon. 

AKRON POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

The police depai'tment of the county nat- 
urally centers about Akron and that depart- 
ment has steadily increased from its first 
marshal. Marshal Wright, to the present com- 
plex organization. William Mason was the 
last Marshal of Akron, and with the loss of 
that official succeeded the period of the Police 
Chief with the fir.st incumbent, H. H. Harri- 
son. He was so appointed in 1897, and under 
him were twenty-seven officers. In 1900 the 
positions of captain and lieutenant were 
created. At the present time, in addition to 
the officers, are three detectives, a police sur- 
geon, clerk, prison-keeper and photographer. 

This last^ — the photographer — has the task 
of taking the pictures of all suspected crimi- 
nals and at present has two hundred and 
sixty. 

The police alarm system is similar in oper- 
ation to that of the fire department. Each 
officer must ring np hourly when on duty. 
And every box is marked telephone, fire, pa- 
trol, riot, so that his signal indicates the state 
of his beat. 

The patrol — an automobile — for a long 
time was the only one of its kind in the 
world. That, too, was built by Engineer 
Loomis. The old one has just worn out and 
a new one is to be installed in a very short 
time. 



No history of the police would be complete 
without a passing mention of the riot of 1900. 
From that riot dates the reorganized police. 
At that time an emergency arose which 
showed all too plainly the lack of organiza- 
tion and the inability to meet the demands of 
that catastrophe. Since then, riot guns have 
been a part of the regular equipment of the 
police, riot calls have been among their expec- 
tations, and there has grown up the feeling 
that the police are a distinct and separate or- 
ganization somewhat apart from the good old 
days when Akron was a village. 

The detective bureau in operation at city 
hall operates along metropolitan lines and is 
a vital part of that complicated and intricate 
machinery by which one is detected. By 
these men a close watch is kept on all strang- 
ers and there are few new arrivals that are not 
watched and inspected. Besides this, by 
means of exchanged photographs, measure- 
ments and other devices, fugitives from jus- 
tice are apprehended and the difficulties of 
escape are increased. Through the depart- 
ment very efficient work has been done and 
in one case, at least, public notice has been 
taken of this branch. John E. Washer, for 
a long time prison-keeper, established a record 
ns an able detective, and is now serving the 
president of the country as a personal body- 
guard. 

Other prominent local characters connected 
with the detective service have been Edward 
Dunn, now on the pension list; James Burli- 
son, an old-time detective, and our first mar- 
shal, and Captain "Jack" Wright. 

At the present time there is established a 
well regulated pension system for both the 
fire and police department. The working 
of this branch of the service as.?ures the mem- 
bers of these departments of an a.«sured in- 
come at the expiration of a given length of 
service. From it results a steadv class of men 
watchful to maintain the credit of their re- 
spective bodies. 

In times past the bane of both fire and po- 
lice departments has been political influence. 
To minimize this the legislature has placed 
the members iinder civil service rules, and now 



AND KEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



83 



promotions are made on the basis of fitness, 
physical and mental. When a vacancy occurs 
a regulai' examination is held and the candi- 
dates are mai'ked as at school. 

Besides this, both bodies of men are placed 
under the direction of the Board of Public 
Safety, a board appointed by the Mayor of 
Akron. The net results of this system are of 
comparative freedom from "pull." Still the 
counter results of an assured position and the 
difficulty of a trial involving incompetency 
are factors in the other direction. It is true, 
also, in a measure that Akron gets as good a 
force as its people demand. 

OUTSIDE FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS. 

Outside of Akron the fire and police de- 
partments exist, but in a modified form. Bar- 
berton has a regular police department and a 
paid fire depai-tment has been recently organ- 
ized. A water-works system prevails there, 
and an unusual degree of efficiency is mani- 
fest in both organizations. 

Cuyahoga Falls still relies on the village 
marshal and has the nucleus of an efficient 
fire department. The other villages of the 
county rely for police protection on their mar- 
shals and constables and on volunteer depart- 
ment. Harry S. Quine. 

the riot of 1900 the darkest night in 

Akron's history. 

Wednesday, the 22d day of August, in the 
year 1900, was a day of rejoicing in America. 
The wires under the Pacific had throbbed 
with a message of joy for all Christendom. 
Pekin had fallen — the capital city of China. 
The Imperial Court had departed in hasty 
flight to the interior. The American troops 
were the heroes of the allied armies. They 
had attacked and repulsed the Yellow Horde 
laying siege to the British Legation, where 
the American minister and his family and 
other good citizens had taken refuge when 
the Boxers arose. America rejoiced that her 
sons and daughters had successfully escaped 
from the perils of the 4,000 shells that fell 



into that legation ; from the famine and sick- 
ness of the long siege, and especially from the 
ferocity and torture and barbarism of the 
legions of Chinese savages. Akron is a rep- 
resentative American conmmnity. Her peo- 
ple were just as glad as any on account of 
the glory which had come upon the American 
armies. 

In the evening of that day a large part of 
the beauty and wealth and culture of the city 
had met on the beautiful grounds of the Per- 
kins homestead where a lawn party was being 
held for the benefit of a splendid charity. 
Sounds of mirth and music filled the air and 
countless lights and colors made it a brilliant 
scene. It is a common sight in any center of 
culture and fashion. 

Out in Lakeside Park the beautiful sum- 
mer night had drawn a large company of 
spectators to the Casino, and they were en- 
joying to the full the delights oif the thea- 
ter. 

But the night in Akron had not been given 
over to pleasure alone. What strange con- 
trasts human living presents sometimes ! The 
darkest night Akron had ever seen had fallen 
with the coming of dusk that night. The 
perfect picture of Hell, that was to be beheld 
before the coming of dawn again, was then 
in the making. The Antithesis of joy and 
light and love and good-will was gaining fol- 
lowers in other parts of the city and they were 
preparing for the crowning of Hate, and Re- 
venge, and Lust for Blood. 

If little Christina Maas had not been play- 
ing by the road-side, near the home of her 
parents on Perkins Hill, on Monday evening, 
August 21, 1900, in all probability Akron 
would have been spared her deepest shame. 
Not that the innocent child, in her sweet play, 
was the cau.se of what followed, but that she 
was destined to form a link in the chain of 
circumstances, without which completed ac- 
tion could not be had. She was the little, six- 
vear-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore 
Maas. As she played by the roadside in the 
early evening with her girl friends, a negro 
drove by. He called to her. She did not 
fear him. He persuaded the older children to 



84 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



leave and promised little Christina a gift of 
candy. He asked her to get into his buggy 
and she responded in her childish confidence 
and natural faith in mankind and all. He 
assisted her as she climbed in. He whipped 
up the horse and drove down the country 
road. The negro was Louis Peck. He was a 
stranger in Akron. He had been here but a 
short time, having come from Patterson, New 
Jersey. His reputation there was very bad 
and the authorities wanted him there for a 
long list of crimes he had committed. (Since 
coming to Akron he and his wife had been 
working in a restaurant. He was about forty 
years of age and black and unprepossessing. 
After his arrest, he confessed freely all he 
did that evening, after he drove into the 
country and until he left the little girl crying 
and injured by the lonely roadside with night 
coming on. 

He had hired the horse and buggy from a 
Main street liveryman. After driving back 
into town he abandoned them and they were 
found soon after by the police. It was by 
means of the horse and buggy that the offi- 
cers were enabled to learn the identity of the 
perpetrator of this outrage. As soon as the 
police department was informed of the crime 
every policeman on duty was notified and in- 
structed to be on the lookout for such a ne- 
gro as Peck. Every place in the city likely 
to harbor him was searched and the railway 
tracks were watched with sharp sight, but 
Peck succeeded in escaping from the city. 
He had lost no time in beginning his flight. 
Not a trace of him could be secured. On 
Tuesday the officers patrolled the railway 
tracks, rather expecting that Peck was still 
in the city, in hiding, and would try to make 
his escape. A number of them were scattered 
along the tracks on Tuesdav night. 

Shortly after midnight a freight train rolled 
into the Union depot from the east. Officer 
Duffy was patrolling the tracks in that vicin- 
ity and, as the train pased him, standing in 
the dark, a negro jumped from one of the 
cars almost into his arms . Officer Duffy ar- 
rested the man. It was Peck. He was taken 
at once in the patrol wagon to the city prison. 



The prison-keeper was awakened and spent 
the rest of the night talking with Peck about 
the crime. By adroit leading and skillful 
questioning Mr. Washer succeeded at last in 
getting Peck to make a full confession. R. 
W. Wanamaker, the prosecuting attorney, 
was summoned, a stenographer secured, and 
Peck's statement was taken down verbatim. 

At 9 o'clock he was arraigned before the 
mayor, W. E. Young, in the mayor's court. 
He pleaded guilty to a charge of rape and was 
bound over by the mayor to the Common 
Pleas Court to await the action of the Grand 
Jury at the coming September term. His 
bond was placed at $5,000, and he was com- 
mitted to the prison because of his inability 
to furnish bail in that amount. 

Greatly exaggerated stories of his confes- 
sion and of the criminal act were circulated 
throughout the city. The appearance of the 
evening papers (especially one, very im- 
prudently printed in red ink) and the cries 
of the newsboys selling them, stirred up a 
feeling of resentment. Excitement was slow- 
ly kindling. Many heedless remarks were 
made by persons whose words usually carry 
weight. An Akron professional gentleman 
was on his way home at 5 o'clock that bright 
Wednesday afternoon. He stopped in a store 
and listened to a recital of the outrage by 
the merchant. Said the professional man in 
the hearing of a little company, "I'll be one 
of a hundred to go over and take him out of 
the jail and hang him." Not a man in the 
company protested. No one deemed the senti- 
ment extravagant or the speech incendiary. 
There was an echo in their own breasts. Every 
man felt a personal interest in having so 
great a wrong redressed and in having it done 
at once. Many such intemperate remarks 
were made that afternoon as the story spread. 

As earlv in the day as noon, threats were 
made to the authorities that the negro would 
be lynched. The executive departments of 
the city government heard the mutterings of 
the coming storm all afternoon. The county 
officers heard it also. None of them can be 
heard to say now that they were taken by sur- 
prise. They were totally impreparcd when 




HIGH SCHOOL, AKRON 




FRATTNFELTEK SCHOOL. AKKOiN 




MILLER SCHOOL, AKRON 





FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST (DISCIPLES) 




BUCHTEL COLLEGE— RESIDENCE OF PRESIDENT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— AKRON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



the hour of trial came, but they were not taken 
unawares. They had full warning more than 
ten hours before the storm broke in all its 
fury. They paid this much attention to the 
threats and warnings they had received — they 
ordered Sheriff Frank G. Kelly to take the 
prisoner to Cleveland during Wednesday aft- 
ernoon for safe keeping. Another colored man 
named William (alias "Bug") Howard had 
been locked up in the prison awaiting commit- 
ment to the county jail as he, too, had been 
bound over to the Common Pleas Court on a 
charge of shooting a white man in the leg. 
It was deemed best to take Howard along, as 
a mob might easily mistake the identity of 
the negro they sought, or might be so incensed 
at the whole black race, that they would not 
hesitate to hang another than the one sought. 
These two black men were soon secure behind 
the gray walls of the Cleveland prison. The 
Akron authorities were congratulating them- 
selves on so successful an issue of their wise 
planSi When a mob appeared they would 
laugh at them and enjoy their discomfiture 
when told the quarry had flown. They know 
more about mobs and mob nature now. 

Crow'ds began to collect at the intersection 
of Main and Howard streets a short time aft?r 
6 o'clock. Knots of men stood about the 
prison talking over the affair. Some were 
already discussing the advisability of trying 
to make an example of the prisoner. Consid- 
erable sentiment in favor of such action had 
been aroused during the day in several of the 
big city factories. Some of these men were 
present and made up their minds that, if an 
opportunity offered, they would make good 
what they had said they would do. 

As it began to grow dark and to become 
difficult to distinguish objects across the 
street, the crowd, much augmented, closed in 
about the old brick building which Akron 
people had known for many years as "The 
City Building." They began to call for Peck 
and to hoot and jeer the police officers who 
were within. The chief of police had become 
alarmed and had summoned everv available 
man for duty at headquarters. 

Much parleying took place between city of- 



ficials and the members of the crowd. They 
tried to push into the building through the 
Main street doors, but the officers prevented 
them. There was still much daylight remain- 
ing when the first attack on the building was 
made. A shower of stones and bricks broke 
the windows and bombarded the stout doors. 
Then a ladder was brought out and quickly 
manned. This was used as a battering-ram on 
the north doors, which lead into the Mayor's 
Court. The stones and bricks continued to 
fly. The doors were rapidly giving way be- 
neath the repeated blows of the improvised 
ram. Then one of the front windows was 
raised and a policeman emptied his revolver 
over the heads of the assailing party. This 
was a foolish move. There was no ammuni- 
tion in the city building beside what was al- 
ready in the chambers of the policemen's re- 
volvers and part of a box which was in pos- 
session of the prison-keeper. The scarcity of 
ammunition was a cause of much alarm to 
the policemen in the building. They had sent 
outside to secure more, but were unsuccess- 
ful. 

Across the street were a large number of 
.spectators w^atching the efforts of the men in 
their attack upon the building. Among them 
were a few carriages and buggies. In the one 
of the latter sat John M. Da\'idson, with his 
wife and four-year-old daughter, Rhoda. 
They had been out looking at some work Mr. 
Davidson had taken the contract for and were 
returning home by the way of Main street. 
They had started to go up the Quarry street 
hill and were told that the Fire Department 
was coming down. They turned back on to 
Main Street and other buggies crowded 
around them so that they were forced to re- 
main. 

Mrs. Davidson was looking at the policeman 
in the window. She saw him shoot his re- 
volver directly at them. She heard bullets 
fly about their heads. Her little daughter 
said, "Oh, mamma," and her head fell for- 
ward on her mother's knee with the blood 
flowang from a mortal wound in her head. 
Glen Wade, a boy of ten years, was also stand- 
ing among the spectators on the opposite side 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of Main street and he received one of the bul- 
lets fi"oni this same policeman's reckless — yes, 
criminal shooting. He was instantly killed. 
Hundreds of shots were fired afterward, and 
charges and charges of dynamite exploded, 
and two large buildings were burned to the 
ground, yet these two innocent children were 
the only persons who lost their lives by reason 
of the riot. The injuries received by other 
parties that night were mostly of a minor 
character. 

The party within the walls was increased 
by this time so that it consisted of Mayor 
Young, the four city commissioners, Chief of 
Police HarrLson and seven or eight police- 
men. 

A hurried conference was held and it was 
decided to allow the crowd to appoint a com- 
mittee to enter and inspect the jail to make 
sure that Peck was not in it. The mob 
selected a comimittee of six, headed by a mem- 
ber of the City Council, who was one of the 
loude.st and most strenuous of all the seekers 
for the blood of this negro. 

When the doors were opened to admit the 
committee, the crowd poured in after them. 
It was impossible to stem that impetuous rush. 
They filled the building and searched every 
nook and corner of it. The cells of the 
prison were opened, but the mob found no 
negro within the building. Even Mr. Wash- 
er's private apartments were invaded and the 
garments of himself and wife torn from the 
closets where they hung, to see if any one 
was concealed by them. Their cellar was ran- 
sacked, and every spot which could possibly 
contain or shelter a man was searched. The 
disappointment of the mob was plain. Some 
one shouted that Peck was in the county jail. 
The entire crowd started for the jail. Deputy- 
Sheriff Simon Stone was on duty. Sheriff 
Kelly was absent for some unexplained 
cause. His continued absence through all the 
stirring events of that night and until the 
hour of danger had passed caused much com- 
ment. 

The deputy sheriff met the mob in front of 
the old brick jail, which stood on the east side 
of Broadway, opposite the Court House, and 



which was torn down on the completion of 
the new jail. Standing on the old stone steps 
at the front entrance, he made them a short 
address, telling them that Peck had been 
taken to Cleveland that afternoon and that 
he had never been brought to the county jail. 
He offered to allow a committee chosen by 
themselves to make a search. This was done 
and the same committee searched the jail 
thoroughly and reported that no negro could 
be found. The crowd moved over to the old 
Court House, battered in the wooden doors, 
and trooped into every room in the building 
except the office of the treasurer. 

Here the heavy iron doors resisted their ef- 
forts to make an entrance and caused them to 
desist in their purpose. 

They hastened back to the City Building 
and filled the space in front of it. They were 
still shouting and calling for Peck, and oc- 
casionally a stone or a brick would fly through 
the windows on both the Main street and Via- 
duct sides of the building. When the mayor 
appeared at a window in the rooms of the 
board of health and motioned for silence, the 
crowd listened to him with comparatively good 
attention. He told them that Sheriff Kelley 
had taken Peck to Cleveland that afternoon 
and that there was no use hunting longer for 
him. Some one insisting that this was not so, 
the mayor offered to bet $20 that Peck was 
not in Akron. He urged them to disperse 
and let the law take its course in bringing 
Peck to a full punishment for his crime. 

Of course, this did not satisfy them. It was 
a mistake to suppose that it would. They 
were not there for oratory. They had come 
on a serious business. They sought ven- 
geance. Nothing but blood would satisfy 
them. It was a maddened, blood-thirsty pack 
of wolves, and to advise, and to temporize, and 
to try to compromise with such was entirely 
unreasonable and a waste of efi'ort. It was 
the temporizing policy of the authorities up to 
this time which had helped bring the mob 
up to its present pitch. The attack was re- 
newed with increased vigor. It was no longer 
a crowd of men confronting the officers ; it was 
a furious mob. Many of them carried pistols 




CITY HALT., AKRON 



f 



Pi 



-. «!llfllllllli ^- ^ 




Y. M. C. A. BUILDING, AKRON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



in their hands and a few shots were fired ait 
the building. Occasionally a policeman 
would come to the window and discharge five 
or six shots toward the sidewalk. 

Prison-keeper Washer had been spending 
the evening with Mrs. Washer and friends at 
one of the summer resorts south of Akron. He 
had gone out of town on the earnest solicita- 
tion of the chief of police, who explained to 
him that, if a mob did form, it would make 
the story more credible if it could be said that 
the prison-keeper was out of town with the 
prisoner. When the fish supper was con- 
cluded, Mr. Washer tried to reach the city 
building by telephone, but was unable to do 
so. He became apprehensive that all was not 
right and started for Akron about 8 o'clock. 
He drove into the mob at Main street about 9 
o'clock and they dragged him and Mrs. 
Washer from the buggy. They shoved two 
revolvers into Mr. Washer's face, boring the 
barrels into his flesh, saying they wanted 
Peck and meant to have him. One man, in 
a. perfectly fiendish condition of mind, kept 
scratching AVasher's face shrieking, "It's 
blood we want, blood, blood, blood." He suc- 
ceeded in drawing some of Mr. Washer's. 
Mrs. Washer finally succeeded in reaching 
their apartments at the rear of the building, 
with a large part of her clothing torn from 
her body. Mr. Washer tried to make a speech 
to the mob. The noise and tumult was so 
great he could not make himself heard, ex- 
cept to a few immediately surrounding him. 
He saw a man with a brick in his hand work- 
ing his way up to the front. A minute later 
and this brick struck the speaker on the side 
of the head and he dropped senseless to the 
street. The blow nearly fractured his skull 
and he suffered from the wound it made for 
several years afterward. 

After Mr. Washer had been carried into the 
drug store on the corner, and the police had 
fired a few more desultory shots from the 
building, the crowd withdrew. The larger 
part of them strangelv disappeared and an 
ominous quiet reigned in the neighborhood 
from about 9:30 o'clock until about 11. A 
few spectators stood on the opposite side of 



the street; another knot or two were scattered 
at different street corners. The electric lights 
were all burning brightly and the street cars 
were running as usual. But for the broken 
panes in the building, the stones and bricks 
on the sidewalk, and the ladder lying where 
the mob had left it, no indications that trou- 
ble had happened were present. The city 
commissioners took advantage of this lull to 
leave the building by the rear entrance and 
made a successful escape down the railway 
spur. The mayor also took his departure and 
went direct to his home on Perkins street. The 
Chief of Police, with seven or eight police- 
men, remained. About 11 o'clock the crowd 
began to collect again, and the spectators were 
not long in finding out where its members 
had been in the interim. An electric arc 
lamp hung about half way between the City 
Building and the Beacon-Journal office and 
flooded the vicinity with light. 

The spectators saw a couple of men cross 
the sidewalk with bundles in their arms and 
enter the south door, leading to the stairway 
to the second floor. In a few minutes after 
they returned, a fearful explosion shook the 
neighborhood, and brought a cloud of dust 
into Main street. The concussion was terrific, 
but little apparent damage was done. The 
walls still stood just as before. The dynamite 
for this and the other explosives which fol- 
lowed had been stolen from the Middlebury 
clay banks and from the chests of contractors 
doing work on the Erie Railway. 

A peddler had been arrested that AVednes- 
day morning for peddling without a license 
and released on bail. He drove an old white 
horse in a spring wagon. He volunteered to 
haul the dynamite to the City Building, and 
the mob gladly accepted his services. The 
cessation of hostilities was due to this cause 
and a further desire on the part of several 
to go home and get arms. 

The last of the cars carrying home the 
throng of pleasure-seekers from the Casino at 
Lakeside Park had passed, and empty cars 
were on their way back to the South Akron 
bams. Perhaps a thoiisand men were in Main 
Street, from Church to Howard Streets. Four 



90 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



or five thousand more stretched from these 
points down to Mill and up to Center and 
covered the bluff on High Street. The active 
members of the mob numbered not more than 
two or three hundred, including active sym- 
pathizers. The rest were mere onlookers — 
some a prey to a morbid curiosity; others fas- 
cinated by the spectacle of terror enacted be- 
fore them. 

After the first explosion, a few men started 
to lower the electric lamp that was lighting 
the scene. They let it fall the last six feet 
upon the brick pavement, and the place was 
dark enough for the vilest purpose. Up to 
this time, at intervals, a policeman in the 
City Building would approach the window 
and fire five or six shots in rapid succession 
into the sidewalk, directly under the window. 
It was easy to see that the shots were directed 
into the ground and it was not possible that 
even the most foolish in the crowd could be 
fooled by the action, yet this silly performance 
was repeated many times. Then followed 
dynamite explosions, one after another, each 
sounding like the discharge of a mighty can- 
non. These reports should have awakened 
the entire city. The policemen had stealthily 
taken their departure out of the rear door 
and crept off in the darkness. Some of them 
hid in the lumber yard in the rear of Merrill's 
pottery ; others in box-cars in the rear of the 
American Cereal Company's big mill. Their 
demoralization could have not been greater. 
Each man was looking out for himself, and 
no one else. The city property was left to 
the mercy of the relentless mob. 

Soon a little blaze of a match was seen 
burning at the northeast corner of Columbia 
Hall, the large rambling frame building next 
south of the City Building. It had been 
erected as a roller skating rink during the 
days of the first roller craze and had been used 
subsequently as an armory for militia and an 
assembly hall for concerts and bazars, etc. 
The little match kindled a pile of paper and 
dry wood and soon a bright fire was burn- 
ing alongside the front of the hall. The 
building was .so dry and of such favorable con- 
struction that ten minutes had not elapsed 



until it was in flames at every point. It made 
a magnificent spectacle. Great tongues of 
flame leaped high above a seething mass of 
fire, and the sparks ascended in showers. On 
the front side of the hall was a tower with a 
flag-staff. An American flag waved nobly in 
the breeze made by the ascending heat cur- 
rents. The lesson of that waving emblem of 
freedom was lost on that demoniacal assem- 
blage. The fire reigned with unrestrained 
fury. Not a drop of water fell into its midst. 
Violent hands were laid on every one who had 
the courage to attempt to subdue it. 

About midnight a part of the crowd had 
marched down the middle of Main street to 
the Standard Hardware Company, located on 
the ^vest side of South Main Street about 
halfway between Market and Mill Streets. 
They made entrance into the store by break- 
ing a plate-glass window. A few entered and 
passed out guns, revolvers, rifles, knives and 
ammunition, until the store was despoiled of 
its entire stock of such goods. Over one hun- 
dred arms of various descriptions were stolen 
by the mob in this raid. Hidden behind tele- 
phone poles and in dark corners of buildings, 
they kept up a perfect fusillade upon the city 
building, while Columbia Hall was burning. 
The firemen in the central station, only a 
stone's throw east of the City Building, had 
on the first appearance of the blaze, sounded 
an alarm of fire and carried a line of hose 
down Church Street. The fire-bell had been 
rung earlier in the evening, with a response 
on the part of No. 1 company, merely as a 
ruse to attract attention of the mob from the 
City Building. 

Three firemen from Company No. 1 stood 
out in the middle of Main Street, holding the 
nozzle of the line of hose. The water shot 
through it for only a few seconds. The riot- 
ers had cut the hose in many places, and, 
while the three firemen stood in the street 
alone, a perfect hail of bullets and shot were 
fired at them. One of them fell and another 
promptly stepped forward and took his place 
at the nozzle while others came out and re- 
moved their fallen comrade. It was the finest 
exhibition of heroism ever seen in Akron. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



91 



That little band stood out there until the 
walls fell in, waiting for the water to come 
through that hose, and laying new lines to 
replace the damaged. Cowards were firing 
at them from behind walls and telephone 
poles, yet they went about the performance of 
their duty as calmly as though it were an or- 
dinary attack upon their customary foe, the 
Fire Demon. 

It was a superb exhibition of manly cour- 
age. Many a man who felt the flame of faith 
in human nature die out that night, found it 
rekindled after beholding the deeds of those 
heroic firemen. 

The alarm had called out other companift*. 
In responding, one of them sent a ho.se-wagon 
south on Main from Mill Street. As they 
neared the Wilcox Block, a couple of ruffian* 
called upon them to halt and presented guns 
from behind telephone poles. They paid no 
attention to the command and both guns were 
discharged point blank at them. How they 
ever escaped alive remains a marvel to those 
who witnessed the scene. They drove on, fol- 
lowed by bullets and shot, and only desisted in 
their efforts to quench that fire when borne 
down by overwhelming numbers. 

Shortly after the tower, with its staff and 
M'aving flag, had fallen into the flaming pit, 
the fire broke out in the City Building. 
Whether it communicated from the conflagra- 
tion south of it or was set afresh is not known. 
The more probable view is that the rioters 
hastened the destruction by setting the build- 
ing afire directly. In an incredibly short time 
fire was bursting from every window in the 
building. The dynamite explosions had 
wrecked the floors and partitions, doors and 
windows had been demolished by the battering 
and storm of shot, and the flames made quick 
work of the resulting debris. Both buildings 
were soon enveloped in flames and the con- 
flagration was at its height. All the splendor 
of the scene when Columbia Hall first burst 
into flames was doubled. The street was as 
light as day. The heat drove all but the fire- 
men back into the shadows. They stood their 
gro\ind, be.side their useless hose and appara- 
tus. The mob would not permit a drop of 



water to be thrown upon the fire and, like a 
tremendous furnace, it seethed and rolled and 
roared — an awful spectacle to the thousands 
who covered hill-sides and house-tops, at a safe 
distance from the bullets of the rioters. The 
gleam from the fire lighted up their faces, still 
diabolical with hate and blood-lust, as they 
peered from behind their barriers of defence. 
The frenzy possessing them had been stilled 
by the tremendous power shown by the nat- 
ural element Fire. Even their disordered 
minds could perceive the magnitude of the in- 
fluences they had called into operation. Even 
they stood thrilled by the raging and tumult 
of elemental power. Occasionally a malignant 
jeer, a demoniacal howl of delight, or a shot, 
broke the spell and recalled the thoughtful 
spectators to the dread reality of the scene. 

The minutes passed unheeded, but prob- 
ably an hour passed, with the great fire hold- 
ing the center of the stage — the one great 
spectacle that centered the interest and gaze of 
all. Then the walLs of the City Building fell, 
and the flames gradually shrunk within the 
pit of the white heat. In the east, pale streaks 
along the horizon indicated the coming of 
another day. The somber gray mellowed 
into gold and the first gleam of dawn mingled 
with the reddened glow from the ruins. The 
outlines of objects became more distinct. It 
was a signal from the powers of darkness to 
slink away. As the Sun-God scatters the 
forces of Night; as Death dwindles into in- 
significance before the truth of the resurrec- 
tion; so the slaves of the Demon of Anarchy 
slunk away into their places of hiding, from 
their revel of blood and fire, before the mes- 
senger on the hilltops, who heralded the 
coming of the source of light — typical of or- 
der, law and right. 

By 4 o'clock all of the thousands who 
thronged the sti-eets had gone and the scene 
was almost deserted. It was safe enough now 
for those policemen who were in hiding to 
come forth and go to their homes, and they 
did. 

At 7 o'clock the first of the militia arrived. 
It was Company C of the Eighth regiment, 
from Canton. It was known as "The Presi- 



92 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dent's Own." Never were the boys in blue re- 
ceived with more profound gratitude. The 
feelings of Akron citizens were too deep for 
cheers or a demonstration. Nevertheless, deep 
in their hearts they welcomed the soldier 
boys. What a relief to see those swinging 
battalions and to know that they represented 
the majesty of the law! What a comfort in 
those grim rifles, those well-filled ammunition 
boxes and the keen sight of those sworn foes 
to disorder! For the thoughtful citizen had 
been much disturbed. He had seen his en- 
tire city surrendered to the will of a riotous 
mob. There was absolutely nothing to re- 
strain that mob from doing anything it 
pleased with the property and the lives of all 
the citizens of Akron. Not a dollar, not a 
life was safe in Akron that night. Had the 
notion been taken, every store and every home 
might have been pillaged and looted. The 
leaders of that mob might have easily per- 
suaded it to assist in working out revenge for 
private grievances by murder and arson. They 
were drunk with power to which they were 
unaccustomed, and reveled in the use of it. 
For instance, just as the City Building burst 
into flames a number broke in the doors of 
the little building alongside and ran out the 
electric police patrol automobile. As many 
as it would hold climbed into it; others clung 
to the steps and climbed upon the top. Then, 
it was started amid the cheering of the mob 
and run about the downtown streets, with its 
occupants singing and yelling, \intil they tired 
of the sport and ended the wild orgy by send- 
ing it full speed into the canal. 

It was like a scene from the wildest period 
of the French Revolution. One must go to 
the orgies of that carnival of disorder to find 
a parallel, unless, indeed it .shall be found in 
the conceptions of certain great minds con- 
cerning the Inferno. It was the very apothe- 
sis of evil. 

In the meantime something was being 
done in an attempt to stop the tide. There 
were a few citizens aware of what was hap- 
pening, who were not spellbound by the aw- 
ful seenas nor frightened into supine sub- 
servience by the exhibition of the power of 



the mob. Some of them sought the sheriff. 
For reasons known to himself, and guessed at 
by others, he could not be found. Akron had 
two full companies of militia and .some other 
organizations of a semi-military character 
who carry rifles and look real brave on parade 
days. The captains of these companies were 
appealed to. The reply was, "You must see 
the Governor." An attempt to asemble the 
companies resulted in getting only three or 
four men at the annories; the rest were min- 
gled with the crowd watching the fire. As be- 
fore stated, the city authorities, from the high- 
est to the last-appointed policeman, were com- 
pletely demoralized. Finally Governor Nash 
was reached by telephone and he promised to 
send a regiment of militia, if requested by the 
sheriff of the county or the mayor of the 
city. Probate Judge George M. Anderson, 
accompanied by a few citizens, then took a 
cab to search for the mayor. They found 
him at home and persuaded him to ask the 
Governor for help. 

The Fourth regiment of the Ohio National 
Guard was in camp at Minerva Park, near 
Columbus. They had arrived there only a 
day or two before for their anual encamp- 
ment, as required by law. They were under 
the command of Colonel J. D. Potter, who 
is a son of General Potter, of the United 
States Armj'. They received their orders at 
1 :45 o'clock A. M. At 2 :45 the entire nine 
companies were entrained and on their way 
to Akron. A special train on the Cleveland, 
Akron & Columbus Railway brought them 
into Akron at 9 o'clock on the morning of 
the 23d. They immediately marched down- 
town and joined Company C of the Eighth 
Regiment in guarding the city. Colonel 
Adams of the Governor's staff arrived and 
took charge of all the military forces in the 
city, including the local companies, which 
were never called from their armories dur- 
ing the disturbed period. The streets near 
the ruins were roped off. and none was al- 
lowed to approach them. The downtown 
street assumed a maxtial appearance. 
Armed sentries paced everywhere and compa- 
nies were marching back and forth to mess 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



93 



and temporary barracks at all hours. At 
noon, after a consultation of officials and citi- 
zens, the mayor issued a proclamation closing 
all the saloons in the city until further no- 
tice. The revulsion of feeling against the 
rioters was so strong that the saloon-keepers 
were very willing to assist, as much as pos- 
sible, in the general effort to restore law and 
order. The proclamation was generally re- 
spected. Closing the saloons undoubtedly 
was a great factor in the bringing back of 
peace and quiet to the city. 

In the afternoon of the 23d a meeting of all 
the city officials and a few prominent citizen-' 
was called at the Hotel Buchtel. Chief of 
Police Harrison could not be found anywhere. 
It was reported that he was la.st seen about 4 
o'clock in the morning driving out of the 
city. John Durkin had been appointed by the 
city commissioners as acting Chief of Police. 
\A^ith the city officials, there assembled at the 
Hotel Buchtel Judge U. L. Marvin, Prosecu- 
tor R. M. Wanamaker. Judge G. M. Ander- 
son, Fire Chief Frank Manderbach, Colonel 
Potter, Colonel Adams and others. At this 
meeting the situation was thoroughly dis- 
cussed and the city government reorganized. 
It was understood the city was not under mar- 
tial law. but that the city authorities were in 
power and the military arm of the govern- 
ment was there, not to supplant, but to assist 
them. Barracks were arranged for the mili- 
tia and they were quartered at the old Mar- 
ket House Hall, at the Court House and in a 
North Main Street livery barn. Business 
was practically suspended in the downtown 
stores and offices all day of the 23d. The riot 
was the one theme of conversation every- 
where. A constant stream of people kept 
moving all day long about the ruins of Co- 
lumbia Hall and the City Building. No 
crowds were allowed to congregate. The sol- 
diers kept everyone moving; a good example 
for the police, don't you think? These latter 
moved about town in companies of two and 
three. When night came many people were 
apprehensive that more trouble would take 
place. Many rumors had been heard during 
the dav that another attack would be made. 



Many persons remained down street rather ex- 
pecting excitement of some sort, but they 
were disappointed, and the soldiers had no 
other duty than the weary work of sentry 
posting. 

On Friday business was resumed and the 
marching of the soldiers was the only inci- 
dent different from the ordinary routine of 
Akron affairs. In the middle of the after- 
noon those in charge of things startled the 
whole community by an act of exceeding dar- 
ing. It was successful and can be called dar- 
ing; if it had failed, it would have been 
termed foolhardy . This coup de'etat was no 
less a feat than bringing the rapist Peck back 
to Akron for trial. It happened in this 
way : 

A meeting of the officials was held Friday 
morning to determine the course to pursue in 
regard to Peck. The crime was committed 
in Summit County and he would have to be 
brought back here for arraignment. Why 
was it not better to bring him back while the 
militia were here to protect him and prevent 
additional rioting? The stay of the soldiers 
must, of necessity, be brief, hence, the sooner 
action was taken, the better. The very au- 
dacity of the thing, too, would aid in its suc- 
cessful prosecution. The people would be 
far from expecting any move of this kind 
and the rioters would not be prepared to take 
advantage of their opportunity. John E. 
Washer, the prison-keeper, was still weak from 
the effect of the blow on his head, but it was 
decided that he was the best man to go to 
Cleveland for Peck, who was .still confined in 
the Cuyahoga County jail. Dr. A. K. Fouser 
was engaged to accompany Mr. Washer and 
give him such medical attention as he might 
require. Driving to a Valley train in a cab. 
they succeeded in getting out of toTvn unob- 
served. 

In Cleveland they were not so fortunate. 
Thej' had been in the jail but a few moments 
when the news spread fast that they had come 
for Peck and, when they were ready to de- 
part, a large crowd surrounded the carriage 
in front of the jail and filled the street. It 
was a crowd disposed to make trouble, too. 



94 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



What was to be done? The afternoon was 
passing and whatever was to be done must be 
decided upon quickly. A special train on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had been engaged 
by the Summit County authorities and was 
waiting at the station to take the party to 
Howard Street, without any stops. Colonel 
Potter had detailed a company of soldiers to 
meet the train upon ite arrival. Sheriff 
Bai-ry was to telephone from Cleveland as 
soon as the party started. Judge David J. Nye 
had been called over from Elyria to hold a 
special session of Common Pleas Court. A 
special Grand Jury had been empaneled at 2 
o'clock that afternoon. One witness had been 
heard and a true bill found against Lewis 
Peck. It was understood that he would plead 
guilty to the indictment. He would then be 
taken to Columbus on the afternoon train and 
the cause of the riot would be safely out of 
the jurisdiction. These were the plans and 
they were carefully laid. But in the crowd 
outside the Cleveland jail, and constantly 
growing larger and more restless, was an ob- 
stacle not considered by the plotters. What 
was to be done? So much time had been lost 
that it was nearly time for the Columbus train 
to start — the one upon which it was planned 
to carry Peck to the penitentiary. Washer 
and Barry got their heads together and 
planned a neat trick upon the crowd. They 
telephoned for another closed carriage to be 
driven to the rear door of the jail. Washer, 
Fouser and the prisoner, the latter manacled 
to Washer, were all ready to enter so soon as 
it drove up. As it appeared in sight. Sheriff 
Barry went to the front door and thus engaged 
the attention of the crowd, which pressed JFor- 
ward, expecting the prisoner next. Giving 
his party time to enter their carriage, he re- 
entered the jail, as if he had forgotten some- 
thing, and joined them. The horses were 
whipped up and a wild race started for the 
Union depot to catch the Columbus train. 
The Baltimore & Ohio special was left stand- 
ing at the Water street depot. 

.\ few who had obsei*ved the ruse gave an 
alarm and the crowd started after the carriage. 
Most gave up the chase after running a block, 



but a few newspaper reporters reached the 
station nearly as quick a.s the officials, one or 
two hanging onto the carriage, which they h d 
overtaken. They rushed by the ticket' in- 
spector at the gates and the party was soon 
safe within the railway car. The newspaper 
men followed and the whole party were scarce- 
ly seated when the train pulled out. Sheriff 
Barry ordered the conductor to lock the doors 
of the car and this was done. As the train 
neared Euclid Avenue, the reporters prepared 
notes to be thrown out and carried to their 
papers. The windows were all put down and, 
upon Washer's threat to shoot the man who 
touched a window, no effort was made to 
throw out notes at Euclid station. Sheriff 
Barry left the train there and Mr. Washer and 
Dr. Fouser proceeded alone, with the cringing 
negro on his knees, on the floor between them, 
imploring Washer to shoot him. The news- 
paper men were carried along, although some 
of them had no money to pay their fares. 

Sheriff Barry telephoned the change of 
plans from Cleveland and a carriage was wait- 
ing at the Union depot in Akron. There was 
no crowd at the station and no guard but two 
soldiei-s and one policeman, who were on duty 
there. Arrangements had been made to ho'd 
the train for thirty minutes at the station. It 
arrived at 3 :20. The employees of the Tap- 
lin Rice & Co. saw Peck taken into the Court 
House and swai-med out into the street. In 
the court room the judge was waiting and 
all the other requisites of a criminal action at 
law were ready. The judge cleared the room 
of soldiers, ordered Washer to put up his pis- 
tol and remove the manacles from the pri.s- 
oner. Peck waived the reading of the indict- 
ment. Upon being asked whether he wished 
to plead guilty' or not guilty to the charge of 
rape he replied, '"Guilty." Thereupon the 
court inquired if he had anything to say be- 
fore sentence should be pronounced upon him. 
His answer was no. The court then imposed 
a sentence of life imprisonment in the peni- 
tentiary at Columbus, the first thirty days of 
which were to be passed in solitary confine- 
ment. Pock wa.? visibly frightened through- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



97 



out the whole proceedings. He was again 
manacled, trembling like a leaf. A guard of 
twenty militiamen surrounded him and Sher- 
iff Kelley as they started for the train. In 
the meantime the conductor of the train had 
been ordered by telephone to bring hi^ train 
up to Center Street. As the little party moved 
out into Broadway toward Center the crowd 
of workingmen surged about and tried to seize 
Peck. The soldiers fixed bayonets and met 
the new rioters with .sharp steel. They de- 
sisted their attempts only when the pris3ner 
was safely within the train. The sheriff was 
waiting for it as it di'ew up. It did not come 
to a full stop, but the prisoner was hustled 
aboard, the sheriff' followed, and Peck wa.s on 
his way to the only .spot that will again know 
him on earth. He was arraigned, pleaded 
guilty, was sentenced, and on his way to 
prison all within twenty minutes. Just four 
days after his crime was committed he had 
commenced to serve his sentence. Justice can 
move quickly when it has to. 

These things happened on Friday, August 
24, 1900. Justice in this case was fully done. 
It was not overdone as some very interested 
parties would have you believe. Peck richly 
deserved his sentence. No more heinous 
crime was ever committed in Summit County. 
It was revolting and repulsive in the extreme. 
The public has neVer learned the details and 
it never will, for they are too loathsome to 
publish. Unspeakable cruelty was practiced 
by that black ravisher upon that innocent lit- 
tle baby. Not only that, but Peck's record 
was a bad one before coming to Akron. The 
New York Tribune printed a list of the crimes 
for which he was wanted at Patterson, New 
Jersey. It is far better for him and for so- 
ciety that he be denied his liberty until Death 
shall free him, and his shrivelled soul shall 
pass on for the sentence of the Great Judge. 
No maudlin sentimentality should be allowed 
to interfere with the complete execution of 
this just sentence. The pleas of lawyers en- 
gaged by his friends to obtain his release are 
mercenary and should fall upon deaf ears. 



THE AFTERMATH OF THE KIOT. 

With Louis Peck safely in the penitentiary, 
the members of the military forces began to 
think of discharge from the irksome duties 
which had been unexpectedly imposed upon 
them. The Fourth Regiment had lost a large 
part of the benefit of their annual encamp- 
ment and they longed to return to Minerva 
Park. Colonels Adams and Potter desired to 
leave Akron with their commands on Friday 
night. The city authorities were apprehensive 
of trouble to come on Saturday night. The 
mayor urged the colonels to remain until 
Monday morning. Saturday brought with it 
a half-holiday and most of the shops and fac- 
tories paid their men on that day. Hence, it 
was thought that if new trouble were to arise 
it was most probable that it would come Sat- 
urday night. The militia officei"s reluctantly 
complied with the wishes of the mayor. Sat- 
urday and Sunday pas.9ed without extraordi- 
nary incident. If anything, the city was 
more orderly than usual. 

On Saturday afternoon the mayor held the 
first session of Police Court since AVednesday 
morning. By consent of the county officials, 
it was held in the Court House. The city 
government was without a home of any kind. 
On Mondaj^, August 27, at an early hour in 
the morning, the military companies took 
their departure and the city was left to take 
care of itself. The city commissioners had 
leased for one year the substantial stone of- 
fice building of the American Cereal Com- 
pany, on the cornel" of Mill and Broadway. 
This had been abandoned by the company 
when its principal offices had been moved to 
Chicago. The postoffice department of the 
federal government had occupied it for a 
while as the .site of the Akron postoffice while 
the government building was being com- 
pleted. It had been vacant several years and 
was the only available location for the pur- 
poses of the city. The Board of City Commis- 
.sioners met here on Monday morning and 
tran.sacted their first real business subsequent 
to the riot. Their first biisiness was to act 
upon the request of Chief of Police H. H. 



98 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Harrison for a leave of absence for ten days. 
It was granted and lie left for Chicago to at- 
tend the annual reunion of the Grand Array 
of the Republic, of which he is a member. 
The coroner, E. 0. Leberman announced that 
he would hold his inquest over the victims of 
the shooting during the latter part of the week, 
as evidence was rapidly being secured. The 
public authorities, both city and county, had 
already taken steps to bring about the arrest 
of all parties who had been active in the law- 
less proceedings of Wednesday night. De- 
tectives from Cleveland and Pittsburg were on 
the scene by Thursday and were fast securing 
evidence against the guilty ones. By Tues- 
day, the 28th, the authorities began to suffer 
from a perfect deluge of anonymous letters, 
threatening them all with death if any ar- 
rests were made. They paid no attention to 
these threats, but persevered in the task of run- 
ning down the criminals. Many of the riot- 
ers were strangers in the city and many others 
had left upon learning that they were likely 
to be brought to justice. Hence, the work 
was very difficult. Finally a special grand jury 
was impaneled amd J. Park Alexander was 
made foreman of it. The county prosecutor, 
who had been indefatigable in the work, laid 
before it the evidence he had secured. Tiiie 
bills were returned against forty-one men and 
boys who had been the leaders of the mob. 
Soon the county jail was filled with the ac- 
cused persons. Officer John E. Washer ar- 
rested one man, Vernand Kempf, down in 
Tennessee, and brought him safely back to 
Akron. Upon his trial for shooting wnth in- 
tent to kill, he was found guilty and sen- 
tenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary 
for eighteen months. The other cases were 
disposed of as follows: 

State of Ohio vs. William Hunt, George 
Brodt and James McNaughton — Gharo;e, riot- 
ing. Hunt retracts his plea of not guilty and 
enters plea of guilty, and is sentenced to pay 
a fine of $25 and costs. Defendant McNaugh- 
ton plead guilty; sentence, $20 and costs. 

State of Ohio vs. Harry Earle, Jr., Claude 
Bender, .4ndrew Morgan. Andrew Wilburn — 
Charge, rioting. Defendant Bender pleads 



guilty, sentenced to workhouse for thirty 
days and pay $10 fine and costs. Nolle entered 
as to all the defendants except Bender. 

State of Ohio vs. Walter Wingerter, Ar- 
thur Sprague, Prank Sickles, William Henry 
— Charge, burglary and larceny. Wingerter 
sentenced to the reformatory. Same as to de- 
fendants Sickles and Henry. 

State of Ohio vs. Frank Bisson — Shooting 
with intent to kill or wound. Sentenced to 
Boys' Industrial School. 

State of Ohio vs. Howard McClelland. 
Shooting with intent to kill or wound. Sen- 
tenced to penitentiaiy for one year. 

State of Ohio vs. John Rhoden. Shooting 
with intent to kill or wound. Sentenced to 
penitentiary for one year. 

State of Ohio vs. Charles Timmerman, 
David Spellman, Frank Wheeler, Joseph 
Higy — Charge, rioting. Defendant Wheeler 
plead guilty; sentence, thirty days in jail and 
pay the co.ste. Defendant Spellman, $25 and 
costs. Dismissed as to Higy, 

State of Ohio vs. Walter Wingerter, Frank 
Sickles and William Crile — Charge, rioting. 
Defendant Crile .sentenced to pay $20 and 
costs. 

State of Ohio vs. Arthur Sprague, Norma/n 
Breckenridge and Edward Eppley — Charge, 
rioting. Brockenridge, thirty days in jail and 
$25 fine and costs. Sprague the same. Ep- 
pley, no trial. 

State of Ohio vs. Sandy Coppard, William 
Henry and Edward Henry — Charge, rioting. 
All sentenced to thirty days in jail and $25 
fine and costs. 

State of Ohio vs. William Averill, Andrew 
B. Halter and Frank BLsson — Charge, rioting. 
Halter and Averill fined $50 and costs. Bis- 
son dropped from the docket. 

State of Ohio vs. Charles Timmerman — 
Charge, breaking into prison and attacking 
officer for the purpose of lynching. Sen- 
tenced to penitentiary for one year. 

State of Ohio vs. Edward Ej^pley, Harry 
Earle, Jr., and Oliver Morgan — Charge, un- 
lawful pos«es.sion and use of dynamite. All 
sentenced to refonnators- and to pay costs. 

State of Ohio vs. William Averill — Charge, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



shooting, with intent to kill or wound. Sen- 
tenced to reformatory. 

State of Ohio v.s. Vernando Kempf — Charge, 
shooting with intent to kill or wound. Sen- 
tenced to penitentiary for eighteen months. 

State of Ohio vs. Charles Fink and David 
Snyder — Charge, rioting. Defendant Fink 
pleads guilty; sentence, thirty days in jail. 
$25 and costs. Defendant Snyder plead 
guilty ; sentenced to pay $20 and costs. 

State of Ohio vs. Frank Viall, Lovell Nigh 
and August Simmonette — Charge, rioting. 
Nigh sentenced thirty days in jail, $25 and 
costs. Simmonette, thirty days in jail, $25 
and costs. A^iall, $50 and costs and thirty 
days in jail. 

Thus it will be seen there were thirty con- 
victions in the cases resulting from the riot. 
When one reflects upon the amount of work 
necessary to prepare for and conduct one im- 
portant criminal action at law, he will read- 
ily appreciate the titanic labor performed by 
the public authorities. Able counsel had 
been secured to defend each of the accused 
men, and the trials were hotly contested. The 
result reflects every credit upon R. M. Wana- 
maker, the prosecuting attorney. It is hardly 
possible to bestow too much praise upon the 
energy and skill he devoted to his work in 
bringing retribution upon those guilty of 
causing so much shame to the fair city of 
Akron. 

There was one glaring miscarriage of jus- 
tice. The public felt keenly that the mem- 
ber of the city council, of whom mention was 
made in the last chapter, and who was one of 
the leaders of the mob, should have been pun- 
ished for his misdeeds that night. He es- 
caped free. It was also regretted by many 
that the court, in passing sentence upon those 
convicted, did not impose heavier sentences, 
because of the heinousne.?s of the offenses. 
There is this to be said in extenuation, that 
for many of them, it was a first offense ; that 
the excitement of the moment carried some 
of them off their feet; that some up to this 
time had borne good reputations in the com- 
munity; that some had families dependent 
upon them for support, and that the sen- 



tences, such as they were, would be a suffi- 
cient deterrent from future violation of law. 

Thus justice emerged triumphant, as she 
always will. Law and Order were fully re- 
stored and affairs moved along in orderly pro- 
cession. The citizens began to take an ac- 
count of their losses. The City Building was 
but a heap of bricks, stones and twisted iron. 
Columbia Hall, one of the chief meeting- 
places of the city, was the same. The build- 
ings on the opposite side of Main Street had 
been damaged by flames and the violence of 
the mob. One of the stores there had been 
looted. The stores south of Columbia Hall 
had been damaged by fire and smoke. The 
Standard Hardware Company had lost its en- 
tire stock of fire-arms. For all this loss not 
one cent of fire insurance could be collected. 
Several cases brought to collect insurance 
dragged their weary lengths through the 
various counts for several years afterward, 
but it was uniformly decided that the com- 
panies were not liable for loss occa.sioned by 
the mob. The loss in money was about a 
quarter of a million dollars. A whole regi- 
ment of soldiers was quartered for nearly a 
week. The city and county had large bills 
to pay for detective service and the expense 
of the trials. Many citizens received serious 
injuries from bullets and flying missiles of all 
kinds. Among them the newspapers men- 
tioned the following: Fred Vorwerk, W. H. 
Dussel, Park Stair, Arthur E. Sprague, John 
Ahren, E. Chemelitzki, Albert Grant, Frank 
Sours, E. Shelby and Albert Stevens, of the 
citizens; L. Manch&ster, W. Roepke, Minor 
Fritz, John Denious, A. Eberle and David 
Phillips, of the firemen, and John E. Washer, 
Alva Greenlese, John King and Edward 
Dunn, of the police force. 

Although seven years have passed since that 
momentous time, the city is still occupying 
the old office of the American Cereal Com- 
pany as a City Hall. Three different adminis- 
trations have conducted the city's affairs 
within its walls. They are still called "tem- 
porary quarters," but there is no prospect of 
anything more permanent for years to come. 
The city is so busy building viaducts and 



100 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



paving streets and expending so much money 
for such purposes and the present quarters are 
so well adapted for the present needs that it 
is probable that Akron will have no City Hall 
of her own for many years to come. In spite 
of some objections on the part of some offi- 
cials, it must be admitted that the present 
building makes a very good housing for the 
conduct of municipal affairs, and that the 
rent is not unreasonable for such a structure. 
The City Council has a room large enough 
for it.=! deliberations ; the Mayor's Court is well 
provided for; the Boai-d of Health, the Audi- 
tor, the Solicitor and the Police Department, 
all have separate and commodious apart- 
ments. 

The main damage caused by the riot was 
that done to the hitherto fair reputation of 
the city. In the heart of the cultured West- 
ern Reserve of Ohio, it was not thought pos- 
sible that such an outbreak of lawlessness 
could occur. The other cities of the Western 
Reserve blushed for us. The great state of 
Ohio was ashamed of us. We had brought 
discredit upon the great state of which we 
are so proud. Our shame went abroad 
throughout the land — throughout the worH. 
The great newspapers sent special correspond- 
ents to Akron and covered their front pages 
with great, black headlines to publish to the 
world our disgrace. As an example, the Pitts- 
b\irgh Dispatch of August 24, 1900. bore 
across the entire front page in .startling type, 
this inscription : "National Guard Preserves 
Order in Shamed Akron." This shame, this 



disgrace, this damage to a splendid reputa- 
tion, was our greatest loss. 

If the cause of it all can be said to belong 
to those who might have averted it, then 
there is no difficulty in putting the blame 
where it belongs — at the door of incompetent 
public officials. The errors of judgment on 
their part were so numerous that it will not 
be possible to mention them here. Even when 
the riot was at its height, a dozen determined 
policemen could have put the entire mob to 
rout. Many times that night it happened, 
that some one would cry, "The Police are 
Coming Out," and the entire crowd would 
take to their heels and scatter in all direc- 
tions. It is to be feared that downright cow- 
ardice, as well as lack of judgment, was one 
of the prominent characteristics of those now 
criticised. 

From the black picture let us turn to a 
bright one. Letters of shining gold should 
be used to tell of the deeds of Akron's fire- 
men who played so noble a part in that 
night's doings. From its very beginning, 
Akron's fire department has never been found 
wanting in any emergency, but on this occa- 
sion, it covered itself with everlasting glory. 
The prison-keeper and a few of the police- 
men proved also that night that they were 
brave men. These, with the county prose- 
cutor, and the members of the Grand and 
Petit juries who dealt with the riot cases, are 
they who emerged with credit from the Riot 
of 1900. 



CHAPTER V 



TCWNSHIPS AND TQ-WNS 



Settlement and Organization of the Townships — Settlement and Founding of the Towns 
Sketches of Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Tallmadge, Peninsula, Etc. 



Summit County possesses some of the most 
beautiful scenery in Ohio. There is not an 
uninteresting township in the whole county. 
Each has some special charm to prove that 
Nature has been most lavish of her gifts. 
The valley of the Cuyahoga divides the upper 
half of the county, while the southern half 
is diversified by a chain of beautiful lakes. 
Everywhere there is variety; monotonous ex- 
panses of level ground are nowhere to be 
seen. Near the head of the Cuyalioga A^al- 
ley are the famed Northampton Hills which 
offer vistas of hill country that remind the 
beholder of New England. Here, on a 
smaller scale, are the qualities which have 
made the Berkshires famous for their beauty. 
The Lake Country has its eminences, also, 
rising two or three hundred feet almost from 
the water's edge. The lakes, nestling amid 
these green hills, make a picture which is 
worthy the long journey which many travel- 
ers make to see it. From these high points, 
the land stretches away to the east and west 
in long rolls and billows. It is not a matter 
of wonder that Medina and Portage and Stark 
counties objected so strenuously to being de- 
prived of the townships which were taken 
from them to form the new county of Sum- 
mit. By that process they lost the fairest 
portion of their domain. 



BATH TOWNSHIP. 

Of the early settlers of Bath Township 
there are two families which stand out pre- 
eminent — the Hfxles and the Hammonds. 
The influence of the Hale family during the 
years subsequent has been stronger and wider 
felt than that of perhaps any other family in 
the county. It has been of incalculable bene- 
fit, exerted, as it always has been, in behalf 
of high thinking and clean living. The fact 
that for a long time this region was called 
"Hammondsburgh" shows the prominent 
part Jason Hamimond played in the perform- 
ance of its early affairs. The hamlet of 
Hammond's Corners still bears the name of 
this first settler. The first real settlement of 
the township was made in 1810. During the 
summer of that year, Jonathan Hale and Ja- 
son Hammond, both Connecticut men, came 
to Ohio to settle upon the land they had re- 
cently purchased. They were obliged to dis- 
possess other white men whom they found 
living upon their land without color of title. 
A survey of the township had been made in 
1805, and the name "Wheatfield" given to it 
by Rial McArthur, the surveyor, probably be- 
cau.se his eyes had been gladdened that day 
by a .sight of a waving field of that grain. 
It is a pity the name did not survive. Fine 
fields of wheat may be seen on all hands, to- 
day, in season, and it is one of the success- 



102 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ful crops of the township, while the name of 
Bath is of no significance, locally, whatever. 
It is said the name was given to the town- 
ship in joke. It is now firmly affixed and 
"Bath" this township will ever be. Bath was 
organized as a township in 1818, and Jona- 
than Hale was made the first trustee; Jason 
Hammond, supervisor; Henry Hutson, jus- 
tice of the peace, and Eleazer Rice, consta- 
ble. Bath sent nearly one hundred men into 
the Union Arrny during the Civil War and 
many of her citizens have occupied promi- 
nent places in the county and State. Among 
them' may be mentioned Gen. A. C. Voris. 
Peter Voris, R. 0. Hammond, J. Park Alex- 
ander, Sumner Nash, C. 0. Hale, Jared Bar- 
ker and 0. W. Hale. The principal plac&s 
in the township are Botzura, a station on the 
Cleveland and Terminal Valley branch of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; Montrose 
(formerly called Latta's Corners and some- 
times Ellis' Corners) ; Hammond's Corners 
and Ghent. At the picturesque village last 
mentioned there are extensive saw-mills, grist- 
mills, a general store, etc. P. A. Ganyard 
is the township clerk in 1907, and William 
Davis and C. S". Parsons are justices of the 
peace. 

BOSTON TOWNSHIP. 

Boston Township contains three villages — 
Peninsula, Boston Mills and Everett. The 
earliest settlers were also from Connecticut. 
In 1805, the purchasers of the holdings of 
the Connecticut Land Company sent many 
surveying corps into Summit County for the 
purpose of alloting the lands. In this year 
Alfred Wolcott, Jamas Stanford. John Teale 
and Samuel Ewart came into Boston Town- 
ship for the purpose of making a survey. In 
1806, Wolcott and Stanford both purcha.sed 
land surveyed by them the summer previous 
and located upon it at once. Tlioy thus be- 
came the first settlers in the town.ship. The 
Wolcott family afterward became very promi- 
nent and influential. The town.ship wa.? or- 
ganized in 1811, as a part of Portage County. 



its firet officers were Timothy Bishop, Andrew 
Johnson and Aai'on Miller, trustees; William 
Beers, clerk; Launcelot May, treasurer; Al- 
fred Wolcott and Moses Cunningham, jus- 
tices of the peace, and James Jordan, consta- 
ble. More than 140 men of Boston township 
fought for the Union in the war of 1861-65, 
the most distinguished of whom was Colonel 
Arthur L. Conger. On July 4, 1889, Colonel 
and Mrs. Conger presented to Boston Town- 
.ship the fine soldiers' monument which stands 
in the village of Peninsula at its western bor- 
der. Peninsula has an extensive flour-mill 
and, in the southern part of the village, a 
large stone-quaiTy of a fine-gi'ained, white 
.sand-stone, from which mill-stones are made. 
Boston has saw-mills and the great paper- 
mills of the Akron-Cleveland Paper Bag 
Company, the power for which is partly se- 
cured from a large dam thrown across the 
Cuyahoga River. Colonel A. L. Conger aaid 
Hon. S. P. Wolcott are the Boston citizens 
who have earned for themselves the greatest 
fame. At the present time Charles Peterson 
is clerk and E. B. Conger and N. B. Wise are 
justices of the peace. 

COPLEY TOWNSHIP. 

Copky Township came to us from Medina 
County when our county was created in 1840. 
It is well watered by Pigeon Creek, Wolf 
Creek and Chocolog Creek, besides having 
within its confines AMiite Pond, Black Pond 
and Chocolog Pond. Formerly a great swamp 
called Copley Swamp occupied a large part 
of it, but by judicious draining it has been 
reduced to an insignificant area. It Ls now 
one vast garden — the old peat and muck beds 
furnishing the best kind of soil for raising 
celery, onions, etc. In early times it was the 
great game preserve of the whole region. 
Copley was first settled in 1814 by Jonah 
Turner, who came from Pennsylvania. Six 
additional families arrived during the next 
five years. ■ It was set apart as a township of 
Medina County in 1819, and was named 
Greenfield at first by Garner Green, who origi- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



103 



nally owned a large part of ite territory. He 
afterwards changed the name to Copley, the 
maiden name of his wife. When the North- 
ern Ohio Railroad was built, in 1891, it gave 
Copley an outlet, and was the means of start- 
ing a new hamlet — Fairlawn, which now 
boasts a mill, general store, smithy, etc. Cop- 
ley sent nearly 150 men into the Union 
Army. Homer G. Long is now township 
clerk and C. C. Frederick is justice of the 
peace. 

COVENTRY TOWNSHIP. 

Coventry Township lies to the north of 
Franklin and Green and just outside of the 
City of Akron. It is also the southern line 
of the Western Reserve. Its physical fea- 
tures are unusual in that it is dotted by nu- 
merous lakes and in early days was traversed 
by a considerable stream, the Tuscarawas. In 
addition to this, about 1840, the Reservoir 
was built, composed partly of natural and 
partly artificial bodies of water. Long Lake 
is the largest of these natural bodies of 
water. The Indian seem to have made 
this their headquarters and naturally so, for 
New Portage was at the head of the Indian 
Trail. These Indians were Delawares and the 
most importajit of their chiefs was Ilopocan 
or Captain Pipe. He called . himself, "Ho- 
pocan, King of New Portage." The finst white 
settler of the township was Daniel Haines, 
who can^e from Pennsylvania about the year 
1806. After him, in 1811, came the Aliens, 
from New York State, forebears of the^ Al- 
iens, who live there today. The town.ship 
grew at an ama^iing pace and a great future 
seemed before it. The Tuscarawas was then 
an immense stream capable of floating -large 
boats, and many a boatload went from 
Coventry to New Orleans. A glass factory 
started and for some time many articles of 
value and profit were turned out. A distillery 
was started by Adam Falor. Saw-mills and 
grist-mills started up. A lawyer by the name 
of Van Humphreys settled there and the 
"State of Coventry" began to be. The now 



well known "State Mill" arose in this fashion: 
At the time of the construction of the Reser- 
voir it was neces-sary to destroy the mill 
formerly there, and to replace it the 
State built a large mill at that point. 
For a long time it was the center of 
the mill business of that district, and of late 
\ears has become valuable, chiefly as a sum- 
mer resort. With the advent of the canal 
the township continued to flourish and for a 
time seemed to rival Middlebury. However, 
its prospects died down and it settled down 
to the regular way of a town.ship. Still it is 
to be remembered that with the last increase 
of territory to Akron, a large part of Coventry 
was annexed to the city, and the old city- 
spirit of Coventry survives possibly in another 
form. 

The township organization occurred in 
1808. and at that time Coventry was a part 
of Springfield and they were a part of 
Portage County, till the organization of Sum- 
mit in 1840. At the present time the taxable 
property in the township is valued at about 
$1,300,000. With the rapid growth of the 
city south, and the addition of Barberton and 
Kenmore, it seems that it will be only a short 
time till the township will disappear within 
municipal lines. Among the prominent 
families in the township have been the 
Brewsters and the Falors. From Coventry 
township also came John R. Buchtel, the 
founder of Buchtel College, and William 
Buchtel, who represented Summit County in 
the State legislature from 1901-3. The pres- 
ent representative, Howard C. Spicer. is also 
from Coventry township. B. T. Davis and H. 
E. Shook are the present justices of the peace 
for the township. 

The village of Cuyahoga Falls was 
founded in 1825 by Elkanah Richardson. 
Among the earliest settlers were Joshua Stow 
and William Wetmore. In 1815 a saw-mill 
was in operation near Gaylord's Grove, oper- 
ated by power derived from a dam across the 
river at that point. The name Cuyahoga 
Falls was adopted in accordance with a sug- 
gestion from the postoflfice department. The 



104 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tirni ol' Stow and Wetniore built several mills, 
dams and business buildings in the new vil- 
lage, and by 1830 the town took on am im- 
portant aspect. In that year they built a 
large paper mill, an industry that is still car-' 
ried on profitably. They were a?.sisted in the 
paper business by John Rumrill, who had 
learned the art in the New England paper 
mills. About 1825 Henry Newberry came 
from Connecticut and built more dams, a 
saw-mill, linseed oil-imill and a paper-mill. 
He was a graduate of Yale and was one of the 
most prominent of the early settlers. March 
5, 1851, the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls organ- 
ized a township of the same name and co- 
extensive with the territory of the village. 
The government of tlie village was then given 
over to the township officers who were elected 
at that time as follows: Horace A. Miller, 
Henry Newberry, Jr., and Porter G. Somers, 
trustees; Lucious Bradley, treasurer; Grant P. 
Turner, clerk ; William H. Taylor, assessor, 
and W. J. Wilson and W. W. Luca.'S, con- 
stables. This arrangement failed to give sat- 
isfaction and on .June 3, 1868, the village gov- 
ernment was reorganized. On September 1, 
1868, the first election was hel-d and William 
A. Hanford was elected mayor; Henry C. 
Lockwood, treasurer; Porter G. Somers, re- 
corder; T. F. Heath, Charles Hunt, W. M. 
Griswold, John Hinde and L. W. Loomis, 
trastees. In 1841 the Board of Commi.s.sioners, 
to locate the county seat decided upon Cuya- 
hoga Falls, but the legislature interfered the 
year following, and, leaving the question to a 
popular vote, it was located at Akron. It 
cannot be said that Cuyahoga Falls was at 
any time the county seat, in spite of the acts 
of the commission. 

Cuyahoga Falls' schools have always been 
among the best in the county. The village 
obtained its reputation as an educational cen- 
ter very early in its exi.stence. In 1834 a pri- 
vate school wfiis opened by J. H. Reynolds. 
In 1836 a school for girls was opened by 
Sarah Carpenter. Later schools were con- 
ducted bv Frances C. Barron nnd Eliza 
Deaver. In 1837, the Cuvahoga Fnlls Insti- 
tute was opened for pupils by Rev. Roswcll 



Brooks and Charles Clark. The present brick 
High School building was built in 1871. The 
High School was organized in 1855, H. F. 
Taylor being the first principal. Among his 
successors have been such famous men as Ed- 
ward R. Sill, Vergil P. Kline and William I. 
Chamberlain. In 1833, "The Ohio Review," 
Cuyahoga Falls' first newspaper, was started 
by Horace Canfield and Timothy Spencer. It 
ran about one year. It was followed in close 
succession by the "Renovator," "The Young 
Buzzard," "The Telescope," "The American 
Eagle," and "The True American." The last 
mentioned stopped about 1843. In 1870 "The 
Cuyahoga Falls Reporter" was founded by E. 
0. Knox and, by good business management, 
has succeeded in continuing publication until 
the present time. In 1881 "The Weekly 
Journal" was started, but did not last more 
than a year. 

The village sent nearly 200 men into the 
Union Army during the Civil War. In 1859 
"The Union Fair ^\s.sociation" was fonned 
and fitted iip fair grounds at the north end 
of the village. Not being a success financially, 
the association was wound up in 1861. Cuya- 
hoga Falls has had her share of prominent 
citizens, among whom can be named Edward 
Rowland Sill, one of America's very best 
poets, and whose fame has just begun to grow. 
Elisha N. Sill, Samuel W. McClure, ' Henry 
McKinney, George Paul and Charles R. 
Grant. 

Cuyahoga Falls now has the following 
churches: Church of Christ, Rev. W. L. 
Denslow, pastor: First Congregational, Rev. 
A. E. Woodruff, pa.stor; Methodi4 Episcopal. 
Rev. W. J. Wilson, pa.stor; St. John's Epis- 
copal; St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, Rev. J. 
A. Nolan, pa.stor, and the Welsh Congrega- 
tional. The principal industries now are 
The Walsh Paper Company, C. M. Walsh, 
president ; T. A. Murphy, vice-president and 
general manager; E. A. Prior, secretary, and 
F. T. Moloney, treasurer. They have a very 
large factorv on River Street. On Portage 
Street are the Pearl Flour Mills, operated by 
the Walsh Milling Company, of which Cor- 
nelius ]M. A^'al.sh is president. The large fac- 





BIG FALLS— THE GORGE 



LAKE ANNA, BARBERTON 




COUNTY INFIRMARY 



ENTRANCE TO GRACE PARK, AKRON 




OLD MAID'S KITCHEN— THE GORGE ENTRANCE TO AKRON RURAL CEMETERY 




AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



107 



tory of the Falls Rivet and Machine Company 
is located on the railroad at Portage Street. 
Edwin Seedhouse is president and C. H. 
Wells, treasurer. They make rivets, bolts and 
power transmission machinery. The Acme 
Wire Company has officers as follows : W. C. 
Hall, president; S. H. Miller, vice-president; 
L. D. Brown, treasurer; E. A. Henry, general 
manager. Falls Hollow Staybolt Company, 
C. M. Walsh, president; The Falls Lumber 
Company, G. R. James, secretary and treas- 
urer; The Keller Brick Company, Frederick 
W. Keller, president ; W. F. Keller, secretary 
and president; Tift and Vogan, consisting of 
Smith D. Tift and Fremont D. A^ogan ; Tur- 
ner, Vaughn and Taylor, of which Calvin W. 
Vaughn is general manager; Isaac N. Reid, 
who 'makes carriages and does a general 
smithy businass; the Fair Oaks Villa is a sani- 
tarium for mental and nervous diseases, con- 
ducted successfully by Drs. W. A. Searl and 
H. I. Cozad. The Cuyahoga Falls Savings 
Bank was organized September 2, 1904, upon 
the failure of the Akron Savings Bank, which 
had conducted a Cuyahoga Falls branch. It 
has a capital of $50,000 and is ably managed 
by following officers: President, C. M. Walsh; 
vice-president, W. R. Lodge ; vice-president, 
Edwin Seedhouse; treasurer and cashier, F. 
T. Moloney; secretary, E. A. Prior. The 
Falls Savings and Loan A.«sociation is ably 
conducted by L. W. Loomis, president; E. A. 
Prior, secretary; Dr. W. A. Searl, treasurer, 
and C. T. Grant, attorney. Bauman and Orth 
(Edward H. Bauman and Frank W. Orth) 
are the present proprietors of the Cuyahoga 
Falls Reporter. The Central Union Tele- 
phone Company and the Akron Peoples' Tele- 
phone Company both have exchanges here. 
The population of Cuyahoga Falls is now 
about 4,000. In 1907 its officials are: Mayor, 
C. A. Davis; clerk, C. D. Crumb; treasurer, 
Theodore Heath; marshal, I. Goldwood. The 
mayor and clerk are Democrats, the other 
two Rejiubliciuis. 

TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP. 

Tallmadge was founded in 1806 by David 
Bacon, mini.ster, missionarv and colonizer. 



His experiences in the wilderness and the dif- 
ficulties he had to contend with in establish- 
ing his little colony are typical, and for that 
reason are here set forth in full according to 
the excellent narrative of his .son, Dr. Leonard 
Bacon, as published in Howe's Historical Col- 
lections (Ohio). It may readily be believed 
that the labors and dangers incident to the 
settlement of Tallmadge were no greater than 
those attending the settlement of the other 
townships of the county. 

Rev. David Bacon, the founder of Tall- 
madge, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, 
in 1771, and died in Hartford in 1817 at the 
early age of forty-six years, worn out by ex- 
cessive labors, privations and mental suffer- 
ings, largely consequent upon his financial 
failure with his colony. He was the first mis- 
sionary sent to the Western Indians from Con- 
necticut. His means were pitifully inade- 
quate, but with a stout heart, reliant upon 
God, he .started, August 8, 1800, from Hart- 
ford, afoot and alone through the wilderness, 
with no outfit but what he could carry on his 
back. At Buffalo Creek, now the site of the 
city of Buffalo, he took vessel for Detroit, 
which he reached September 11, thirty-four 
days after leaving Hart-ford, and was hospit- 
ably received by Major Hunt, commandant 
of the United States garrison there. After a 
preliminaiy survey he returned to Connecti- 
cut, and on the 25th of December was mar- 
ried at Lebanon to Alice Parks, then under 
eighteen years of age ; a week later, on the last 
day of the la.st year of the last century, De- 
cember 31, 1800, he was ordained regularly 
to the specific work of a missionarj' to the 
heathen, the first ever sent out from Con- 
necticut. 

On the 11th of February, 1801, with his 
young wife, he started for Detroit, going 
through the -n-dlderness of New York and Can- 
ada by sleigh, and arrived there Saturday, 
May 9. The bride, before she got out of Con- 
necticut, had a new and painful experience. 
They stopped at a noisy countrj"- tavern at 
Canaan. There was a large company alto- 
gether, some drinking, .some talking and some 



108 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



swearing, and this they found was common 
at all the public-houses. 

Detroit at this time was the great empo- 
rium of the fur trade. Some of the Indian 
traders were men of great wealth for those 
days and of highly cultivated minds. Many 
of them were educated in England and Scot- 
land at the universities, a class today in Brit- 
ian termed "university men." They gen- 
erally spent the winter there, and in the 
spring returned with new goods brought by 
vessels through the lakes. The only Ameri- 
cans in the place were the officers and soldiers 
of the garrison, consisting of an infantry reg- 
iment and an artillery company, the officers 
of which treated Mr. Bacon and family with 
kindnees and respect. The inhabitants were 
English, Scotch, Irish and French, all of 
whom hated the Yankees. The town was en- 
closed by cedar pickets about twelve feet high 
and six inches in diameter, and so close to- 
gether one could not see through. 

At each side were strong gates which were 
closed together and .guarded, and no Indians 
were allowed to come in after sundown or to 
remain over night. 

Upon his arrival in Detroit the missionary 
society paid him in all four hundred dollars; 
then, until September, 1808, he did not get 
a cent. He began his support by teaching 
school, at first with some success, but he was 
a Yankee, and the four Catholic priests used 
their influence in opposition. His young 
wife assisted him. They studied the Indian 
langiiage, but made slow progress, and their 
prospect for usefulness in Detroit seemed wan- 
ing. 

On the 19th of Febniary, 1802, hi^ first 
child was born at Detroit. — the afterwards emi- 
nent Dr. Leonard Bacon. In the May fol- 
lowing he went down into the Maumee coun- 
try with a view to establishing a mission 
among the Indians. The Indians were mo.st- 
ly drunk, and he was an unwilling witness to 
their drunken orgies. Little Otter, their chief, 
received him courteously, called a council of 
the tribe, and then, to his talk through an in- 
terpreter, gave him their decision that they 
would not have him. Tt was to this efi'ect: 



Your religion is very good, but only 
for white people; it will not do for In- 
dians. When the Great Spirit made 
white people he put them on another 
island, gave them farms, tools to work 
with, horses, horned cattle and sheep 
and hogs for them, that they might 
get their living in that way and he taught 
them to read, and gave them their reli- 
gion in a book. But when he made In- 
dians he made them wild, and put them 
on this island in the woods, and gave 
them the wild game that they might live 
by hunting. We formerly had a reli- 
gion very much like yours, but we found 
it would not do for us, and we have dis- 
covered a much better way. 
Seeing he could not succeed he returned to 
Detroit. He had been with them several days 
and twice narrowly escaped assassination from 
the intoxicated ones. His son, Leonard, in 
his memoirs of his father, published in the 
Congregational Quarterly for 1876, and from 
which this article is derived, wrote : 

"Something more than ordinary courage 
was neces-sary in the presence of so many 
drunken and half-dninken Indians, any one 
of whom might suddenly shoot or tomahawk 
the mLssionary at the slightest provocation or 
at none." The two instances mentioned by 
him in which he was enabled to baffle the 
malice of savages ready to murder him remind 
me of another in,stance. 

"It was while my parents were living at 
Detroit, and when I was an infant of less than 
four months, two Indians came as if for a 
friendly visit; one of them, a tall and stal- 
wart, young man, the other shorter and 
older. As they entered my father met them, 
gave his hand to the old man, and was just 
extending it to the other, when my mother, 
quick to discern the danger, exclaimed, 'See! 
He has a knife.' At the word my father saw 
that, while the Indian's right hand was ready 
to salute, a gleaming knife in his left hand 
was partly concealed under his blanket. 

"An Indian intending to a.ssassinate waits 
until his intended victim is looking away 
from him and then strikes. Mv father's keen 



AND REPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



109 



6ye was fixed upon the murderer, and watched 
him eye to eye. The Indian found himself 
strangely diseoncert.ed. In vain did the old 
man talk to my father in angry and chiding 
tones — -that keen, black eye was watching the 
would-be assassin. The time seemed long. 
My mother took the baby (himself) from the 
birch-bark cradle, and was going to call for 
help, but when she reached the door, she 
dared not leave her husband. At last the old 
man became weary of chiding; the young 
man had given up his purpose for a time and 
they retired." 

Failing on the Maumee, Mr. Bacon soon 
after sailed with his little family to Mackinaw. 
This was at the beginning of summer, 1802 
Mackinaw was then one of the remotest out- 
posts of the fur trade and garrisoned by a 
company of United States troops. His object 
was to establish a mission at Abrecroche, 
about twenty miles distant, a large settlement 
of Chippewa Indians, but they were no less 
determined than those on the Maumee that 
no missionary should live in their villages. 
Like those, also, they were a large part of the 
time drunk from whiskey, supplied in 
abundance by the fur traders in exchange for 
the proceeds of their hunting excursions. 
They had at one time no less than 900 gallon 
kegs on hand. 

His work was obstructed from the impos- 
sibility of finding an interpreter, so he took 
into his family an Indian lad, through whom 
to learn the language — his name was Singe- 
nog. He remained at Mackinaw about two 
years, but the Indians would never allow him 
to go among them. Like the Indians gen- 
erally, they regarded ministers as another 
sort of conjurors, with power to bring sickness 
and disease vipon them'. 

At one time early in October the second 
year, 1803, Singenog, the young Indian, per- 
suaded his uncle, Pondega Kawwan. a head 
chief, and two other Chippewa dignitaries, to 
vi.»it the missionar\r, and presenting him a 
string of wampum, Pondega Kawwan made a 
ver^' non-committal, dignified speech, to the 
effect that there was no u.^e of his .going 
among them, that the Great Spirit did not 



put them on the ground to learn such things 
as the white people taught. If it were not 
for rmn they might listen, "but," concluded 
he, "Rum is our Master." And later he said 
to Singenog, "Our father is a great man and 
knows a great deal ; and if we were to know so 
much, perhaps the Great Spirit would not let 
us live." 

After a residence at Mackinaw of about two 
years and all prospects of success hopeless, the 
!iii.ssionary society ordered him to New Con- 
necticut, there to itinerate as a missionary and 
to improve himself in the Indian language, 
etc. Ahout the l.^t of August, 1804, with h-s 
wife and two children, the youngest an infant, 
he sailed for Detroit. From hence they pro- 
ceeded in an open canoe, following the wind- 
ings of the shore, rowing by day and sleep- 
ing on land by night, till having performed a 
journey of near 200 miles, they reached, about 
tlie middle of October, Cleveland, then a mere 
hamlet on the lake shore. 

Leaving his family at Hudson, he went on 
to Hartford to report to the society. He went 
;ilmost entirely on foot a distance of about 600 
miles, which he wearily trudged much of the 
way through the mnd, slush and snow of win- 
ter. An arrangement was made by which he 
could act half the time as pastor at Hudson, 
and the other half as a missionary to the 
various settlements on the Reserve. On his 
return a little experience satisfied him that 
more could be done than in any other way for 
the establishment of Christian institutions on 
the Reserve, by the old Puritan mode of 
colonizing, by founding a religious colony 
strong enough and compact enough to main- 
tain schools and public worship. 

An ordinarv township, with its scattered 
settlements and roads at option, with no com- 
mon central point, cannot well grow into a 
town. The unity of a town as a body politic 
depends very much on fixing a common cen- 
ter to which every homestead shall be obvious- 
ly related. In no other rural town, perhaps, 
is that so well provided for as in Tallmadge. 
"Public spirit, local pride," writes Dr. 
Bacon, "friendly intercourse, general culture 
and good taste, and a certain moral and re- 



110 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ligious steadfastness are among the character- 
istics by which Tallniadge is almost pro- 
verbially distinguished throughout the Re- 
serve. No observing stranger can pass through 
the town without seeing that it was planned 
by a sagacious and far-seeing mind. 
"It was fit that he who had planned the set- 
tlement, and who had identified with it all 
his hopes for use-fuln&ss for the remainder of 
his life, and all his hopes of a competence for 
his family, should be the first settler in the 
township. He did not wait for hardier ad- 
venturers to encounter the first hardships and 
to break the loneliness of the woods. Select- 
ing a temporary location near an old Indian 
trail, a few rods from the southern boundary 
of the township, he built the first log cabin, 
and there placed his family. 

"I well remember the pleasant day in July, 
1807, when that family made its removal 
from the center of Hudson to a new log-house 
in a township that had no name and no hu- 
man habitation. The father and mother — 
poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith 
and in the treasure of God's promises; rich 
in their well-tried mutual affection ; rich in 
their expectation of usefulness and of the 
comfort and competence which they hoped to 
achieve by their enterprise; rich in the 
parental joy with which they looked upon 
the three little ones that were carried in their 
arms or nestled among their scanty house- 
hold goods in the slow-mo\'ing wagon — were 
familiar with whatever there is in hardship 
and peril or disappointment, to try the cour- 
age of the noblest manhood or the immortal 
strength of a true woman's love. The little 
ones were the natives of the wilderness — ^the 
youngest a delicate nur.?ling of six months, 
the others bom in a remoter and more savage 
We.st.. These five, with a hired man, were the 
family. 

"I remember the setting out, the halt before 
the door of an aged friend to say farewell, 
the fording of the Ciiyahoga, the day's jour- 
ney of somewhat less than thirteen miles 
along a road that had been cut (not made) 
through the dense forest, the little cleared 
spot where the journey ended, the new log- 



house, with what seemed to me a stately hill 
behind it, and with a limpid rivulet winding 
near the door. That night, when the first 
family worship was ofi'ered in that cabin, the 
prayer of the two worshipers, for themselves 
and their children, and for the work which 
they had that day begun, was like the prayer 
that went up of old from the deck of the May- 
flower, or from beneath the wintry sky of 
Plymouth. One month later a German fam- 
ily came within the limits of the town ; but 
it was not until the next February that a sec- 
ond family came, a New England family, 
whose mother tongue was English. AVell I do 
remember the solitude of that first winter, and 
how beautiful the change was when spring 
at last began to hang its garlands on the 
trees. 

"The next thing in carrying out the plan 
to which Mr. Bacon had devoted himself was 
to bring in, from whatever quarter, such 
families as would enter into his views and 
would co-operate with him for the early and 
permanent establishment of Christian order. 
It was at the expense of many a slow and 
weary journey to older settlements that he 
succeeded in bringing together the families 
who, in the spring and .summer of 1808, be- 
gan to call the new town their home. His 
repeated absences from the home are fresh in 
my memory, and so is the joy with which we 
greeted the arrival of one family after an- 
other coming to relieve our loneliness: nor 
least among the merhories of that time is the 
remembrance of my mother's fear when left 
alone with her three little children. She had 
not ceased to fear the Indians, and .sometimes 
a straggling savage, or a little company of 
them, came by our door on the old portage 
path, calling, perhaps, to try our hospitality, 
and with signs or broken English phrases ask- 
ing for whiskey. She could not feel that to 
'pull in the latch string' was a stifflcient ex- 
chision of such visitors, and in my mind's 
eye I seem now to see her frail form tugging 
at a heav\' chest, with which to barricade the 
door before she dared to .sleep. It was, in- 
deed, a relief and joy to feel at last that we 
had neighbors, and that our town was begin- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



111 



ning to be inhabited. At the end of the sec- 
ond year from the commencement of the sur- 
vey, there were, perhaps, twelve families, and 
the town received its name, Tallmadge." 

Slowly the settlement of the town proceeded 
from 1807 to 1810. Emigration from Con- 
necticut had about ceased, owing to the stag- 
nation of business froni European wars, and 
the embargo and other non-intercourse acts 
of Jefferson's administration. Mr. Bacon 
could not pay for the land he had purchased. 
He went East to trj^ to make new satisfactory 
arrangements with the proprietors, leaving 
behind his wife and five little children. The 
proprietors were imnmovable. Some of his 
parishioners felt hard towards him because, 
having made payments, he could not perfect 
their titles. With difficulty he obtained the 
means to return for hi^^ familv. 

In May, 1812, he left Tallmadge, and all 
"that was realized after five years of arduous 
labor was poverty, the alienation of some old 
friends, the depression that follows a fatal de- 
feat, and the dishonor that falls on one who 
cannot pay his debts." He lingered on a few 
years, supporting his family by traveling and 
selling the "Scott's Family Bible" and other 
religious works, from house to house, and oc- 
casional preaching. He bore his misfortunes 
with Christian resignation, struggled on a 
few years with broken spirits and broken con- 
stitution, and died at Hartford, August 17, 
1817. "My mother," said Dr. Bacon, "stand- 
ing over him with her youngest, an infant in 
her arms, said to him : 'Look on your babe 
before you die.' He looked up and said, with 
distinct and audible utterance: 'The blessing 
of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, 
rest upon thee.' Just before dawn he breathed 
his la«t. Now he knows more than all of 
us, said the doctor; while my mother, bathing 
the dead face with her tears, and warming it 
with kisses, exclaimed: 'Let my last end be 
like his.' " 

There is little doubt that Rev. David Bacon 
was the first white person who made his home 
in this township. Other early settlers were 
George Boosinger, .Justin E. Frink, Ephraim 
Clark, .Jonathan Sprague, Titus Chapman, 



William NeaJ, Elizur Wright, Moses Brad- 
ford, Salmon Sackett, John Caruthers, Reu- 
ben Upson, John Wright and Luther Cham- 
berlain. The township was named in honor 
of one of its early proprietors, Benjamin Tall- 
madge, of Litchfield, Connecticut. Nearly 
all the original settlers were from Connecti- 
cut. It was organized as a separate township 
in November, 1812. Elizur Wright was 
elected clerk and Nathaniel Chapman, justice 
of the peace. Tallmadge has from the very 
earliest days brought a very strong religious 
and educational influence to bear upon the 
surrounding communities. The average of 
culture is higher here than in any other com- 
munity in this vicinity — perhaps in Ohio. 
The purpose of its founder was religious. The 
Congregational Church was organized here in 
1809. In 1810, a school-house was opened 
and Lucy Foster, who married Alpha Wright 
the next year, was its first teacher. In 1816 
"Tallmadge Academy" was incorporated and 
opened to students. Among its teachers, 
Simeon Woodruff and Elizur Wright were 
the earliest, while later came Sidney Edger- 
ton. About 1835 Ephraim T. Sturtevant 
opened a private school and taught it suc- 
cessfully for several years. Tallmadge estab- 
lished the first public library in Summit 
County, opening it in 1813, and continuing 
and increasing it until the present writing. 
The Congregational Church edifice was built 
in 1822, and Ls a fine specimen of the New 
England church architecifure of the period. 
With very few changes, it has continued to 
serve the society until now.. In 1825 the 
Methodist established a church organization, 
and in 1832 erected a church building. In 
1874 they built the present structure near the 
public square. Coal and potters' clay are ex- 
tensively mined in the township. In the 
early '40's several veins of iron ore were dis- 
covered and a furnace erected to smelt them. 
The attempt was unsuccessful and the enter- 
prise ultimately abandoned. Some manufac- 
turing has been successfully conducted, 
notably, carriage manufacturing, begun in 
1827 by Amos Avery and William C. Oviatt. 
In 1836 thov took in Isaac Robinson. In 



112 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



1841 Ira P. Sperry organized the firm of 
Oviaitt & Sperry and later took in Samuel J. 
Eitchie. L. V. Bierce and J. E. Baldwin also 
manufactured cairiages for many year.?. In 
1868 Alfred Sperry, Charles Tryon and Ben- 
jamin D. Wright began the manufacture of 
sewer-pipe, Henry M. Camp later succeeding 
Mr. Tryon. In 1871 Samuel J. Ritchie and 
Ira P. and Willis Sperry bought them out and 
continued the business with success until the 
fire of 1878. In 1881 Ira P. and George P. 
Sperry rebuilt the w^orks. The apple-butter 
factory of John A. Caruthers should also be 
noticed. Tallmadge gave her full quota of 
men to preserve the Union during the rebel- 
lion of 1861. Tallmadge claims two of the 
greatest names in Summit County history in 
Sidney Edgerton and William H. Upson. 

HUDSON TOWNSHIP. 

The original proprietors of Hudson town- 
ship were Stephen Baldwin, Da\nd Hudson, 
Birdsey Norton, Nathaniel Norton, Benjamin 
Oviatt and Theodore Parmalee. It consisted 
of 16,000 acres, and, in the distribution of the 
lands of the Connecticut Land Company, it 
was sold to the above mentioned proprietors 
at 32 cents per acre. In 1799 David Hudson 
organized a party of eleven persons for the 
purpose of inspecting the new purchase. They 
started overland from Litchfield, Connecticut, 
and, with their wagons, oxen and cows, made 
a very respectable looking caravan. They 
were nearly two months in making the jour- 
ney, reaching the present township about the 
latter part of June. The summer was spent 
in surveying; erecting a bark hut and a more 
substantial log-house; clearing land of timber; 
planting and sowing crops, and platting the 
village, now called Hudson, after its founder. 
Early in October the survey of the township 
was completed and David Hudson, with his 
son Ira and the two surveyors, started back to 
Connecticut, leaving the remainder of the 
party as a nucleus of the future settlement. 

By offering bounties of land and other in- 
dticements, Mr. Hivdson succeeded in getting 
together twenty-eight colonists who agreed to 



return with him into the wilderness and as- 
sist in the pioneer work of settling the new 
township. In this party were Heman Oviatt, 
Joel and Allen Gaylord, Joseph and George 
Darrow, Moses Thompson, Samuel Bishop 
and others. After enduring the usual perils 
and deprivations incident to pioneer journey.-;, 
they arrived safely in Hudson in May, 1800. 
Their first act was a public meeting to con- 
duct services of thanksgiving for their safe 
journey and deliverance from the perils of 
the way in the wilderness. On October 28, 
1800, there was born to David Hudson and 
his wife, Anna (Norton) Hudson, a daughter, 
whom they named Anner Mary Hudson. She 
was born in Hudson and was the first white 
child born in what is now Summit County. 

Early in 1802 the county commis-sioners 
of Trumbull County, of which this locality 
was then a part, organized Hudson township 
and arranged for the first election in April, 
1802. There were elected at that time. He- 
man Oviatt, Ebenezer Sheldon and Abraham 
Thompson, tmstees; Thadeus Laeey, clerk; 
Rufus Edwards, Ebenezer Lester and Aaron 
Norton, constables, etc., etc. 

On September 4, 1802, the first church or- 
ganization in what is now Summit County 
was made by David Hudson, with twelve of 
his fellow-colonists, who were members of 
Congregational Churches back in Connecti- 
cut. The first church thus established was a 
Congregational Church, and, from that day to 
this, not a single Sabbath has passed T\'ithout 
public worship being held by the Congrega- 
tional Church of Hudson. In 1820 the so- 
ciety completed a fine church edifice on the 
site of the present Town Hall, which was used 
continuou.ely until the splendid brick church 
on Aurora Street, next to the "Pentagon," was 
built in 1865. This has proved sufficient for 
the needs of the Congregational Society until 
the present day. 

In 1828 Moses Draper, Daniel Gaylord and 
Perley Mansur organized a Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, the history of which is not a 
record of unvarving success. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church was or- 
ganized in 1842 bv Frederick Brown, Anson 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



113 



Brewster, Henry O'Brien, Arthur Sadler and 
others. It is called the "Parish of Christ 
Church, of Hudson, Ohio." Its membership 
has never been large and, at time.s, the organ- 
ization has been maintained with difficulty. 

St. Mary's Catholic Church was built in 
1858 and has been maintained in connection 
with the church of that denomination in 
Cuyahoga Falls. 

In 1890 an organization of the Disciples 
of Christ was effected and Rev. F. H. Moore 
was installed as its pastor. 

From the very beginning Hudson led the 
intellectual life of the AVestern Reserve. What 
the influence of Western Reserve College has 
been has been told elsewhere in this work by 
Dr. Findley. The spirit of which that insti- 
tution is a product manifested itself the year 
after the founding of the first settleiuent. 
George Pease, of Enfield, Connecticut, estab- 
lished the first school in a log-house, about 
where the present Town Hall stands. The 
growth of the schools kept pace with that of 
the population. In 1868 the fine brick High 
School building was erected. In addition to 
the public schools many private schools have 
been conducted at various times. The first 
was the Nutting School for young ladies, es- 
tablished in 1827. Then followed the Hud- 
son Academy for boys and girls in 1834; 
Hudson Female Seminary in 1845; the Gro.s- 
venor Seminary and the Phelps "Seminary 
for Ladies," established a few years later ; the 
J. W. Smith school in 1853 ; the Emily Met- 
calf school in 1860, and the Hudson Acad- 
emy, revived in 1874 by Rev. H. B. Hos- 
ford. 

In the decade of the '50's Hudson was bad- 
ly smitten with the railroad fever. There 
was scarcely one of her citizens of means who 
did not invest everv- penny he could possibly 
raise in one or more of the railroad enter- 
prises undertaken at that time. Profe.ssor 
Henry N. Day. of Western Reserve College, 
seems to have been the moving spirit in all 
these schemes. The investors lost every cent 
they put in and the depreciation in Hudson 
business has been constant since that time. 
The town never rallied from the great finan- 



cial losses brought about by the failures of 
these railroad projects. The Cleveland and 
Pittsburgh Railroad was completed from 
Cleveland to Hudson in 1852. The "Akron 
Branch" was built soon after. These were 
successful and improved business conditions 
in Hudson so much that when subsequent 
projects were broached no difficulty was en- 
countered in getting the support of every Hud- 
son citizen. In 1852 Prof. Day and his asso- 
ciates "promoted" "the Clinton Line Rail- 
road." which was to be part of a great trans- 
continental railroad. In 1853 the same par- 
ties organized a bankruptcy club, the mem- 
bers of which were allowed to contribute to 
"the Clinton Line Extension," to run from 
Hudson to Tiffin. In the .same year Hudson 
citizens were asked to contribute toward de- 
fraying the expenses of another dream, iri- 
descent and alluring, called the "Hudson and 
Painesville Railroad," designed as an exten- 
sion of the "Akron Branch Railroad." The 
work on all these railroads was started and 
carried on to various extents. Much of the 
old grading, fills and culverts may yet be 
seen in the woods and pastures near Hudson. 
At least one of the roads was nearly half com- 
pleted, when, in 1856, the bubble burst. The 
dream was over, but the lapse from conscious- 
ness had cost the village every available nickel 
in it. These roads remain today just as they 
were left when work stopped in 1856. As a 
promoter. Prof. Day was a very great failure. 
Besides his railroad enterprises, which ended 
in disaster, might be mentioned his "Penta- 
gon" scheme and his book-publishing com- 
pany, both of which were wound up by as- 
signees. 

It is a pleasure to turn from these business 
failures to some other enterprises which were 
built upon a more substantial ba=is and thus 
became successes. The mo.st conspicuous is 
the immense business built up by S. Straight 
& Co., established in 1867. ' Their busi- 
ness was the manufacture of butter and cheese 
and at one time they operated fourteen fac- 
tories. In 1870 E. A. 0.sborne erected his 
butter-tub and cheese-box factory. Other 
mills were those of Era.«tus Crov, built in 



114 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



1878; E. B. Shields, 1890; E. J. Tobdell; the 
Oviatt Manufacturing Company, in 1878, and 
the G. H. Grimm Manufacturing Company. 
Hudson's mercantile status is better today, 
perhaps, than at any time in the past. The 
great fire of a few years ago, which wiped 
out the entire western portion of the business 
part of town, has been the means of bring- 
ing about a great change for the better. Fine 
brick blocks have taken the place of the an- 
tiquated frame buildings in which business 
was formerly done and merchants have filled 
these modern rooms with larger stocks of 
finer goods. The Cleveland Bank failure, 
which brought so much loss upon Hudson 
merchants, through its Hudson branch, has 
been largely forgotten. After the fire above 
mentioned, Hudson possessed but one hotel, 
"The Delta," located near the depot, the old 
"Mansion House," located on the west side of 
Main Street, having been destroyed in that 
conflagration. In 1907 a fine, new hotel was 
opened up in the old Beebe Mansion, on the 
north side of the square, and called the "Park 
Hotel." Among the prominent merchants of 
the past and present should be mentioned 
Charles H. Buss, Edwin S. Bentley, John 
Whedon, George V. Miller, Dennis J. Joyce, 
R. H. Grimm, Seba.stian Miller, James A. 
Jacobs, Henry Wehner, John G. Mead, C. A. 
Campbell, C. H. Farwell, J. N. Farrar, P. N. 
Shively, J. L. Doncaster, W. M. Beebe, 
Charles Kilbourn and others. 

Hudson village was incorporated April 1, 
1837. At the first election, held that year, 
Heman Oviatt was chosen mayor; Lyman W. 
Hall, recorder; Frederick Baldwin] Harvey 
Baldwin, John B. Clark, Jesse Dickinson and 
Daniel C. Gaylord, trustees. 

Hudson M'as one of the centers of anti-slav- 
ery sentiment in Ohio. Like Oberlin and 
Tallmadge, her citizens took an open and 
active part in attacking the great evil and 
arousing public opinion against it. Many 
fugitive slaves found an asykmi here. When 
the Civil War broke out Hudson did her full 
duty and furnished more than one hundred 
and fifty men for the Union Armv. Todav, 



nowhere in the county is Memorial Day more 
reverently celebrated. 

Hudson Township has given us Judge S. H. 
Pitkin, M. C. Read and W. I. Chamberlain. 

At the present time E. E. Rogers is town- 
ship clerk and also justice of the peace. The 
census of 1890 gave Hudson a population of 
1,143; the last census (1900) showed a de- 
crease to 982. 

NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP. 

In the drawing of lands of the Connecticut 
Land Company the present township of 
Northampton fell to W. Billings, David King, 
Ebenezer King, Jr., F. King, John Leavitt, 
Jr., 0. P. Holden, Luther Loomis, Joseph 
Pratt, Timothy Phelps, Solomon Stoddard 
and Daniel Wright. It was first settled in 
1802 when Simeon Prior, a veteran of the 
Revolutionary War, brought his wife and ten 
children overland from the beautiful village 
of Northampton, on the Connecticut River, in 
the green hills of Hampshire Coimty, Massa- 
chusetts. Other early settlers were Justus 
Remington, David Parker and Samuel King. 
Later came Rial McArihur, David Norton, 
Nathaniel Hardy, Sr., Daniel Turner. 
Northampton Township was very slow in be- 
ing settled. The Indians remained here lon- 
ger than in any other part of the country. It 
was not until the American forces began to 
assemble here for the war of 1812 that the 
last of the red men departed. Many of their 
village sites, mounds, etc., may be seen at the 
present time. Here was a rendezvous for mili- 
tia during the second war with England, and 
three vessels of Commodore Perry's fleet were 
built in Northampton and floated down the 
Cuyahoga to Lake Erie. 

in 1886 the village of Niles, at the mouth 
of Yellow Creek, was platted. It never grew 
to anything more substantial than a vision in 
the minds of its projectors, Peter Voris and 
his associates. The site is now called Botzum. 
Other hamleis are Northampton Center, 
Steele's Corners, McArthur's Corners and 
French's Mill. Northampton did far more 
than her share in fumishins men for the 






o 





P 

CO 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



117 



Union Army in 1861-65. More than one 
hundred and forty of her citizens responded 
to the call of the nation. In 1907 W. E. Voss 
is township clerk, and P. D. Hardy and L. A. 
Hart are justices of the peace. 

NORTHFIELD. 

Northfield was first settled in April, 1807, 
when Isaac Bason brought his family from 
Massachusetts and built a log-house for them 
about a mile and one-half from the present 
Town Hall. Other early settlers were Jere- 
miah Cranmer, George Wallace, Orrin Wil- 
cox and William Cranny. The township was 
organized May 24, 1819, when an election 
was held, at which Jeremiah Cranmer, John 
Duncan and George Wallace were elected 
trustee.? ; Henry Wood, clerk ; Watrous 
Mather, treasurer; and Abraham Cranmer 
and Edward Coyne, constables. In 1840 the 
township had a population of 1,041. It fur- 
nished more than one hundred and twenty- 
five men to the Federal Army in the Rebel- 
lion. In 1907 M. A. Van Horn is township 
clerk and 0. E. Griswold and H. A. McCon- 
nell, justices of the peace. Flourishing cen- 
ters are Northfield, Little York, Macedonia 
and Brandywine. 

XORTOX TOWNSHIP. 

Norton township was originally a part of 
Wolf Creek township, but was organized as a 
separate township in April, 1818. It was 
named for Birdsey Norton, one of its Con- 
necticut proprietors. It was first settled in 
1810 by James Robinson, who came from 
New York and built a cabin for himself on 
Wolf Creek. Other early settlers were .John 
Cahow, Abraham Van Hyning, Henry Van 
Hyning, John D. Humphrey, Charles Lyon, 
P. Kirkum, Seth Lucas, Charles Miller and 
Nathan Bates. At the organization in April, 
1818, the following officers were elected: 
Clerk, Joseph D. Humphrey; justice of the 
peace, Henry Van Hyning, Sr. ; trustees, 
Charles Lyon, Abrahaim Van Hyning and 
Ezra Way; .supervisors, .John Cahow, Elisha 



Hin.sdale and Jo.seph Holmes. Norton pos- 
sesses some of the richest land in the county 
and many of her citizens have amassed much 
wealth from agriculture and mining of coal. 
The township also posse.-ses some of the most 
prosperous hamlets, like Norton Center, West- 
ern Star, Loyal Oak, Hometown, Johnson's 
Corners, Sherman and Dennison. 

It is also fortunate in having within its 
limits that marv&l of the closing years of the 
nineteenth century, the "Magic City" — Bar- 
berton. It is a city that was almost literally 
built in a day. In 1890 its site was a typical 
Ohio farm, with its fertile fields, rich mea- 
dows, stretches of woodland, running brooks, 
comfortable farm-houses and huge bank- 
barns. In its center was a little pond of clear 
water, fed by springs in its bottom, and named 
"Davis Lake." Rolling farm lands sur- 
rounded it on all sides. A mile or two to the 
north was the village of New Portage, a sta- 
tion on the Erie and Cleveland, Akron and 
Columbus Railroads, a port on the Ohio 
Canal, and the southern terminus of the 
Portage Path, that aboriginal highway which 
connected the northern waters of the State of 
Ohio with the southern. Five miles further 
north was Akron, then a city of 27,000 peo- 
ple. In one short year all this was changed 
as though a magician's wand had swept over 
the scene. The old farms were platted into 
city lots, .streets, parks and factory sites. An 
army of men .set to work, leveling the land, 
removing fences and grading, and curbing 
the streets. Hundreds of workingmen's cot- 
tages were commenced; splendid residences 
along the shady boulevard around the lake 
gradually took form ; great factory buildings 
along the railroads arose day by day, and a 
belt line of railroad began to encircle the 
town. By the end of 1891 there was a popu- 
lation of nearly 2,000 people settled on the 
old Coventry farms of the year before. The 
reader should bo cautioned that this was not 
a "boom" town ; that its growth was not like 
the mushroom towns of the western mining 
regions; that the buildings were not tempo- 
rary structures to be replaced later by a more 
substantial construction. Here were no rough 



118 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



pine store-buildingri, no tents, no "slab" sa- 
loons or groceries. On the contrary, severe 
building restrictions were incorporated in 
each deed of land and were strictly enforced 
by the grantors. The residences around the 
lake would be a credit to any oity. The store- 
buildings were mainly of brick and each fac- 
tory building was of the most modern steel, 
brick and stone construction. Indeed, the 
thing which imOvSt impressed the visitor in 
.those early days was the substantial, perma- 
nent character of all he saw about him. Dur- 
ing that first year the construction of the 
magnificent Barberton Inn was commenced. 
No city in Ohio had a better hotel at that 
time. The fine railroad station and the Bank 
building were also started. In a few months 
more than a million dollars had been invested 
in permanent improvements. The old farms 
had disappeared forever; the walls of Barber- 
ton .had arisen to endure so long as men shall 
buy and sell. 

The founder of Barberton was Ohio Colum- 
bus Barber, the president of the Diamond 
Match Company, the American Sewer-pipe 
Company and a hundred other companies, 
and the boy who, in the fifties, had peddled 
matches which his father had dipped by hand 
in the little frame building in Middlebury. 
Early in 1890 he a.ssociated with himself 
Charles Baird, John K. Robinson and Albert 
T. Paige, and together they purchased nearly 
1,000 acres of land. Later in the year they 
sold an undivided one-half interest in their 
holdings to George W. Crouse, Sr.. and a 
Pittsburg syndicate, the head of which was 
M. J. Alexander. In May, 1891, these men 
organized themselves as "the Barberton Land 
and Improvement Company," with Mr. Bar- 
ber as its president. One-half of the stock 
was owned and held by the four men first 
above mentioned. Their first endeavor was to 
bring to Barberton as many manufacturing 
establishments as possible. They organized 
many themselves. By 1892 the following big 
-concerns were doing business in the new city 
and emploving many hundreds of workmen, 
namely: The National Sewer Pipe Company, 
with a capital invested of a quarter million 



of dollars and employing 200 men ; the Amer- 
ican Strawboard Company, capital $6,000,- 
000, and employing 200 men ; the Sterling 
Boiler Company, capital, half a million, work- 
force, 300 ; Kirkum Art Tile Company, $300,- 
000, 500 employees; Creedmoor Cartridge 
Company, $500,000, men employed, 200 ; the 
American Alumina Company, $500,000, em- 
ployees, fifty ; the United Salt Company, capi- 
tal one million, men employed, 150. Mr. 
Barber was made president of all these compa- 
nies, as well as of the Barberton Belt Line 
Railroad Co., and the Barberton Savings Bank 
Company, Avith a capital of $100,000. The 
other men interested with him were elected 
directors and officers in nearly all these com- 
panies. The next year the great corporation, 
known as the Diamond Match Company, and 
which had its principal factory in Akron, be- 
gan the constmction of its vast factory on the 
line of the Cleveland, Akron and Columbus 
Railroad just south of the station. When 
completed, the entire Akron plant was moved 
to Barberton and the working population of 
the town was thus increased by nearly a thou- 
sand persons. The Creedmoor Cartridge Com- 
pany was soon absorbed by the Cartridge trust, 
to the great profit of the local promoters, and 
the plant dismantled. The buildings, how- 
ever, did not long remain idle, for the Alden 
Rubber Company was later organized and its 
business grew so rapidly that large additions 
to the original buildings were soon neces,sary. 
Before the end of the decade had been reached 
the Columbia Chemical Company, with its 
millions of capital and its hundreds of em- 
ployees, had come within the zone of Barber- 
ton's activities. Its plant covers many acres 
in the southern part of the town and it has 
been one of the big industrial successes of 
the place. About the same time the Pitts- 
burgh Valve and Fittings Company was added 
to the long list of industries successfully doing 
business in Barberton. So, we say, advisedly, 
that Barberton will endure so long as men en- 
gage in commerce. Its foundation is as sub- 
stantial as any biLsiness community in the 
world. It has shown a remarkable power to 
rallv from reverses. It has had several such. 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



119 



The Kirkum Art Tile Company ceased to do 
business after its large plant had been entirely 
wiped out by fire. The Barberton Pottery 
Company, after an unsuccessful career, was 
finally sold in bankruptcy proceedings. One 
of Barberton's two banks also found the 
stress of competition too severe and suc- 
cumbed. There were other failures which 
also brought great losses upon Barberton peo- 
ple, but they are all infinitesimal in compari- 
son with the colossal successes which have 
been won. Barberton today is a splendid 
monument to American energy and sagacity. 
The census of 1900 was the first in which 
the name of Barberton appeared. The total 
population then was 4,354. Today it is prob- 
ably in the neighborhood of 7.000. The pres- 
ent officials are: Mayor, James McNamara; 
clerk, George Davis; treasurer, E. A. Miller; 
marshal, David Ferguson. 

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP. 

Green and Franklin are the southern town- 
ships of the county, and originally were part 
of Stark County, being inhabited by the de- 
scendants of the Germans of Pennsylvania, or, 
as they are familiarly called, "Pennsylvania 
Dutch." Summit County is made up of four- 
teen townships from Portage, and Franklin 
and Green from Stark, the formation taking 
place in 1840. Vigorous opposition aro.?e on 
the part of Stark to this separation, both be- 
cause of natural affection for the parent 
Dutch stock and on account of the geograph- 
ical location of the new county seat at Sum- 
mit. At the time it was said that the Dutch 
and Yankees could not mix, but, like all idle 
assertions, time has shown the absurdity of 
that remark. 

Franklin is noted in natural features for 
the possession of numerous small lakes. The 
Tuscarawas, in early days a much larger 
stream than at present, offered a water supply 
apparently unfailing, and Turkeyfoot Lake 
seemed to hold out large promise. The coal 
deposits have always been large, and during 
the first settlements the cranberry crop was an 
unfailing source of revenue, great quantities 



of this berry being sent east. The peach 
crop was also large, and from this a compound 
known as peach brandy was made, and thor- 
oughly tasted before shipment abroad. In 
1833 distilleries were established, but flour- 
ished for a comparatively short time. The 
more stable product of lumber enriched the 
possessors of forest, and great quantities of it 
were shipped up to Cleveland, and from 
thence to the more distant Lake ports. 

The early settlements of Franklin were 
Cartersville and Savannah. ■ The -first w^ 
named for a Wheeling quaker, who owned 
large tracts of land on which his town was lo- 
cated. Inability to withstand the encroach- 
ments of the rivers made this place speedily 
uninhabitable, and shortly after its founding, 
1806, it was abandoned. In 1816 David Har- 
vey planted and planned the town of Savan- 
nah, but after a struggle of ten years, this 
settlement yielded to the superior merits of 
Clinton. The latter had all the advantages re- 
sulting from proximity to the canal. Clin- 
ton was originally laid out in 1816, and from 
the first was a consistent busine.-« mart. It 
became the center of business for several ad- 
joining counties. Large storehouses for grain 
were erected, doctor.*', lawyers and merchants 
settled there, and the increased shipment of 
coal made the town a veritable emporium. 
After flourishing till about 1850, Clinton de- 
clined in influence and, owing to the en- 
croachment of Akron and several allied towns, 
decreased in power and influence. The pass- 
ing of the railroad beyond its borders con- 
signed it permanently to the role of the rural 
village. The town of Manchester was started 
in 1815, and, being inland in location, never 
rose to anything like the business gait of Clin- 
ton, but, nevertheless, has had a steady, sub- 
stantial growth. 

The township organization took place in 
1817. Previous to that, in 1811, it, with 
Green and Lake and Jackson, Townships of 
Stark, had had one set of officers. In matters 
of education and religion Franklin has been 
second to none. While it is somewhat uncer- 
tain as to the first teacher, yet it seems that a 
Mr. Mishler ha.« that honor. Rev. J. W. Ham- 



120 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



mond was the first preacher and varied the 
hTiigaiage of his sermons according, as the 
majority of his hearers were German or Eng- 
lish speaking. The township has an. honor- 
able Civil War record, and was very active in 
the promotion of the celebrated "Underground 
Railroad." 

At the present time Franklin has a tax val- 
uation on all its property of over a million 
dollars and from her people have gone forth 
men who have served with fidelity and intel- 
ligence in all the walks of life. 

The township has given to public life Hon. 
Hugh R. Caldwell, judge of common pleas; 
Hon. John Hoy, judge of common pleas; 
Hon. Jacob A. Kohler, representative, 1883- 
85 ; attorney general of the State of Ohio, 
1886-88, and judge of common pleas, 1900- 
1906. 

GREEN TOWNSHIP. 

Green, the sister township of Franklin, has 
had a varied experience. In the first place, 
her Indian history, like that of all early set- 
tlements, has been full of romance. Turn as 
we may from time to time to the old stories, 
as we read that of Green the thought of the 
sufferings and hardships of those pioneers in 
conflict with the red man must absorb our at- 
tention. What battles were fought there we 
may not know, but from time to time great 
masses of flint arrow-heads have been turned 
up, also an old mass of stones with its awful 
suggestion of am altar for human sacrifice — 
these are matters that divert our minds from 
the prosy life man has been condemned to 
live with only work as a mitigating circum- 
stance. However numerous the Indians were, 
they were driven out .shortly after the war of 
1812, supposedly because the aborigines sided 
with the British. With them gone, the 
"Dutch" were allowed to turn their energies 
to the cultivation of their farms. At first 
there was some promise of coal, but this failed 
and at this time the township is experiencing 
a boom from clay found there, which is 
worked up in tlie village of Altman. As is 
often the case there is some question as to who 



was the first settler, Ixit the consensus of opin- 
ion gives that honor to John Kepler, with 
others claiming that it was either William 
Triplett or John Curzen. 

A distdiuct town.ship organization was ef- 
fected in 1814, and in 1840 occurred the sep- 
aration from Stark County with the promise 
that there should be no tax on public build- 
ings in the township till 1890. Probably the 
nearest Green ever came to a boom was the 
event surrounding the organization and up- 
building of the Seminary. This was a Meth- 
odist school, startled in 1854, with a capital 
of $2,000, divided into share? of $50 each. At 
one time .some one hundred and thirty stu- 
dents attended the seminary and it passed 
through varioiis stages till its final decline 
about 1875. 

The towns of Green are: Greensburg, 
founded in 1828 by David Baer; East Lib- 
erty, founded in 1839 (as might be expected 
these towns have been rivals in a quiet way, 
but this feeling has shown itself chiefly in po- 
litical contests) ; Myersville, founded about 
1876, has importance chiefly because it has 
railroad facilities and has shown some ele- 
inents of steady and vigorous growth. 

George W. Grouse was reared in Green 
Township. He has served as county treas- 
urer. State senator, 1885-87, and federal rep- 
resentative, 1887-90. 

RICHFIELD TOAVNSHIP. 

Richfield, like the other townships of the 
Western Reserve, became the separate prop- 
erty of individuals upon the drawing of lands 
conducted by the Connecticut Land Com- 
pany. It was settled soon after by families 
who came from Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts. The first settler was Launcelot Mays, 
who came in 1809. The township was or- 
ganized in April, 1816, and John Bigelow 
was elected clerk; Isaac Welton. treasurer; 
William Jordan, Daniel Keys and Nathaniel 
0\Tatt, trustees, and Isaac Hopkins, con- 
stable. The population then was in excess of 
L50. In 1840, it had grown to 1,108. In 
1818 a Union church organization was ef- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



121 



fected, which, in a few years, beoame the 
First Congregational Church. The Metho- 
dists, Baptists and United Brethren also or- 
ganized societies verj- early in the history of 
the township and have been uniformly pros- 
perous, thus indicating the sound basis upon 
which society in Richfield is built. The in- 
fluence of Richfield has always been exerted 
in behalf of the personal and civic virtues. 
Her schools are among the best in the coun- 
try. In 1836 the Richfield Academy was 
opened and attracted manj^ pupils from out- 
side the township. Some of its graduates aft- 
erwards acquired a national fame. It after- 
wards became the East High School, was 
burned in 1887 and replaced by a fine modern 
building. There is also a brick high school 
building at the West Center. Richfield Cen- 
ter is composed of two parts — the East Cen- 
ter and the West Center, situated about a mile 
apart. Both centei-s had a hotel and a post- 
office. The West Center has now a fine ho- 
tel which is the equal of any of the rural 
hotels in the county. Of late years Richfield 
has been gaining prestige as a summer re- 
sort, many wealthy Cleveland families coming 
here to spend the summer. Owing to the lack 
of transportation facilities, Richfield has 
never had any manufacturing industries. Mr. 
H. B. Camp, of Akron, is now (1907) pro- 
moting a railroad from Cleveland to Akron, 
which, if built, will pass through the centers. 
In mercantile life, however, many of her 
citizens have been successful. Among such 
may be mentioned William C. Weld, Everett 
Famam, George B. Clarke, Frank R. Brower, 
Henr>' C. Searles, Baxter H. Wood. The ho- 
tels have been successful in the hands of Lewis 
P. Ella? and Fayette Viall. Other village en- 
terprises which have been successfully con- 
ducted, some of them for many years, owe 
their success to John Ault. Peter Allen, Seth 
Dustin, T. E. Elkworth, Z. R. Townsend, C. 
P. Townsend, S. E. Phelps, Henry Killifer, 
Michael Heltz, C. F. Rathburn, Henry Green- 
lese, Percy Dustin, Samuel Fauble, George L. 
Dustin, Julius C. Chapman, A.sa P. Oarr and 
E. D. Carr. Mention should be made of the 
tile factory built by Ralph Farnam and 



Berkly S. Braddock. The former was an ex- 
pert in ceramics, and a large factory and pot- 
tery was built upon the old Farnam farm 
about 1890. About the same time, these two 
gentlemen equipped the finest stock farm in 
Summit County for the raising of fine horses 
and cattle. One stallion alone cost them 
$5,000. The tile industry proved unremu- 
nerative, owing to the long distance from a 
railroad. Both men sunk their large private 
fortunes in these enterprises. Ralph Far- 
nam aftem-ards went to New Jersey and was 
very successful in the tile business. The old 
farm finally pa.ssed into the possession of 
Charles P. Brush, of Cleveland. Richfield 
gave over 150 men to the cau.se of the Union 
in 1861-65. Two men of national fame have 
gone forth from Richfield in the persons of 
Russell A. Alger and Samuel B. Axtell. The 
present to-miship clerk is R. H. Chapman and 
0. B. Hinnian is justice of the peace. 

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

Springfield township was first settled in 
1806, when Ariel Bradley moved from Suf- 
field to what is now the village of ^logadore. 
Other early settlers were Thomas Hale, Ben- 
jamin Baldwin, John Hall, James Hall, Na- 
than Moore, Reuben Tupper, Abraham De- 
Haven, the Ellet family, the Norton family, 
Patrick Christy, James McKnight, William 
Foster et alii. The township was organized 
in April, 1808. The manufacturing of the 
township is all in the pottery line, as great 
beds of potter's clay are found here. Coal is 
also mined. Mogadore is the principal vil- 
lage. North Springfield, Brittain, Thomas- 
town, Millheim and Krumroy are also flour- 
ishing hamlets. Springfield furnished nearly 
150 men to the Federal armies in the Ci\-il 
War. At the present time, J. Ira Emmet is 
township clerk, and R. C. Gates, Milo White 
and M. S. Mishler are justices of the peace. 

STOW TOWNSHIP. 

Stow Township is named after Joshua 
Stow, the original proprietor by grant from 
the Connecticut Land Company. The first 



122 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



settler in this township was William Walker, 
who in 1802, came from Virginia. He was 
followed in 1804 by William Wetmore, who 
built a hoiise at what is now called "Stow 
Corners." Other pioneers were Gregory 
Powers, John Campbell, John Gaylord, Adam 
Steele, George Darrow, Erastus Southmayd, 
James Daily, Isaac Wilcox and David Rug- 
gles. The township was organized in 1808. 
It is now best known as the location of Silver 
Lake, a summer resort which is spreading its 
fame country-wide. Since the death of R. H. 
Lodge, his family have wisely continued his 
policies, under which great prosperity came 
upon Silver La.ke. Near by are two other 
beautiful lakes — Wyoga and Crystal Lake. 
Stow township also contains Monroe Falls, 
a village on the Cuyahoga River a few 
miles above Cuyahoga Falls. This vil- 
lage was founded in 1836 by Edmond 
Monroe, a wealthy capitalist of Boston, Mass. 
A number of mills had been erected there 
to make use of the water-power afforded by 
the falls in the river. Up to the advent of 
the Monroes it had been called Florence. Mr. 
Monroe organized the "Monroe Falls Manu- 
facturing Company," and built a large store, 
many residences and the mill which is now 
used for the manufacture of paper. The 
township furnished 104 men to the country 
when our national life was threatened in 1861. 
W. Nickerson is now township clerk and Noel 
Beckley and W. R. Lodge are justices of the 
peace. 

TWINSBURG TOWNSHIP. 

The first settlement of Twinshurg Town- 
ship was made in April, 1817, and the honor 
of being the first settler belongs to Ethan 
Ailing, who was then a mere boy of 17 years, 
sent on by his father to prepare for the later 



coming of the Ailing family. Moses Wil- 
cox and Aaron Wilcox, twin brothers, were 
ako among the very earliest settlers. They 
were also among the original proprietors, as 
was Isaac Mills, who gave the township its 
first name "Millsville." The Wilcox twins 
afterwards persuaded the settlers to let them 
name the township, which they did, calling 
it Twinshurg in honor of their relationship. 
The township was organized in April, 1819. 
The first officials were Frederick Stanley, 
Lewis Ailing, Luman Lane, Samuel Vail, 
Elisha Loomis and Elijah Bronson. Ethan 
Ailing died in 1867, and by his will left eight 
shares of the stock of the Big Four Railroad 
Company to the mayor of the city of Akron 
for the purpose of having the dividends, de- 
clared thereon, being used to buy clothing, so 
that destitute children might be enabled to 
attend Sunday-school. These dividends are 
being used for this purpose at the present 
day, being turned over to the city poor direc- 
tor by the mayor upon their receipt. As 
early as 1822 both the Methodists and Con- 
gregationalists organized churches in Twins- 
burg. The latter built a church in 1823 and 
the present one in 1848. The Methodists 
built churches in 1832 and 1848. The Bap- 
tists organized in 1832 and built a church in 
1841. In 1843 "The Twinsburg Institute" 
was opened by Samuel Bissell, which was one 
of the most successful educational institu- 
tions in the county. The beautiful soldiers' 
monument on the Public Square was dedi- 
cated July 4, 1867. One hundred and twenty- 
eight men of Twinsburg went to the front 
during the Civil AVar. From 1856 to 1870 
"The Twinsburg Fair" was one of the great 
features of agricultural life in this vicinity. 
At the present time, E. J. McCreery is town- 
.ship clerk, and A. J. Brown and Isaac Jayne 
are justices of the peace. 



CHAPTER VI 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 



AKROX CITY Ill)^^PlTAL. 

The City Hospital of Akron had its incep- 
tion in the fund left by an early French 
resident of Akron, Boniface De Roo, many 
years ago. This fund, which represented the 
lifetime savings of a frugal hard-working 
man, amounted to $10,000. The first building 
used was the old frame house at the corner 
of Bowery and Center streets. Here a num- 
ber of patients were cared for, but the place 
was palpably too old and behind the times, 
so it was given up and the city got along 
for a number of years longer without hospital 
facilities, the trustees holding the fund until 
such time as the sentiment in favor of estab- 
lishing a permanent hospital should take 
form. 

In April, 1892, the City Hospital Associa- 
tion was formally organized, with T. W. Cor- 
nell, president; 0. C. Barber, vice president; 
Henry Perkins, secretary, and William Mc- 
Farlin, treasurer. Twelve trustees were chosen 
from the Hospital Association. The De Roo 
fund, $10,000 contributed by T. W. Cornell, 
and a like sum by 0. C. Barber, were used 
to purchase the Bartges homestead on East 
Market for hospital purposes. After some 
improvements the building was opened as 
the City Hospital of Akron on October 18, 
1892. Before many years this building be- 
came constantly overcrowded, and 0. C. Bar- 
ber announced that he would see that a 
larger one was built. With the completion of 
this new building and its opening on -Tune 5, 
1904, Mr. Barber has invested nearly one 
quarter of a million of dollars, and the city 
of Akron has a hospital equipment second 
to none. Modern operating rooms and nurs- 
ing facilities, with the best of everything in 



its line, have been secured. The training 
school for nurses was opened in 1897 with 
a class of two, and has been constantly in- 
creasing in number of students and efficiency 
since that time, graduating eight in May, 
1907. June 27, 1906, the first resident phy- 
sician or interne was engaged, and his pres- 
ence proved so helpful that another was se- 
cured May 1, 1907. The internes serve for 
eighteen months without pay, their compen- 
sation coming from their experience gained 
during residence in the institution. 

The officers of the new institution are as 
follows: President, 0. C. Barber; vice presi- 
dent, George T. Perkins; treasurer, Harry J. 
Blackburn ; recording secretary, Alexander 
H. Commins; president of the Auxiliary 
Board, H. M. Houser; superintendent, Marie 
Anna Lawson. 

The Board of Trustees: 0. C. Barber, 
George T. Perkins, M. O'Neil, H. B. Camp, 
C. B. Ravmond, J. A. Kohler, George W. 
Grouse, C. E. Sheldon, I. C. Alden, P. E. 
Werner, A. H. Marks, C. C. Goodrich, C. C. 
Benner, William A. Palmer. 

Junior Board of Trustees: George W. 
Grouse, jr., Tom A. Palmer, L. C. Miles, A. 
H. Commins, W. B. Baldwin, E. E. Andrews, 
H. M. Houser, E. S. Harter, H. H. Camp, 
C. H. Isbell, B. N. Robinson, George C. Koh- 
ler, Karl Kendig, Alvin V. Baird. 

Officers of Staff: President, Dr. H. H. Ja- 
cobs; vice president, Dr. William Murdoch; 
secretary. Dr. J. N. Weller. 

Hospital Staff: Consulting surgeons, Dr. C. 
W. Millikin, Dr. L. S. Ebright; consulting 
physicians. Dr. J. P. Boyd, Dr. William Mur- 
doch, Dr. L. S. Sweitzer, Dr. 0. S. Childs, 
Dr. F. C. Reed. 



124 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Visiting Surgeons, Dr. J. W. Rabe, Dr. F. 
C. Pai-ks, Dr. A. F. Sippy, Dr. D. E. Cranz, 
Dr. G. F. Rankin, Dr. L. C. Eberhard. 

Visiting Physicians, Dr. E. S. Underwood, 
Dr. E. J. Canffield, Dr. H. D. Todd, Dr. J. 
H. Seller, Dr. W. S. Chase, Dr. A. A. 
Kohler. 

Assistant Surgeons, Dr. G. W. Stauffer, Dr. 
J. H. Hulse, Dr. J. H. Weber, Dr. E. S. 
Underwood. 

Gynecologists and Obstetricians, Dr. I. C. 
Rankin, Dr. H. H. Jacobs. 

Assistant Obstetrician, Dr. A. W. Jones. 
Consulting Oculist, Dr. A. E. Foltz. 
Oculists, Dr. J. G. Grant, Dr. M. D. Steven- 
son. 

Ear, Nose and Throat, Dr. T. K. Moore, 
Dr. E. L. Mather. 

Anaesthetist, Dr. J. N. Weller. 
Neurologist, Dr. W. W. Leonard. 
Pathologist, Dr. L. C. Eberhard. 
Bacteriologist, Dr. C. E. Held, 
Ladies' Auxiliary Board: Mi-s. W. C. Ja- 
cobs, president; Mre. William Murdoch, first 
vice president; Mrs. Ira Miller, second vice 
president; Mrs. T. C. Raynolds, secretary; 
Mrs. C. H. Palmer, treasurer. 

Members: ]\Irs. W. B. Raymond, Mrs. R. 
L. Ganter, Mrs. F. H. Ma.son, Mrs. G. W. 
Plumer, Mrs. H. J. Shuffler, Mrs. L. M. Wolf, 
Mrs. Ira Miller, Mrs. F. H. Adams, Mrs. John 
Greer, Mrs. M. O'Neil, Mi-s. William Mur- 
doch, Mrs. H. M. Smith, Mrs. G. G. Allen, 
Mrs. S. N. Watson, Mrs. J. M. Beck, Mrs. C. 
H. Palmer, Miss Dorothy Work, Mrs. R. P. 
Marvice, Mrs. C. I. Bruner, Mrs. E. S. Under- 
wood, Mrs. Albert Roach, Mrs. I. C. Alden, 
Mrs. H. K. Raymond, Mrs. G. W. Grouse, 
jr., Mrs. C. L. Brown, Mrs. I. C. Rankin, 
Mrs. R. H. Kent, Mrs. T. C. Raynolds, Mrs. 
E. W. Barton, Mrs. W. C. Jacobs, Mrs. Louis 
Loeb, Mrs. J. H. Greenwood, Mrs. F. H. 
Smith, Miss Emma Whitmore. 

THE COUNTY INFIRMARY. 

In the early days of the county the poor 
and indigent were cared for by action of the 
trustees of the various town.ships. The meth- 



ods varied much in different townships and 
the system was far from satisfactory. The 
usual way was to "let out" the keeping of 
the unfortunate citizens to the lowest bidder. 
This was a shiftless and lazy way of dispos- 
ing of the burden, and remains a great re- 
proach to those unworthy trustees who were 
guilty of such a breach of trust. The con- 
tractor was bound to get as much out of his 
contract as possible, and the only way to 
accomplish this was to do as little for the 
pauper as possible. In the great majority of 
cases all that was done was just sufficient to 
keep the soul in its wretched body. The 
first poorhouse was built in the forties, and 
was a rough affair, situated in South Akron, 
between Main Street and the present Brew- 
ster switch. In 1849, the old regime, with 
its neglect and cruelty, came to an end. The 
county commissioners, acting under an Ohio 
statute, purchased 150 acres of land about 
two miles west of How^ard Street, and lying 
between Market, Exchange and Maple 
(Streets, extended. In the summer of that 
year $2,000 was expended in adding a two- 
story frame building to the other buildings 
upon the land. This was the beginning of 
our fine County Infirmary of today. In 1856, 
and again in 1879, additional land was pur- 
chased, until today the county farm embraces 
a tract of nearly 225 acres. In 1864, the 
legislature authorized the expenditure of 
$16,000 for the erection of the brick main 
building. By utilizing the labor of the in- 
mates and burning the brick from clay found 
on the farm, and using strict economy, a 
much finer building was built than was orig- 
inally contemplated. Large additions were 
made to this main building in 1875, 1880 
and 1887, and many smaller additions since 
1890. Today there is no better county farm 
or poorhouse in Ohio than the Summit 
County Infirmary. The infirmary directors 
are chosen by the people at the time of the 
State election. The present efficient officers 
are Z. F. Chamberlain, of Macedonia; J. M. 
Johnston, of Fairlawn, and W. E. Waters, of 
Akron. The present superintendent is S. B. 




tml 






AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



127 



Stotler, who has been in the office for many 
yeare and has rendered its difficult duties to 
the entire satisfaction of the citizens. 



THE CHILDREN S HOME. 

In August, 1882, the Summit County com- 
missioners purchased of George Allison, of 
Tallmadge, a farm near Bette's Corners, con- 
sisting of 140 acres of land, for $15,000. 
Upon this tract it was their purpose to estab- 
lish a home for orphan children, and such 
others under sixteen years of age as should 
be in need of county care. ■ A strong senti- 
ment began to set in against this action of 
the commissioners, it being felt that so large 
a tract was not needed and that the location 
should be nearer to Akron. The commission- 
ers accordingly suspended improvement oper- 
ations, and in November, 1885, leased the 
brick boarding-houses on Broadway, nearly 
opposite the court-house, which was demol- 
ished in 1906. when George Crisp & Son built 
their large .storage building upon the site. 
Finally, in 1889, the commi.ssioners, having 
sold parcels from' the Allison farm and se- 
cured legislative permission, bought the old 
Jewett homestead, on South Arlington Street, 
in the extreme southeast corner of the city. 
The property now embraces nearly seven 
acres of land, and the old building has been 
entirely remodeled and thoroughly adapted 
to its new uses. The growth of the city and 
county, however, have left the original plat 
far in the rear, and steps should be taken at 
once for the erection of a modern, brick and 
steel, fireproof structure for a children's 
home. The county ha.> provided a stone pal- 
ace for the county criminals (the new jail is 
all that) ; why should it not do as much for 
its little children? It has been pointed out 
many times that the present building is a 
perfect firetrap. If any taxpayer begrudge.-? 
the amount necessary to care for these inno- 
cent children in a proper way, he is not a 
worthy member of this Western Reserve com- 
munitv. 



THE MARY DAY NURSERY'. 

One of the splendid chai-itable works ac- 
complished in Akron was the founding and 
maintenance of a nursery where children 
might be kept during the day, thus enabling 
mothers to undertake work outside the home. 
To the "King's Daughters" belongs the credit 
of perceiving and adequately meeting this 
need. In 1890, these young ladies organized 
the Akron Day Nursery, and first occupied 
rooms in the Union Charity Association 
Building, on South High Street, where the 
Y. W. C. A. Building now is. A year later 
Colonel George- T. Perkins presented the 
young ladies with a house and lot on South 
High Street near Buchtel Avenue, and the 
dissociation became incorporated. The name 
was then changed to "Mary Day Nursery," 
in honor of Mary Raymond, Colonel Perkins' 
first grandchild. A few years later the munifi- 
cence of Colonel Perkins was again expe- 
rienced and the association had the extreme 
pleasure of accepting from his hands the 
splendid building on the northeast corner of 
Broadway and Buchtel Avenue. It is splen- 
didly equipped for nursery and kindergarten 
purposes and will meet the needs of the city 
in these respects for many years to come. 

THE UNION CHARITY ASSOCIATION. 

This society wa.s incorporated in 1889 for 
the purpose of relieving destitution and pre- 
venting indiscriminate alm.s-gdving. It is 
the clearing-house for Akron's charities. It 
was founded by the union of the Akron 
Board of Charities and the Women's Benevo- 
lent Association. It purchased a frame dwell- 
ing-house on High Street near the corner of 
Market, the site of the present Young 
Women's Christian A.sosciation Building. In 
1903, it erected the fine brick building called 
"Grace Hon.se," the money for which was 
contributed almost entirely by Colonel George 
T. Perkins. As the work of the association 
has fallen more and more to the lot of the 
Young Women's and Young Men's Christian 
A.ssociations, it was found advisable, in 1906. 



128 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



to give up Grace House, and, accordingly, 
it was turned over to the Young Women'.^ 
Christian Association. The latter remodeled 
and enlarged the building at an expense of 
$15,000, and today it enjoys one of the finest 
association buildings in the State. The asso- 
ciation has moved three times, originally 
occupying the basement rooms in an apart- 
ment house on the east side of South High 
Street, between Mill and Quarry Streets ; 
thence moving into the entire third story of 
the Wilcox Building on South Main Street, 
where for two years, 1905-1907, it success- 
fully conducted its splendid work among the 
young women of Akron. In April, 1907, it 
moved into the new building on South High 
Street. 

The present secretary of the Young Men'."? 
Christian Association has announced that 
that organization is in no sense a charitable 
one. However, in giving their money to es- 
tablish it, the citizens of Akron understood 
that it was to be devoted to charitable ends. 
At the present time the color line is strictly 
drawn, and only white men of a certain social 
grade and upwards, are welcomed at the club- 
house. The Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion is the result of a movement on behalf of 
boys and A'oung men, started by the mayor 
of Akron in 1902. Actively assisted by Sam- 
uel P. Orth, he interested a number of influ- 
ential citizens in behalf of a Boy's Club. Mr. 
Orth was at that time a professor in Buchtel 
College. The idea was to get boys without 
regard to color, race, habits or social stand- 
ing, in from the streets. After the move- 
ment had progressed considerably it seemed 
best to a majority of those interested in it 
to turn the whole project over to the Ohio 
Young Men's Christian Association and make 
use of their organization. No one doubted 
that the original objects of the promoters 
would be carried out by the latter association. 
In this they were mistaken. In 1903, work 
was commenced on a fine building on South 
Main Street at the southeast corner of Main 
and State Streets, the site having been pur- 
chased by the association. Early in 1906 it 
was ready for occupancy. It is a splendid 



structure for the purpose, and consists of gym- 
nasium, dining-rooms, baths, dormitories, au- 
ditorium and reception and social rooms. 
Since the building has been opened and its 
restricted character announced, no little regret 
has been expressed that the purpose of its 
early promoters was not persisted in, the 
Young Men's Christian Association has never 
been a success in Akron, two former asso- 
ciations having gone to the wall after more 
or less checkered careers. 

AKRON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

The Akron Public Library is the outgrowth 
of an earlier organization. The Akron Li- 
brary Association, this in turn having its 
rootage in the Akron Lecture Association. 
Through a series of lectures which continued 
for many years, through membership fees 
and generous donations, the Akron Library 
Association grew vigorously. In 1873, the 
library had assumed such proportions that it 
required more care than the association felt 
inclined to give, and it was offered to the 
city, with the stipulation that it receive proper 
support. The propo.sition was duly consid- 
ered and accepted in January, 1874. The 
library began its career as a public one in 
March of the same year. The city bought 
three rooms on the second floor of the Ma- 
sonic Block, and the library occupied these 
until October, 1898. The growth during 
some twenty odd years made another move 
necessary, and, in 1898, the second floor of 
the Everett Building, then in process of con- 
struction, was reserved for the library. Prom 
these bright comfortable rooms it moved on 
April 23, 1904, into its permanent home, the 
building given by Mr. Carnegie. The library 
opened to the public August 1, 1904. 

The library now numbers 16,046 volumes 
for circulation, and 7,580 volume* of refer- 
ence and government reports — 23,626 vol- 
umes in all. Aside from the main library, it 
reaches the public through eight stations for 
book exchange. The reading room has a 
large and attractive list of magazines and 
papers, and is always well patronized. From 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



129 



the beginning the library has been an active 
and vigorous force in the community. 

Librarians of Akron Public Library— 
T. A. Noble to 1875; Horton Wright, 1875- 
1882; J. A. Beebe, 1882-1889; Miss M. P. 
Edgerton, 1889 to present year (1907). 

Assistants — Miss Mary Vosburg and Mias 
Anna M. Krummer to 1875 ; Miss Bessie Wil- 
lis, 1875-1885; Miss M. P. Edgerton, 1885- 
1889; Mrs. J. M. Proehl, 1889 to present; 
Miss Clara B. Rose, 1895-1901; Miss Maud 
Herndon, 1901 to present ; Miss Grace M. Mit- 
chell, 1903-1907 ; Miss Euphemia MacRitchie 
(cataloguer), 1903-1905; Miss Rena B. Find- 
ley, 1907 ; Miss Ella C. Tobin, 1907. 

Directors of Library Association to 1874 — 
D. L. King, J. S. Lane, J. H. Pitkin, I. P. 
Hole, C. P. Ashmun, G. T. Perkins, N. D. 
Tibbals, E. P. Green, Ferdinand Schu- 
macher, J. H. Peterson, Thomas Rhodes, 
R. L. Collett, J. A. Long, B. S. Chase, Sid- 
ney Edgerton, John Wolf, J. H. Hower, W. 
C. Jacobs, J. R. Buohtel. 

Directors of Library Since Its Organization 



as a Public Library — J. R. Buchtel, J. P. 
Alexander, M. W. Henry, E. P. Green, G. T. 
Ford, W. L. King, C. A. Collins, Adams 
Emerson, Mason Chapman, N. A. Carter, L. 
Miller, T. E. Monroe, F. M. Atterholt, C. W. 
Bonstedt, C. P. Humphrey, 0. L. Sadler, R. 
P. Burnett, C. R. Grant, Elias Fraunfelter, 
A. H. Noah, Louis Seybold, G. D. Seward, 
C. S. Hart, P. E. Werner, W. T. Allen, H. 
K. Sander, A. H. Noah, M. J. Hoynes, John 
Memmer, W. B. Cannon, H. C. Corson, F. W. 
Rockwell, W. T. Tobin, F. C. Bryan, C. P. 
Humphrey, W. T. Vaughan, J. C. Frank, 
G. W. Rogers, J. W. Kelley, A. J. Tidyman, 
T. J. Mumford, W. J. Doran, H. A. Kraft. 

Board of Directors (1907)— President, W. 
T. Vaughan; secretary, G. D. Seward; John 
C. Frank, Rev. G. P. Atwater, Dr. M. V. Hal- 
ter, Henry A. Kraft. 

Library Staff (1907)— Miss M. P. Edger- 
ton, Librarian; Mrs. J. M. Proehl, Miss Maud 
Herndon, Miss Rena B. Findley and Miss 
Ella Tobin, assistants; James C. Gillen, cus- 
todian. 



CHAPTER VII 



AGRICULTURE 



By far the oldest of the agricultural or- 
ganizations of various kinds in Summit 
County is the Summit County Agricultural 
Society, under the auspices of which the an- 
nual autumn fair is held. This society has 
had an uninterrupted existence since about 
1841. There is now no way of determining 
the exact date of its organization, as the 
early records have all been destroyed. The 
rather uncertain recollection of persons who 
came to Akron in 1840 is to the effect that 
a show of agricultural produce was held an- 
nually commencing within a year or two after 
that dat€. The first mention made of any 
such society in the local papers of the time 
which have survived to us occurs in 1844. 
In May of that year a notice was published, 
calling a meeting of the executive committee 
for the purpose of adopting rules, under 
which the annual fair was to be conducted. 

Subsequently, the State of Ohio had passed 
certain acts for the encouragement of agri- 
cultural societies. By the terms of one of 
them, any such society organized in Summit 
County and holding an annual fair might 
draw $137.50 from the public treasury, each 
year, to be applied toward defraying the ex- 
penses of the society. This was not a large 
sura and would not go far in meeting the ex- 
penses of a very modest fair; but the results 
of the offer in many of the counties of Ohio 
deinonstrated the wisdom of the legislature. 
The thrift of the Summit County farmer is 
proverbial. As might be expected, the offer 
of the State was soon accepted. 

It is probable that the affairs of the early 
society had not moved forward without inter- 
ruption ; it may even have ceased to exist. 



At any rate, in October, 1849, the auditor 
of the county issued a call for a public meet- 
ing of all those who would be interested in 
the formation of a society of agriculture. In 
pursuance of this call, a public meeting was 
held in the new court house on the eleventh 
day of November, 1849. The meeting or- 
ganized by electing officers and appointing a 
committee of five farmers, representing differ- 
ent portions of the county, to prepare a suit- 
able constitution and code of by-laws for the 
governing of the organization. Before the 
meeting adjourned, the society had secured 
seventy members from among those who had 
attended. The name of the old society, The 
Summit County Agricultural Society, was 
adopted as the name of the organization. 
Perhaps it is error to speak of the "old so- 
ciety," for it may not have ceased to exist. 
However, the real history of the society, as we 
know it, begin.s with this meeting held in 
the autumn of 1849. If the old society was 
maintaining an uncertain existence, it was 
put firmly on its feet by this public meeting. 
That call to action aroused a strong public 
sentiment which has been a potent factor 
ever since. The ultimate result has been to 
make the Summit County society the strong- 
est one in the State, and the Summit County 
Fair one of the most important held any- 
where in the Middle West. 

On November 18, 1849, the a-ssociation 
held another meeting at the court house, at 
which time a constitution and by-laws were 
adopted and permanent officers elected. This 
was the first board of officials of which we 
have any record. Colonel Simon Perkins 
was elected president; William H. Dewey, 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



131 



treasurer; William A. Hanford, of Tall- 
madge, secretary, and John Hoy, of Frank- 
lin; Sylvester H. Thompson, of Hudson, 
Avery Spicer, of Coventry; James W. Weld, 
of Richfield, and Philo C. Stone were elected 
as a board of directors or managers. At the 
present time the practice is to take one di- 
rectoT from each to^-nship in the county. 
These directors arranged and published a pre- 
mium list and made all preparations for hold- 
ing a fair during the fall of 1850. This, the 
first large and well-organized fair in the 
county, was held October 2nd and 3rd, 1850 
At that time two days were deemed enough. 
The officers probabh' followed the custom in 
New England, of confining the fair to two 
days, the first of which was given over to the 
"Horse Show" and the second to the "Cattle 
Show." For the last twenty-five or thirty 
years, at least, it has been the custom to de- 
vote four days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs- 
day and Friday, of fair week to the purposes 
of the exhibition. It is now held on the 
same week in the year as the earliest fair, 
in 1850. It is probably the most satisfactory 
time which could be selected. 

At first the society had no grounds of its 
own and was obliged to request the county 
commLssioners for permission to hold it on 
the grounds surrounding the (then) new 
county court-house. The permission was will- 
ingly granted, and the fair was held in the 
grove which then covered the block of land 
between High, Church, Broadway and State 
Streets. The court-hoase building wa.* used 
for the display of flowers, fruits and domestic 
articles, while the stock was exhibited in the 
surrounding grove. There was no race-track 
and, of course, no races. If the interest it 
aroused in things agricultural may be taken 
as a criterion, the fair of 1850 wa* a big 
success. On account of the fact that no ad- 
mission was charged, the total receipts for the 
first year were only $327.53, of which $100 
were spent in awarding premiums. The so- 
ciety secured the court-house grounds for its 
fair of 1851, and al.«o held its third fair 
there in 1852. The increasing number of 
exhibits made it neces.sary to erect temporary 



booths and sheds to accommodate them. This 
being a source of expense which might be 
avoided by securing permanent grounds, and 
the interest of the public throughout the 
whole county increasing, it was determined 
by the society to lease suitable grounds and 
erect more substantial and worthy buildings. 
The president of the .society, Simon Perkins, 
then offered it, without charge or rent, the 
use of a tract of land on South Main Street 
nearly opposite the plant of The B. F. Good- 
rich Company, and consisting of about six 
acres of land. An exhibition hall, stock- 
sheds and a high fence around the grounds 
were built. The fourth fair was held on 
thase grounds on October 12th and 13th, 
1853. 

In five years the annual attendance had 
grown so large that the grounds had be- 
come entirely inadequate. The receipts had 
increased to $1,400 m 1858. When the so- 
ciety decided to secure new quarters, the fine 
public spirit which Cuyahoga Falls had al- 
wavs shown, was once more demonstrated. 
That village made an offer of $6,000 if the 
new grounds should be located there. Never- 
theless, the society leased for a period of five 
years a beautiful tract of about thirty acres 
of land in the western part of the city. It 
was owned by Da\4d L. King and consisted 
of the high land immediately west of the 
canal between Glendale Avenue and Ash 
Street. This site is now occupied by the Mil- 
ler and Conger mansions and the fine grounds 
surrounding them. . The society fitted np 
these grounds with the necessary buildings, 
a race-track, etc., at a cost of several thou- 
sand dollars. The first fair held on these 
grounds was that of 1859. In 18G4, the lea'^e 
from Mr. King expired. Althotigh he offered 
to sell the whole tract to the society, for fair 
puri:>oses only, for the extremely low price of 
$5,000, and although the site was perfectly 
adapted to such purposes, yet the society, in 
pursuance of a .short-sighted policy, deter- 
mined to move again. This time they went 
still further west and located on the grounds 
of P. D. Hall, just east of Balch Street. Mr. 
Hall leased thirtv acres, most of it covered 



132 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



with a fine grove of trees, to the society for 
a term of ten years. This tract has been 
known, popuhirly, ever since as the old "Hall 
Fair Grounds." The first fair held here was 
in the autumn of 1864. Successful fairs were 
held on these grounds during the whole of 
the ten years. The expiration of the lease 
found the society with several thousand dol- 
lars in its trei^ury which it could devote to 
the purchase of grounds of its own. A spir- 
ited contest then began between the advocates 
of different sites. Nine or ten different tracts 
adjoining the city on the w&st and south 
were offered to the society at prices ranging 
from $200 to $500 per acre. Every one of 
these tracts has since increased in value to 
as many thousands. At first the society de- 
termined to purchase the property of Dr. S. 
H. Coburn and Samuel Thornton west of 
South Main Street. Then the committee of 
purchase concluded to accept the offer of 
James McAllister for his thirty acres on the 
highest point of West Hill, just west of Por- 
tage Path. The deed was made and the so- 
ciety became the owner of it. This action 
aroused a storm of protest. The people of 
Akron objected to the long distance from 
the business center of the city and the inhabi- 
tants of every township in the county, except 
those in the western part, were loud in their 
objection that, for them the location was 
practically inaccessible. As a result, the so- 
ciety, in 1875, decided to sell the new 
grounds and buy others located on North 
Hdll. Mr. A. T. Burrows had offered them 
forty-five acres there at a price of $400 per 
acre. At a meeting held six months later 
this determination was reconsidered and a 
final choice was made of a tract of forty- 
five acres lying in the valley of the Little 
Cuyahoga, near the old Forge, and known 
as the "Austin Powder Patch." This tract 
of land haid belonged to the Austin Powder 
Company, and had been the site of their pow- 
der mills until about 1860, when they were 
moved to Cleveland. Explosions and fires 
had long before destroyed all the buildings 
upon the tract. The writer first saw it in 
1874, and it certainly looked far from invit- 



ing. Although it was not decided until June 
26, 1875, to purchase this tract, yet by dint 
of much hard labor the next fair, that of 
October, 1875, was held there. It was the 
first fair held on the society's own grounds. 
Contrary to the expectations of many citi- 
zens of the county, it was a big success. The 
attendance and the exhibits were larger than 
ever before. In the next few years, the so- 
ciety spent much money in grading, improv- 
ing and beautifying the grounds. It became 
a real expofsition, on a small scale. Mercan- 
tile Hall, Agricultural Hall, Floral Hall, the 
Grand Stand and many dining halls, exhibi- 
tion booths and stands were built; the 
grounds were laid out in an attractive man- 
ner with artificial lakes, fountains, etc., and 
the name "Fountain Park" was given to the 
new fair grounds. Since 1875, the successive 
fairs of the society have been held here, in- 
cluding the 1907 fair just held. Since 1906 
there has been a strong sentiment setting in 
toward selling Fountain Park and securing 
more accessible grounds. The society has 
been successful on these grounds, but the in- 
crea.sing crowds make it impossible for the 
tran-sportation companies to properly handle 
visitors. The present grounds would make 
very desirable railway yards, and it is now 
understood that one railway company, at 
least, would like to add them to its posses- 
sions. The many dangers attending the ap- 
proach to the present grounds certainly ought 
to lead the present members of the society to 
consider the purchase of other grounds more 
favorably situated. 

The officers of the Summit County Agri- 
cultural Society for 1907 are: President, L. 
M. Kauffman; vice president, B. H. Prior; 
secretary, 0. J. Swinehart; treasurer, G. W. 
Brewster; superintendent of race^, E. M. Gan- 
yard. 

When the Summit County Agricultural 
Society reached the determination to move 
the site of its annual fair from Hall's Pair 
Grounds to the New Fountain Park, much 
dissatisfaction was expressed by those opposed 
to the new site. The discontent prevajiled 
mostly among the farmers in the southern 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



133 



and western parts of the county. It was said 
that the new site was difficult and dangerous 
to approach, and doubts were held as' to the 
healthfulness of it. These feelings and ex- 
pressions of dissent finally culminated in the 
formation of a rival association called the 
"Summit County Fair Association." The 
society was incorporated with a capital of 
$5,000, and the following officers were 
elected: President, James Hammond, of Cop- 
ley; vice president, Frank A. Foster, of 
Copley; secretary, Wellington Miller, of Nor- 
ton ; trea.surer. Philander D. Hall, Jr., of 
Akron. Mr. Hall made a new lease of his 
large tract on favorable terms to the new 
society, and the capital paid was expended in 
providing buildings, sheds, fences, etc. The 
fair was held in the last week of September, 

1875, and was an entire success, both from 
the point of attendance and interest, and 
from the point of exhibits. The new society 
was much encoiiraged, and made more exten- 
sive plans for the fair of 1876. While the 
latter was succe.'vsful from all points of view. 
yet the rival fair in Fountain Park had con- 
tinued to grow in popularity and the old 
objections to its site had been found by the 
experience of two years to be largely un- 
founded. The younger association did not 
feel encouraged to continue their exhibition, 
in face of the strong sentiment setting in 
toward the "old fair" on the new site. It 

.was accordingly decided to wind up the affairs 
of the new association and disband. Since 

1876, the Summit County Agricultural So- 
ciety has conducted the only agricultural ex- 
hibition held in the county. It has been 
uniformly successful and is today an exceed- 
ingly strong and prosperous organization. 

When the difficulty over the selection of 
new grounds arose in 1859, the fine public 
spirit of Cuwhoga Falls was again mani- 
fested. That village made an offer of $6,000 
in cash to the Summit County Agricultural 
Society, provided the new fair grounds should 
be located there. Upon the refusal of this 
splendid offer, the citizens of the village de- 
termined to have an agricultural exhibition of 
their own. They formed an organization 



called the "Union Fair Association," and pro- 
vided extensive grounds in the northern part 
of the village as a site for an annual autumn 
festival. The advantages of the site were all 
that could reasonably be asked. In fact, it 
was superior in nearly all respects to any 
of the sites previously or since selected for 
this purpose. The grounds were first opened 
for exhibition on September 1, 1859. The 
fair was well attended and netted the asso- 
ciation a profit of several hundred dollars. 
The attendance was mainly from the north- 
ern part of the county. The profits of this 
first fair were all wiped out, however, by a 
race meet, which was held in the latter part 
of October of the same year. In 1860, the 
date of the fair was changed to the fir.=t week 
of October. The attendance was not as large 
as had been hoped for, although the exhibi- 
tion itself was well worthy of patronage. The 
last fair held on these grounds was that of 
1861. The display of stock and products of 
the farm was excellent, and an attraction in 
the form of competitive military drills be- 
tween the different 'military companies of the 
county was added, but the attendance was 
far below the line of profit. With the inevi- 
table staring the a.ssociation in the face, it 
was decided to disband, and the Summit 
County Association from that time on had 
no competition from the "Union Fair Asso- 
ciation." 

Two other town.ships which tried to con- 
duct rival fairs without lasting success were 
Richfield and Twinsburg. The citizens of 
Richfield organized the "Richfield Agricul- 
tural Club" in 1851, and in the fall of that 
year conducted a fair which was reasonably 
successful. It was supported by a well-popu- 
lated and wealthy community, and being 
economically condiicted, it continued to grow 
in popularity and influence. At length, in 
1858, the "Union Agricultural and Mechanic 
Arts Society" was incorporated, comprising 
citizens of parts of Medina and Cuyahoga 
counties as well as Summit. This tri-countv 
fair continued to prosper and held succe.«sful 
exhibitions each autumn on well-appointed 
fair grounds, situated between the two villages 



134 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of East and West Richfield. Finally, the in- 
terest in the central exhibition at Akron be- 
came so strong that at was decided that the 
agricultural interests of the county would be 
best subserved by limiting the exhibitions to 
the big one held at the county seat. The last 
fair on the Richfield grounds was held in 
•1875. The next year the society sold its 
grounds and wound up its affairs. 

About the time the Richfield Fair was 
started, the people of Twinsburg commenced 
an annual township exhibition of agricultural 
products. In 1855, this was expanded into 
the "Union Fair Association," composed of 
Twinsburg, Hudson and Northfield town- 
ships in Summit County; Solon and Bedford 
townships, in Cuyahoga County, and Aurora 
township, in Portage County. Fine fair- 
grounds were established near Twinsburg 
Center, and the society prospered for many 
years. After the war the interest began to 
wane, and after the fair of 1871, it was de- 
cided to discontinue them. In 1872, the 
grounds were sold and the "Union Fair As- 
sociation" of Twinsburg was, from that time 
on. merely a matter of history. 

SUMMIT COUNTY GRANGES. 

Among the organizations which the agri- 
culturists of the county have provided for 
their betterment, physically, mentally and 
spiritually, the Grange occupies an important 
place. That the movement has been well 
thought of in this general vicinity is evi- 
denced by the, following iinposing list of 
Summit County Granges. The names of 
their respective officers is for the year 1906- 
1907. Granges and officers are as follows: 
Pomona Grange — Eugene F. Cranz, of Ira, 
master; S. J. Baldwin, of Tallmadge, lec- 
turer, and Mrs. 0. S. Scott, secretary. Dar- 
row Street Grange — W. M. Darrow, master; 
Mrs. F. R. Howe, lecturer; Mabel E. Shively, 
secretary. Osbom's Corners' Grange — W. E. 
Riiple, master; Monnie Woodruff, lecturer; 
A. L. Aikman, secretary. Northampton 
Grange — George W. Treap, master; 0. Mc- 
Arthur, lecturer; Howard G. Treap, secre- 



tary. Richfield Grange — Henry S. Gargett, 
master; Mrs. Mary Baughnian, lecturer; 
Frank M. Hughes, secretary. Copley Grange 
— Arthur Chrisanan, master; R. J. Dalling.i, 
lecturer; Herbert Hammond, secretary. Bath 
Center Grange — I. L. Underwood, master; 
Mrs. William Waltz, lecturer; E. C. Robin- 
son, secretary. Tallmadge Grange — S. C. 
Barnes, master; Mrs. Lottie Clark, lecturer; 
II. J. Walters, secretary. Highland Grange 
— E. Blender, master; George Lauby, lec- 
turer; J. W. Foltz, secretary. 

SUMMIT county's HORTICULTURAL INTERESTS 

By Aaron Teeple, Esq. 

In the early settlement of Summit County 
our pioneer fathers were beset with the stern 
realities of life^ — a house to shelter, the pro- 
curement of raiment and the wherewithal to 
be fed. The forests had to be cleared away, 
habitations, though rude, erected, and the 
unbroken soil subdued. Without markets in 
which to dispose of any surplus products or 
to procure necessary supplies, only at remote 
distances through roadless forests, their cm- 
ditions, as we view them now with our mod- 
ern improvements, were that of unwonted 
hardship and deprivation. The writer can 
well remember the old time "log-rolling," 
when the neighbors came together for miles 
around to pile the timbers previously cut 
into huge heaps for burning. Then it was 
the custom for each farmer to grow a piece 
of ground to flax, that was in time pulled, 
broken, beaten, heckled, and finally spun and 
woven into cloth for clothing or beddinar. 
Almost every log cabin was then provided 
with an upper chamber reached by ascending 
a ladder, where the children were put to bed, 
with only a puncheon roof above to protect 
from the storm without. Usually in this 
cabin near the ladder stairway, a hole was 
bored in one of the logs, and a strong wooden 
])in driven, where any wild game, brought 
in to add to the food supply, was hung. At 
night, when the meat supply became low, 
the stuTdy woodman would take down the 




RESIDENCE OF WALTER A. FRANKLIN. AKRON 





RESIDENCE OF }iAl;\ EV BALDWIN, AKRON RESIDENCE OF ELMER A. GAULT, AKRON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



137 



rifle, fasten a lighted candle on his hat and 
visit the chopping. Deer were plentiful then 
and the newly cut timber affoi'ded excellent 
browsing. The approach of the light would 
give alarm, and the reflected light from the 
eyeballs of the deer give the hunter the point 
to aim at, while the light of the candle en- 
abled deliberate precision for deadly work. 

The pre-eminent factor then was the so- 
ciability everywhere manifest. Did a neigh- 
bor want, he had only to make it known. 
Be it labor, food, or other supply, all were 
ready to sacrifice, if need be, to meet the 
want. In those days but little attention was 
devoted to the esthetic culture of home or 
the ornamentation of its surroundings. 
Doubtless our ancestors had as ardent ta^te 
or desire to cultivate and enjoy the beautiful, 
as we, their progeny, but the sterner demands 
had first to be met and overcome ere these 
could be gratified, or luxuri&s be considered. 
The wild flowers, in many instances, were 
transplanted and in a measure domesticated 
by culture, as were several species of grapes 
and berries found growing on low lands in 
the forest. 

Among the early settlers in our county 
were Austin M. Hale, of Mogadore, Dr. Men- 
dell Jewett, of Middlebury; Daniel Hine, of 
Tallmadge ; Andrew Hale, of Bath ; Edwin 
Wetmore, of Northampton, and a Mr. 
Robinett, who lived just over the line of 
Northfield in Cuyahoga County, father of B. 
A. Robinett, of Northfield. With them the 
love and culture of fruit was supreme and 
uppermost. To provide a supply in their 
new home, to be, various kinds of seeds, 
vines and small trees and shnibbery were 
brought from their New England homes, and 
planted in their gardens, becoming the basis 
from which most of the orchards and gar- 
dens of Summit County sprung. 

Daniel Hine was the pioneer in grape and 
pear culture, Andrew Hale and Austin Hale 
of apples, and Edwin Wetmore of peache«. 
By careful cross fertilization, the wild with 
improved varieties, many new types were se- 
cured. Of the tree fruits, especially the apple 
has undergone but few changes. The old 



Rambo, the Rhode Island Greening, the Bel- 
mont, and many of the older varieties, re- 
main as distinct as when first introduced and 
propagated. 

The pioneer nursery business was instituted 
by Austin M. Hale of Mogadore, Denis A. 
Hine and M. Jewett of Middlebury, and Jobe 
Green, just over the Bath line in Granger, 
Medina County. In order to increase their 
stock, seed of fruit was planted and the seed- 
ling stock set in nursery rows, producing in 
mast instances fruit of very inferior quality. 
To improve the fruit, long journeys were 
made to South Eastern Ohio near Marietta, 
where Israel Putnam, jr., had established a 
nursery of forty or fifty varieties of choice 
fruit brought from his old home in Connec- 
ticut prior to the year 1817. Scions were 
secured and young tre&s grafted. About the 
year 1824, the Kirtlands established a nur- 
sery in Trumbull" County with stock brought 
from New England, including peaches, pears, 
apples and many of the smaller fruits. Our 
home nursery men, alert to increase their 
product in quantity as well as quality, were 
not .slow to avail them.selves of anything new 
in their line and became customers to some 
extent of the Trumbull County nursery, 
from these sources most of the orchards and 
small fruits w-ere originally desseminated. 
Among the older orchards of Summit County 
were that of Maxwell Graham in Stnw, Jphn 
Ewart of Springfield, W. B. Storer of Por- 
tage, and Andrew Hale of Bath — orchards 
that by careful treatment haVe and are now 
yielding large crops of choice fruit annually. 
For many years Summit County was noted 
as being a dairy and farming community. 
The milling interests at the county seat 
created a demand for cereals and the southern 
part of the county being adapted in soil to 
their growth, it became largely a grain-grow- 
ing section. While the northern part of the 
county was a heavier soil better adapted to 
grass, and the dairy interest thrived. But 
with the building of railroads increasing fa- 
cilities of transportation, the close proximity 
to coal fields cheapening fuel, Akron became 
a manufacturing center. With each new in- 



138 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dustry came a corresponding increase in pop- 
ulation, creating an increased demand for 
fruits, vegetables and garden products. Mar- 
ket gardening became a fixed industry. Per- 
haps the earliest to engage in gardening to 
any extent was Charles C. Miller and Foster 
A.'Tarbell of Copley, W. B. Storer and Sam- 
uel Bacon of Portage, and Charles H. Welch 
of Springfield. The business became so 
profitable that soon others followed. At 
present the business has grown to such an 
extent that frequently in the .summer months 
from eighty to 100 wagons loaded with fruit 
and garden products are on the Akron mar- 
ket on a morning. This demand for food 
supplies, with the diversity of the soil of the 
county, has been the means to enable the 
culture of many hitherto neglected products. 
The swamp lands near Greentown were 
drained and brought under culture, and Jo- 
seph A. Borst became the pioneer in celery 
growing. Soon after the Atwood Brothers of 
Akron commenced dn a large way the rais- 
ing of celery on the muck land of Copley 
swamp just west of Akron. Many acres of 
once-thought waste land have become drained 
and are now producing celery, onions, cab- 
bage and other hardy garden products in dif- 
ferent portions of the county. Matthew 
Crawford for more than forty years has been 
growing plants of small fruits and developing 
new varieties. Many of our choicest varieties 
of strawberries: are the result of his labors. 
Recently his attention has been given mostly 
to growing bulbs. With Rev. M. W. Dai- 
las, a few years ago he grew about nine acres 
of gladiolas. The market responded, the de- 
mand became so groat that the supply has not 
been suflicient. This season one dealer, we 
learn, has placed his order for 2,000,000 
gladiola bulbs, requiring at least 10 acres of 
land to produce them. Hyacinth and daff'o- 
dil bulbs are now grown .successfully, and the 
time will likely soon come when further im- 
portations from abroad will become unnec- 
essa^J^ 

The first effort at organization of the Agri- 
cultural and Horticultural interests, aside 
from the Summit County Agricultviral So- 



ciety, was made in the year 1878 by a call 
from Dr. M. Jewett, M. C. Read, L. V. Bierce 
and others to form a Farmers' Club. The 
meetings were held monthly in the Empire 
Hall in Akron, and continued for several 
years. The meetings were at first well at- 
tended and were usually of much interest and 
profit. Subjects relating to the home, prod- 
ucts of the farm, fi-uit growing, as well as 
those more intricate and scientific relating to 
how plants grow, how- to originate new varie- 
ties, were presented in well written papers 
and, in some instances, pointedly discussed 
The club became so heavily freighted, how- 
ever, with professional men, who spun out 
their paperse so fine and to such length that 
the interest began to lag. As an instance, 
one, a Dr. Smith, was asked to prepare a 
paper. He chose for his theme "Sexuality in 
Nature." He argued that in the mineral as 
well as in the animal and vegetable king- 
doms, distinct traces of sexuality exist. The 
article was highly scientific, and of sufficient 
length to fill a whole page in the Summit 
County Beacon, and required over an hour 
in reading. At the clo.se of the reading but 
a small audience remained to discu.ss its 
merits. It became evident to the officers of 
the organization that to impart new life a 
radical change must take place. Hence a 
call was made to meet at the Friendly Inn, 
at the corner of Howard and Mill Streets in 
Akron, for con,sultation. The meeting was 
held on the 18th of January, 1882. There 
were 19 persons present. Dr. Jewett was 
chosen president, and Matthew Crawford sec- 
retary. The object of the meeting was stated 
by the chair, and enlarged upon by several 
others. At the suggestion of Mr. Crawford 
the matter of reorganization along the lines of 
horticulture was considered with much favor. 
An adjournment was made to meet with Mrs. 
E. 0. Knox (on her invitation), then editor- 
ess of the Cuvahoga Falls Reporter, on Feb- 
marv 8, 1882. At this meeting it was de- 
cided to organize the Summit County Horti- 
cultural Society. Dr. Mendall Jewett was 
chosen president and Matthew Crawford sec- 
retary. A committee was appointed to pre- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



139 



pare a constitution and by-laws for the gov- 
ernment of the society, which were presented 
at a subsequent meeting and adopted. The 
meeting.-; of the society ai'e held monthly, on 
invitation, at the residences of its members, 
who regard it a privilege as well as a duty 
to entertain its membership. Reports are re- 
ceived on orchards, vineyards, small fruits, 
ornamental planting, ornithology, ento- 
mology, botany and forestry at each meeting 
from a standing committee in each depart- 
ment appointed for that purpose. Some com- 
petent person is selected in addition to pre- 
sent a paper or addre.ss, which forms part of 
the program for each meeting. The discus- 
sions following the reports of the standing 
committee and the points presented in the 
esssij or address serve to make the meetings 
of much interest. The program for the year's 
work is prepared in advance by the executive 
committee of the society, giving place of 
meeting for each month, essayi.st, and list of 
officers and standing committees for the year. 
Since the organization of the society a 
quarter of a century ago it has continued to 
grow and prosper. The influence exerted and 



the good work done by the organization is 
shown in its social greetings, the exhibits of 
choice flowers, and fine vegetables and fruits 
at its monthly gatherings. The incentive to 
its members is to make their homes more 
social, pleasant and attractive, that when in 
turn it is theirs to entertain, their guests may 
be delighted in the surroundings. Neighbors 
are influenced, and fine homes with choice 
lawms become, in a measure, contagious. 
The county fair in its exhibit in the horti- 
cultural department, is another example of 
its work. The monthly meetings are reported 
for the local press of the county, and in many 
instances are wholly or in part-, copied in 
many of the leading agricultural and horti- 
cultural journals of the country. 

A number of the membership are solicited 
to aid in Farmers' Institute work, either 
through the State Board of Agriculture or 
directly by county societies. 

The present board of officers is Charies N. 
Gaylord, of Stow, president; Capt. P. H. 
Young, of Tallmadge, vice president, and 
Miss Nellie Teeple, of Akron, secretary and 
treasurer. 



CHAPTER VIII 



TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES 



Steam and Electric Railroads — The Ohio Canal — The Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. 



At the present time the steam railroads of 
Summit County are subsidiary lines of the 
four great railroad systems of Eastern United 
States, viz: The Baltimore & Ohio, repre- 
sented by the Cleveland, Terminal & Valley, 
the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling, the Akron 
& Chicago Junction, and the Pittsburgh & 
Western. Allied to the Baltimore & Ohio, is 
the Pennsylvania Company, represented by 
the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus, and the 
Cleveland & Pittsburgh. The Erie is now the 
successor to the historic New York, Pennsyl- 
vania & Ohio, while the great Lake Shore 
system finds expression in the solitary North- 
ern Ohio and the latest line, the Lake Erie 
& Pittsburgh. In addition to these is the 
Akron & Barberton Belt Line, now generally 
understood to be a Pennsylvania property, 
and sold in the open market only a few years 
ago for the sum of $1,000,000. 

To write of the sale of a road for a million 
tells why the history of any railroad in this 
day ceases to have any strictly personal side, 
for such a story is no longer the culmination 
of struggles and sacrifice on the part of hardy 
pioneers but is rather the result of a correct 
reading of the broker's tape. The many 
millions involved in railroads represent as 
many varied peoples and interests as the num- 
ber of dollars. Their owners live far from 
the line of their property, so that in Summit 
County to-day it is literally true that the 
profits from the above lines return to owners 
in every state of the country, and in countries 
as far distant as Holland and Belgium. 



First in point of time in this county is the 
Cleveland & Pittsburgh EaiLroad, running 
from Pittsburgh to Cleveland and entering 
Summit on the east at Hudson. Projected 
and started in 1836, retarded by the panic of 
1837, and finally completed in 1851, this 
road is one of the wonders of the financial 
world, in that it has never defaulted a pay- 
ment on the interest of its bonds and since 
1854 has paid a steady and unfailing income 
of 6 per cent on the investment to all stock- 
holders. It has been lately double tracked 
from Alliance to Hudson and over that 
stretch of territory is a model line in physical 
equipment. 

The road now known as the Cleveland, 
Akron & Columbus, also Pennsylvania prop- 
erty, possesses local interest, in that it started 
with "The Akron Branch Railroad," which 
in 1851 was planned as a feeder to the Cleve- 
land & Pittsburgh. At that time, through 
the enterprise of Simon Perkins, an amend- 
ment was made to the charter of the Cleve- 
land & Pittsburgh, extending that line from 
Hudson to Akron and by popular vote this 
county subscribed for stock in the Company 
to the amount of $100,000.00. By the middle 
of 1852, the road was completed to Orrville. 
Like all railroads it had its ups and downs, 
and after various litigation, in which the 
name was changed from the "Akron Branch" 
to Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati, later 
to Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Delaware, 
and finally to the Cleveland, Akron & Co- 
lumbus, the road prospered till it was de- 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



141 



clared fcy McCrea of the Pennsylvania Com- 
pany in 1893, this road was the bright spot 
in that system. The casual reader will do 
well to observe that this road arose through 
the aid of the people of the communities 
through which it passed, and took its life and 
nurture from the legislature creating it, and 
the county which burdened itself with taxes 
to maintain it. Not a dollar was paid this 
county in dividends, but the county took its 
reward in the increased wealth incident to 
improved transportation facilities. 

The Akron and Barberton Belt Railroad, 
opened in 1892, extends in and around the city 
of Barberton and is thirteen miles in length. 
This line represents one of the most modern 
phases in railroads in that of itself it carries 
nothing to any distance, but is simply a 
feeder to the railroads centering in Akron 
and drawing its revenue from the factories 
which it touches, but carrying no passengers. 

The Baltimore and Ohio system, we speak 
of it as such, for it does not exist as a rail- 
road, comprises the roads of its system al- 
ready named. There is no Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad in Summit County, for that 
railroad does not own a mile of road in the 
state of Ohio, and does not operate a mile. 
That system, incorporated under the la^vs of 
We-st Virginia and Maryland, owns the stock 
by majority holding of the various roads set 
forth, and by such arrangement maintaiins 
uniformity in the general officers of the vari- 
ous constituent companies. To be specific, 
a passenger going from Cleveland to Wheel- 
ing, arrives in ^Vkron at Akron Junction over 
the Cleveland Terminal & Valley, from there 
he passes over the P. C. & T., also called the 
Pittsburgh and Western, to the Union Sta- 
tion, whence he passes over the Akron & Chi- 
cago Junction to Warwick, from which point 
he completes hi? journey to Wheeling over 
the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling. All these 
roads are part of the Baltimore & Ohio sys- 
tem. 

The Cleveland Terminal & Valley is the 
successor to the Valley Railroad Company, a 
railroad which will ever hold a pleasant place 
in the memorv of this countv, because of the 



many local people whose life and hopes were 
bound up in its completion. Starting in 1869 
as the Akron and Canton Railroad, under 
Mr. D. L. King, it became the "Valley" in 
1871. To raise the money, a public meeting 
was held at the Academy of Music in Akron, 
in January, 1872. Committeemen from 
every township were appointed to rouse sen- 
timent on the road. Sufficient money was 
raiser to start construction in March, 1873, 
and much work was done. But the panic of 
1873 tightened the money supply, and in 
1875 Mr. King sailed for England to inter- 
est the English capitalists. In this he failed, 
and returning to America the bonds of the 
company were finally disposed of, and the 
first train was run over the line from Cleve- 
land to Canton, January 28, 1880. The 
Cleveland, Terminal and Valley corporation 
was organized in 1895 and secured the A'al- 
ley property at foreclosure sale. The ma- 
jority of the stock of this corporation is owned 
by the Baltimore & Ohio. 

The Pittsburgh & Western was projected in 
1881, and in 1891 became part of the Balti- 
more & Ohio system by lease. The story of 
this road is bound up with that of the Akron 
& Chicago Junction. In 1890 two con- 
struction companies were building in Akron 
MeCracken & Semple were building the P. A. 
& W., while Ryan & McDonald were at work 
on the A. & C. J. Both claimed to be the 
builders of a Western and Eastern outlet to 
Chicago and Pittsburgh, but finally it devel- 
oped that the Akron & Chicago Junction was 
a Baltimore & Ohio proposition. The acquisi- 
tion of the Pittsburgh & Western with the 
Akron & Chicago Junction gave the Balti- 
more & Ohio a direct line from Chicago to 
Pittsburgh. The Akron & Chicago Junction 
is merely a right of way from Chicago Junc- 
tion to Warwick. Thence it proceeds to Ak- 
ron over the Cleveland. Akron & Columbus, 
and from Akron it terminates at Akron Junc- 
tion. The method of transfer to the Balti- 
more & Ohio is of some interest. In 1890 it 
was leased to The Baltimore and Ohio and 
Chicago Railroad, one of the Baltimore & 
Ohio stool pigeons, for 999 years renewable 



142 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



forever. Subsequently this lease was assigned 
to the Baltimore & Ohio. 

As to the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling — 
this is the latest acquisition of the Baltimore 
& Ohio. The main line passes through the 
southern corner of the county and in 1902 
the Baltimore & Ohio secured a majority of 
its stock. On the books of the Cleveland, 
Lorain & Wheeling this stock appears in the 
name of a resident of Baltimore, Md., but 
it is voted as B. & O. stock. 

The history of the Erie now a continental 
road and a so-called "trunk line," starts with 
the secret plans of Hon. Marvin Kent of 
Kent, Ohio, to form a continental line from 
east to west. In the words of another, "he 
conceived the idea of forming a direct line 
from New York to St. Louis, nearly 1,200 
miles, by connecting with the Erie road at 
Salamanca, on the east, and by the Dayton 
& Hamilton with the Ohio and Mississippi 
at Cincinnati, on the west." A liberal charter 
was secured and he started in. Opposition 
developed in Pennsylvania, and instead of 
constructing a new road through Pennsylva- 
nia, he and his associates bought the Pitts- 
burgh and Erie road. This charter author- 
ized unlimited extension and subsequently 
the State of Pennsylvania and New York per- 
mitted the chartering of separate roads in 
each State, and finally there was developed 
the historic Atlantic and Great Western 
Railway Company. The road was completed 
in 1864, after eleven years of labor on the 
part of Mr. Kent. The road ran from Akron 
to Dayton, and after various litigation be- 
came known as the New York, Pennsylvania 
& Ohio Railroad Company. It was finally 
leased to the Erie Railroad under which it 
now operates. Probably no one road ever 
passed through the litigation of this road, for, 
from December, 1874, down to 1879, its law- 
suits were continuous and apparently unend- 
ing. Even at the present writing, litigation 
is pending as to the ownership of bonds of 
the road deposited in the county treasury 
to the credit of unknown English and Dutch 
owners. 

The Lake Shore Railroad, or more prop- 



erly the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, 
is represented in Summit County by the ill- 
.starred Northern Ohio and the promising 
Lake Erie & Pittsburg. These two roads rep- 
resent the extremes of railroad construction; 
one is poverty-stricken and wretchedly 
equipped; the other with no trains running 
as yet, has abundant means and every facil- 
ity for rapid gro\\i:h. Originally the North- 
ern Ohio was called the Pittsburgh, Akron 
and Western, and was designed by the late 
Senator Brice to be a connecting link in his 
world-wide road from China to New York. 
The death of that eminent Democrat stopped 
its growth, and it is now a mere line running 
from Akron to Delphos, a distance of 165 
miles. It was incorporated in 1883 and trains 
began in 1891. It passed into the hands of 
the Lake Erie & Western, and that small sys- 
tem passed into those of the Lake Shore. The 
Lake Erie & Pittsburgh, now under construc- 
tion, is designed as an important feeder to its 
parent system. Originally it started at Lo- 
rain, and for a long time the exact owners 
of the road were unknown. Finally the Belt 
Line of Cleveland was made a part of tlie 
scheme, and it passed from the hands of the 
contractors who projected it into the posses- 
sion of the present owners. 

A^arious other roads have been planned in 
and through Summit County, where the im- 
mense shipping done by the various factories 
has inspired the avarice or the ambition of 
promoters. To recount them all in detail 
would only be calling the roll of failure, at no 
time an elevating task. Among them are the 
Clinton Line, the Clinton Line Extension, the 
Hudson & Painesville, and the New York and 
Ohio. The last unsuccessful project was ad- 
vanced by the versatile Charley French, who 
planned great things for the railroad maps 
of the country, and in his organization in- 
cluded the A.shland & Wooster, and finally 
the Lake & River Route. This scheme failed 
and at the present time no further changes 
are proposed in Summit County railroads. 

So far as concerns railroad stations, all the 
steam roads now center at the Union Passen- 
ger Station, and this is becoming inadequate 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



143 



to handle the steadily increiiaiiig traflie. 

This Union Station was originally the site 
of the Bates homestead and was opened for 
use in 1891. Before the Valley became part of 
the Baltimore & Ohio system, it had a sta- 
tion on West Market Street, now replaced by 
the packing-house at the corner of Canal and 
West Market. For a long time the Erie main- 
tained a separate station on the ground of the 
old Union Depot, but finally made peace with 
the Pennsylvania and occupied with it the 
present Union Station. 

The conclusion to be drawn from the rail- 
road situation in Summit County is the same 
conclusion to be drawn from the railroad sit- 
uation throughout the Nation. We have no 
pressing need of further transportation fa- 
cilities from steam roads. We have reached 
the intensive stage in their development, and 
that means that original grantors of the rights 
to these roads, the people of this county, 
look to the road for repayment. This repay- 
ment must take place in fair passenger and 
freight rates, in decent payment of taxes, and 
in equipment insuring safety both to pas- 
senger and highway traveler. The people of 
this county owe the railroads nothing; the 
railroads owe them the above moderate and 
honest returns. It is fair to say that any 
such organization as is now maintained by 
the Baltimore & Ohio in this County, as 
above detailed, is a menace to the fulfillment 
of any of the above conditions. For ex- 
ample, the Baltimore & Ohio as such, does 
not pay a dollar of taxes into the treasury 
of this county, and any attempt at competi- 
tion in freight rates is impossible under the 
present arrangement. The solution of these 
matters is no part of an historical article, but 
it is fair to say that the final determination 
of them will occur when honest County au- 
ditors and pro-secutors who are sufficiently in- 
telligent to grasp the situation occupy the 
offices. That means intelligence and effi- 
ciency on the part of the electorate, and so 
far at least individuals may meet the situa- 
tion. 



At the present writing, the canals of Sum- 
mit County are in a transition state and the 
average resident looks on them as a doubtful 
luxury. This is due partly to the great out- 
lay of money required to maintain them, with 
.<o little result locally, and partly to the feel- 
ing that the day of the canal is past. Cer- 
tainly the present physical features of the 
canal are not inspiring, for in Summit they 
consist of a race running through Middle- 
bury, and along the southern border of the 
Fair Grounds, and terminating at Main 
Street, where the canal goes underground 
along Main Street, and finally flows into the 
main canal. The sole purpose of this muddy 
and dirty stream is to supply power to the 
mills of the Quaker Oats Company, and the 
.stream itself is owned by the Akron Hydrau- 
lic Company, a private corporation. The 
main canal, officially known as the Ohio and 
Erie Canal, passes through the townships of 
Northampton, Boston, Northfield, Portage, 
Coventry and Franklin. This canal is at 
present valuable to the owners of the various 
rubber factories in Akron, and aside from 
furnishing transportation for various canoe 
parties, has no other worth. What the fu- 
ture holds for this canal, and every canal in 
Ohio, is to be tested in the light of the re- 
sults to be seen from the plans now on foot. 
These plans embrace large expenditures of 
money and seem a part of a con-sistent effort 
to demonstrate the feasibility of canals as 
water transportation. This chapter will dis- 
cuss the story of the canals of Summit in 
the light of that plan. 

The history of Akron begins with the 
.story of the Canal projected by Dr. Cra«by, 
and as this canal brought biisiness and manu- 
facturing enterprises to the community, it 
would seem that the canal miist always stand 
forth as a blessing. Previous to that, how- 
ever, it may be profitable to look at the his- 
tory of these canals in the whole state. The 
desire for extensive internal improvements 
found expression in New York in the con- 
struction of the Erie Canal, and in the divi- 



144 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sion of political parties on the need of further 
interniU improvements. In 1825, Ohio asked 
of the Federal government aid in the con- 
struction of the canals. The Government re- 
sponded by a grant aggregating 1,230,521 
acres. From the sale of these lands has been 
realized about two and one quarter anillion 
dollars, and there remains at this time of 
this imperial grant only land to the amount 
of $100,000.00. Wo have still many miles of 
canal in Ohio, and as bearing on their fu- 
ture, it may be instructive to bear in mind 
the decision of the United States Supreme 
Court, construing the terms of the above 
named federal grant. In Wakh vs. Railroad, 
etc., U. S. Supreme Court reports. Vol. 170. 
P. 469, the conclu.'iion was reached that the 
State of Ohio has the right to abandon its 
canals and to permit their use for a purpo.^e 
analogous to the canals; but the right to 
abandon the canals entirely and to permit 
the use of them other than that as common 
carriers is doubted. 

The Ohio and Erie canal, as above referred 
to, -was begun Julv 4, 1825, and completed in 
1833, and cost the sum of $7,904,971.89. 
The net results of this construction were 
beneficial, for it was said that the facilities 
of transportation from the interior of Ohio 
to the markets of New York were such "that 
wheat commanded a higher price at Massillon, 
one hundred miles west of Pittsburg, than at 
points sixty mil&s east of it." The building 
of this canal, with a summit near the pres- 
ent site of Akron, naturally brought many 
workers to this vicinity, and it became clear 
to Messrs. Perkins and King that it would 
be profitable to anticipate the founding of a 
city. But Mr. King was not content with an 
outlet to the Ohio; he desired one east and, 
accordingly, set on foot the Ohio and Penn- 
sylvania canal. To aid him in hLs project 
he first .secured a charter from the legislature, 
and to secure this there were raised funds to 
pay "expenses." A paper to raise such funds 
read as follows: "We, the subscribers, citi- 
zens of ]\Iiddlebury and Akron, aud their 
vicinity, confident that inestimable advan- 
tages Avould remit to our villages, and this 



section of our country generally, from a canal 
connecting the Ohio canal, at the Portage 
Summit, with the Pennsylvania canal at 
Pittsburg, and anxious that an act should 
pass the legislature of Ohio, at their present 
session authorizing the construction of such 
canal, will pay the sums annexed to our re- 
spective names, to John McMillen, Jr., and 
Peter Bowen, for the purpose of defraying 
the expenses of delegates from the aforesaid 
villages to the legislature to assist in procur- 
ing the passage of such act. Payment to be 
made at the time of .subscribing." 

It would seem from the foregoing that the 
"Third House" had an early history even, 
among the untutored forefathers. The canal 
was got uaider way, and it was originally de- 
signed that the course should be through the 
then rival village of Middlebury. However, 
wires were pulled and, instead, it pa.ssed 
through Akron. Dr. Crosby, in the mean- 
time had started a cross-cut below and to the 
North of Middlebury, and with this influx 
of water, additional power was secured for 
the mills at Akron, and the first step taken 
toward Akron's ascendancy over Middlebury. 

The completion of the Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania Canal was the call for a grand cele- 
bration all along the line from Pittsburg to 
Akron. The accounts of that carnival, a? 
taken from contemporary records, furnish an 
interesting sidelight on life in the '40's. At 
each town and village preparations w'ere 
made to receive the distinguished party on 
board the first boat. Both the Governor of 
Ohio and of Pennsylvania were invited, and 
at each landing place new visitors were taken 
on board till the terminus, Akron, where the 
preceding festi\'ities wound up with a ban- 
quet on the site where now stands the Claren- 
don Hotel. 

As a financial proposition, the state had 
invested in the canal $420,000.00 in stock, 
and there had been raised by other subscrip- 
tions from private sources $840,000.00. Divi- 
dends were declared for a time and the in- 
creased freight and passenger service from 
Cleveland to Pittsburg, via Akron, added to 
the pre-itige of the City of Akron. From 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



145 



1852 till 1856, the tolls collected at the port 
of Akron raii from six thousand to eight 
thousand dollars. But then, as now, the 
menace of the railroad was at hand, and this 
time it was not Mr. Harriman or Mr. Hill, 
but the forgotten Cleveland & Mahoning 
Railroad. By precise!}' the same means as 
has been pointed out in the case of the Balti- 
more & Ohio in the chapter on Railroads, this 
creature of the legislature proceeded to settle 
the career of the canal. The stock was bought 
in open market by this concern and a policy 
of jockeying began to depreciate the rest of 
the stock owned by the state. The whole 
block, amounting to $420,000.00, was sold 
to Charles L. Rhodes, of Cleveland, in 1862, 
for $35,000.00, and the ruin and debasement 
of the canal was complete. The canal, a 
queenly maiden among the commercial high- 
ways of the world, became a wanton and a 
by-word among the people, for Mr. Rhodes 
was vice-president of the railroad, and the 
stock was used to enrich the treasury- of his 
railroad. Improvements stopped, and finally 
a petition was sent to the legislature demand- 
ing that it be abandoned. Several times the 
canal bed was cut and the water permitted to 
escape. This local feeling arose largely be- 
cause of the stagnant condition of the water 
and the consequent endangering of the health 
of the community. 

Any article on the canal? of Summit 
County would be incomplete without men- 
tioning the ambitious attempt to found Sum- 
mit City along what is now the "Gorge." 
Dr. Eliakim Crosby conceived the idea that 
a great mill-race could be constructed alone; 
the site of the Gorge, and to that end de- 
signed the canal at that point. So great a 
man as Horace Greeley became deeply in- 
terested and wrote a glowing account of the 
propo.sed metropolis of the West. Interest 
was roused over the entire coimtry, and great 
quantities of money flowed in from the Ea.«t. 
A nominal capital "stock of $5,000,000.00 was 
proposed, and work was begun. So confi- 
dent were those interested that one of the 
Rochester shareholders offered to pledge his 
entire fortune on the ^supposition that the lots 



surrounding the city would shortly be as val- 
uable as the highest priced lot in Rochester. 
Below and around what is now the CTorge an 
immense city was laid out, and part of the 
labor was paid in scrip redeemable in these 
lots when the City should be complete. This 
scrip was sold all through the East and sup- 
plies of raw material were taken in exchange. 
At one time the promises were so great and 
the prospects so alluring that it was proposed 
to make this the County seat. The engineer- 
ing difficulties that beset the projectors were 
simply enormous. Great blocks of stone 
were to be hewn through, and fills and cuts 
that would daunt the best equipped engineer 
of to-day were to be met. Dr. Crosby rose 
to every occasion. On May 27, 1844, the first 
water was sent through the race, and the day 
of realization seemed at hand. But dissen- 
tions arose among the stockholders; money 
was hard to secure, and at last protracted liti- 
gation settled this project. Finally in June, 
1850, the entire property which had cost in 
the neighborhood of $300,000.00 was sold 
for some $35,000.00, and the dream of the 
"Lowell of the West" was over. 

At the present writing, the one tangible 
asset of value remaining of all the canals of 
Summit County, is the property of the Akron 
Hydraulic Company. This flows along the 
southern line of the Pair Grounds and fur- 
nishes the water-power indicated before. 

It would be vmprofitable to leave a discus- 
sion of the.se water-ways without commenting 
,on the cause of the failure and indicating a 
safe line of future action. In his report to 
Governor Nash in 1903, Engineer Perkins 
discusses the causes of past failures and lays 
out the future. From this report it appears 
that from 1827 to 1860 inclusive, the latter 
date being just prior to leasing to a private 
corporation, gro.^s receipts amounted to. some 
$14,000,000.00. From that time on a steady 
decrease set in and, the war coming on, the 
interest of the State was diverted to other 
channels. Bearing in mind that the Legis- 
lature of the State bad leased the canals to 
private corporations, it is difficult to .see how 
thev came to the conclusion that to retain 



146 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



them would be bad business. Space will not 
allow a further discussion of that report. It 
is now proposed to rehabilitate the canal sys- 
tem, and to build new locks and widen the 
channel and increase the supply of water. 
To this end the reservoir in Summit County 
is being greatly enlarged and it is proposed 
to increase it so that there will be flooded 
166 acres of land, and that will contain in 
reserve about eighty million gallons of water. 
New conditions of transportation have arisen 
and among these is the celebrated electric 
mule, this being a kind of trolley car run 
along the tow path to draw the canal boat 
It is expected that the canal will form a con- 



venient means of carrying raw material and 
other merchandise, in which time is not a 
factor in the delivery. The sane conclusion 
of the matter is a confident reliance in the 
plans mapped out, and an ever constant re- 
minding of the career of the Ohio and Penn- 
sylvania canal, now abandoned beyond re- 
demption. The Federal government has 
shown interest in the project; of a ship canal 
from lake to river, and it is possible, if the 
present administration shows wisdom in its 
action, that once more the boats of Summit 
County may go from the town of Coventry 
to New Orleans. 

Harry S. Quine. 



CHAPTER IX 



MANUFACTURES 



The County's Chief Manufacturing Establishments of the Past and of the Present — Clay 
Products — Cereal Mills — Agricultural Implements — The Rubber Industry — Printing 
and Publishing, Etc. 



As premised in the introduction of this 
history, Akron's great distinction lies in its 
pre-eminence as a city of manufactures. Long 
before the traveler reaches the city he finds 
its position marked on the horizon by a cloud 
of smoke by day and a blaze of light by night. 
The smoke which hovers about the city is in- 
separable from any place doing manufactur- 
ing on a large scale, and, therefore, this is one 
of the discomforts which is borne by Akron's 
citizens with equanimity. The smoke means 
turning wheels, prosperity, and an inflow of 
golden wealth to enrich capitalist and work- 
ingman alike. This golden shower makes 
possible also the extensive mercantile life of 
the city. Great department stores, some of 
them as large as any in the State of Ohio, 
have been attracted here by the great demand 
for commoditi&s, which they supply in all 
the various lines of retail trade. Akron has 
stores which would be a credit to any city in 
the land. They are founded on a substantial 
basis and their success has been uniform. 

The year 1907 has marked the highest 
point in the commercial life of the city a- 
well as in the manufactories. The im- 
portance of Akron as a center of manufactur- 
ing makes it necessary to devote an entire 
chapter to a statement of its resources in that 
respect, and to present an historical outline 
of its industrial development. The earliest 
manufacturing in Akron was conducted in 



Middlebury, and was of a kind which 
was common to all pioneer settlements. 
The first requisite of such a settle- 
ment was a saw-mill and grist-mill and 
some sort of a smithy. In Middlebury these 
were operated by the extensive water-power 
which the Cuyahoga River affords at that 
place. The first industry of this kind was a 
grist-mill built in 1808 by Aaron Nori;on. 
This occupied the ground on Case Avenue, 
where the Akron Sewer Pipe Company now 
stands. Ten years after, Bagley's Woolen 
Mills was built in the same vicinity on the 
river bank. In 1817 the Cuyahoga Blast 
Furnace was erected by Aaron Norton and 
William Laird on the present site of the Great 
Western Cereal Company's mills. This fur- 
nace was established for the purpose of smelts 
ing the iron ore which was found in this vi- 
cinity. This ore consisted principally of bog 
iron, and the industry became unprofitable 
upon the introduction of the rich ore from the 
Lake Superior region, and for that reason was 
discontinued. About 1825 the furnace prop- 
erty was purchased of Ralph Plum, the then 
owner, by Dr. Eliakim Crosby, who com- 
menced the manufacturing of plows, hoes and 
other agricultural implements. In 1827 the 
furnace property was sold to Arnold, Daniel 
and Isaac Stewart. Dr. Crosby then built a 
large grist-mill farther east on the Cuj^ahoga 
River, which he operated for a year or two, 
and then sold to Increase Sumner. 



148 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



CLAY PRODUCTS. 

The clay deposits in the neighborhood 
soon attracted the attention of early settlers. 
The potter's clay found in this vicinity is un- 
surpassed in quality and has made Akron's 
stoneware famous throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. Before long Akron's 
sewer-pipe was the standard for the world. 
Both the stoneware and the sewer-pipe indus- 
try were established about the same time. The 
pioneer worker in both of these fields was Ed- 
win H. Merrill, assisted by his brother, Cal- 
vin J. Merrill. He commenced, in 1847, the 
manufacture of stone bottles, jugs, smoking 
pipes and various other articlas of stoneware 
on Bank Street, in the village of Middlebury. 
Enoch Rowley was a contemporary of these 
men and conducted a successful enterprise in 
clay working for many years in the same 
vicinity. 

In 1849 Hill, Fo.ster & Co. commenced 
making sewer-pipe. The firm consisted of 
David E. Hill, Robert Foster and Reuben 
McMillen. In 1851 the Merrill Brothers and 
Hezekiah Camp purchased the inter&st of 
Robert Foster, and the company changed its 
name to Hill, Merrill and Company. Both 
Messrs. Hill and Merrill devoted themselves 
to perfecting the process of manufacture and 
invented many new methods. In 1855 this 
company became Merrill, Powers & Company, 
composed of Eldwin H. Merrill, Calvin J. Mer- 
rill, Frank Adams and Henry G. Powers. In 
1858 the Merrills withdrew. Mr. Hill re-en- 
tered the business and the firm name was 
changed to Hill, Powers & Company. In 1859 
Hill and Adams bought out the other parties 
and continued the business until 1868, when 
the Hill and Adams Sewer Pipe Company was 
formed. This company consisted of David 
E. Hill, David L. King, Ozias Barber, Lorenzo 
Aiistin and Frank Adams. At this time there 
was only one other factory of this kind in the 
United States. In 1871 the company was re- 
organized as the Akron Sewer Pipe Company, 
with a capital of $175,000. Mr. Frank Adams 
was president and David L. King secretary 
and treasurer of the company. In 1873 



David E. Hill founded the Hill Sewer Pipe 
Company, with a capital of $80,000. In 1872 
the Buckeye Sewer Pipe Company, with a 
capital of $100,000, was organized by Joseph 
A. Baldwin. In 1879 Robinson Brothers and 
Company, with a capital of $300,000, was or- 
ganized for the purpose of operating a sewer- 
pipe factory at the Old Forge. This company 
was formed by Henry Robinson and Thomas 
Robinson. It was a nucleus for the gi'eat Rob- 
inson Clay Product Company of the present 
time. In 1889 the Summit Sewer Pipe Com- 
pany was incorporated, with a capital of $100,- 
000. It comimenced the manufacture of 
sewer-pipe on Miller Avenue in South Akron. 
Joseph A. Baldwin was its president and 
George T. Whitmore was its general manager. 
In 1850 Enoch Rowley, Edward Baker and 
Herbert Baker commenced the manufacture 
of yellowware in Middlebury. About 1852 
Thomas Johnson associated himself with the.-e 
men. In 1857 Johnson Whitmore and Com- 
pany was organized, Mr. Richard AVhitmore 
and the Robinson Brothers having succeeded 
Mr. Rowley. In 1862 the firm changed to 
Whitmore, Robinsons and Company, wliich 
continued until September, 1887, when The 
Whitmore, Robinson and Company was in- 
corporated, with a capital stock of $200,000. 
The bu.siness was continued under this name 
until 1902, when the Robinson Clay Product 
Company was incorporated under the laws of 
the State of Maine, with a capital of $2,000,- 
000. In 1861 Edwin H. Merrill and his son, 
H. E. Merrill, established the Akron pottery 
on the corner of South Main and State 
Streets. In 1880 Fred W. Butler became in- 
terested with them. In 1887 these three men 
formed the corporation known as the E. H. 
Merrill Company, with a capital stock of $50,- 
000. The company continued until they 
merged with The Robinson Clay Product 
Company in 1902. Other stoneware compa- 
nies which have done a successful business in 
Akron are the Ohio Stoneware Company (G. 
A. Parker, president; F. S. Stelker, secretary; 
E. H. Gibbs, treasurer, 227-250 Front Street), 
The United States Stoneware Company, F. W. 
Rockwell and Company, The Akron Stone- 




o 

< 

5 s 

o ^ 







AND REPRESENTATIA'E CITIZENS 



151 



ware Company, Markle and Inman Company 
and Fred H. Weeks. 

In 1875 Joseph C. Ewart commenced in the 
southern part of the city the manufacture of 
vitrified roofing-tile. In 1902 this company 
was incorporated under the name of the Ak- 
ron Roofing Tile Company, S. A. White, 
president; Charles E. Rowland, secretary and 
treasurer and general manager; W. B. Col- 
lins,- assistant secretary. 

There have been a number of successful 
brick manufactories in the city, among which 
are the Diamond Fire Brick Works, estab- 
lished in 1866 by J. Park Alexander. The 
business is still carried on at the corner of 
Canal and Cherry Streets in this city. The 
Akron Fire Brick Company was established in 
1873 by Byron A. Allison and Delos Hart. 
Since 1877 Mr. Allison continued the busi- 
ness alone until the incorporation of the com- 
pany in 1882, with .a capital stock of $50,000. 

CEREAL MILLS. 

Reference has been made to the small grist- 
mills which were operated in the county in 
the eai-ly days. These were, of course, of a 
very limited capacity and were destined mere- 
ly to meet the needs of the farmers in the 
surrounding territory. They brought their 
grain to these primitive mills and sometimes 
waited until it was being ground to flour. On 
account of lack of transportation facilities, lit- 
tle or no attempt was made to find a market 
for dealer.* extending outside the county. In 
1832, just after the canal was opened from 
Cleveland to Portsmouth, milling on a large 
scale was begun. The first of these large mills 
was the Old Stone Mill, which was built in 
1832 by Dr. Eliakim Cro.sby, and tho.se inter- 
ested with him in his canal projects. This 
was budlt to use the waters of the race from 
the Old Forge through the center of Main 
Street to Lock Five. In 1838 the Et/na Mills, 
located on the canal, just north of West Mar- 
ket Street, was built by Samuel A. Wheeler 
and John B. Mitchell. A year later, Joseph 
A. Beebe and William E. Wright built the 
Center Mills, ako located on the canal at 



Cherry Street. In 1840 the Cascade Mills at 
the terminus of the races on North Howard 
Street, were built by AVilliam Mitchell. A year 
or two after, George W. McNeil built the 
City Mill on West Market Street between 
Canal Street and the canal. George Ayliffe 
about the same time commenced the manufac- 
ture of cereal goods on South Main Street. 
He sold out to Carter and Steward, who con- 
tinued the business of making oatmeal until 
their mills were destroyed by fire in 1881. In 
1856 Albert Allen established the Allen Mill 
on Canal Street, ju.st south of Cherry Street. 

In 1851 Ferdinand Schumacher came to 
Akron from Germany. He was born in Celle, 
Hanover, March, 30, 1822, and came to the 
United States in 1850. He worked one year 
on a farm near Cleveland and in 1851 opened 
up a fancy goods store in the Hall block on 
the corner of Market and Howard Streets. 
His partner in this was Theodore Weibezahn. 
Their store was a very small one and fronted 
on West Market Street. It did not offer the 
inducement for advancement that Mr. Schu- 
macher desired and, accordingly, in August, 
1852, he started a small grocery store in the 
room now occupied by the Dollar Savings 
Bank. His business growing rapidly, he 
imoved to a larger stand across the street, next 
to the Empire House. In 1859 he com- 
menced making oatmeal on a very small scale 
in a frame building on Howard Street. Loyal 
to his native country, he named it the Ger- 
man Mill. Oatmeal was a new thing in this 
locality and its sale was at first very slow. The 
early deliveries were ^made in a hand-cart, and 
a humbler l>eginning could not have been 
■made. 

Mr. Schumacher in a few years added the 
making of pearl barley to his line. In 1863 
he built the first of his mills on South Sum- 
mit Street, between Mill and Quarry. In 
1872 a new German Mill was built there. In 
1879 a large grain elevator was built by Mr. 
Schumacher. Then came the Big Jumbo 
mill, an eight-.story structure, devoted entire- 
ly to the making of cereals. Then a fine, stone 
office building, co.sting $80,000, was built on 
the corner of Mill and Broadway. Mr. Schu- 



152 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



macher was now the foremost miller in the 
world. The company, of which he was the 
founder and head, had reached the climax of 
prosperity, when, on the night of March 6, 
1886, the entire plant was destroyed by fire, 
entailing a loss of over a million dollars to 
the company. 

In April, 1886, just a month after the de- 
struction of the big plant by fire, the Ferdi- 
nand Schumacher Milling Company was in- 
corporated, with a capital stock of two million 
dollars. The Old Stone Mill, which had been 
operated by Cummins and Allen, was con- 
solidated with the Schumacher interests. Mr. 
Ferdinand Schumacher was made president 
of the new company. In July, 1891, the 
American Cereal Company was incorporated, 
with a capital of $3,400,000. This was com- 
posed of all the principal oatmeal mills of the 
United States. It absorbed the Hower Mill- 
ing Company of Akron. In 1907 the Quaker 
Oats Company took the place of the Ameri- 
can Cereal Company. Just after the forma- 
tion of the American Cereal Company the 
principal office was established in Chicago 
and many of Akron's best citizens were taken 
to that city on account of the change. The 
representative of the officers of the company 
at Akron is J. H. Andrews, the local super- 
intendent. 

In 1870 Robert Turner commenced the 
manufacture of oatmed on the corner of 
Canal and Cherry Streets. He was succeeded 
in 1879 and 1880 by The Hower Company, of 
which John H. Hower was president; Har- 
vey Y. Hower, vice-pre.sident; M. Otiis Hower, 
secretary, and Charles H. Hower, treasurer. 
At the time of their consolidation with the 
American Cereal Company they were doing 
a very large and prosperous business. 

In 1883 John F. Seiberling organized the 
Seiberling Milling Company, and built a six- 
story brick flouring mill in east Akron, which 
is now the Akron plant of the Great Western 
Cereal Companv. It was organized with a 
capital of $200,000, and had a capacity of 100 
barrels a day. The first officers were J. F. 
Seiberling, president; Lucius C. Miles, secre- 
tuTV, and Frank A. Seiberling, treasurer. In 



1901 it became a part of the Great Western 
Cereal Company, with a capital of $3,000,000. 
The Allen Mills were founded about 1845 by 
Simon Perkins, Jedediali D. Commins, Alex- 
ander H. Commins, Jesse Allen, Hiram Al- 
len and Jacob Allen. The mills were after- 
wards converted into flouring mills by the 
Perkins Company and afterwards the Allye 
and Company was formed of F. H. Allen, 
Victor J. Allen and William A. Palmer. 

THE MATCH INDUSTRY. 

At one period of its existence Akron was 
known as the "Match Town." This was on 
account of the location here of the Barber 
Match Company, which afterwards became 
the Diamond Match Company. The most 
primitive form of the match was the small, 
pine stick, coated with certain chemicals, 
which were lighted by dipping the chemical 
end in a solution of aqua-fortis. Matches aft- 
erwards were made by using a chemical com^ 
position, which could be ignited by means of 
a piece of sand-paper. Late in the thirties came 
the Loco-Foco match. Samuel A. Lane and 
James R. Miltimore were the pioneer makers 
of matches in Akron. These Loco-Foco 
matches were of pine, dipped alternately into 
melted brimstone and a phosphonis composi- 
tion. S. A. Lane and Company began mak- 
ing them in 1838. They continued the busi- 
ness onlv about a vear, finding little profit in 
it. 

In 1845 George Barber commenced the 
manufacture of matches in a small barn in 
Middleburv. This was the humble beginning 
of the great Diamond Match Company of to- 
day, with its great factories and universal 
business. Mr. Barber found the business 
profitable and made several removals, finally 
occupying the entire woolen factory which 
stood on the site of the present Goodyear Tire 
and Rubber Works. In 1865 the Barber 
Match Company was formed, with George 
Barber, president; 0. C. Barber, secretary and 
treasurer, and J. K. Robinson, general agent. 
In 1871 the Barber Match Company moved 
to South Akron to where the Diamond Rubber 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



153 



works is now located. In 1881 the Barber 
Match Company, with twenty-eight other es- 
tablishments in the United States, were incor- 
porated under the name of the Diamond 
Match Company, with a capital stock of $6,- 
000,000. Mr. 0. C. Barber was made presi- 
dent of this company and John K. Robinson, 
treasurer. Today the Diamond Match Com- 
pany is one of the great industrial corpora- 
tions of the world, and the most credit for its 
success is due to the Akron man, Ohio Colum- 
bus Barber, who has been its president since 
its inception. 

In 1879 the Miller Match Company was 
formed for the manufacture of parlor matches 
in the building which formerly stood just 
west of the old plant oif the B. F. Goodrich 
Company. It wa^ organized bv Harvev F. 
Miller and S. S. Miller. Col. A. L. Conger 
was its president. In 1885 it was incorporated 
with a capital stock of $100,000. In 1888 it 
was sold to the Diamond Match Company. 

AGRICULTUR.\L IMPLEMENTS. 

The Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works : In 
1864 a branch of the A. Aultman Company, 
of Canton, w^as established in Akron and th« 
manufacture of inowers and reapers was com- 
menced in the great plant along the railroad;? 
at the corner of Center Street. A separate 
company was then formed to conduct the 
business and was known as Aultman, Miller 
and Company. Lewis Miller was the general 
superintendent of the works from the begin- 
ning, and, under his able direction, the com- 
pany grew to be one of the largest institu- 
tions of its kind in the country. Much of 
the Buckeye machine was the invention of 
Mr. Miller himself. G. "W. Crouse was presi- 
dent; Ira Miller, .secretary, and R. H. Wright, 
treasurer. The company continued to do a 
prosperous business until about 1902, when 
the organization of the International Harves- 
ter Company deprived the local company of 
its opportunity to compete on equal groimds. 
In 1905 a receiver for the company was ap- 
pointed and the entire a.ssets were sold to the 
International Harvester Company, by order of 



the court. The litigation over the failure of 
the Aultman, Miller Company is still (in 
1907) pending. 

In 1865 John F. Seiberling organized the 
J. F. Seiberling Company and established the 
Empire Mower and Reaper Works on the 
railroad, near Mill Street. Mr. Seiberling 
had been a druggist in Akron and in 1858 
had invented the Excelsior mower and reaper, 
with a dropper attachment. In 1861 he com- 
menced the manufacture of them at Doyles- 
town. In 1864 he began the manufacture in 
Massillon, and in 1865 brought the industry 
to Akron. A large business was soon e.stab- 
lished and very extensive shops were erected. 
In the panic of 1873 the company was unable 
to weather the storm and an assigne in in- 
solvency took possession of the plant. When 
the Excelsior plant was sold, Mr. Seiberling 
purchased it and organized a new company, 
entitled the J. F. Seiberling Company, with 
himself as president; F. A. Seiberling, secre- 
tary and treasurer, and Charles W. Seiberling 
as superintendent. Capital stock was $160.- 
000, and the plant was known as the Empire 
Works. The business at first was successful, 
and Mr. Seiberling reaped a large fortune. In 
the year 1900 business began to fail and ul- 
timately an 'assignee was appointed by order 
of court and the business wound up. The old 
Empire plant was afterwards occupied by 
the India Rubber Company and still Later by 
the Fiebeger Heating Company. 

The Akron Iron Company was established 
by Lewis Miller and other parties intere.sted 
in the Aultman, Miller Company in 1866. 
Large rolling mills were built on the railroads 
south of Exchange Street. Upon its reorgani- 
zation in the year 1900 the company was 
known by the title of the Akron Iron and 
Steel Company, with a large part of its capital 
stock held in the East. Stress of competition 
overwhelmed it, and finally its business was 
wound up, and the plant sold to the railroad 
.companies. The old site is now a part of the 
Akron yards of the Erie railroad. 

In September, 1886, the Selle Gear Com- 
pany was incor{3orated with a capital stock of 
$100,000. George W. Crouse was its presi- 



154 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dent; F. M. Atterholt, vice-president, and W. 
C. Parsons, secretary and treasurer. A large 
factory was built on Chestnut Street, corner 
of High, and the company began the manu- 
facture of the Selle patented platform gear 
for wagons. In 1906 it became the Akron- 
Selle Company, with M. Otis Hower as presi- 
dent and general manager ; H. Y. Ho\ter, vice- 
president; H. A. Paul, secretary, and E. R. 
Held, treasurer. Under the able manage- 
ment of M. Otis Hower, a very large busi- 
ness is being built up, and there are good 
reasons for believing that, in a very short 
time, this concern will be one of the largest 
maufacturing institutions of the city. 

The Akron Belting Company was incor- 
porated in 1885 by George W. Crouse, Alfred 
M. Barber and Sumner Nash. Its first plant 
was on North Main Street, where the Grand 
Opera Hou.'^e is now located. They are mak- 
ing a very superior quality of leather belting 
of all sizes. Upon the vacation of the Allen 
Mills on Canal Street, this company moved 
into them and ha.s continued to do busines.* at 
that stand since. The pra'^ent officers are : A. 
B. Rhinehart, president; Sumner Na.sh, vice- 
president; George Wince, secretary and treas- 
urer, and Webster Thorpe, .-iuperintendent. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

In 1872 Thomas Phillips and Company 
commenced the manufacture of paper on the 
Ohio Canal at West Exchange Street. Their 
business consisted of making paper bags, flour 
sacks, wrapping paper, etc., and a very large 
business has been built up. In 1887 The 
Thomas Phillips Company was incorporated 
with a capital stock of $150,000. G. W. 
Crouse was its president and Clarence How- 
land, secretarj^ and general manager. The 
present officers are F. D. Howland, president ; 
F. A. Seiberling. vice-president; G. D. How- 
land, secretary, and F. A. Howland, treasurer 
and general manager. 

In 1885 the Akron Twine and Cordage 
Company was organized by the directors of 
the Aultman, Miller Company. G. W. Crouse 
was its president; Ira M. Miller, vice-president. 



and R. H. Wright, secretary and treasurer. A 
large factory was built on Hdll Street just east 
of the railroads. Rope and cordage of all 
kinds was manufactured. .V specialty was 
made of binder twine. When hard times fell 
upon the Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works, 
the Twine and Cordage Company became in- 
volved in the trouble and for a long time they 
did not run. But at the present time they are 
being operated under the direction of the In- 
ternational Harvester Company, which pur- 
chased the assets of the Aultman, Miller Com- 
pany. 

In 1878 Edward George Kubler and John 
Martin Beck founded what has been known 
as the Akron Varnish Works. They are 
manufacturers of varnishes. Japans and other 
similar products. They commenced in a hu'm- 
ble way in a .small building on Bowery Street, 
and afterwards built a large brick factory on 
West State Street, where they still are engaged 
in the .same busin&ss. In 1882 David L. King 
organized the King Varnish Company, and 
built a large, six-story brick factory on Canal 
Street, just north of Market. The business 
■proved unprofitable and an assignment was 
made. In 1889 David R. Paige bought the 
business, associating John H. McCrum with 
him. Upon the destruction of the factory by 
fie, the company was merged with the Kubler 
and Beck Company, under the name of the 
Akron Varnish Company. The officers are: 
E. G. Kubler, president : J. M. Beck, vice-pres- 
ident and treasurer; E. M. Beck, secretary; F. 
W. Whitner, assistant treasurer; F. A. Fauver, 
superintendent. 

In 1870 John W. Baker and John C. Mc- 
Millen established the Baker-McMillen Com- 
pany and commenced the manufacture of 
enameled knobs, handles, etc. In July, 1890, 
the Baker-McMillen Company was incorpo- 
rated with a capital of $120,000, and a very 
large busine&s was built up. The present of- 
ficers are: H. B. Sperr^^, president and treas- 
urer; W. H. Stoner, secretary and general 
manager. 

The firs4. planing mill was e«tabli.shed in 
Akron in 1832 by Smith Burton in Middle- 
bury. In 1836 James Bangs started a shingle 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



155 



mill near the corner of Main and Federal 
Streets. Samuel G. AVilson bought him out, 
and a few years later established a shingle 
mill and lumber yard on Main Street, just 
south of Howard. A few years later Mr. Wil- 
son took in Justus Rockwell and they bought 
out the lumber yard of W. B. Storer, which 
had been established on North Main Street. 
Mr. Samuel G. Wilson was thus the pioneer 
lumber dealer of Akron. In 1865 he inter- 
ested himself with William B. Doyle, Samuel 
Farnum and John H. Dix, and they organ- 
ized the firm of W. B. Doyle and Company. 
In 1S67 Hon. John Johnson bought the in- 
terest of Mr. AVilson. In 1873 Mr. Johnson 
retired and the business was conducted by the 
other parties, until the death of Mr. Dix in 
1886, and the retirement of Mr. Farnum in 
1888, when the business was carried on by 
Mr. Doyle. Upon his death, August 6, 1890, 
this pioneer company ceased to exist. 

In 1845 David Miller established a na'^h, 
door and blind factory, which was purchased 
by D. G. Wilcox in 1866. In 1864 he formed 
a partnership with Samuel B. Weary, Jacob 
Snyder and Andrew Jackson, under the firm 
name of AVeary, Snyder and Company. In 
1867 the company was incorporated and con- 
tinued to do business until the destruction of 
the plant by fire about five years ago. 

In 1863 George Thomas established the 
Thomas Building and Lumber Company, 
with works on the west side of the canal, be- 
tween Bank and Cherry Streets. In 1877 
David AV. Thomas succeeded to the business. 
In 1888 he organized the corporation with a 
capital stock of $100,000. The new company 
also took possession of the lumber business 
thereftofore conducted by AVilliam Buchtel. 

In 1867 the business of Solon N. AVilson 
was established, and he is now doing a suc- 
cessful business in lumber and contracting. 
The Hankey Lumber Company was estab- 
lished in 1873 by Simon Hankey. 

The Enterprise Manufacturing Company 
is one of Akron's most successful manufactur- 
ing establishments. It was founded in 1881 
by Ernest F. Pflueger, and was incorporated 
in 1886 for the purpose of making fishing 



supplies, etc. It has grown from the start, un- 
til it now occupies the great factory of Ash 
Street. The present officers are: G. A. 
Pflueger, president; G. E. Pflueger, vice-presi- 
dent and superintendent; E. A. Pflueger, sec- 
retary and treasurer, and H. A. West, assist- 
ant secretary and treasurer. 

The Western Linoleum Company was in- 
corporated January 1, 1891, with a capital of 
$200,000. A. M. Cole was its first president; 
AA^. E. Hoover, secretary and treasurer, and 
Charles Templeton, general superintendent. 
They are now a part, of the Standard Table Oil 
Cloth Company. E. A. Oviatt is the local 
superintendent. 

The Globe Sign and Poster Company began 
business as the Globe Sign Company, and 
was incorporated in 1890. John Grether, S. 
S. Miller, Frank Reefsnyder, AV. B. Gamble 
and H. G. Bender were its first organizers. 

RUBBER INDUSTRY. 

The B. F. Goodrich Con>pany. Akron is 
best known today as the world's center for 
the rubber manufacturing industry. It is the 
chief of all our industries. It has more capi- 
tal inve,sted, more hands employed, larger fac- 
tories, and a larger value of output than any 
other line of manufacture in the city. Most 
of this growth has taken place in the last 
twelve years; all of it .since 1870. The origin 
of rubber-working in Akron goes back to the 
advent of Dr. B. F. Goodrich in our midst. 
The date is 1870. He was the original rubber 
mam of Akron, and without him there probab- 
ly would have been no rubber industry here. 
In 1870 Dr. B. F. Goodrich came from the 
East and a.ssooiated himself with Colonel 
George T. Perkins, George AA^. Crouse and 
others of this city, and started what was then 
known as B. F. Goodrich and Company — ^the 
Akron Rubber AA^orks. The business slowly 
grew and prospered until in 1880 a co-partner- 
ship was formed and the business incorpo- 
rated under the name of The B. F. Goodrich 
Company, with a capitalization of $100,000. 
The growth of the company was continuous 
from that time on and the capital was in- 



1?6 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



creased from time to time as the demands of 
the business required, until at present the 
capitalization of the company is $10,000,000. 

Dr. Goodrich remained president of tlie 
company until 1888, the time of his death, 
when Colonel George T. Perkins succeeded 
him, holding the position until January 15, 
1907. The present officer are: B. G. Work, 
president; F. H. Mason, vice-president; II. E. 
Raymond, second vice-president; C. B. Ray- 
mond, secretary; W. A. Folger, treasurer; AV. 
A. Means, assistant treasurer ; E. C. Shaw, gen- 
eral manager of works ; C. C. Goodrich, gen- 
eral superintendent, and H. E. Joy, assistant 
general superintendent. The directors are 
Colonel George T. Perkins, F. H. Mason, B. 
G. Work, H. E. Raymond, E. C. Shaw, George 
W. Crou.se and C. C. Goodrich. 

The product oif the company consists of a 
full line of soft rubber goods, such a belting, 
hose, packings, druggists' sundry goods, golf 
balls,- tennis balls, automobile and bicycle 
tires, carriage tires, molded goods, mats, boots 
and shoes. The factory buildings cover an area 
of sixteen and one-half acres of floor space on 
fifteen and one-half acres of ground, and 
the buildings are lighted by over 8,000 incan- 
descent lamp.s and one hundred arc lights. 
The power plant has a generating capacitv of 
3,500 K. W., and a boiler -capacity of 6,Cm 
H. P., 4,500 H. P. of -motors being used to 
drive the machinery throughout the plant. 
The company has 3,300 people in its employ. 

Diamond Rubber Company. In 1898 the 
Diamond Rubber Company was unknown out- 
side of a limited circle of trade. With a oapi- 
talization of $50,000, it was manufacturing a 
modest line of mechanical rubber goods and 
tires — then, as now, in competition with con- 
cerns powerful in productive and brain ca- 
pacity. And ati that time, too, the majority 
of competing companies were rich with the 
prestige which long established business rela- 
tion? give. Still the Diamond Rubber Com- 
pany grew. 

The present canitalization of the concern is 
$5,000,000, but the real extent of its growth 
and the rapid increase of its strength are l>et- 
ter .shown by other comparisons. Two hun- 



dred and fifty was the number of the com- 
pany's employes in 1898. Twenty-!?even hun- 
dred and twenty is the number in 1907, with 
the quota of brains per capita also increased. 

Crude rubber was brought by cases of 500 
pounds each by this company seven years ago. 
Now single purchases amount to as much as 
200 tons. For four years the mill rooms of 
the Diamond Rubber Company have been in 
operation night and day the year around. 
Their equipment in 1898 included seven mills 
and two calenders. Today, with twenty-seven 
mills and seven calenders, it is only by keep- 
ing every wheel constantly turning that stocks 
can be made ready fast enough. 

An engine capacity of 250 horse-power, 
whicli was sufficient seven years ago, has 
steadily increased until today the capacity is 
2,050 horse-power and every ounce of pressure 
utilized. 

If every day for ten years, Sundays in- 
cluded, the factories of the Diamond Rubber 
Company had expanded 95 square feet, the 
total would still fall short of equaling the 
extensions in new buildings and additions the 
company has erected within that time. And 
the ground area used is now eighteen acres, 
as compared with less than six acres in 1898. 

Seven years ago the Diamond Rubber Com- 
pany had no branch establishments: they 
were not necessary. Today the company has 
its own branches in twelve principal cities, 
with three stores in New York and two in 
Chicago, besides exclusive agencies in many 
other business centers. 

Hose holds a conspicuous place in the prod- 
ucts of the company, and is a department hav- 
ing .several extensive sub-divisions. Air-brake 
hose is the most prominent in the line of its 
products for the railroad trade. From a small 
beginning their production of air-brake hose, 
made to Master Car Builders' Recommended 
Practice, or their own, or other specifications, 
has grown to an average of nearly 2.000 pieces 
per dav, made with such care and precision 
that the percentage of rejected goods has 
cea.sed to be a factor — a remarkable achieve- 
ment. 

The steam hose problem is another whose 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



157 



solution, in a manner distinctlj' gratifying, 
not only to the company, but to the trade, con- 
tributed directly to the growth of the com- 
pany. And. furthermore, the mastery of the 
art of making steam hose was in itself the 
overcoming of the long-vexing car-heating 
hose problem as well. Both are now a notable 
part of their daily output, with an increase in 
these and allied lines, such as signal hose, cor- 
rugated tender hose, etc., steadily indicated 
from month to month. 

Another division of the hose department 
which has similarly expanded is that devoted 
to water hose, tank hose and kindred kinds. 
Hose for fire protection is a subject so impor- 
tant that they regularly divide it into three 
classifications — rubber fire ho.*e, cotton jacket 
rubber-lined fire hose, and cotton jacket rub- 
ber-lined mill hose. There is not a day in the 
year — Sundays always excepted — that their 
own looms are not roaring with industry in 
the weaving of fire and mill hose jackets from 
their own tested yarn. Their sales of garden 
ho.se, by the way, where formerly measured 
yearly by the thousands of feet, are now com- 
puted by the millions. 

Belting constitutes a large department in 
the Diamond factories, and in seven years the 
output has doubled and doubled again, one of 
the various additions erected within that pe- 
riod having been expressly to provide greater 
space and facilities for the belt department. 

Six hand pres.ses used to keep up with the 
demand for moulded goods made by the com- 
pany. Today ten times six and all hydraulic 
presses are necessary. Hard rubber has been 
a part of the Diamond Rubber Company's 
product for only a few years, but today the 
department would make by itself a factory of 
creditable size. The output Is confined large- 
ly to battery jars, sheets, rods and tubing, re- 
insulating tape, etc. 

Tires — last, but by no means least. Dia- 
mond detachable clincher tires for automo- 
biles are the equipment on a very large per- 
centage of all motor cars used in this countr\'. 
Diamond .solid side wire motor truck tires and 
Diamond solid and cushion tires for lighter 
commercial vehicles and carriages are scarce- 



ly less well known. The annual business of 
this eompaey in its tire department mounts 
well into the millions of dollars and has made 
necessary the erection of one of the largest 
structures on earth devoted to rubber tire man- 
ufacturing. 

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. 
Frank A. Seiberling purchased the Woolen 
and Felt Company plant in June, 1898, and 
immediately thereafter caused to be organized 
The Goodvear Tire & Rubber Company, with 
an authorized capital of $200,000, $90,000 
paid in, the officers being David E. Hill, pres- 
ident; George Hill, vice president: H. B. 
]\Ianton, treasurer; Charles W. Seiberling. sec- 
retary; F. A. Seiberling, general manager. 
The above, with Byron W. Robinson and L. 
C. Mills constituted the first board of direc- 
tors. The work of installation of machinery 
and equipping the plant was immediately un- 
dertaken and vigorously prosecute so that by 
December, 1898, the mill was put in opera- 
tion. The business was a success from the 
start, the company readily securing sufficient 
orders to keep them operating to their full 
capacity. 

The following year Mr. R. C. Pen field ac- 
quired the interests of the Hills, becoming 
president of the company. One hundred 
thousand dollars of new capital was put into 
the business at that time, wdiich, with a stock 
dividend declared out of profits, made the 
paid-up capital $200,000. The business stead- 
ily increased under the impiilse of additional 
capital, so that in 1902 the authorized capital 
was increased to one million dollars, $500,000 
of which was paid up, partly in ca^h and part- 
ly in stock dividends. 

Each year extensive additions were made to 
the plant until its capacity today is fully four 
times greater than w^hen first started, and the 
company is handling a business more than 
five times greater in volume. 

Its present officers are: F. A. Seiberling, 
president and general manager: L. C. Miles, 
vice-president; George M. Stadelman, secre- 
tarv ; Charles W. Seiberling, treasurer. 

The history of the company has been one 
of .steady progress and is marked by an im- 



158 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



portant patent litigation that affected the en- 
tire carriage tire industry of the United States. 
The Goodyear Company was operating under 
a patent owned by it for the mvanufacture of a 
certain type of solid carriage tire, which the 
owners of the Grant patent claimed was an in- 
fringement upon their rights. Up to the time 
that the Goodyear Company entered their field 
the Grant patent had had a complete monop- 
oly of the rubber tire industry of the United 
States. In a bitter contest involving a large 
expenditure on both sides, extending over a 
period of two years' time, the United States 
Court of Appeals decided the Grant patent in- 
valid, opening the market in this country to 
anyone who desired to make rubber tires of 
their type. As a result, twenty-five manufac- 
turers in this country are now making the 
Grant type of tire, though The Goodyear Tire 
& Rubber Company is probably making more 
solid rubber carriage tires than any other one 
concern in the United States, turning out as 
much as six tons per day in the height of the 
season. 

They are also large manufacturers of pneu- 
matic bicycle and automobile tires, and with- 
in the past two years have brought out a quick 
detachable tire upon their Universal rim, 
which promises to revolutionize the method 
of attaching and detaching tires in this coun- 
try. As a result of their initiative, all of the 
leading concerns are working and are bring- 
ing out devices for accomplishing the same 
ends. They now employ over a million dol- 
lars of capital, and 800 men, with a volume 
of business approximating $3,000,000 an- 
nually. 

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING. 

The Werner Company, book manufacturers, 
lithographerss, general printers and engravers, 
publishers of the new Werner edition of the 
Encyclopedia Britannica. Paul E. Werner 
started in the printing business as publisher 
of the Akron Germania in 1875 on the third 
floor of the building on Howard Street, ad- 
joining the southeast corner of Howard and 
Market Streets, then owned bv E. Steinbacher. 



In 1877 he removed his business to the sec- 
ond floor of the Kramer building, also on 
Howard Street. In 1879 he occupied a frame 
building on Howard Street, which stood where 
the Arcade building now stands, and added 
the publication of the Sunday Gazette. In 
1881 he removed to the southeast corner of 
Howard and Mill Streets and added to his 
business the publication of the Daily arid 
Weekly Tribune. In 1883 he removed his 
business to a three-story frame building spe- 
cially fitted up for him, which stood where the 
large mill of the American Cereal Company 
now stands on Howard Street. In 1885 James 
Christy erected a four-story brick bulling es- 
pecially for him on Howard Street, directly 
south of the big mill. By that time the com- 
mercial printing part of the business had 
grown to larger dimensions. 

Paul E. Werner realized that the field in 
the newspaper business in a town of the size 
of Akron was very limited, and disposed of 
his newspapers. About 100 people were em- 
ployed in that building. Very soon these 
quarters were too small for the continually 
growing business. In 1887 the Werner Print- 
ing and Lithographing Company was organ- 
ized, larger capital was procured, and a large 
tract of land, located at the corner of Perkins 
and Union Streets (the present location of 
the company's factory) was then purchased 
for the purpose of erecting buildings special- 
ly designed and equipped for the manufactur- 
ing of books on a large scale, and of printed, 
lithographed and engraved articles in gen- 
eral. The business continued to grow very 
rapidly and new buildings w^ere added every 
year for a number of years, until at the pres- 
ent time the Werner Company occupies the 
following buildings: Three buildings each 
300 feet long, forty feet wide; three buildings 
each 200 feet long, fifty feet wide ; three build- 
ings each 100 feet long, fifty feet wide; one 
building, seventy-five feet long, thirty feet 
wide; one building, eighty feet long, forty 
feet wide, and a number of other small build- 
ings, all equipped with the most modem ma- 
chinery required for the manufacturing of 
books and other printed, lithographed and en- 




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IZi 
<ij 

&^ 

!zi 



AND EEPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



161 



graved products. The capital invested in and 
required in the conduct of the business of The 
Werner Company is very large and amounts 
to over $3,000,000. 

In 1907 the officers of this company are as 
follows: P. E. Werner, president and gen- 
eral manager; R. M. Werner, vice-president 
and assistant treasurer; C. I. Bruner, treas- 
urer; Karl Kendig, secretary; H. M. Huddles- 
ton, assistant secretary; Edward P. Werner, 
general superintendent. 

The Werner Company is by far the largest 
and most complete book factory on the Ameri- 
can continent. It comprises under one roof, 
so to speak, and under one management, all 
the graphic arts and trades. 

It furnishes directly and indirectly material 
oneans of livelihood for four or five thousand 
Akron inhabitants. The great majority of the 
employees of the Werner Company are skilled 
in trades and arts and receive high compensa- 
tion. 

During the year 1906 the works of The 
Werner Company were in uninterrupted oper- 
ation, and a great part of the time worked 
thirteen hours daily. During that year this 
company purchased and received raw mate- 
rials and shipped finished products rep- 
resenting the full capacity of one thousand 
two hundred railroad cars. The products in- 
cluded more than 3,000,000 large books; more 
than 15,000,000 large and finely illastrated 
catalogues made for the largest manufacturing 
concerns of this country, and millions of other 
printed, lithographed and engraved articles. 

If the books alone which were manufac- 
tured by The Werner Company last year were 
laid on a pile, one on the top of the other, this 
pile would reach ninety-.six miles into the air. 
If these books were laid side by side they 
would constitute a line 500 miles long. 

The raw materials consumed during the 
past year comprise 3,500 different kinds. The 
largest consumption is in paper, cloth, leather, 
gold and ink. If the paper consumed during 
the past year were laid in sheets side by side, 
they would reach around the world four times. 
The binders' cloth consumed measured 5.000,- 
000 square feet. The different kinds of 



leather consumed required the skins of 25,000 
cattle, 30,000 sheep and 36,000 Persian and 
Morocco goats. Over 3,000,000 leaves of gold 
were consumed. While the principle product 
of this factory is books. The Werner Com- 
pany has a world-wide reputation for furnish- 
ing fine commercial work, typographic as well 
as lithographic, catalogues of every descrip- 
tion. Of this particular kind of product it 
makes more than any other concern in the 
United States. 

WHITMAN AND BARNES MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY. 

The Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing 
Company, manufacturers of mowing and reap- 
ing machine knives, sickles, sections and parts 
of cutting apparatus, "Diamond" twist 
drills, reamers and collateral lines, wood 
handle and drop forged wrenches, lawn mow- 
ers, haying tools, such as hay carriers, forks, 
pulleys, etc., spring keys and cotters, rubber 
pad horse-shoes, hammers, planer knives and 
cutters for wood-working machinery. In 1848 
the predecessors and founders of the present 
corporation. The Whitman & Barnes Manu- 
facturing Company, commenced in a very 
small way to make knives and sickles for mow- 
ing and reaping machines. They were the 
first in this country to engage in the manufac- 
ture of these parts. From the small begin- 
ning in 1848 this firm has advanced and in- 
creased until now it has three factories — one 
at Akron, Ohio, occupied exclusively in the 
manufacture of Diamond twist drills and col- 
lateral lines; one at Chicago, 111., at which fac- 
tory they manufacture knives and sections, 
wrenches, lawn mowers, hay tools, spring keys 
and cotters, and rubber-pad horse shoes; one 
at St. Catharines, Ontario, where they manu- 
facture knives and sections, hammers, haying 
tools, planer knives and cutters for wood-work- 
ing machinery. Their factories are equipped 
with the most modem machinery, and they 
employ a very large number of skilled me- 
chanics, which enables them to produce goods 
equal to any upon the market, and at a price 
which allows them to compete successfully in 



162 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the trade. Thedr brands are extensively 
known, not only in this country, but in all 
foreign countries, and their trademark, "Dia- 
mond W. & B.," is a trade name the world 
over and a guarantee of the quality of the 
goods manufactured. 

In the past two years they have materially 
changed their manner and way of handling 
their business with the trade, abolishing their 
branch-house system for the purpose of ally- 
ing themselves directly with the jobbing trade. 
This change meets with the hearty approval 
of the jobbere over the country, and thej' are 
fast associating themselves with this company 
in handling their large line of products. 

The Akron factory is managed by George 
A. Barnes, who has been long associated with 
the company. The Chicago factorv^ is man- 
aged by AV. H. Eager. The St. Catharines 
factory is managed by W. W. Cox, who has 
been for many years an officer of the company, 
and who stands very high, not only in the 
States, but in Canada. A. D. Armitage, who 
also has been connected with this company for 
many years, is general manager of manufac- 
ture. 

The officers of the company are: C. E. Shel- 
don, president; W. W. Cox, vice-president; 
Prank H. Hiscock, second vice-president; 
Wm. Stone, treasurer; C. E. Caskey, assistant 
treasiirer: James Barnes, secretary; W. H. Gif- 
ford, chairman ; Frank Hiscock, general coun- 
sel. The directors are C. E. Sheldon, George 
T. Perkins, George C. Kohler, C. T. Bruner, 
George A. Barnes, all of Akron, Ohio; Frank 
H. Hiscock, William Stone, W. H. Gifford, 
Syracuse, New York; W. W. Cox, St. Cath- 
arines. 

Milton Otis Howor was born in Doylestown, 
Wayne County, Ohio, November 25, 1859, and 
i? a son of John H. and Su.san Yongker 
Hower. He attended school in Doylestown 
and was subsequently a pupil in the Akron 
public schools and at Buchtel College. . He 
began his business career as secretary of The 
Hower Company, proprietors of the Akron 
Oatmeal Mills. These mills were afterward 
consolidated with the American Cereal Com- 
pany, of which Mr. Hower l)ecame director. 



vice-president and chairman of the Executive 
Committee. In 1894 he removed to Chicago, 
where the general office of the American 
Cereal Company is located, but after remain- 
ing there six years, he returned to Akron, He 
is president of The Akron-Selle Company, 
The Lombard-Replogle Engineering Com- 
pany, Akron Wood-Working Company, Ak- 
ron Hi-Potential Porcelain Company, San- 
dasky Grille and Manufacturing Company, 
Jahant Heating Company, The Bannock Coal 
Company, Hower Power-Building Company; 
vice-president, of The Central Savings and 
Trust Company ; director of the Akron Home 
Building and Loan Association, and director 
of the Akron Canal and Hydraulic Company. 
Mr. Hower was married November 16, 1880, 
to Blanche Eugenia Bruot, daughter of Jamies 
F. and Rosalie Bruot. They have two chil- 
dren, Grace Susan Rosalie Hower (now Mrs. 
Paul E. Findlay) and John Bruot Hower. 
The family residence is at No. 60 Fir Street. 

INCORPOR.\TED COMP.'VNIES. 

The Ab.stract, Title-Guarantee & Trust 
Companv, 124 South Mmn ; incorporated, 
1892 ; capital, $30,000. 

The Actual Business College Company, 616 
Hamilton Building; incorporated. 1905; cap- 
ital, $10,000. 

The Akron Belting Company, 74 South 
Canal; incorporated, 1895; capital, $100,000. 

The Akron Brewing Company, 865 South 
High; incorporated, 190-3; capital, $125,000. 
The Akron Building & Loan Association, 130 
South Main; organized, 1888; capital, $5,- 
000,000. 

The Carriage and Implement Company, 67- 
71 West Market; incorporated, 1904; capital, 
$25,000. 

The Akron China Company, corner of Sec- 
ond Avenue and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; 
incorporated, 1894; capital, $150,000. 

The Akron Clay Company, 1010 East Mar- 
ket: incorporated, 1904. 

The Akron Coal Company, 26 Central Of- 
fice Building: incorporated, 1891; capital, 
$100,000. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



163 



The Akron Cultivator Company, 214 North 
Union; incorporated, 1889; capital, $1,000,- 
000. 

The .Vkron Democrat Company, 92 East 
Mill; incorporated, 1892; capital, $25,000. 

Akron Electrical Manufacturing Company, 
Ira Avenue; incorporated, 1891; capital, 
$500,000. 

The Akron Excelsior Laundry Company, 
62 South High; incorporated, 1903; capital, 
$35,000. 

The Akron Extract and Chemical Com- 
pany, 184 South Main: incorporated, 1903; 
capital, $35,000. 

The Akron Fertilizer Company, ofRce 516- 
519 Everett Building; incorporated, 1900; 
capital, $25,000. 

Akron Fire Brick Company, 1057 Bank; 
incorporated, 1882; capital, $50,000. 

The Akron Fireproof Construction Com- 
pany, 285 Park; incorporated, 1901; capital, 
$40,000. 

The Akron Foundry Company, 526 Wash- 
ington; incorporated, 1894; capital, $25,000. 

The Akron Gas Company, 59 Ea'it Market; 
incorporated (III). 1891 ;' capital, $400,000. 

The Akron Germania Company, 124 South 
Howard; established 1869: incorporated, 
1889; capital, $25,000. 

The Akron Glass and Machinery Company, 
12 East Market: incorporated, 1901; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Akron Grocery- Company. 117 East 
Mill: incorporated, 1889; capital, $100,000. 

The Akron Laundry- Company, 77 South 
High; incorporated, 1900; capital, $30,000. 

The Akron Machine Company, 1069 Bank; 
incorporated, 1891: capital, $100,000. 

The Akron Manufacturing Company. 929 
South High: incorporated, 1898 and 1905; 
capital. $50,000. 

The Akron Odd Fellows Temple Company, 
80 South Main: incorporated, 1895: capital, 
$40,000. 

Akron Oil Companv, Arcade Block; incor- 
porated fW. Va.), 1899: capital, $20,000. 

The Akron People'.? Telephone Company. 
232 Hamilton Building: incorporated, 1899: 
capital, $500,000. 



The Akron Press Publishing Company, foot 
of Mill; incorporated, 1900; capital, $10, 
000. 

The Akron Printing and Paper Company, 
128-132 South Howard: incorporated, 1904; 
Ciipital, $60,000. 

The Akron Provision Company, 135 South 
Main; incorporated, 1903; capital, $25,000. 
The Akron Pure Milk Company, 265 Bow- 
ery; incorporated, 1903; capital, $10,000. 

The Akron Reahy Company, 1120 South 
Main; incorporated. 1900; capital, $150,000. 

The Akron Roofing Company, 10 East Ex- 
change; incorporated, 1905; capital, $5,000. 

The Akron Roofing Tile Company, 754 
Brook; incorporated, 1902; capital, $105,000. 
. The Akron Rubber Company, Rubber 
Street; incorporated, 1890; capital,'$10,000. 

The Akron Rubber Shoe Company, Rubber 
Street; incorporated, 1905. 

The Akron-Selle Company, 455 South 
High; incorporated, 1903; capital, $100,000. 

The Akron Sewer Pipe Companv, 999 East 
Market ; established 1848 ; cai)ital, $300,000. 

The Akron Skating Rink Company, 268 
East Market: incorporated, 1905; capital, 
$18,000. 

The Akron Soap Company, Cuyahoga 
Street Extension: incorporated, 1904: capi- 
tal, $50,000. 

The Akron Tent and Awning Company, 
163 South Main : incorporated, 1891 ; capital, 
$25,000. 

The Akron "\^arni=h Company, 254 South 
Main : incorporated. 1897 ; capital, $250,000. 

The Akron Wall Plaster Company, 994 
and 996 EcTst Market: incorporated.' 1901; 
capital. $50,000. 

The Akron Water Works Company, comer 
Howard and Cherrv: organized 1880; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Aladdin Rubber Company. 39 Arcade 
Block; incorporated. 1905; capital, $100,000. 

The Alkali Rubber Company, 115 Jack- 
.son ; incorporated, 1904 : capital, $10,000,000. 

The Aluminum Flake Company. 428 Ham- 
ilton Building: incorporated (Maine) 1903: 
capital, $500,000. 

The American Scrap Iron Company, 10 



164 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



West Buchtel Avenue; incorporated, 1904; 
capital, $50,000. 

The Angelo Andrew Paint and Vamish 
Company, 182 South Main; incorporated, 
1901 ; capital, $10,000. 

The Arcturus Lithia Springs Company, 
130 South Main; incorporated, 1904; capi- 
tal, $15,000. 

The Atlantic Foundry Company, 62 
Cherry; incorporated, 1905; capital, $10,000. 

The Automatic Clutch Company, Ira Ave- 
nue; incorporated, 1905; capital, $120,000. 

The Baker-McMillen Company, 17 Bow- 
ery; incorporated, 1890; capital, $120,000. 

The Beacon Journal Company, 145 South 
Main; established 1839; capital, $80,000. 

The Biggs Boiler Works Company, 1007 
Bank; incorporated, 1900; capital, $75,000 

The Brew.ster Coal Company, 444 South 
Main; organized 1876; capital, $50,000. 

The Braner-Goodhue-Cooke Company, 130 
South Main ; incorporated, 1897 ; capital, $50,- 
000. 

The Buckeye Chemical Company, Doyle 
Block; established 1882; incorporated, 1901. 

The Buckeye Loan Company, 429 Dobson 
Building ; incorporated, 1905 ; capital, $10,- 
000. 

Buckeye Rubber Company, corner Cook and 
Third Avenue; incorporated, 1900; capital, 
$200,000. 

The Buckeye Sewer Pipe Company, 887 
East Exchange; organized 1872; capital, 
$150,000. 

The Burger Iron Company, 42 East South; 
incorporated, 189G; capital, $25,000. 

The M. Burkbardt Brewing Company, 513 
Grant; incorporated, 1902. 

The Burt Manufacturing Company, 47 
Central Savings & Trust Building; incorpo- 
rated, 1902 ; capital, $50,000. 

The L. W. Camp Companv, 285 Park ; in- 
corporated, 1902; capital, $20,000. ' 

The Central Savings & Trust Company, 90 
South Main; incorporated. 1904; capital and 
.surplus, $200,000. 

The Chaiuite Cement & Clay Product Com- 
pany, 1004 Ea.st Market; incorporated 
(Maine), 1904; capital, $4,500,000. 



Colonial Salt Company, Kenmore; incor- 
porated (New Jersey), 1901; capital, $350,- 
000, 

The Colonial Sign & Insulator Company, 
corner Grant and Morgan ; incorporated, 
1904; capital, $50,000. 

The Columbia Coal Company, 26 Central 
Office Building; incorporated, 1903; capital, 
$100,000. 

The Columbia Insulator Company, 1007 
Bank ; incorporated, 1902 ; capital, $25,000. 

The Commercial Printing Company, 46- 
52 North Main ; incorporated, 1899 ; capital, 
$150,000. 

The Crown Drilling Machine Company, 67 
East Thornton ; incorporated, 1904 ; capital, 
$150,000. 

The M. T. Cutter Company, 10 South 
Howard; incorporated, 1905. 

The Day Drug Company, 10 South How- 
ard; incorporated, 1905; capital, $15,000. 

The Dentist Dental Rubber Company, 102 
Hamilton Building; incorporated, 1906; capi- 
tal, $100,000. 

The Diamond Rubber Company, Falor 
Street; established, 1894; incorporated, 1901; 
capital, $3,500,000. 

The Dickson Tran.sfer Companv, 24 North 
High; incorporated, 1892; capital, $100,000. 

The Dime Savings Bank Company, corner 
Howard and Mill; incorporated, 1890; capi- 
tal, $50,000. 

The Dobson Building Company, 330 Dob- 
son Building; incorporated, 1905. 

The Dollar Sa\"ings Bank Company, 12 
East Market ; incorporaited, 1903 ; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Enterprise Manufacturing Company, 
217 Ash; established, 1881; incorporated, 
1886; capital, $50,000. 

The W. H. Evans Building and Loan As- 
sociation, con:ier Howard and Mill ; incorpo- 
rated, 1891: capital, $1,000,000, 

The Ewing Concrete Machinery Com- 
pany, 445 Ewing Court; incorporated, 1905; 
capital, $10,000.' 

The Faultless Broom and JLanufacturing 
Company, 54 CheiTy; incoi-porated, 1908; 
capital, $5,000, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



165 



The Faultless Rubber Company, 281 Bluff; 
incorporated, 1900; capital, $325,000. 

The Fiebeger Heating Company, corner 
Lincoln and Forge; incorporated, 1904; capi- 
tal, $50,000. 

Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, 1081 
Sweitzer Avenue; incorporated, (West Vir- 
ginia), 1900; capital, $500,000. 

The First National Bank, 16 South Main; 
organized, 1862; capital, $100,000. 

The Flanagan Mining Company, 27 Ar- 
cade Block; incorporated, (Washington) 
1903; capital, $100,000. 

The George K. Foltz Company, 68 South 
Main; incorporated, 1897; capital, $10,000. 

The Frank Laubach & Clemmer Com- 
pany, 80 South Main; incorporated, 1892; 
capital, $30,000. 

The Frantz Body Manufacturing Company, 
corner Stanton Avenue and Getz; incorpo- 
rated, 1898 ; capital, $60,000. 

The U. G. Frederick Lumber Company, 57 
Cherry; incorporated, 1904; capital, $25,000 

The German-American Building & Loan 
Association, 148 South Howard; incorpo- 
rated, 1896; capital, $1,000,000. 

The German American Company, 148 
South Haword; incorporated, 1900; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Gintz Upholstering Company, 14 Via- 
duct; incorporated, 1897. 

The Globe Sign & Poster Company, 48 
East Miller Avenue; incorporated, 1904; cap- 
ital, $75,000. 

The Glock-Korach Company, 82 South 
Main; incorporated, 1905; capital, $10,000. 

The Goehring Manufacturing Company, 
65 East Miller Avenue; incorporated, (West 
Virginia) 1899. 

The B. F. Goodrich Company Rubber 
Street; established, 1869; capital," $10,000,- 
000. 

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 
1144 Ea.st Market; incorporated, 1898; capi- 
tal, $1,000,000. 

The Great Western Cereal Company, 1124 
East Market; incorporated, 1901. 

The Hall-Harter Insurance Agency Com- 
pany, 102 South Howard; capital, $50,000. 



The Hamilton Building Company, 244 
Hamilton Building; incorporated, 1899; cap- 
ital, $200,000. 

The Hankel Lumber Company, 570 South 
Main; incorporated, 1889; capital, $100,000. 

The Hardware & Supply Company, 50-52 
South Main; incorporated, 1905; capital 
$150,000. 

The Harper Drug Company, 8 East Mar- 
ket; incorporated, 1903; capital, $25,000. 

The Hill Sewer Pipe Company, 999 East 
Market; organized, 1873; capital, $150,000. 

The Home Building & Loan Association, 
102 South Howard; incorporated, 1891; capi- 
tal, $10,000,000. 

The Hoover & Sell Company, 16 East 
Market; incorporated, 1905; capital, $25,000. 

The Hower Building Company, corner 
Market and Canal ; incorporated, 1905 ; capi- 
tal, $1,000,000. 

The Kasch Roofing Companv, 188 South 
Main; incorporated, i896; capital, $10,000. 

The Keller Brick Company, Cuvahoga 
Falls Road; incorporated, 1900; capital 
$25,000. ' 

The Kile Manufacturing Company, 1136 
Sweitzer Avenue; incorporated, 1903. 

The Kirk Company, 25-27 South Howard ; 
mcorporated, 1902; capital, $50,000. 

The Klagfts Coal & Ice Company, 165 Ea^^t 
Mill; established, 1879; incorporated, 1888- 
capital, $100,000. 

The Kraus-Kirn Company, 117 South 
Main; incorporated, 1903; capital, $25,000. 

The C. J. Lang Clothing Company, 18 
East Market; incorporated, 1905; capital 
$10,000. 

The Limbert-Smith Plumbing Company, 
40 East Mill; incorporated, 1904; capital 
$10,000. 

The Lodi Oil & Refining Company, 474 
Washington; incorporated, (West Virginia) 
1902; capital, $350,000. 

The Long & Taylor Company, corner Main 
and Howard; incorporated, 1903; capital, 
$10,000. 

The Long & Taylor Candy Company, 22 
South Main; incorporated. 1902; capital 
$50,000. 



166 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The Loomis-Moss Coal Company, 2(j Cen- 
tral Office Building ; incorporated, 1898 ; capi- 
tal, $100,000. 

The LjMiian Lumber Company, 440 South 
Main; incorporated, 1897; capital, $10,000. 

The Mclntosh-Baum Company, 148 South 
Howard; incorporated, 1900; capital, $10,000 

The McNeil Boiler Company, 96 East Cro- 
sier; incorporated, (West Virginia) 1902; 
capital, $250,000. 

The Magnolia Coal Company, 444 South 
Main; incorporated, 1899; capital, $60,000. 

The Miller Rubber Company, corner Hia:h 
and Stanton Avenues; incorporated, 1904; 
capital, $25,000. 

The Miller Rubber Manufacturing Com- 
pany, corner High and Stanton Avenues; in- 
corporated, 1898 ; capital, $50,000. 

Motz Clincher Tire and Rubber Company, 
Everett Building, incorporated, 1905; capi- 
tal, $50,000. 

The I. S. Myers Company, 24 South 
Main; incorporated, 1904; capital, $55,000. 

The M. & M. Manufacturing Company, 
502 South Main; incorporated, 1905; capital, 
$12,000. 

The National Blank Book and Supply 
Companv, 132 South Howard; incorporated, 
1904; capital, $12,000. 

The National City Bank, 8 South Howard; 
incorporated, 1903; capital, $100,000. 

The National Coal Company, 612 Hamil- 
ton Building; incorporated, 1892; capital, 
$300,000. 

The National Water Wheel Governor Com- 
pany, 303 Everett Building; incorporated, 
1904; capital, $10,000. 

Niagara Fire Extinguisher Company, 430- 
438 Hamilton Building. 

The Northern Ohio Traction and Light 
Companv, 206 Hamilton Building; incorpo- 
rated, 1899; capital, $7,500,000. 

The Ohio Stoneware Company, 227 Foun- 
tain; organized, 1881; capital, $50,000. 

The M. O'Neil & Company, 38-48 South 
Main; established, 1877; incorporated, 1892; 
capital, $200,000. 

The Ornamental Iron Work Cornpany, 80 



Ea.'St South; incorporated, 1906; capital, 
$10,000. 

The Peerle&s Stamp & Stencil Company, 
corner Howard and Market; incorporated, 
1906; capital, $10,000. 

The People Publishing Company, 37 
South Main; incorporated, 1903; capital, 
$5,000. 

The People's Savings Bank, 337 South 
Main; incorporated, 1890; capital, $100,000. 

The Permanent Savings and Loan Com- 
panv, 124 South Main; incorporated, 1894; 
capital, $300,000. 

The Thomas Phillips Company, 23 West 
Exchange; incorporated, 1887; capital, $300,- 
000. 

The Pouchot-Hunsicker Company, 200 
South Main ; incorporated, 1903 : capital, 
$30,000. 

The Prudential Heating Company, 526 
Washington ; incorporated, 1904. 

Realty Development Company, 392 Albert 
Place; incorporated, 1903; capital, $20,000. 

The Renner & Deibel Oil & Gas Company, 
275 North Forge ; incorporated, 1904 ; capi- 
tal, $20,000. 

The Geo. J. Renner Brewing Company, 
275 North Forge ; incorporated, 1900 ; capital, 
$60,000. 

The G. J. Renner Property Company, 275 
North Forge; incorporated. 1904; capital, 
$20,000. 

The Robinson Clay Product Company, 
1010 East Market: established, 1856; incor- 
porated, (Maine) 1902; capital, $2,000,000. 

The Safety Gas Burner Company, rear 103 
Kent; incorporated, 1904; capital, $10,000. 

The S. & 0. Engraving Company, 330 
South High ; incorporated. 1903 ; capital, 
$25,000. 

The Second National Bank, 35 East Mar- 
ket; organized, 1863; capital, $350,000. 

The Security Savings Bank Company, 328 
South Main ; incorporated, 1901 ; capital, 
$50,000. 

The South Akron Banlcing Company, 1092 
South Main; incorporated, 1906; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Standard Rubber Company, 1144 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



167 



East Market; incorporated, 1901; capital, 
$50,000. 

The Star Drilling Machine Company, 474 
Washington ; incorporated, 1889 ; capital, 
$200,000. 

The Star Mop Wringer Company, 930 
South Ho^vard; incorporated. 1906; capital. 
$10,000. 

The Star Planing Mill Company, 55 
Cherry; incorporated, 1903; capital, $25,000. 

Stein Double Cushion Tire Company, cor- 
ner River and Second Avenues; incorporated, 
1905; capital. $100,000. 

The Summit China Company, 1037 Bank ; 
incorporated, 1879; capital, $100,000. 

The Summit Lumber & Building Corn- 
pan v, 44 West State; incorporated, 1897; cap- 
ital, $15,000. 

The Summit Sewer Pipe Company, 887 
East Exchange; incorporated, 1889; capital, 
$150,000. 

The Summit Real Estate Company, 148 
South Howard; incorporated, 1903; capital, 
$24,000. 

The Sumner Company, 23 East Exchange; 
incorporated, 1903; capital, $10,000. 

The S\\-inehart Clincher Tire & Rubber 
Company, 218 North Howard; incorporated, 
1904; capital, $200,000. 

Tanner & Company. 10 East Market; in- 
corporated, 1903 ; capital, $20,000. 

Taplin, Rice & Company, 177 South 
Broadway ; organized 1866 ; capital, $150,000. 

The XXth Century Heating & Ventilating 



Company, 192 South Main; incorporated, 
1901 ; capital, $100,000. 

The Tyler Company, 990 Ea.st Market; in- 
corporated, 1904; capital, $50,000. 

The U. S. Stoneware Company, Annadale 
Street; incorporated, 1885; capital, $25,000. 

The Union Printing Ink Company, 38 
Wesit State; incorporated, 1901; capital, $10,- 
000. 

The Union Rubber Company, 123 South 
Howard; incorporated, 1901. 

The Unique Theater Company, 115 South 
Main; incorporated, 1905; capital, $10,000. 

The Upham-Brouse Company, comer Mar- 
ket and Main; incorporated, 1896; capital, 
$100,000. 

The Werner Company, 109 North Union; 
incorporated. 1903; capital, $1,300,000. 

The West Hill Land Company, 236 Ham- 
ilton Building: incorporated. 1902; capital, 
$75,000. 

The Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing 
Companv, 114 East Buchtel Avenue; organ- 
ized 1864; capital, $2,372,500. 

The Williams Electric Machine Company, 
corner Grant and Morgan ; incorporated, 
1904 ; capital, $100,000. 

The Williams Foundry and Machine Com- 
pany, 56 Cherrv; established, 1885; incorpo- 
rated, 1901 ; capital, $50,000. 

The Windsor Brick Company. 1011 Grant; 
incorporated, 1904; capital, $40,000. 

The AA'ise Furnace Company, 508 Hamil- 
ton Building: incorporated, 1904; capital, 
$50,000. 



CHAPTER X 



BANKS AND BANKING 



History of the Banks of Sii^mmii County — Banks Inadequate — Akron's Financial Reputa- 
tion Akron a Large Borrower — Panic of 1904 — Clearing House Statement — Fu- 
ture Prosperity Certain. 



BY JOS. S. BENNEB. 



In 1845, when Akron -was a town of prob- 
ably 1,500 inhabitants, the Bank of Akron, a 
branch of the Ohio Safety Fund system, was 
organized with a capital of $50,000. This 
was Akron's pioneer bank and proved a very 
great convenience to the business men of the 
surrounding community. It survived until 
1857, when it went into liquidation, having 
become involved in the financial embarrass- 
ments of the Akron Branch Railroad. 

In 1855 George D. Bates, with Gen. Philo 
Chamberlain as a silent partner, opened a 
private bank on the west side of Howard 
Street near the present site of B. L. Dodge's 
furniture store, afterwards purchasing the old 
Bank of Akron's stand on the opposite side of 
the street, and where under the name of Bates 
& Co. the bu.siiness was continued until 1863, 
when it was merged into the Second National 
Bank. 

In 1863 the First National Bank, with a 
capital of $100,000, was organized with T. 
W. Cornell as president, M. W. Henry, vice 
president, and W. H. Huntington, cashier. 

In 1867 the City Bank, a private institu- 
tion owned by J. B. Woods, Milton Moore 
and Sylvester H. Thompson, was started, and 



this was organized in 1883 into the City Na- 
tional Bank. 

In 1870 the Bank of Akron, with George 
T. Perkins as president, Alden Gage as cash- 
ier, was started, which in 1888 was merged 
with the Second National Bank, taking that 
name, with a capital of $275,000, and a sur- 
plus of $22,000, and using the rooms of the 
Bank of Akron in the Academy of Music 
building, its present site. 

In 1872 the Citizens' Savings and Loan As- 
sociation was organized, which in the panic of 
1893 had to close its doors, but which was 
soon after reorganized into the Citizens' Na- 
tional Bank, which continued until 1903, 
when it was merged with the Second National 
Bank. 

In 1888 the Akron Savings Bank was 
started; in 1890 the People's Savings Bank 
Company; in 1897 the Central Savings Bank 
Company; in 1900 the Akron Trust Com- 
pany, and the Guardian Savings Bank Com- 
pany ; in 1901 the Dime Savings Bank Com- 
pany, and the Security Savings Bank Com- 
pany, and in 1902 the Dollar Savings Bank 
Company. 

January 1, 1905, the Central Savings and 
Trust Company started business, it being a 
consolidation of the Akron Trust Company 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



169 



and the Central Savings Bank Company, 
which latter bank had some months before ac- 
quired the business of the Guardian Savings 
Bank Company, which went into liquidation. 
The new bank purchased the building of the 
Akron Savings Bank, which failed in April, 
1904, and refitted and remodeled it into its 
present shape. 

In 1905 was started the South Akron Bank- ' 
ing Company and in 1907 the Depositors' 
Savings Bank Company, the former locating 
in the extreme southern part of Akron, near 
the street car barns, and the latter purchasing 
the building and fixtures of the Security Sav- 
ings Bank Company, which in April, 1907, 
was merged with the People's Savings Bank 
Company, across the street. 

In 1903 Akron boasted of twelve banks, 
vfiih capitals of $1,22.5,000 and depasits of 
$7,300,000. Now, through two consolidations, 
two absorption and one failure, there are 
but nine, with a total capitalization of $950.- 
000, and total deposits of $8,200,000, a reduc- 
tion of capital of $275,000, with an increase of 
nearly $1,000,000 in deposits. 

Despite the sensitive feeling still rankling 
in the minds of many, Akron people really 
have cause to be proud of the record of her 
banks. In the sixty years of her banking 
history there has been but one failure, and 
that wholly through mismanagement. 

We have read from time to time of bank 
embezzlements, of defalcations and rascali- 
ties of officers, but Akron has had none of 
that and can say that the men who have been 
entrusted with the care of the wealth and 
sa\angs of her people are, and have been at 
all times, faithful and honest. The mistakes 
that have been made were made through lack 
of good judgment and incapacity only. It is 
indeed a remarkable fact, taking into con- 
sideration the length of time — over half a 
century — the wea.kne.ss and culpability of 
man. and the numerous panics through which 
they have pa.s,sed. that the experience which 
we in 1904 went through is the sole and only 
one to which hisrtory can point. 



BANKS IXADEQUATE. 

Akron's banks, however, with all their $9,- 
000,000 and more of resources, are far from 
capable of taking care of the financial needs 
of its manufacturing and mercantile indus- 
tries. In fact we would warrant the assertion 
that 80 per cent of the money required by the 
large concerns of Akron is furnished by out- 
side banks. 

To the stranger to our local conditions and 
to the unthinking, such a statement seems ab- 
surd, but it is true, we believe. A simple ex- 
planation of this is as follows : 

The largest amount that any Akron bank 
can legally loan to any one concern is 10 per 
cent of its capital stock, which means the 
Second National Bank can loan $35,000. the 
Firet National Bank, $20,000; the National 
City and the Central Savings and Trust Com- 
pany, $10,000, and the others only $5,000. 
This being the case and very few of these 
concerns doing business at more than one 
bank in the city, they are compelled by ne- 
cessity to go outside, especially when at cer- 
tain periods of the vear some of them borrow 
individually from $100,000 to $1,000,000. 

This very apparent disproportion of the 
banking capital of Akron to the amount of 
business transacted through these same banks 
is well illustrated by the totals of its bank 
clearings as compared vnth those of Youngs- 
town. Canton and Springfield, its sister cities, 
and their relative banking capitals. 

Clearings for 

year ending 

Capital Re- July 1, 

Stock. sources. 1907 

Akron $ 950,000 $9,800,000 |34,700,000 

Youngstown 3,250,000 20,270,000 34,491,000 

Canton 1.055,000 12,287,500 27,386,000 

Springfield 1,100,000 7,523,500 22,400,000 

As is shown, Akron, with only $950,000 
banking capital, does business of $34,700,000, 
a larger volume than Youngstown. with $3,- 
250.000 capital, and more than twice her re- 
sources and wealth: while Canton, with lar- 
ger capital, and 25 per cent more of resources, 
does only $27,386,000, or 25 per cent less in 
actual volume of business. 



170 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



This unusual condition existing in a city 
the size of Akron is partly accounted for by 
the extraordinary growth and success of the 
larger industries that have grown up in our 
midst, far surpassing our native wealth and 
consequently our banking resources, and they 
have necessarily been forced by such condi- 
tions to seek financial aid in the large money 
centers. 

Akron's financial reputation. 

These same concerns and their necessitias 
have indeed made Akron very prominent in 
financial circles. Go to New York, Chicago, 
Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit and 
inquire at the banks about Akron, what na- 
ture of a place it is and what is its reputa- 
tion. They will immediately reply that they 
do a great deal of business with Akron con- 
cerns, that it is a very enterprising, hustling, 
manufacturing city, and they will surprise 
you with the fund of accurate information 
they possess about it and many of its con- 
cerns. 

Akron today stands financially relatively 
stronger than it ever stood in its history. 
While its growth, which has averaged over 60 
per cent each decade, has, as has been said, 
outstripped its financial re^ourcas, still it has 
prospered, and that is the main thing. 

But these same New York, Chicago and 
other bankers, while praising Akron and its 
concerns now, do it with a more or less re- 
luctant grace, for not a few of them have had 
experiences which still rankle in their mem- 
ories. 

AKRON A LARGE BORROWER. 

For the reasons explained, Akron has been 
a large borrower. But during the period of 
1900 to 1903, when the boom was on and 
business of all kinds was at its height, Akron 
was no whit behind in its quota of promo- 
tions; new enterprises were started by the 
dozens; where one line of trade proved a suc- 
cess there was always plenty of over-zealous 
promoters to form new companies that were 
sure to make equal profits. The result was a 



number of mushroom concerns sprang up 
and began doing business, largely on bor- 
rowed capital. The local conditions with their 
lack of funds, excepting for established cred- 
its, were more or less of a handicap, however, 
but they "were not to be stopped. Times were 
too good and money too plentiful elsewhere. 
Everyone, even the banks, had the fever for 
speculative explorations and the fences of 
conservatism were down. 

Such conditions soon provided opportuni- 
ties for a number of persons who made it 
their basiness to furnish corporations having 
insufficient working capital or weakened cred- 
its with funds for their needs. For this they 
charged a commission varying with the finan- 
cial necessities of each individual concern; 
the one that needed it the worst was compelled 
to pay the highest commission. 

Banks in surrounding country communi- 
ties were flush with money and with no local 
opportunities to lend it, and they welcomed 
gladly anything that looked like a good loan. 

These Akron brokers, by assiduous writing 
and many rosy representations of the worth 
of the various concerns they were endeavoring 
to help, were thus able, spurred on by the 
large commissions in sight, for a number of 
years to bolster up their weak-kneed cus- 
tomers. 

But the day of reckoning arrived, as it must 
arrive for all such. 

PANIC OF 1904. 

When the financial depression of 1904 
struck us and conservatism became the rule, 
these countrv' banks began to ask and then 
demand their money. The result was the 
failure of all those who couldn't provide the 
capital which should have been put in when 
first needed, numbering among these unfor- 
tunately several old established concerns that 
had long been considered responsible, but who 
had gradually been dropping behind in the 
race with their younger and more ag.gressive 
competitors. Likewise it caused the putting 
out of business of all the money brokers. 

The harm accomplished was not the fail- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



171 



lire of these concerns, nor yet in the loss of 
their business to Akron, but in the fact that 
their failures caused a large financial loss to 
many of those outside banks located all over 
the country, and who had for years been loan- 
ing to Akron concerns. These losses, all com- 
ing within a few months, so shook their con- 
fidence in Akron and Akron concerns that for 
two years afterward a borrower from Akron, 
no matter what his standing, was and even 
is now, regarded with suspicion and distrust 
by outside city and county banks. 

As was said these memories still rankle with 
them, but we are glad to state the unprece- 
dented success of a number of our present 
concerns has helped very materially to re- 
deem Akron's reputation and to restore it to 
its old position. 

No<w, in 1907, there are probably not more 
than two concerns in the city who are not 
able to stand solidly on their own financial 
basis, and these two are not in a position 
where they are dependent on brokers. They 
require a reorganization with larger capital, 
and this will probably be provided. Many 
local industries report the largest and most 
pro.^erous year of their existence, some stat- 
ing that the volume of business is 25 to 75 
per cent greater than any previous year. To 
these the outlook is bright, despite the pessi- 
mistic views of many. But the coaservatives, 
■which means every succ&ssful banker and fi- 
naaicier, regard the trend of business, which 
has shown unmistakable signs of reaction the 
past six months, as the best remedy that could 
possibly be given for an over^ervous and too 
prosperous condition. As in 1892 and in 
1903 prosperity has about reached the realms 
of fantastic earnings and values, and it be- 
hooves the careful man to husband all his re- 
sources, to prepare for a period when he may 
not do much more than half the business of 
this year, which means a great deal less profit 
and perhaps a loss. 

If such a period comes he is watching for 
it and is ready; if it does not come, then he 
is in just that much better shape to take ad- 
vantage of next year's opportunities. 



CLEARING HOUSE STATEMENT. 

In the following statement of the clearings 
of Akron, since the organization of the clear- 
ing house, can be seen the effect of a panic or 
financial depression : 

March 1 to December 31, 1892, $11,056,- 
000; for the vear 1893, $9,896,000; 1904, $9,- 
717,000; 1895, $13,779,000; 1896, $13,074,- 
000; 1897, $3,274,000; 1898, $16,260,000; 
1899, $20,368,000; 1900, $23,794,000; 1901, 
$28,059,000: 1902, $34,578,000; 1903, $37,- 
310,000; 1904, $29,357,000; 1905, $27,630,- 
000; 1906, $30,615,000; January 1 to July 1, 
1907, $18,094,000; Januar\' 1 to Julv 1, 1906, 
$14,008,000. 

It appears that the clearing house started 
its records March 1, 1892, so that in the year 
1892 only ten months' business is recorded. 
This amounted to over $11,000,000. But next 
year when the panic struck the country, and 
in 1894 business decreased — -figuring the year 
1892 as a possible $13,250,000— at^least $3,- 
300,000, nearly 25 per cent. 

'During the years 1895-6-7 business re- 
mained apparently at a standstill, with $13,- 
000,000 each year, but in 1898 it picked up 
and gained steadily until 1903, reaching a 
maximum of $37,000,000. a gain of nearly 30 
per cent in six years, which is surely a great 
record. 

But again in 1904 came a financial depres- 
i-iion which lasted two years, then a large gain 
in 1906, with a .still larger one in 1907, the 
first six months of 1907 showing $18,000,000, 
against $14,000,000 in the same period of 
1906. 

The clearing house reports show the actual 
amount of bu.sine.s.s as represented by the 
checks of the customers of the various banks 
that pass through the clearing hoase. It 
does not represent the total amount of busi- 
ness done through the banks, as each does a 
large amount in currency over its own coun- 
tei^, but it serves as a record which show.? 
substantially and as near as can be obtained, 
the total amount of business transacted for 
purposes of comparison year by year or with 
other cities, and answers every purpose. 



172 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



PROSPERITY CERTAIN. 

Akron's prosperity is certain now. Slack 
times may come and even a panic, but her 
concerns and her banks have demonstrated 
their ability to stand the test and will live 
through them and com© out stronger than 
ever. 

While working out this prosperity, however, 
Akron's business men of the last generation 
have developed a peculiarity which it behooves 
some of us to sit down and think over. In 
the huiry-skurry of an aggressive, competi- 
tive business life, in the fight for the profits 
that at first came so slowly, but later came 
pouring into their laps they became so en- 
grossed in the game that they forgot, or grew 
to care nothing for all other interests but their 
own. While, as before said, in benefiting 
themselvas they more or less helped to bene- 
fit their city, still what the city got was really 
nothing compared to the real results that 
might have been obtained had they given 
but a small part of their thoughts and ener- 
gies to helping the growth and prosperity of 
Akron. 

When approached to take a part in some 
public enterprise or matter important to the 
city, the excuse was always: "We are too 
busy; cannot get away. What is our city 
council and board of ptiblic service for? Let 
them look after such matters," etc. 



By all this is meant, Akron has been woe- 
fully lacking in public-spirited men — busi- 
ness men, successful bankers and manufac- 
turers who would take enough time and in- 
terest away from their own aff'airs to give to 
the welfare of their city. 

The result Ls we have no chamber of com- 
merce nor any kind of an association of busi- 
ness men, such as all progressive cities main- 
tain, to look after the financial and industrial 
interests of the community. Such matters for 
years have been left to take care of them- 
selves ; what comes our way, all well and good, 
if we get nothing or just miss something fine 
that we might have secured by a little per- 
sonal effort, it does not matter much — no one 
seems to care. 

Another thing Akron is lacking in is in- 
di\'idual wealth. We have very few million- 
aires. What wealth w^e can boast of is owned 
by our rich corporations. But these same cor- 
porations are fast making wealth for their 
stockholders, and there is growing up among 
us a number of young, aggressive, prosperous 
business men who are the main guiding hands 
of these concerns and who in a very few years 
will be millionaires. Let us hope when they 
do come into their wealth they will use it, 
not as their forefathers before them have 
done, selfishly and fooli-shly, but in a wise, 
public-spirited way, which is the way of the 
truly rich and truly great. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE PUBLIC SCHpOLS 



BY DR. SAMUEL FINDLEY. 



Schools for the children has always been a 
matter of prime concern to the American peo- 
ple. Before state government was formed in 
the territory of which the preisent State of 
Ohio was a part, the Continental Congress 
provided, in the organic law for the govern- 
ment of this ten-itory, that "Schools and the 
means of education shall forever be encour- 
aged." The constitution formed in 1802, 
under which Ohio was admitted to the Union 
in 1803, contains the following provisions: 
"Religion, morality and knowledge, being es- 
sentially necessary to good government and 
the happiness of mankind, schools and the 
means of education shall forever be encour- 
aged by legislative provision not inconsistent 
with the rights of conscience. ... No 
law shall be pa.ssed to prevent the poor in the 
several counties and townships within this 
State from an equal participation in the 
schools, academies, colleges and universities 
within this State, which are endowed in whole 
or in part from the revenue arising from do- 
nations made by the United States for the 
support of schools and colleges : and the doors 
of said schools, academies and universities 
shall be opened for the reception of scholars, 
students and teachers of every grade, without 
any distinction or preference whatever, con- 
trary to the intent for which said donations 
were made." 

In 1851. a new constitution was adopted, 
superseding that of 1802. In this, the main 
featiires of the first constitution on the sub- 
ject of education are reaffirmed, with the ad- 
dition of this explicit statement : 

"The General Assemblv shall make such 



provisions, by taxation or otherwise, as, with 
the income arising from the school trust fund, 
will secure a thorough and efficient system of 
common schools throughout the State ; but no 
religious or other sect or sects shall ever have 
any exclusive right to, or control of, any part 
of the school funds of the State." 

Thus in half a century there seems to have 
been an advance from encouragement of 
schools to a distinct demand for a thorough 
and efficient system of schools throughout the 
State. 

In the early survey and disposition of Ohio 
lands, liberal reservations were made for the 
support of common schools; and it has been 
thought that the tardiness of the legislature 
in caiTving out the requirements of the con- 
stitution regarding education was in large 
measure due to the prevalent expectation that 
the revenue arising from the lands donated 
by Congress would be adequate for the main- 
tenance of free schools. Legislative action in 
the earlier years of the State's history was 
confined mainly to the passage of acts pro- 
viding for the leasing of the school lands, 
and the incorporation of seminaries and other 
private institutions of learning. No action 
was had looking in the direction of the es- 
tabli.shment of a system of free schools by 
means of State or local taxation. It soon 
became apparent, however, that, in existing 
conditions, wild lands could not be made to 
produce large revenue. The trea.sury of a 
school district sometimes contained not more 
than ten dollars for the support of a school 
for an entire year. 

These conditions compelled a resort to pri- 



174 



HISTOfiY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



vate enterprise and private means in order 
that the pioneer j'outh of the State might 
enjoy the simplest rudiments of a common 
school education. Almost every community 
had its select school or private academy. And 
it is worthy of note that there was a differ- 
ence between these pioneer schools in north- 
eastern Ohio and those in the southwestern 
paii, of the State. The latter section was set- 
tled by people from Virginia, Kentucky and 
the Carolinas, whose appreciation of educa- 
tional privileges was far below that of the 
settlers of the Western Reserve, who were 
from the New England states, where common 
schools were at that time far in advance of 
those in any other part of the country. One 
historian says that educational sentiment in 
the southern section was at a low ebb. The 
few schools that were established were taught 
by cripples, worn out old men and women, 
physically unable or constitutionally too lazy 
to scotch hemp or spin flax : while on the 
Western Reserve at an early day schools were 
in a thriving condition. Many of the pioneers 
of this section were men of liberal culture in 
the best schools and colleges, and the status 
of the teacher was on an equal footing with 
that of the physician and the minister. 

The first general school law for Ohio was 
enacted by the legislature in 1S21. This was 
revised and improved in 1825. It provided 
for the division of every township into school 
districts, and for the levying of taxes to build 
school-houses and maintain schools. 

Taxation for the support of common 
schools met with determined opposition from 
the outset. The man whose ample means 
enabled him to pay for the education of his 
own children, saw no justice in his being 
compelled to assist in providing for the edu- 
cation of his neighbors' children. Hence it 
was that for many years legislative enact- 
ments providing school funds by taxation 
were hedged about with .«uch restrictions and 
limitations as to make the funds so provided 
wholly inadequate. It was not until after the 
adoption of the general law of lcS,5.'^ thfit tui- 
tion in all the common school* of the State 
was altogether free. Prior to that time, it was 



the connnon practice to pay the teacher a 
stipulated sum from the public fund of the 
district and authorize him to collect from the 
parents of his pupils one or two dollars per 
pupil for a term of three months. 

In 1835, Portage Township contained seven 
school districts and seven schools, including 
two in the village of Akron, the public schools 
of the village being then under the jurisdic- 
tion of the township and being conducted in 
all respects like country schools. Mr. S. A. 
Lane, in his history of Akron and Summit 
County, tells of teaching one of these schools 
in the winter of 1835-6. He received $11 
a month and "boarded around." Less than 
half the salary was paid from the public 
money of the district, the balance being raised 
by an assessment pro rata on those attending 
the school. 

In the decade following, there was consid- 
erable increa.se of school youth in the village, 
new buildings of moderate pretensions were 
erected, and additional teachers were em- 
ployed ; but the attendance at the public 
schools fell short of the expectations of their 
more ardent supporters. In 1845, the at- 
tendance was scarcely 350 out of a total 
enumeration of school youth of twice that 
number. Some were not kept in school be- 
cause of the rate bills by which the public 
funds had to be supplemented. Others gave 
preference to the more select private schools 
which flourished at that period. 

These private or select schools were, for the 
mo.st part, the result of individual enterprise. 
For example, on July 27. 1836. Mrs. Susan 
E. Dodge announces in a local paper that on 
the first day of August she will open a school 
at the corner of Main and Exchange Streets 
for young ladies and misses, in which read- 
ing, writing and spelling ^\^ll be taught for 
$2.50 a term of eleven weeks; grammar, 
geography and arithmetic, $3.50. In another 
paper is the announcement that "on .January 
3, 1838, a .select school will be opened at the 
corner of Middlebi;ry and High Streets, under 
the superintendence of Miss M. E. Hubble, 
of New York, where pupils will receive in- 
struction in all branches usuallv taught in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



175 



our eastern female seminaries. Tuition per 
quarter, $3.00 to $5.00, according to studies 
pursued. Music, including use of piano, 
$8.00." 

Besides such schools as these, dependent 
solely upon individual enterprise, there were 
others with more formal organization and 
backed by leading citizens. One called the 
Akron High School was under the manage- 
ment of a board of trustees consisting of lead- 
ing citizens of Akron and vicinity, with S. 
L. Sa^^'t•ell, a graduate of an eastern college, 
as principal instructor. This school flour- 
ished about 1838, but it was not long-lived. 
In 1845, a stock company was formed for 
the organization of a permanent high school 
to be known as "The Akron Institution." A 
charter was procured, which authorized the 
conferring of degrees, with Simon Perkins, 
Eliakim Crosby, Edwin Angel, Henry W. 
King, James R. Ford, Lucius V. Bierce and 
Samuel A. Wheeler as corporators. The 
stockholders affected an organization, and a 
board of trustees was elected; but it docs not 
appear that any measures were taken look- 
ing toward the founding of such a school as 
the charter contemplated. It is not improb- 
able that the enterprise was over-shadowed 
. by the approach of a popular movement in 
the interest of Akron's public school system 
■ — a movement which resulted in the enact- 
ment of what has ever since been known as 

THE AKRON SCHOOL LAW. 

This law not only gave form and substance 
to Akron's system of graded union schools, 
but it became the pattern after which the 
graded school system of the State of Ohio 
was in large mea.sure modeled. 

From the beginning, there had been those 
among Akron's leading citizens who main- 
tained that the wealth of the State should 
educate its children. Opposed to this doc- 
trine were most of the childless property 
owners and many of the larger tax-payers. 
The issue was joined and the discussion went 
on. At length, in May. 1846, a large and 
enthusiastic meeting of citizens was held, at 



which a committee was appointed to take into 
consideration our present educational pro- 
visions and the improvement, if any, which 
may be made therein. 

Rev. Isaac .Jennings, then pa.stor of the 
Congregational Church, was chairman of this 
committee. He took a deep interest in the 
movement, and gave much time and thought 
to collecting information, maturing plans and 
formulating and elaborating the report which 
was submitted to an adjourned meeting of 
citizens some months later. It has been 
claimed that Mr. Jennings was the father and 
founder of the Akron school system, and that 
"whatever credit and distinction Akron may 
have for being the first to adopt the principle 
of free graded schools in Ohio is due to him." 
The committee's report., submitted to an ad- 
journed meeting in November, 1846, was 
unanimously approved and adopted by the 
meeting, and a committee consisting of R. P. 
Spalding, H. W. King, H. B. Spellman and 
L."V. Bierce was appointed to secure the nec- 
essary legislation. This committee embodied 
the recommendations of the report in a bill 
which was enacted into a law by the Legisla- 
ture, February 8, 1847. The chief provisions 
of the law are as follows: 

1. All the school districts of the village 
are united into one, known as the "Akron 
School District." 

2. A board of education consisting of six 
members, two elected each year, is empowered 
to establish schools, build schoolhouses, em- 
ploy teachers, receive and disburse funds, 
make necessary rules and regulations for the 
government of the schools, etc. 

3. Sufficient primary schools are to be .so 
located within the district as best to accom- 
modate the pupils of that department: and 
one grammar school centrally located is to 
be open to all the school youth of the district 
who satisfactorily complete the work of the 
primary schools. 

4. The town council is charged with the 
duty of levying on the property of the dis- 
trict an annual tax of five mills on the dollar 
to .supplement the amount received from the 
State and other sources. This tax lew was 



176 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



subsequently reduced to four mills, in re- 
sponse to the clamor of the taxpayers. 

5. The town council is ako required to 
appoint three school examiners to examine 
teachers, grant certificates and maintain su- 
pei-\'isory oversight of the instruction and dis- 
cipline of the schools. 

6. Provision is made for the thorough 
classification of all the pupils, "as the best 
good of the schools may seem to require." 

The new plan was promptly inaugurated, 
and met with the approval of a majority of 
the people. The board was fortunate in se- 
curing the services of M. D. Leggett, late Com- 
missioner of Patents at Washington, as head 
teacher and siiperintendent, at an annual 
salary of $500. His two assistants in the 
upper department received $150 and $200 
respectively, and the primary schools were 
taught by young women, at $3.50 a week. 

In its first annual report, the board ex- 
pressed its satisfaction with the success of the 
new system. There were large increase of 
attendance and better instruction, at a cost 
considerably less than under the old regime. 
Nearly 200 pupils were enrolled in the gram- 
mar school and 880 in the primary schools, 
some of whom resided without the district. 

These gratifying results were not secured 
without strong opposition from some of the 
taxpayers. It was a sore grievance to them 
that their property should be taxed for the 
education of their neighbors' children. The 
clamor here and elsewhere was such as to 
lead the legislature to reduce the State levy 
for school purposes, and the local levy was 
kept at the minimum. The rapid growth of 
the schools made new schoolhouses and addi- 
tional teachers necessary. The state of the 
board's treasury compelled the exercise of an 
economy bordering on parsimony. The 
grammar school had to be suspended for a 
time, and the valuable services of Mr. Leg- 
get, the superintendent, were dispensed with 
for want of money to pay him an adequnte 
salary. 

Despite the unfavorable conditions, the 
schools steadily increased numericallv and 
gained in popular regard. In 1849, Mr. and 



Mrs. C. H. Palmer took chai'ge of the gram- 
mar school, under an engagement for two 
years, at a joint annual salary of $600. Mr. 
Palmer's health failing before the expiration 
of his engagement, Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Olm- 
stead were employed at a joint salary of $50 
a month, to teach a high grade primary or 
secondary school, which took the place of the 
grammar school. 

Meantime, the board had purchased a lot 
containing about two and a half acres, front- 
ing on Mill Street between Summit and 
Prospect Streets. On this a two-story brick 
building 70 by 50 feet was erected, at a cost 
of $9,250. This building contained two 
ku-ge school-rooms, each with a seating ca- 
pacity of 150 pupils, and each having two 
recitation rooms attached. It was dedicated 
with appropriate ceremonies October 13, 
1853. The upper room with its recitation 
rooms was occupied by the high school, in 
charge of Mr. Samuel F. Cooper and two 
assistant teachers. The grammar school oc- 
cupied the lower room with its recitation 
rooms, under Miss Codding and two assist- 
ants. 

In 1856-7, Mr. H. B. Fo.ster, of Hudson, 
a graduate of Western Reserve college, served 
for a short time as principal of the high 
school and superintendent of all the schools; 
but, declining a re-engagement, Mr. Olmstead 
was employed to take his place, and Mr. J. 
Park Alexander was put in charge of the 
grammar school at $35 a month. 

In a report about this time, the board de- 
plores the evils resulting from frequent 
changes of superintendents and teachers, ex- 
presses the conviction that the employment 
of the cheapest teachers is not the most eco- 
nomical, and maintains that such liberal com- 
pensation should be paid superintendent and 
teachers as to secure the highest ability and 
skill in every department. In the same re- 
port, the expen.se of running the schools for 
the ensiling year, "including incidentals," is 
estimated at $4,200. Manifestly, the board 
shows ^^^sdom in its efl^ort to prepare the pub- 
lic mind for the payment of better salaries. 
It shows wisdom, too. in its expressed deter- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



111 



mination "to employ no teachers in the Akrou 
schools but those of ripe age, ample experi- 
ence, successful tact and good common sense." 

In 1857, a change was made in the organi- 
zation making permanent provision for a sec- 
ondary grade between the primary departr 
ment and the grammar school. A general 
scheme of studies was outlined for the differ- 
ent departments. Reading and spelling and 
general practical oral lessons were assigned 
to the primary department; to these writing 
was added for the secondary grade ; pupils 
in the grammar school must be taught to 
read and spell the fourth reader fluently, 
master the first half of Stoddard's Intellectual 
Arithmetic, Tracy's and Stoddard's "Practi- 
cal" as far as interest, the general definitions 
in grammar, Colton and Fitch's Modern 
School Geography with map-drawing, daily 
practice in writing, and declamation and 
composition one hour each week; for the 
high school, .practice dn intellectual arith- 
metic, the more advanced subjects of written 
arithmetic, English grammar, including pars- 
ing; geography and mapdrawing, philosophy, 
history, physiology, algebra, chemistry, as- 
tronomy, geometry, botany, declamation and 
composition, with practice in reading, spell- 
ing and wTiting. 

By resolution of the board, all the teachers 
were authorized but not required to read a 
short passage of Scripture and repeat the 
Lord's Prayer with the pupils, without note 
or comment, at the opening of school each 
day. 

Latin and Greek were taught in the high 
school spasmodically, the board sometimes 
approving and sometimes declaring that "a 
good practical English education is all that 
any one has a right to expect or exact at the 
hands of a generous public." 

In the first ten years of Akron'.* graded 
school system, the supervision of the schools 
was more nominal than real. Five or six 
different superintendents, so called, had been 
employed, but their time was so fully taken 
up with teaching in the department under 
their immediate charge that an occasional 
hurried visit to the other schools wa." all" that 



was possible, and this to little purpose. The 
necessity for more efficient supervision be- 
came more and more manifest. "The schools 
had not at all times maintained the prestige 
they at first enjoyed, nor the pre-eminence to 
which they were entitled as the pioneer free 
graded schools of Ohio." The idea of super- 
vision was a gradual growth. While the su- 
perintendent continued to act as principal 
of the high school, he was given an assistant 
capable of taking charge of the high school 
temporarily in his absence. A little later, a 
separate principal of the high school was em- 
ployed, the superintendent continuing to 
teach a portion of his time, conducting his 
recitations in a class-room. In 1870, the su- 
perintendent was relieved from all regular 
class-room work, and thereafter gave his en- 
tire time to the work of supervision. 

About 1854, and for some years following, 
a plan was operated for increasing interest 
and improving the teaching, which seems to 
merit mention. Observation schools or teach- 
ers' institutes were conducted every Saturday 
morning in term-time, in the presence of all 
the teachers, members of the board and others 
interested. One teacher, by previous ap- 
pointment, holds a session of her school, giv- 
ing lessons or conducting exercises in one or 
more subjects. After dismissal of the pupils, 
lectures and discussions follow. We find the 
board expressing approval, and saying that 
the plan "worked admirably." 

The next superintendent in order was Mr. 
T. C. Pooler, a teacher of experience, from 
the State of New York. He received a salary 
of $1,000. Besides acting as principal of the 
high school, it wa* required by the rules of 
the board to visit each school at least once 
in four weeks, and advise and direct 
the teachers in regard to classifying 
and disciplining their schools. After 
three years of service, he declined a re- 
engagement, and was succeeded in Septem- 
ber, 1860, by Mr. I. P. Hole. Like most of 
his predecessors, Mr. Hole sers'ed in the 
double capacity of superintendent and prin- 
cipal of the high school. His snlars"^ was 
fixed at $900 at first, but in the course of his 



178 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



eight years' term of service it was increased 
from time to time until it reached $1,500. 
This increase in salary was no doubt in large 
measure due to the increased cost of living 
which prevailed in the time of the Civil War ; 
but it seems fair to infer that there was in 
it also an expression of approval and endorse- 
ment of Mr. Hole's work. There is abundant 
evidence that he was a capable, industrious 
and efficient worker. His term was a period 
of growth. The village of Akron had become 
a prosperous little city of nearly 10,000 peo- 
ple The youth of school age had increased 
from less than 700 in 1846 to 3,000. The 
schools had become crowded. Enlarged school 
accommodations had become a necessity. To 
meet this need the board issued bonds to the 
amount of $15,000, and made an addition of 
four rooms to the high school building. Each 
of these rooms had a seating capacity of 80 
or 90 pupils and a recitation room attached 
These new rooms were occupied by the sec- 
ondary schools and the overflow from the 
grammar school. Each of these rooms had a 
principal teacher and one assistant, while the 
high school and grammar school had each a 
principal and two assistants. The primary 
schools were housed in small one-room build- 
ings, so located as to be most accessible to the 
little ones. 

Tardiness and irregularity of attendance 
constituted a source of annoyance and 
hindrance from the first organization of the 
schools. To correct these evils the board from 
time to time resorted to various devices. At 
one time the expedient was tried of closing 
the doors against tardy pupils, shutting them 
out until recess. This caused a good deal of 
irritation and dissatisfaction without curing 
the evil. In 1864 the board adopted a rule 
authorizing the suspension of pupils for three 
absences in one month, pupils so suspended 
being required to make application for resto- 
ration at a subsequent meeting of the board. 
This rule is said to have resulted in improved 
attendance. In 1847-8- the percentage of at- 
tendance was 55^4 in the primary schools and 
88 in the grammar schools, while in 1866 the 



attendance reached 90 per cent in all the 
schools. 

The statute under which the free graded 
school system of Akron was organized con- 
tained a provision for the periodical visitation 
of the schools by persons appointed by the 
council and mayor. There seems to be in 
this provision some recognition of the neces- 
sity of supervision in a system of public 
schools An unpaid school visitor was a cheap 
•■substitute for an expert salaried superintend- 
ent. In its eleventh annual report the board 
calls attention of the council to this feature 
of the law, saying that "while exclusive con- 
trol of the schools is given to the board of 
education, the school visitor might be the 
means of bringing to the aid of the board the 
best light and the highest intelligence on the 
subject of education, with all improved 
methods of instruction, discipline and man- 
agement of schools" 

Some such visitors were appointed. The 
board's fifteenth annual report contains the 
report of R. 0. Hammond, Esq., as school 
visitor, in which he commends warmly and 
censures sharply. Among other I'ecommenda- 
tions, he urges regular and thorough instruc- 
tion in vocal music. "This, in my judgment," 
he says, "should be taught in our schools as 
a component part of daily instruction. I mean 
that the principles of music should be taught 
— taught as a science. In this way. at a 
small expense, singers with well cultivated 
voices, able to read music readily, may be 
fitted for the choir, the concert and the par- 
lor." 

The tables accompanying the reports of Mr. 
Hole as superintendent show that the at- 
tendance in the grades below the high school 
steadily increased, while the attendance at the 
high .'school steadily diminished. This fall- 
ing off in the attendance at the high school 
arrests our attention, and we naturally inquire 
for the cause. We discover that early in Mr. 
Hole's administration the course of study for 
the high school was expanded into a four- 
years' course, and was made to include nearly 
all the studies of a college course save the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



179 



classics. Among the requirements were such 
studies as political economy, logic, moral 
science, mental philosophy, evidences of 
Christianity, astronomy, domestic economy 
and geology. The first graduation from the 
high school occurred in 1864. There was at- 
that time but one graduate. Miss Pamela H. 
Goodwin, and up to and including 1868, 
there had been but fifteen graduates. 

The high school at that time may have 
been ideal in its organization and appoint- 
ments, but manifestly it was not meeting the 
popular demand. The records for one term 
show an average attendance of four males and 
twenty-one females. A complaint not unfre- 
quently heard was to the effect that after 
spending so long a time in completing the 
high school course of study, those who wished 
to go to college were compelled then to seek 
admission to a preparatory school to secure fit- 
ness for college entrance This touches the 
important question of the harmonizing and 
adaptation of high school and college courses 
of study — a question much discussed in re- 
cent years, with profit to both high schools 
and colleges. 

About the time we are now considering, a 
great deal of diflSculty was experienced in the 
management of the grammar school. The 
room occupied was large and often much 
crowded, sometimes containing two hundred 
or more pupils, and it was not easy to secure 
either man or woman equal to the task of 
handling such a school. Of this department 
we find the president of the board saying in 
a printed report: "Its fortunes have been as 
checkered as those of some of the many who 
have taught or kept it, being by turns a 
small success and a great failure." Fortu- 
nately, school authorities have grown wiser 
than to attempt to conduct schools in that 
way. 

In 1868, after a term of service of eight 
years, Mr. Hole declined re-election, and in 
June of that year he and all the teachere asso- 
ciated with him in both the high and gram- 
mar departments retired. 



AN EDUCATIONAL REVIVAL. 

The school year opening in September, 
1868, was the beginning of a new period in 
the history of the Akron schools. It was a 
period of change, revival, progress. Akron 
was now a city. Its growth and promise had 
brought in new men, and with new business 
prosperity and success, larger and more lib- 
eral views prevailed. In order to have a full 
understanding of this period, it seems desir- 
able to notice some things not primarily con- 
nected with Akron schools. 

In the summer of 1867, an educational re- 
vival started in Cleveland, which soon spread 
throughout and beyond Ohio. While it is 
probable that the work done in the Cleveland 
schools in that day was not below the preva- 
lent standard of the time, the impression pre- 
vailed that something better was attainable. 
It was under the impulse of this impression 
that, in June, 1867, two of Cleveland's prin- 
cipals, Henry M. James and Samuel Find- 
ley, with the approval of the board of educa- 
tion, made a pilgrimage to the normal school 
at Oswego, New York, in search of new light. 
As a result of this pilgrimage, a corps of in- 
structors from the Oswego Normal School 
came to Cleveland in the following August 
and held a teachers' institute for one week. 
Those compasing this body of educational 
missionaries were Professors Krusi and 
Poucher, Mrs. Mary Howe Smith, and Misses 
Lathrop, Cooper and Seaver. The fame of 
this movement having reached Cincinnati, 
the president of the Cincinnati school board 
came to Cleveland and persuaded the same 
corps of instnictors to do missionary work in 
Cincinnati the following \feek. 

It was about this time that that stalwart 
educational reformer. Andrew J. Rickoff. was 
called to succeed Dr.- Anson Smyth in the 
superintendency of the Cleveland schools, and 
it was in the midst of the session of this in- 
.stitute that he entered upon the duties of the 
po!5ition. These two events, the coming of 
the Oswego missionaries, and the coming of 
.Andrew J. RickofT, mark the beginnings of 
an educational revival which extended bevond 



180 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the limits of the city of Cleveland, and be- 
yond the limits of Ohio, and which, we may 
not doubt, is still a living educational force. 

Something of the bearing of these events 
upon the educational interests of Akron may 
be understood when it is known that, a year 
later, Samuel Findley, one of the two Cleve- 
land principals who made the pilgrimage to 
Oswego, was called to the superintendency of 
the Akron schools at a salary of $2,500. Prior 
to his engagement in Cleveland, he had been 
engaged in the schools of Xenia and Colum- 
bus, Ohio, and during his last year in Cleve- 
land he had some part in the work of recon- 
struction undertaken by Superintendent 
Rickoff in the Cleveland schools. The period 
of his superintendency of the Akron schools 
was fifteen years. 

At the time^of Superintendent Findley's 
call to Akron several specially strong teach- 
ers were also employed. Of these, Mrs. N. A. 
Stone, a woman of strong cliaracter and lib- 
eral culture, was made principal of the high 
school, and Miss E. A. Herdman, a graduate 
of Monmouth College (111.), was made prin- 
cipal of the grammar department. Great 
credit is due to these two ladies for the high 
degree of success attained by their respective 
departments. Mrs. Stone's salary, at first 
$1,200, was afterwards increased to $1,400; 
Miss Herdman's sakry start-ed at $900, and 
was soon after increa.sed to $1,000. 

The school syst&m at this time consisted of 
eleven primary schools hou.sed in eleven small 
one-room buildings, and the high school, 
grammar school and secondary schools in the 
one central brick building. 

The school-; opened in September, 1868, 
with twenty-three teachers besides the sup?!"- 
intendent, who, for the time being, heard 
two or three daily recitations in the high 
school. It is to be noted in this connection 
that in this year there were but forty-one pu- 
pils pursuing high school studies. As a mat- 
ter of expediency, the pupils of the A gram- 
mar grade occupied the upper room with the 
high school pupils, and were taught by high 
school teachers. 

No radical changes in cla.ssification, course 



of study, or methods of instruction, were made 
at the opening. The schools were started in 
their accustomed grooves, and changes were 
made from time to time as occasion seemed to 
demand. 

The fii'st matter of importance to which the 
superintendent directed his attention was the 
classification of the primary schools. A loose 
classification had prevailed in these schools, 
so that in most of them there were six or 
seven diff'erent grades or classes of pupils, 
ranging from beginners to third reader classes. 
Of course, it was impossible for the teachers 
to secure the best results under such condi- 
tions. There were obstacles in the way of 
remedying the evils, chief of which were the 
extended territory and scattered population of 
some portions of the city. Proper classifica- 
tion would necessitate the separation of chil- 
dren of the same family who had hitherto at- 
tended the same school, and in many eases 
would require them to go a greater distance 
to school. But it was believed that the ad- 
vantages to be gained would far more than 
counterbalance these inconveniences, and 
the city was divided into six primary-school 
districts instead of eleven, giving to each dis- 
trict two schools, with one exception. In one 
of the.se two schools was placed all the more 
advanced pupils of both, and in the other all 
the le.«s advanced of both, reducing each 
school to half its former number of grades, 
and nearly or quite doubling the teaching 
force without any increase in the number of 
teachers or any additional expense. 

From this time (1868) onward, the fol- 
lowing general classification has prevailed in 
the Akron schools: 

Primary grades, four years. 

Grammar grades, four years. 

High school grades, three or fonr yemrs. 

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 

In the autumn of 1868 the course of study 
for all grades below the high school was thor- 
oughly revised. The course was divided into 
yearly steps or grades, and the work for 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



183 



each grade was prescribed in detail, thus set- 
ting up a standard of attainment for teach- 
ers and pupils. 

SEMI-ANNUAL CLASSIFICATION AND 
PROMOTION. 

Four or five years later the course of study 
was broken into semi-annual steps, and pro- 
motions were made semi-annually instead of 
once a year. This made the classification 
much moi-e flexible. Because of the shorter 
steps, .strong, bright and industrious pupils 
could and often did overtake the next grade 
ahead, and pupils who failed of promotion 
found the fall to the next grade below much 
more endurable than when they were com- 
pelled to fall back an entire year. 

When the semi-annual plan was firet 
adopted, there was some apprehension that it 
might work mischief when it came to the 
high school. It would double the number 
of classes, and necessitate the employment of 
more teachers. But the problem solved itself. 
As population grew, high school attendance 
increased, until ere long it would have been 
necessarj' to break the annual classes into sec- 
tions for purposes of recitation alone. Thus, 
almost of necessity, came to pass semi-annual 
promotions and graduation in the high 
school, and so the practice is unto this day, 

ORAL INSTRUCTION. 

The revised course of study provided, al- 
most exclusively, for oral teaching in the pri- 
mary grades, or first four years of the course. 
The reader was about the only book used in 
these gi'ades. The spelling book was dis- 
carded in all grades. Instead of wasting time 
over long columns of words without moaning 
to the pupils, the plan was to secure thorough 
drill in the spelling of words within the pu- 
pils' vocabulary, each being held accountable 
for the correct spelling of all the words he 
uses. 

There were daily oral lessons in number 
from the start, but no text-book in arithme- 
tic was used until the fourth or fifth vear. 



Fii"st lessons in geography were also oral, a 
primary text-book being introduced about the 
fifth year. 

SCHOOL HOURS. 

On the recommendation of the superintend- 
ent, the daily sessions of the schools were 
shortened. The school day for all gi-ades had 
been six hours. With the adoption of oral 
and objective methods of instruction, came a 
necessity for shorter hours, for the sake both 
of pupils and teachers. For the children 
of the first and second years there were pro- 
vided two daily sessions of two hours each. 
For all other grades there was a morning ses- 
sion of three hours and an afternoon session 
of two hours. There was no perceptible 
diminution in the amount of work accom- 
plished, and both teachers and pupils mani- 
fested greater vigor and interest in the work. 

EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

We have seen that for considerable time 
the high school, with its protracted and heavy 
course of study, did not seem to meet the 
popular demand. Few pupils seemed disposed 
to remain long enough to complete the course 
and graduate. With a view to popularizing 
the school and securing larger attendance, the 
course of study was revised, the more ad- 
vanced studies were eliminated, and the whole 
was reduced to a three-years' course. The ef- 
fect of this was immediate. Seventeen pupils 
graduated in 1872, whereas the largest num- 
ber of graduates in any previous year was 
five. And in the six years ending in 1875, 
the number attending the high school in- 
creased 234 per cent, while the increase in all 
the .schools for the same period was only 50 
per cent. 

Another measure which added considerably 
to the interest of the high school and proved 
of permanent value, was the organization of 
tm^o literary societies, one for each sex, known 
as the Academic and Philomathean societies. 
Friday afternoons were devoted to the ses- 
sions of these societies, under the general 



184 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



oversight of the principal and teachers. Each 
society adopted a constitution, elected its own 
officers and prepared and carried out its own 
program. The program usually consisted of 
essays, declamations, debates, reports of crit- 
ics, miscellaneous; etc. Many of the members 
gained considerable facility in extempore 
speaking, and most gained more or less 
familiarity with parliamentary usage. Some 
have testified in after years that the best 
part of their high school training came from 
the Friday afternoons in the literary society. 
These societies have existed for almost forty 
years, and are still successfully operated. 

WOMEN AS TEACHERS. 

A feature of the school management at 
this period was the almost exclusive employ- 
ment of women. At one time no man was 
employed in the department of instruction, 
except the superintendent. In the annual re- 
port for 1874-5 are found these statements: 
"The testimony of all familiar with the 
schools is that the discipline has been uni- 
formly better under the management of 
women than formerly when under masculine 
rule. . . . The experiment we have made 
for several years of employing none- but 
women as teachers has been eminently suc- 
cessful." 

Whatever may have seemed to be the teach- 
ing of this experiment, it is noticeable that 
as the system has grown in size and become 
more stable in its appointments, men and 
women have been employed as principals and 
high school teachers in about equal numbers, 
with little, if any, discrimination in salaries, 
as between the sexes. 

VOCAL MUSIC. 

It was about the year 1870 that vocal music 
was made a part of the regular course of in- 
struction in the schools of Akron. No doubt, 
there had been from the beginning more or 
less of practice in singing school songs. But 
after the subject was given its place in the 
list of required branches, thoroughly graded 



music lessons were given daily, beginning in 
the lowest primary grades with the simplest 
exercises in distinguishing and making musi- 
cal sounds, and advancing by regular grada- 
tion to the practice of classic music in the 
high school. Opposition arose. A good many 
people, among them some membere of the 
board, looked upon the movement as a waste 
of time and effort. They believed musical 
talent a special gift, possessed only by the 
favored few in sufficient degree to make its 
cultivation desirable. Opposed to this view 
was that of those who maintained that the 
Creator has distributed musical talent among 
men about as generally as he has mathe- 
matical talent, and that any pei-son who has 
the ordinary vocal organs, with power to use 
them so as to make the varying tones used in 
common conversation, may learn to sing with 
as much facility as he learns to read. We find 
the superintendent saying, after the experi- 
ment had been continued four or five years, 
that among the pupils of the lower grades, 
who have been carefully trained from the 
time of their entrance at school, we find none 
unable to learn to sing. 

In view of the agitation of the subject and 
the opposition developed in some quarters, it 
w'as deemed desirable to know what rank the 
subject of vocal music held in the school sys- 
tems of other cities, and the estimation in 
which it was held by leading educators of the 
country. Accordingly, a list of questions was 
mailed to the superintendents of leading cities 
throughout the country, to which over a hun- 
dred replies were received. About four-fifths 
of the cities and towns responding reported 
that vocal music was inchided among the re- 
quired branches of the regular course of in- 
struction, and that the results in music were 
about equal to those attained in other 
branches. There was great imanimity of sen- 
timent among the superintendents as to the 
value of music as a branch of .study in public 
schools. From such responses as these there 
was no dissent: H. P. Wilson, Superintend- 
ent Public Instruction, State of Minnesota: 
"It should be taught in every grade of schools, 
as it is in Pnis.sia." John B. Peaslee. Cincin- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



185 



nati: "It is almost indispensable." Daniel 
Worley, Canton, Ohio: "For discipline, cul- 
ture and general influence upon pupils, I 
place a very high estimate upon it." J. L. 
Pickard, Chicago: "Its value cannot be over- 
estimated." Edward Smith, Syracuse, New 
York : "I would as soon recommend the dis- 
continuance of any other branch." William 
T. Harris, St. Louis, now National Commis- 
sioner of Education, AVashington, D. C. : "I 
consider it of great importance for its moral 
effect in softening the dLsposition and render- 
ing it teachable, and in cultivating the higher 
sentiments." A. M. Gow, Evansville, In- 
diana: "It is invaluable to the individual, 
to the school and to society." 

The board was very fortunate, at the out- 
set, in securing Mr. W. L. Glover as music 
master. Besides high attainment in his 
specialty and great skill in the work of in- 
struction, he has everywhere and always ex- 
hibited true manliness and strength of char- 
acter. No other person has had so long a 
term of service in connection with the Akron 
schools. 

THE STUDY OF GERMAN. 

The question of German in public schools 
has received more or less consideration in the 
board and in the community from time to 
time. In 1877 the question came before the 
board in the form of a petition from citizens, 
asking that the German language be given a 
regular place in the course of study. The 
matter was referred to a committee consist- 
ing of three members of the board, two citi- 
zens outside of the board and the superin- 
tendent of instruction. Deepl)^ sensible of the 
importance and delicacy of the subject, the 
committee entered upon its investigation in 
the spirit of candor, and with the determina- 
tion to reach, if po.«sible, a conclusion based 
solely upon the merits of the case. By means 
of personal conference with leading citizens, 
by visiting neighboring cities which have 
.made provision for instruction in the German 
language, by correspondence with college 



presidents and with superintendents of in- 
struction in all the more important cities and 
towns of this State, by examination of various 
.school reports, and by full and free discus- 
sion of the subject in its various phases, the 
committee sought to gain a comprehensive 
and correct -view of the whole question. 

As was to be expected, the investigations re- 
vealed great diversity of sentiment on the sub- 
ject, ranging all the way from strong opposi- 
tion to the introduction of German into any 
grade of our public schools, to a strong desire 
to see it introduced into every grade. And 
this divei^ity of sentiment was found no less 
among educators and others who have made 
the subject a special study, than among those 
who have bestowed but little thought on the 
subject. 

After many meetings and much discussion, 
majority and minority reports were submitted. 
The majority report, signed by four mem- 
bers of the committee, may be thus sum- 
marized : The study of the German language 
should be pursued in the schools of this coun- 
try for purposas of higher culture, by those 
who seek a liberal education, rather than for 
purpases of practical utility, by those whose 
means and opportunities can afford them only 
a limited education. We conclude: 

I. The German language may. with pro- 
priety, be made an elective study in the 
higher grades of our public schools. 

II. It is inexpedient to provide instruc- 
tion in German for the piipils in the lower 
grades. 

These conclusions were well sustained in 
the report by terse and cogent reasoning. 

The minority reported to the effect that it 
is inexpedient and impracticable to introduce 
the study of the German language into any 
of the grades of our public schools. 

These reports were received and printed in 
full in the thirty-first annual report of the 
board of education. No formal action was 
taken at once, but the policy advocated in the 
majority report, has prevailed in the schools 
ever since. 



186 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 

This subject has received considerable at- 
tention from time to time. The following 
was on© of the standing mles of the board 
for a good many years: "It shall be a duty 
of the first importance, on the part of teach- 
ers, to exercise constant supervision and care 
over the general conduct of their scholars, 
and they are specially enjoined to avail them- 
selves of every opportunity to inculate the 
observance of correct manners, habits and 
principles." 

The syllabus of instruction at one time 
made this provision, under the head of 
morals and manners: "Inculate reverance 
and love for God as the father of all, obe- 
dience to parents and teachers, and a kind and 
forgiving spirit toward brothers and sisters 
and schoolmates. Memorize verses and max- 
ims. Use Bible and other stories to illustrate 
principles in morals and manners." 

We find frequent allusions to the subject 
in the printed reports of boards and super- 
intendents. In the twenty-fourth annual re- 
port, issued in 1871, occurs this passage: 
"Moral and intellectual culture are insepar- 
able. ... Of the two, the former has the 
higher claim to a place in any system of pop- 
ular education, since it is far more important 
to society that its members po.ssess hearts of 
love to God and man than that they be giants 
in intellect. But it is idle to talk about mak- 
ing the in.'^truction in the schools purely secu- 
lar. We could not do it if we would. Ten- 
der and impressible as are the hearts of the 
young, every teacher cannot but exert over 
the moral nature of his pupils an influence 
either good or bad. A silent unconscious in- 
fluence goes out from the inner life and char- 
acter of the teacher which cannot be meas- 
ured. 

"It remains for us to .see that a healthy, 
moral influence permeates all the instruction 
and all the discipline of the schools. And 
this can be done without any infringement or 
violation of the principle of religious liberty. 
It does not require the teaching of creeds or 
catechisms, nor the inculcation of the pecu- 



liar dogmas of any sect. Nor do I believe it 
requires the enforced reading of the Bible in 
schools. Better than the Bible in schools is 
its spirit in the heai-ts of the teachers. Bible 
reading in public schools should not, in my 
opinion, be enforced, neither should it be pro- 
hibited by either State or local enactment." 
The question of prohibiting the use of the 
Bible in the schools was once before the board. 
After considerable discussion, it was laid on 
the table, where it still rests. 

WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS AND PROMOTIONS. 

In the twenty-fourth annual report (year 
1870-71), the superintendent makes mention 
of this subject. It had been the practice for 
some time to conduct monthly examinations 
in all the grades. This had become burden- 
some to the teachers, and the number of ex- 
aminations was reduced to two each term. 
This seemed sufficient to keep up the pupils' 
interest, and to test the thoroughness of the 
instruction. About 85 per cent of all the pu- 
pils examined were promoted. 

The same subject receives attention in the 
thirty-first annual report, as follows: 

Regular examinations were held every tenth 
week, making four in the year, and two gen- 
eral promotions were made, namely, at the 
middle and at the close of the year. There 
are thus two examinations for each promotion. 
Before commencing the examination imme- 
diately preceding each promotion of pupils, 
the teachers have been required to report a 
list of the names of their pupils, together with 
an estimate of the attainments and capabili- 
ties of each. The promotion of a pupil is 
thus made to depend on the result of two ex- 
aminations, taken in connection with his 
teachers' estimate of his fitness. 

The plan of semi-annual promotion in our 
schools has been productive of good results. 
It affords better classification, and more fully 
adapts the instruction to the wants of all 
classes of pupils. The shorter intervals be- 
tween grades afford better facilities for the 
brighter and stronger pupils to advance ac- . 
cording to their attainments and abilities, and, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



187 



at the same time, it is better for those who fail 
of promotion, permitting them to go over 
again the work of a half year only, instead 
of throwing them back an entire year. 

At the middle of the school year promo- 
tions were made as follows, high school not 
included : 

Whole number examined 1924 

Number ^ot promoted 245 

Per cent of promotions 86.3 

Number advanced two grades 44 

Number withdrawn because not promoted. 4 

At the close of the year the promotions in 
all grades below the high school were as fol- 
lows: 

Whole number examined 1840 

Number not promoted 147 

Per cent of promotions 92 

Number withdrawn because not promoted 2 

It is a noticeable fact that the average age 
of pupils not promoted exceeds that of thase 
of same grade promoted. 

MIDDLEBURY ANNEXED BOARD ENLARGED. 

The village of Middlebury became a part 
of the city of Akron by annexation in 1872, 
adding four schools and four teachers to 
Akron's system, besides a considerable addi- 
tion to the high school. About the same time, 
the statute was so altered as to enlarge the 
board of education to twelve members. From 
its first organization under the Akron school 
law to this time, the board consisted of six 
members, two elected at large each year. Un- 
der the later statute the board consisted of two 
members from each ward, one elected each 
year. The city having six wards, the board 
consisted of twelve members. When, a few 
years later, the number of wards was increased 
to eight, the board had sixteen members. 

This was a gain in quantity, but a loss in 
quality. TVTien two men were chosen each 
year from the city at large, representative 
men were usually chosen — men of enlarged 
views, but when each ward chose its man to 
represent it, it seemed to be the small poli- 
tician's opportunity. Men of small caliber 
and little fitness were often able to push them- 



selves in. A change in the spirit and policy 
of the board was soon apparent. Personal and 
local interests often prevailed against the gen- 
eral good. Fortunately, a recent revision of 
the statute has virtually restored former con- 
ditions. 

TEACHERS. 

The necessity of well qualified teachers for 
the schools was the burden of nearly every re- 
port in the period now under consideration. 
It is declared to be the most important of all 
.subjects connected with public education. 
"The selection of teachers is the vital point in 
our common school system. . . . The neces- 
sity of employing untrained and inexperienced 
teachers is the greatest evil with which we 
have to contend. . . . The loss of time to 
the pupils, to say nothing of the idle and 
vicious habits formed, during the apprentice- 
ship of our young girl teachers, is a serious 
evil, and I often wonder at the patience of the 
pupils and their parents under it. . . . 
T have little hope of further progre.«s until 
some decided steps are taken in this matter." 

Measures were considered from time to 
time in mitigation of the evil complained of. 
At one time we find the superintendent sug- 
gesting, "as the least that we should do under 
our present circumstances, that our young 
graduates, who desire to teach, be required, 
before receiving appointments, to spend at 
least one year in the study of pedagogy, in- 
cluding the human powers and the means 
and methods of their development and train- 
ing, in the more minute and thorough study 
of the common branches with reference to 
teachig them, and in such observation of the 
best methods of teaching and such practice 
under experienced teachers as our own schools 
might afford." This seems like groping in 
the right direction — groping which, a few 
years later, resulted in a well-equipped nor- 
mal school. Meanwhile, so great seemed the 
need, resort was had to a temporary expedient, 
which had the merit of originality and sim- 
plicity, and which gave promise of good re- 
sults. A new building of eight rooms was 
converted into a quasi-training school. Sev- 



188 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



eral young ladies, graduates of the high 
school, without experience in teaching, were 
employed at a nominal salai-y, and set to teacli- 
ing. Over them was placed a teacher of expe- 
rience and approved skill and ability to direct 
their work day by day . The plan was inexpen- 
sive and met with favor to the extent that it 
was subsequently adopted in another build- 
ing. It was with the same end in view that a 
little later a woman of marked ability and 
success in teaching was employed as super- 
visor of primary instruction. All these efforts 
to secure better teachers and improve the 
teaching tended in the same direction, name- 
ly, the establishing of a normal department as 
a permanent part of the city school system. 

THE MORALE OF THE SCHOOLS. 

A characteristic of the period of Akron 
school history now under consideration was 
an improved and improving moral tone. 
There was a general toning up all along the 
line. Citizens spoke of the improved bearing 
of the pupils on the street. There was more 
prompt and regular attendance. For exam- 
ple, with 1,541 pupils enrolled in the school 
j^ear ending in June, 1869, there were 6,006 
case? of tardiness reported; with 3.005 pupils 
enrolled for year ending June, 1880, there 
were 1,223 cases of tardiness. There was less 
of severity and more of gentleness in the gov- 
ernment of the schools. It became a rare 
thing for any case of discipline to be brought 
before the board of education. These gains 
were largely due to the high character of the 
teachers employed. It is a rare thing to find 
so much strength and goodness of character 
in a corps of public school teachers. 

Mrs. N. A. Stone, already mentioned, con- 
tinued in charge of the high school, with 
marked ability and success, until 1873, a pe- 
riod of five years. Of her a leading member 
of the Akron bar .«aid that she had the intel- 
lect of a great, strong man, and the heart 
of a refined, gentle woman. 

Mrs. Stone retired for a year of rest and 
travel, and was succeeded by Miss Maria Par- 
sons, who was eminently faithful and emi- 



nently successful. Too much cannot be said 
in her praise. Under her management the 
high school continued to grow in interest as 
well as in numbers. After seven yeare of very 
exhausting labor, she declined re-election, and 
was succeeded by Wilbur V. Rood, the first 
man called to the position since Superintend- 
ent I. P. Hole. Mr. Rood was not a man of 
great physical strength, but he conducted the 
school with a good degree of success for eigh- 
teen yeai's. Just as he was completing the 
work of his eighteenth year, only two or three 
days before commencement, he was suddenly 
called home. His years of service in the 
Akron high school were characterized by 
great faithfulness. Well done, good and 
faithful servant, is the verdict in his case. 

Miss E. A. Herdman, who became prin- 
cipal of the senior grammar school in the au- 
tumn of 1868, and managed it with phenome- 
nal success, continued in chai'ge of that de- 
partment, with the same eminent success that 
marked her first year, until the spring of 
1874, when she retired on account of ill 
health, and died in November following. Her 
strength of character, combined with fervent 
affection and genial humor, gave her great 
power over her pupils. She governed by the 
strength of her own personality, rather than 
by the infliction of pains and penalties. Miss 
Herdman was succeeded by Miss Kate Ur- 
ner, and she by Miss Josephine A. Newberry. 
These two last named were strong and suc- 
cessful teachers. 

COLLEGE PREPARATION. 

It was about 1874 that four lads from the 
Akron high .school pa.ssed the entrance exam- 
ination and were admitted to Western Reserve 
College at Hudson, Ohio. These are proba- 
bly the first students prepared for college in 
the Akron high school. They prepared in 
Greek under Miss Oburn, one of the assist- 
ants in the high school, in part out of regular 
school hours. Three of the four completed 
the college course and were graduated with 
credit. 

Sub-sequently, an advantageous arrange- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



189 



ment was effected with Buchtel College, 
whereby high school students wishing to pre- 
pare for college were admitted to the regu- 
lai- preparatory Greek classes in the college 
■nathout cost, the Greek thus acquired being 
accepted as an equivalent for such part of the 
high school course as might be agreed upon. 
This arrangement continued in force for a 
good many years and proved mutually advan- 
tageous to high school and college, as well as 
to those students who availed themselves of 
the privilege. 

After fifteen years of continuous service, 
Superintendent Findley declined a re-elec- 
tion and retired. His term began in 1868 
and ended in 1883, starting with twenty- 
two teachers and ending with sixty-two. 
Within this period, two hundred and eighty- 
nine pupils were graduated from the high 
school, making a total of three hundred and 
four, including fifteen graduated prior to 1869 
The following named two-story brick build- 
ings were erected, nearly all the small, frame 
buildings previously used having been aban- 
doned: Bowen, Crosby, Perkins, Howe, Al- 
len, Spicer, Kent, Henry. These buildings 
contained at first from four to eight rooms 
each. They have .since been enlarged by ad- 
ditions, one containing eighteen rooms; sev- 
eral others, twelve rooms. 

PROF, fraunfelter's superintendency. 

Elias Fraunfelter entered upon the super- 
intendency of the Akron schools in Septem- 
ber, 1883. After three years of service in the 
Union army, he taught in Vermillion Insti- 
tute and Savannah Academy, subsequently 
filling the chair of mathematic in Buchtel 
College for ten years. He filled the office of 
superintendent very acceptably for fourteen 
years, being compelled to retire on account 
of failing health, and dying soon after. 

Owing to the fact that no report, in form 
to be pre.ser\'ed, was published in the time of 
his term of service, no very full nor detailed 
account of Superintendent Fraunfelter's ad- 
ministration can be here given. No radical 
changes were inaugurated at the outset nor. 



indeed, at any time. The same general or- 
ganization of the schools, the same classifi- 
cation and the same principles and methods 
of instruction in vogue in recent years were 
continued. There was no disposition to make 
changes, merely for the sake of change. The 
period, as a whole, was one of harmony and 
success. The school system grew rapidly 
amd maintained a high place in public esti- 
mation. 

new high school and other new 
buildings. 

The need of more school rooms had been 
frequently brought to the attention of the 
board. Many of the schools w^ere over- 
crowded. It had been shown that to as.sign 
to each teacher only a suitable number of 
pupils w^ould require the employment of 
twenty additional teachers, and the providing 
of a corresponding number of additional 
school rooms. And besides, the unsuitable- 
ness of the rooms occupied by the high school, 
the very defective heating and ventilation of 
the entire high ,«chool building, and its close 
proximity to railroads, mills, depot, etc., ren- 
dered it very unfit for school purposes. 

The location and construction of a new 
high school building had been under consid- 
eration for some time, but the matter was 
taken up in earnest in 1883. Conflicting in- 
terests, and diversity of opinion, both as to 
location and character and style of .stnicture. 
caused considerable delay. A lot was selected 
and puroha.sed at a cost of $19,000. A con- 
tract for the erection of the building was en- 
tered into in 1885, and the whole was com- 
pleted and ready to occupy in September. 
1886. The entire cost, including heating ap- 
paratus and • furniture, was about $135,000. 
Besides twelve commodious school rooms \A'ith 
their appurtenances, there were a large as- 
sembly room, offices for the board of educa- 
tion, the superintendent of instruction, the 
high school principal, clerk of the board, 
truant officer, etc., teachers' parlor and rooms 
for literary societies, library, museum, etc. 

When first occupied the new building con- 



190 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tained, besides the high school, a consider- 
able number of upper grade grammar school 
pupils, but it was not long until the entire 
building was required for the high school, and 
provision had to be made elsewhere for the 
grammar school pupils. At the present time 
(1907) the high school has outgrown the 
building, and a large addition is almost com- 
pleted. 

Other new buildings erected in this period 
are those known as the Grace, the Leggett 
and the Bryan. 

COURSE OF STUDY CHANGED. 

Near the end of the old century the course 
of study in the high school was restored to 
a four-years' course. This was done in re- 
sponse to the requirements of the Ohio Col- 
lege Association. A committee of college men 
had visited the high schools of the State, and 
proposed to admit to college, without exami- 
nation, students from those high schools 
whose course of study and teaching were 
found to be of sufficiently high grade. The 
Akron high school was thus placed in the 
list of accredited schools. It w^as felt that 
the reduction to a three-years' course had ac- 
complished its purpose of popularizing the 
school and building it up in numbers. 

MANUAL TRAINING. 

About the same time steps were taken in 
the direction of manual training. Special 
teachers were employed, and the girls received 
lessons in cooking and sewing, and the boys, 
in wood-working. The work a.lo'ng these 
lines was conducted with considerable inter- 
est for a time, but the interest waned, and the 
work was discontinued, with a view to being 
resumed later with better equipment. 

FREE TEXT-BOOKS. 

Various remedies had been proposed from 
time to time for the evils growing out of the 
adoption of text-books for use in the schools. 
It was even propped that the State should 



secm'e copyrights and jjublish all the books 
necessary to supply the schools. A law was 
enacted requiring boards of education to pur- 
chase the books at wholesale and sell them 
to the pupils at cost. This plan was followed 
in the Akron schools for a time, but it had 
many drawbacks, and was, on the whole, un- 
satisfactory. At length, a law was passed 
granting to boards of education the option of 
adopting the free text-book plan. Akron was 
among the first to adopt the plan : First, as 
applicable to all grades below the high school. 
This proving satisfactory, the high school was 
subsequently included, so that, at this writ- 
ing, the text-books used in all grades of the 
schools are purchased and held as the prop- 
erty of the board and furnished for free use 
by the pupils. The plan has decided advan- 
tages, and gives general satisfaction. 

EXAMINATIONS AND PROMOTIONS. 

There seems to be an ebb and flow in the 
management of schools as in most human af- 
fairs. There was a time when it seemed that 
writtcin examinations might prove the specific 
for most of the ailments of school manage- 
ment. At one time the president of the 
Akron board of education suggested the sub- 
stitution of written examinations for the 
daily recitation in all grades above the pri- 
mary. But in the period now under consid- 
eration, about 1890, we find it announced a^ 
a "valuable advance," that "formal examina- 
tions for promotion" have been dispensed 
with, that promotions are made on the rec- 
ommendation of the teachers and principals 
of the several schools, and that "the plan has 
so far worked most admirably." The pendu- 
lum has since swung back. Examinations 
.still have a place in the Akron schools. 

NORMAL SCHOOL. 

The supply of qualified teachers for the 
schools has continued to engage the attention 
of school officials through all the years. Al- 
most every conceivable expedient has been 
tried for providing the necessary training 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



19] 



without undue expense. One of the latest ex- 
periments was the employment of one student 
teacher for each building to be in daily at- 
tendance, and to act as substitute in ca.«e of the 
absence of a regular teacher, from sickness or 
other cause. At length, in 1896, a normal 
training department of the city schools was 
established. A two-years' course of study was 
prescribed, with practice under a critic 
teacher. The school was a success from the 
start. It wa.s not long after the opening of 
the school, when twenty-five of its graduates 
were emploj'ed as teachers in the schools 
within a single year. This is undoubtedly 
a wise measure — one having in it much of 
promise to the schools of the city. 

TRUANT OFFICER. 

About this time a law was passed requir- 
ing compulsory attendance at school. The 
taxpayers' money was forcibly taken to main- 
tain schools for the education of the children. 
It is right to see that the end sought be not 
defeated by the indifference or waywardness 
of the children, or the negligence or cupidity 
of their parents. Of necessity there must be 
a tniant officer to enforce the law. Perhaps 
the following report of that officer for a year 
will give a fair idea of the working of the 
law : 

Visits made at schools 473 

Visits made at homes 1450 

Pupils sent for 1323 

Absentees brought to school 170 

Truants apprehended and brought to 

school 54 

Pupils under 14 caused to attend school . 162 
Pupils between 14 and 16 caused to at- 
tend school 33 

Notices served on parents 223 

Pupils excused on physician's certificate. 39 

Pupils moved from the city 101 

Reported to poor director for shoes 231 

Reported to poor director for clothing. . 54 
Pupils withdrawn and engaged at regu- 
lar employment 169 

Pupils under 14 caused to be discharged 
from shops and sent to school 64 



Pupils brought before the mayor 24 

Parents prosecuted 21 

Pupils sent to reform school 4 

Notices served on truants 79 

Dealers prosecuted and fined for selling 

cigarettes and tobacco to minors. ... 3 
Children placed in charitable institu- 
tions 37 



WOMEN AS SCHOOL DIRECTORS. 

About 1895 a law was passed authorizing 
women to vote at school elections and to hold 
any school office, except that of State Com- 
missioner of Common Schools. At the first 
election following this enactment a consid- 
erable number of Akron women registered as 
voters and ca.st their ballots, and two women 
were regularly nominated and elected mem- 
bers of the board of education, namely, Mrs. 
Miner Allen and Mrs. 0. L. Sadler. They 
were representative women, well qualified for 
the duties of the office. Mrs. Allen had 
taught in the schools for several years quite 
successfully. Both women served faithfully 
and efficiently for the full term of two years, 
at the end of which time, Mrs. Sadler declined 
to be a candidate for re-election. Mrs. Allen 
was renominated, but lacked a few votes of 
re-election. Since that time, no woman's 
name has been presented as a candidate for 
the office, and few women have claimed the 
privilege of voting. Interest in the move- 
ment seems to have died a natural death. 



HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES. 

In this period, pupils were graduated from 
the high school as follows: 

1884 35 1891 69 

1885 49 1892 74 

1886 56 1893 72 

1887 59 1894 85 

1888 62 1895 107 

1889 48 1896 75 

1890 65 1897 62 



192 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COX' XT Y 



Total in Superintendent Fraunfelter's 

term 918 

Total from the beginning 1222 

Total number of teachers employed in 
all the schools in 1897, including 
principals and special teachers 137 

Total number of pupils enrolled in all 
departments for year 1890-1901 .... 5283 

Total expenditures for year 1890-1901, 
including $25,000 for a new 
building $11 1,581 

SUPPLEMENT.\RY READING M.\TTER. 

A feature of Superintendent Fraunfelter's 
administration deserving of .special mention 
was the supplying of every grade below the 
high school and above the lower primary 
grades, with suitable reading matter, in addi- 
tion to the regular reader of the grade ; .-o 
that each pupil in every half-year grade had 
from two to four good books to be read in 
class, under the teacher's direction and in- 
struction — books of story, travel, biography, 
general literature, etc. This was a great 
gain. Something in this direction had been 
attempted in previous years, by inducing pu- 
pils to subscribe for children's and youth's 
magazines. But this was only partially suc- 
cessful. There was great gain when the board 
purchased well diosen books in quantity, and 
lent them to the pupils without cost. 

Through the stimulus of interest and infor- 
mation, the pupils more readily gained the 
ability to read independently and fluently. 
They acquired much useful information. But 
above all, by being introduced to good au- 
thors, many learned to love good reading and 
laid the foundation of a taste for the best in 
literature. 

SUPERINTENDENT R. 5. THOMAS. 

On the retirement of Dr. Fraunfelter, Mr. 
R. S. Thomas was called from the superin- 
tendency of the public schools of Warren. 
Ohio, to take charge of the Akron schools. 



He took up the work in September, 1897, and 
held the position for three years. 

NIGHT SCHOOLS. 

It was about this time that night schools 
were established for the benefit of youth of 
school age whose circumstances would not al- 
low their attendance at the regular daily ses- 
sions of the schools, but who yet desired to 
gain some education. In some cases, foreign- 
ers embraced this opportunity of gaining a 
knowledge and use of our language. Me- 
chanical drawing was sometimes taught in 
these .schools, but students usually paid for 
their tuition in this subject. 

TRANSITION SCHOOLS. 

A movement looking in the direction of 
kindergartens was started under Mr. Thomas' 
superintendency. Schools known as "transi- 
tion schools" were organized in some of the 
buildings. Into these were admitted children 
between the ages of five and six years, for 
whom instruction was provided which par- 
took more or less of the nature of kindergar- 
ten exercises, designed to mark the transition 
between the home and the school. These 
seemed to serve a good purpose, and, in a 
short time, very naturally grew into fully 
equipped kindergartens. 

GETTING OUT OF THE RUTS. 

A feature of this period was an effort to 
do things in another way, to avoid monotony. 
to keep out of the ruts. There was also a 
slaekening of the tension, a le.<s rigid adher- 
ence to classification and course of study, and 
an attempt at greater lil>erty and originality 
in the teaching. There was .seeming good in 
the end sought, but the inevitable tendency 
was to confusion and slackne.=s. The suc- 
ceeding administration found readjustment, 
and the restoration of former conditions in 
large measure, essential to the best interests 
of the schools. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



193 



HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES. 

There seems to have been a considerable 
falling off in the number of graduates in the 
three yeare of Mr. Thomas' administration. 
It is noticeable, too, that the records contain 
no mention of mid-year graduation. A good 
class was graduated at the end of each half- 
yeafl', from 1886 to 1897. Why the practice 
of mid-year graduation was intermitted in 
these three years, does not appear. The rec- 
ords show the following graduations: 

In June, 1898 30 

In June, 1899 24 

In June. 1900 18 

The falling off may be accounted for in 
part by the change from a three-year to a 
four-year course of study. 

Mr. E. H. Birney succeeded Mr. Rood in 
the principalship of the high school, and held 
the position for two years. 

THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF DR. H. V. HOTCH- 
KISS. 

It was in the last year of the old century 
that Dr. H. V. Hotchki-ss was called from 
the superintendency of the schools of Mead- 
ville, Pennsylvania, to take charge of the 
Akron schools. His work in Akron began in 
September of that year. This work, for con- 
siderable time, consisted, in large measure, of 
reconstniction and reorganization. Many va- 
cancies in the teaching force had to be filled, 
among them the principalship of the high 
school and one other principalship. Territory 
recently annexed to the city had to be dis- 
tricted, and the pupils a-s-^igned and classified. 
An elaborate syllabus of instruction had been 
prepared and printed in 1897; but ver>^ little 
attempt was made at any time to follow it, 
and at length it was wholly ignored. Confu- 
sion reigned in all the grades, but espe- 
cially in the high school. The labor involved 
in bringing order out of this confusion ^\-as 
very perplexing and very great. But it was 
soon manifest that the new superintendent 



and his helpers understood their business. 
Order was at length restored, and the schools, 
in every department, have ever since contin- 
ued to run smoothly and prosperously. 

STATUS IN 1901. 

These statistics, gleaned from the annual 
report for the year ending August 31, 1901, 
give a fair view of conditions then existing: 

Total expenditures (including 
building and grounds, and 
bonds redeemed, $83,643.97) $249,471.68 

Enumeration of school youth 11,877 

Average monthly enrollment 7,361 

Average monthly enrollment in high 

school 698 

Whole number teachers employed . . . 190 
High school teachers — 'men 9, women 

13, total 22 

Teachers in elementary schools — men 

13, women 155, total 168 

High School graduates — boys 19, girls 

21, total 40 

Number of Kindergartens 8 

Kindergarten children enrolled 240 

COURSE OF STUDY. 

A large share of space in the report is 
devoted to the course of study — a discussion 
of the advantages in a large system of schools, 
of a clearly defined published course, and its 
underlying principles. Four courses of study 
are prescribed for the high school, namely, 
the Latin course, the Gennan course, the 
business course, and the manual training 
course. These courses are printed side by 
side, with directions and suggestions to aid 
parents and pupils in making choice of the 
course to be pursued. 

The same subject is continued in the report 
for the next year, more especially with refer- 
ence to the schools below the high school. 
The "course of study and manuals of instruc- 
tion" provided "outlines the work to be done, 
and enumerates many of the principles, laws 



194 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and methods by which it is to be accom- 
plished." In the weekly teachers' meetings, 
conducted by the principals in the several 
buildings, a considerable portion of the time 
is spent in a critical study of the provisions 
of the course of study. Grade meetings are 
also conducted by the superintendent, in 
which the aim is to make clear and familiar 
to the teachers the prescribed work grade by 
grade — the aim and purpose of all which is 
to make txue artists of the teachers. 

ORGANIZATION FOR EFFICIENCY. 

From the annual report for the year ending 
August 31, 1902, it is learned that the su- 
perintendent gave much consideration to the 
perfecting of the organization of the schools 
in every department, to the end that the 
highest efficiency may be attained with the 
least expenditure of money and effort. With 
a million dollars invested in school buildings 
and their furnishing and equipment, and the 
annual expenditure of one-fourth of a mil- 
lion dollars on account of the schools, or 
thirteen hundred dollars for every school day, 
or more than two hundred and twenty-five 
dollars for every hour of every school day, 
the necessity for the best organization of all 
the forces is apparent from a financial stand- 
point. The superintendent thus presents the 
moral phase: 

"The element of organization is a miglity factor 
In rendering school management effective for the 
moral training of the pupils who come under its 
influence. A system of schools which insists that 
pupils attend school every session; that they he 
punctual at all exercises; that they conduct them- 
selves in an orderly and quiet manner in coming 
and going; that they restrain themselves from 
whispering, and thereby disturbing others; that 
they be considerate of the rights and privileges of 
others; that they be respectful, not only toward 
teacher, but toward fellow-pupils as well; that 'they 
be industrious, accurate, neat and painstaking — 
such a system, it thoroughly organized and strictly 
administered during the six to twelve years of 
the school life of the child, when habits are 
formed, will go a long way toward the develop- 
ment of those habits of conduct which constitute 
the basis of good citizenship in the republic." 

As examples of this organization for effi- 



ciency the following are given in the report: 
"Upon the last day of the school year, every 
teacher in the city knows just where she will 
Work during the next school year; what grade or 
grades of pupils she will teach; the number of 
pupils in her room, barring transfers and with- 
drawals, and the names of those pupils. Every 
pupil is told just what his work will be next term. 
In every school room are placed the books and 
supplies necessary for the use of the teacher and 
pupils at the opening of the term in September. 
The course of study tells each teacher what her 
class has done, and what they are expected to 
do within the term that they are to be under 
her instruction. ' She will be able, therefore, to 
plan her work so that within ten minutes from 
the opening of school upon the first day every 
pupil shall be at work upon lessons that are to 
be learned by him within the term." 

"The present system of ordering and distribut- 
ing stationery supplies is also a great saver 
of time, money and labor. Early in June, the su- 
perintendent makes a sheet, stating in tabular 
form the quantity of each kind of supplies needed 
for each building in the city. These aggregates 
are combined in a circular letter asking for bids. 
These letters are sent to manufacturers, jobbers, 
and dealers all over the eastern part of our coun- 
try. Early in June the bids which have been re- 
ceived, are opened and tabulated, and the contracts 
for furnishing the several kinds of supplies are 
let to the lowest and best bidders. The result is 
that we are buying our stationery supplies as 
cheaply, probably, as any dealer in the country, 
and very much more cheaply than most school dis- 
tricts can buy them. When the contracts have been 
let, the orders are placed In such a way that the 
shipper packs the goods in separate bundles, mark- 
ing each bundle to the building to which it Is to 
be delivered. In this way, the supplies are de- 
livered directly from the factory to the school 
buildings where they are to be consumed; there- 
by saving the labor, time and expense of much 
handling." 



FREE TEXT-BOOKS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES. 

Reference is made elsewhere to the sub- 
ject of free text-books. In January, 1901, 
the Board of Education entered completely 
upon the plan of furnishing all textrbooks 
and school supplies free to the children in ele- 
mentary schools. Beginning with the school 
year 1905-06, the free text-book system was 
extended to the high school. Thereafter, 
everything needed by the child to pursue his 
siudies in any of the public schools of the city 
was furnished free. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



195 



DUTIES OF THE PRINCIPALS. 

Under the superintendency of Dr. Hotch- 
kiss, all the principals were relieved from 
the duty of supervising and teaching separate 
school rooms as regular teachers. It did not 
seem wise, as a business enterprise, to employ 
men and women as principals at principals' 
salaries, and then confine them to separate, 
single school rooms and require them to per- 
form the work of the grade teacher, which 
ought to be performed for the salary of such 
a teacher. Principals are expected to teach 
almost constantly. Their work, however, is 
to be with teachers, with small groups of 
pupils, and occasionally with schools. Each 
principal is held responsible for the progress, 
not only of his schools as a whole, but of 
the individuals in them. If there is a single 
pupil, or a small group of pupils in any 
grade, especially strong and capable of mov- 
ing forward into the next grade with a little 
wise help, it is the principal's business to give 
such help and to make such promotion. If 
there are individual pupils, or small groups 
of pupils, who find the work a little too diffi- 
cult, but who might, with some individual 
help of the right kind, at the right time, 
maintain their positions in the several grades, 
it is the principal's business to ascertain that 
fact and to .give the help needed. 

KINDERGARTENS. 

The kindergartens, fifteen in number, are 
now as much a part of the city school system 
as any other school. They constitute the con- 
necting link between the home and the pri- 
mary school. It has been the fault of many 
advocates of the kindergarten to seek to pre- 
serve the mysticism and symbolism of its 
founders and early exponents, and to claim 
for it a special and mysterious merit. The 
later tendency is to modernize and American- 
ize the kindergarten, bringing it into closer 
touch with the work of the primary school. 
The Akron kindergartens have been consider- 
ably modified since thev were first made a 



part of the city school system; and the ten- 
dency is in the direction of still further modi- 
fication, to bring them more completely into 
harmony with the school system of which 
they are a part. 

THli NORMAL SCHOOL. 

The course of study and training extends 
through two years. "In the first year the 
students study educational psychology with 
special reference to the science and art of 
teaching; the general principles, laws and 
methods of teaching, or those principles, laws 
and methods which govern all teaching pro- 
cesses; special methods of teaching all the 
several common English branches; the his- 
tory of education. During the second year 
of the course the .student teachers continue 
their study of methods and principles of 
teaching and apply them in actual teaching. 
Four schools of four different grades are 
taught by the student teachers, under the 
constant direction, aid and criticism of two 
expert teachers known as critic teachers. By 
this arrangement of the normal course, one 
year is given to the theory of teaching and 
one year to the practice of that theory in 
actual teaching under expert direction and 
criticism. The results of the training given 
young women in the normal school have been 
satisfactory in a high degree. Young women, 
after completing the course in the normaJ 
school, know not only what it is to teach 
school, but how to teach school. In short, 
most of them are good teachers. 

"The normal school is a blessing to those 
young women of the city who -uash to be- 
come teachers; for by it any graduate of the 
high school, without expense, is enabled to 
get as good professional training as is given 
in the first class normal schools of the 
country." 

The normal school is maintained and op- 
erated without additional expense to the city. 
It is true that two critic teachers are em- 
ployed at a higher salary than that paid to 
the regular teachers in the grades, but with 



196 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



these two critic teachers and the student 
teachers in training, the city is able to care 
for four schools, for which it would be nec- 
essary to employ four teachers at the salaries 
provided for by the schedule of salaries. 

The superintendent maintains that there is 
no course of study of two years' duration that 
any young woman who has graduated from 
the high school could take that would do her 
more good as a means of broad culture than 
the normal school course, even though she 
were never to teach a day after graduation 
from the normal school. 

HIGH SCHOOL READJUSTMENT. 

The High School, some time since, out- 
grew its building. In 1906, the Board pro- 
vided for the erection of an annex. This 
annex is expected to afford additional room 
for the accommodation of the increased at- 
tendance in the high school, as well as facili- 
ties for physical training in the gymna.sium ; 
manual training for the boys; domestic 
science and ai"t for the girls, and shorthand 
and typewriting for those pupils taking the 
commercial coui-se. 

The courses of study in the high school 
were changed in April, 1907, to conform to 
the provisions in the new annex. The new 
courses are four — the Latin, the German, the 
commercial and the manual training. Ac- 
cording to the revi.?ed courses, all boys, as a 
part of their first year's work, will take car- 
pentry three double periods per week, and 
drawing two double periods per week; all 
girls will take cooking and sewing three dou- 
ble periods per week, and drawing two double 
periods per week. At the end of the first 
year, all boys in the courses offering the Ger- 
man language, will have an opportunity to 
decide whether they will take the manual 
training course, or one of the other two 
courses. 

The manual training course is planned to 
give the boys who take it a thorough high 
school education in the German language and 
literature, natural sciences, mathematics and 



history, and, in addition, to give them the 
elements of all of a half-dozen different 
trades. It is believed that at the completion 
of the manual training course, boys will have 
sufficient skill to secure credit for from two to 
three yeai"s upon an apprenticeship in any 
one of a half<lozen trades. 

NEW BUILDINGS. 

Since 1900, new schoolhouses have been 
completed as follows: The Perkins normal 
school building, in 1901 ; the Miller school, 
in 1901 ; the Lane school, in 1903 ; the 
Fraunfelter school, in January, 1905; the 
Samuel Findley school, in 1906 ; the high 
.school annex, in 1907. 

Present Status (1907). 

Board of Education consists of seven mem- 
bers. 

Number of school buildings 17 

Total enrollment of pupils 9425 

Number of teachers employed 235 

High school enrollment 961 

Teachers in high school 25 

Total number of high school graduates 

(including class of June, 1907) 1790 

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 

ZION's EVAXGELICAL LUTHERAN. 

Zion's Evangelical Lutheran Church, sit- 
uated on South High Street, has maintained 
its own palish school almost from its organi- 
zation. When the congregation was small, 
the pastor was also the parish teacher. At 
the present time, there is an enrollment of 
200 pupils in three departments, taught by 
three male teachers, whose salai'ies range 
from $500 to $600. The expense is borne by 
the parish. A small tuition fee is charged, 
the amount thus raised being .supplemented 
by suliscriptions as for other parish expenses. 
The branches taught are: Religion (cate- 
chism and Bible lessons in German) ; Read- 
ing (German and English) ; Vocal Music; 
Grammar (German and English) ; Arithme- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



197 



tic (mostly in English) ; Composition (Ger- 
man and English) ; Penmanship; Geography 
and U. S. History (in English). The chil- 
dren of the congregation attend the parish 
school from their sixth or seventh year until 
the age of fourteen, when they are given a 
certificate of scholarship, and may then enter 
the public schools for a higher education. In 
their fourteenth year, they are confirmed and 
become full members of the church. 

German Lutherans believe in an education 
for their children that will train not only 
the mind, but the heart and conscience as 
well. The public school deals with the minds 
of the children, inculcates patriotism, and 
prepares for American citizenship, and, for 
these ends, may be sufficient ; but it is outside 
the sphere of the State to inculcate the teach- 
ings of scripture pertaining to the soul's sal- 
vation. It is not the function of the public 
school to teach the Christian creed, the ten 
commandments, the rites of baptism and the 
Lord's supper. To do these things is the 
sacred duty of Christian parents and the 
Christian church. And German Lutherans 
believe these obligations are best fulfilled by 
the parochial school, and they are ready to 
make any sacrifice to maintain it. They ask 
and expect no aid from the public school 
fund. It is not the duty of the State to sup- 
port parochial schools. That sacred obliga- 
tion devolves upon Christian parents and the 
Christian church. 

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS. 

The parish school of St. Vincent De Paul's 
Catholic Church was established in 1853, in a 
small frame building on Green Street. It was 
removed to the fine two-story brick building 
on Maple Street in 1893. This building con- 
tains seven school rooms, in which are en- 
rolled about 300 pupils. Besides religious in- 
struction in all the grades, the course of study 
includes the branches usually taught in the 
public schools, the course for the highest 
grade including the usual high school 
branches, such as algebra, geometry. Latin, 
rhetoric, etc. 



St. Mary's branch of this church erected 70 
buildings on South Main Street and organized 
pai'ish schools in 1887. There are now about 
300 pupils in attendance, and a corps of six 
teachers. The course of study is identical 
with that pursued at St. Vincent's school. 

St. Bernard's Parochial School, situated on 
the corner of Broadway and Center Streets, 
was built in 1887. Prior to this period school 
was taught for some years in a small house 
adjoining the old St. Bernard's Church, and 
later four large rooms in the basement of said 
church were used for school purposes. 

The present building is a brick structure 
and contains eight large classrooms and a 
spacious auditorium. "The cost of building, 
equipments, etc., is estimated at $50,000. Un- 
til 1893, St. Bernard's School was taught by 
the Sistere of Notre Dame. Since then the 
school is in charge of the Sisters of St. Domi- 
nic. There are 475 pupils in attendance, 
ranging in age from 6 to 15 years. The 
school is divided into primarj' and grammar 
departments and a senior grade. The 
branches taught are: Reading, arithmetic, 
orthography, penmanship, composition, lan- 
guage, English grammar, geography, United 
States history, Bible and church history, 
physiology, algebra, civil government, ele- 
ments of geometry, elementary bookkeeping, 
business correspondence. 

German reading and writing is taught in 
all the grades. All pupils are required to 
study the Catechism of Christian doctrine, 
though they are at liberty to choose to take 
this branch in either language. 

No tuition is required from pupils belong- 
ing to the parish ; but parents are expected to 
furnish the books. 

All pupils who have completed the Senior 
grade are awarded a diploma of graduation. 
This school aims at the Christian training of 
youth, not only offering them every opportu- 
nity for obtaining a good and solid educa- 
tion in all the common English branches, but 
endeavoring mainly to develop those nobis 
traits of Chri.stian manhood and womanhood 



198 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



which constitute the high distinction of the 
lionored Catholic citizen. 

The Sacred Heart Academy, on South 
Broadway, conducted by the Sisters of St. 
Dominic, was began in 1904. The Academy 
has four departments: Primary, Grammar, 
Commercial and Academic. The.se depart- 
ments embrace all the branches of a thorough 
practical education. The commercial course, 
coveiing two years, includes reading and 
spelling, commercial arithmetic, commercial 
law, penmanship, business correspondence, 
bookkeeping, stenography, typewriting and 
English grammar. 

Tuition includes Latin, German, needle 
work and embroidery. The Academy affords 
ample facilities to students who desire to de- 
vote particular attention to the study of mu- 
sic, drai\'ing and painting. Special attention 
is given to drawing, crayon and pastel, oil 
painting, china decoration, and tapestry 
painting. 

Difference in creed or religious belief is no 
bar to the admission of any pupil who is will- 
ing to conform to the lailcs of the institution. 

■WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE. 

At the time of tbe adoption of the "Articles 
of Confederation," when the States ceded their 
lands northwest of the Ohio River to the gen- 
eral government, Connecticut reserved that 
portion of her territory lying next west of 
Pennsylvania, forty leagues in length. This 
tract has since been known as the Connecticut 
Western Reserve. On this tract. Western Re- 
serve College was established by its early set- 
tlers for the promotion of sound learning and 
religion in their midst, and to extend their 
good influences over the new country to the 
south and west. 

The first movement toward the founding 
of a college on the Western Reserve was made 
in 1801, when a petition for a charter was 
.sent to the territorial legislature, numerously 
signed by the settlers and by many of the 
landowners residing in Connecticut. The 
prayer of the petitioners was not granted at 



that time. In 1803, after the admission of 
Ohio into the Union as a State, the petition 
was renewed and a charter was granted to the 
"Erie Literary Society" with full college 
powers. Under this charter, an academy was 
opened at Burton in 1806, with the expecta- 
tion that it should be expanded into a college 
as fast as circumstances would warrant. 

In 1822, the Grand River and Portage 
presbyteries undertook to raise a fund to aid 
young men in preparing for the Christian 
ministry, and placed this fund in the hands 
of a board of managers. These managers, 
under direction of their presbyteries, entered 
into a compact with the trustees of the Erie 
Literary Society, whereby a theological de- 
partment was to be added to the academy at 
Burton. This arrangement, after trial, prov- 
ing unsatisfactory, the connection was dis- 
solved in 1824, and the managers at once 
began efforts to establish a college elsewhere. 
The academy at Burton continued under its 
charter until 1834, when it ceased to exist as 
a chartered school. Eleven hundred and 
thirty a(?res of land donated to the Literary 
Society by William Law, of Connecticut, in 
1806, on condition that the college be estab- 
lished and continue at Burton, reverted to 
his heirs in 1841. 

The pi'esbyteries, reinforced by the addition 
of the new presbytery of Hui"on, appointed 
four commi.s.sioners each, to locate the new 
college, directing them to "take into view all 
circumstances of situation, moral character, 
facility of communication, donations, health, 
etc." The town of Hudson was selected as 
combining the greatest advantages, the peo- 
ple of the town subscribing $7,1 nO to secure 
the location, besides the donation by Mr. 
David Hudson of 160 acres of land for a 
campus. 

The date borne by the charter is Febniary 
7, 1826. The corporators were George Swift 
and Zalmon Fitch, of Tnimbull County; 
Caleb Pitkin, Elizur Wright, John Seward, 
jr., Benjamin Fenn, .Joshua B. Sherwood and 
David Hudson, of Portage Countv; Stephen 
T. Bradstreet and Simeon Woodruff, of Cuva- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



199 



hoga County; Henry Brown and Harmon 
Kingsbury, of Lorain County — all ministers 
own members of the Presbyterian or the Con- 
gregational Church. These twelve men con- 
stituted the Board of Trustees, a close cor- 
poration with full power. 

The objects proposed by the founders were 
"to educate pious young men as pa.stors for 
our destitute churches," "to preserve the pres- 
ent literary and religious character of the 
State and redeem' it from future decline," "to 
prepare competent men to fill the cabinet, the 
bench, the bar, and the pulpit." 

The clergymen among the founders were, 
most of them, graduates of Yale College, the 
others, of Williams and Dartmouth ; the lay- 
men were from Connecticut, reared under the 
shadow of Yale. It thus came about that 
these famous colleges were the models upon 
which Western Reserve College was con- 
structed. 

The trustees held their first meeting in the 
township of Hudson, on the fii-st Wednesday 
of March, 1S26, as provided in the charter, 
took immediate steps for the erection of a 
college building, and before the close of the 
year, organized a freshman class. 

When the college started, its entire re- 
sources were only about $10,000, contributed 
mostly in small sums, by numerous donors. 
Its sole dependence for the means of support 
and growth was the liberality and devotion of 
the friends of religion and learning in the 
new settlements, and in the older States from 
which the people here had come. 

The college received no aid at any time 
from the government, either State or na- 
tional, in any form, except a partial release 
from taxation. With the exception of $13,000 
received in the years 1845 to 1848, from "The 
Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and 
Theological Education at the West," its funds 
all came from private individuals interested 
in the advance of "religion, morality and 
knowledge," The largest single donation 
ever received is $10,000, The whole number 
of .«iingle donations is nearly five thousand, 
and the total amount of donations, up to 



1876, is $387,040, Much of this was con- 
tributed for current expenses, when the col- 
lege income was insufficient. The estimated 
value of property and endowment before the 
removal to Cleveland was $300,000. 

The first president of the college was Rev. 
Charles Backus Storrs. He became president 
in 1830, at the age of thirty-six. He died 
September 15, 1833. Rev. George Edmund 
Pierce, D. D., succeeded to the presidency in 
1834, and retired from that office in 1855. 
"Under his administration the college took 
its place for thoroughness and completeness 
among the best in the land. . . , He 
gathered about him a wise and able faculty. 
He enlarged and beautified the grounds, 
erected an observatory and three college build- 
ings, and gathered a valuable apparatus for 
instruction." Rev. Henry Lawrence Hitch- 
cock, D. D., became president in 1855, re- 
signed in 1871, but remained as professor in 
the college until his death, which occurred 
July 6, 1873. "He removed all the encum- 
brances of the college, and added to its perma- 
nent fund more than $175,000." On the re- 
tirement of Dr. Hitchcock in 1871, the va- 
cancy was filled by the promotion of Rev. 
Carroll Cutler, D. D. The college was re- 
moved to Cleveland in 1882. Dr. Cutler re- 
signed the presidency in 1886. 

A system of manual labor in connection 
•with the college was advocated by the founders 
as early as 1823. In 1829, the trustees pro- 
vided a farm, a cooper shop, carpenter shop, 
wagon shop, and cabinet shop, and estab- 
lished a system of labor. The whole scheme 
was unpopular with the students and proved 
a failure. Some lingering remnants of the 
enterprise remained until 1852. 

Under an amendment of the charter, a 
medical department was established in Cleve- 
land, in 1844. Twelve hundred and fifty-five 
students in this department received the de- 
gree of Doctor of Medicine prior to 1876. 

A theological department was a part of the 
original plan of the founders, and a com- 
plete course of theological instruction was 
given from 1831 to 1852. It was suspended 



200 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



on account of financial embarrassment, and 
not resumed. One hundred and one theo- 
logical students pursued their professional 
studies here. 

From 1838 onward, facilities were provided 
for post-graduate work on the part of any 
graduate desiring to pursue special studies in 
any of the departments included in the col- 
lege course. The number availing them- 
selves of these opportunities was never large. 

A preparatory department was connected 
with the college from the first. This was 
designed to be only temporary, but it was 
found necessary to 'maintain it. After the 
college was removed to Cleveland, the pre- 
paratory department was maintained at Hud- 
son for several years, under the name of The 
Western Reserve Academy. 

Western Reserve College was for a time a 
oo-educational institution. In his inaugural 
address in 1872, President Cutler announced 
that the doors of the college were open to 
women as well as men. Thereafter, a num- 
ber of young women attended the regular 
college classes, both before and after the re- 
moval to Cleveland. Al the annual com- 
mencement in 1888, the trustees formally 
decided against co-education ; and "the girls 
were unceremoniously turned out." Provi- 
sion 'was made for them, however, in a sep- 
arate department, known as the Woman's 
College. The number of students in attend- 
ance was never large, the number in all de- 
partments, including preparatory, rarely ex- 
ceeding 120. The highest number in the 
college department in any one year was 78, 
in 1869. The firet gi-aduating class (1830) 
contained four young men. The largest num- 
ber of graduates from the college in any one 
year was eighteen, in 1872. These statistics 
apply only to the period prior to the removal 
to Cleveland. 

TWINSBURGH INSTITUTE. 

Rev. Samuel Bissel, founder and proprie- 
tor of Twinsburgh Institute, was graduated 
at. Yale College in 1823. He studied theol- 



ogy, and in 1825 was licensed in Connecticut 
to preach the gospel. In the spring of 1828. 
he came to Twinsburgh to take charge of the 
Presb}4erian Church, to which he had been 
called. In the autumn of that year, he fitted 
up with seats a rude log house, which had 
been built for a shoe shop, and invited all 
youth of suitable age to attend school, those 
able and willing being expected to pay tui- 
tion at the rate of two dollars per quarter. 
About forty young people responded, and the 
little room was packed. In 1831, a house 
was built for the two-fold purpose of a church 
on Sabbath and a school on week days. In 
1837, Mr. Bissell erected a house 20 by 35 
feet, in which he held school forty weeks in 
the year, divided into three regular terms. 
Additions were made from time to time to 
this building and to the dwelling hard by, 
a two-story building used for a tavern was 
purchased, and two other buildings three 
stories high were erected. The number of stu- 
dents increased to 300, with at least fifty 
boarders, requiring seven teachers to give in- 
structions in the cla.ssics, mathematics, Ger- 
man, French and musdc, besides all the usual 
branches of an English education. No char- 
ter was ever obtained, no appropriations of 
public money were ever received. Board and 
tuition were low at best, and many students 
attended who paid little or nothing. None 
were turned away for want of means. In 
the course of time, receipts fell short of ex- 
penditures. A debt of $6,000 accunnilated. 
A portion of the buildings were sold to pay 
the indebtedness, leaving a balance in hand 
of only $300. 

These embarrassments, the general im- 
provement of the public schools, and the 
breaking out of the Civil War, conspired to- 
gether to reduce the attendance and diminish 
the income. 

In 1868, Mr. Bissell, at the age of seventy, 
found himself without means and with very 
scanty income, but with indomitable will and 
tenacity of purpose. He resolved to erect a 
new stone building, two stories high, 77 feet 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 201 

by 33. He borrowed $1,500 and received went on slowly, but in the course of time 

some aid from former pupils and other it was sufficiently advanced to provide for 100 

friends. Mr. Bissell did most of the work students. Mr. BLssell's own estimate was that 

with his own hands, save cutting and laying not less than 6,000 students received in- 

the stone and the plastering. Without any struction in Twinburgh Institute, among 

previous knowledge of carpentry, he framed them more than 200 Indian youth, from sev- 

and erected a self-supporting roof; he made eral different tribes, east and west. This re- 

and put up doors, ceiling and casing; he markable man died in 1895, at the age of 

laid floors and built stairways. The work ninety-eight. 



CHAPTER XII 



HISTORY OF BUCHTEL COLLEOE 



BY KEV. AXIiKEW WILLSON, D. D. 



For majiy years the need of an institution 
of learning had been recognized by the pro- 
gressive ministers and laymen of the Univer- 
salist Church. During 1865, and the early 
months of 1866, Ohio was canvassed for Lom- 
bard University at Galesburg, 111., and the 
Buckeye State contributed $20,000 toward an 
endowment of $100,000. That canvass in- 
tensified the desire for a school in Ohio under 
the management of the Universalist denomi- 
nation. 

At the Ohio convention, held at Mt. Gilead, 
in June, 1867, as chairman of the Committee 
on Education, Rev. Andrew Willson prepared 
and presented a report urging the establish- 
ment of an academy for both sexes. The re- 
port was unanimously adopted. The Com- 
mittee on Education, of which Mr. Willson 
was again chairman, was instructed to prepare 
a plan for a state school and report the same 
at the next annual convention to be held in 
Dayton in June of 1868. After corresponding 
with the leading ministers and prominent lay- 
men in the state, Mr. Willson prepared and 
presented a somewhat elaborate plan and made 
$50,000 the minimum sum to be pledged be- 
fore the beginning of the work. Mr. Will- 
son rather surprised the convention by stat- 
ing that no place could secure the school for 
less than $1 0.000. He wa? finally assured that 
Kent would give that amount. 

The report was unanimously adopted. Dur- 
ing that year several towns seriously consid- 
ered the question of obtaining the school. The 
principal competitors were Kent. Mt. Gilead 
and Oxford. 



By June, 1869, when the Ohio convention 
met at McConnellsville, the thought of a col- 
lege had found favor with many of the most 
interested. The trustees, Eevs. Andrew Will- 
son, H. L. Canfield, J. S. Cantwell, J. W. 
Henly and 0. F. Haymaker, and the Commit- 
tee on Education, Revs. B. F. Eaton and E. 
L. Rexford, were intsructed "to proceed to -es- 
tablish a denominational school in the state, 
whenever a suitable location may be secured 
and requisite funds pledged." 

In November, 1869, at a joint meeting of 
the Board of Trustees and Committee on Edu- 
cation held at Springboro, Rev. H. F. Miller, 
then financial secretary' of Smithson College, 
Indiana, was invited to become general finan- 
cial secretary of the Board and Committee. 
He accepted the office and began work the 
first of the following January. 

At this time Kent and Mt. Gilead were 
earnest com])etitors for the college. The lat- 
ter place was centrally located, but not finan- 
cially as strong as Kent. Against the latter 
there was a strong prejudice on account of its 
reputation of unhealthfulness. When Mr. 
Willson found that Kent, where he was then 
pastor, was not likely to win, he threw his in- 
fluence in favor of Akron. He was the first 
to call the attention of the citizens of this 
city to the proposed institution, and urge the 
importance and advantages to the place in 
which it might be located. 

In September of 1867 the Western Reserve 
A.ssociation of Universalists was held in Ak- 
ron. A special car conveyed the Kent peo- 
ple, and Brimfield, Windsor and other places 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



203 



sent large delegations. The enthusiasm of 
that meeting quickened much interest and 
touched John R. Buchtel. Although he had 
made his will, when he clearly sa-w the op- 
portunity of founding a college, he was not 
slow in grasping its meaning and its impor- 
tance to the cause of education. 

However, to him the opportunity did not 
fully a appear until early in 1870. Mr. Willson 
and Mr. Miller had investigated the condition 
in Akron, interviewed prominent citizens, in- 
cluding Mr. Buohtel, without satisfactory re- 
sults. They did not succeed in arousing suffi- 
cient interest to justify large expectations of 
locating the college in that city. After visit- 
ing several places and investigating their of- 
fers, Mr. Miller decided in favor of Mt. 
Gilead, a centrallv located town in Morrow 
County. January 9, 1870, Rev. H. L. Can- 
field preached in .\kron and on the evening 
of that day several friends met at the residence 
of Avery Spicer and earnestly discussed the 
question of the location of the college. All 
present felt that Akron was the place. The 
next day Mr. Canfield wrote the financial sec- 
retary to again visit Akron before finally de- 
ciding the question of location. Mr. Miller 
replied that he had already called a meeting 
of the truste&s of the convention and its Edu- 
cational Committee to meet at Columbus to 
decide the important question. The meeting 
was held but no decision was reached. A com- 
mittee fwas appointed to accompany Mr. Mil- 
ler to Akron and reinvestigate the situation. 
Rev. Geo. Messenger, an old friend of Mr. 
Buchtel's, gave his strong influence and the 
committee was satisfied that Akron was the 
right place for the institution. This was of- 
fered the city on the condition that the sum 
of $60,000 should be pledged. The offer was 
promptly accepted, Mr. Buchtel pledging 
$6,000 for a building fund and $2.5.000 as nn 
endowment when the college should be estab- 
lished. 

As the records were burned when the col- 
lege building was destroyed, it is impossible 
to recall the names of all of the original sub- 
.«!cribers. On the list were the following: J. 
H. Pendleton, Ferd Schumacher, Aver\' 



Spicer, Geo. Steese, S. M. Burnham, J. T. 
Trowbridge, M. W. Henry, E. P. Green, Geo. 
T. Perkins, Geo. W. Grouse, N. D. Tibbals, 
A. C. Voris, J. Park Alexander, Geo. Cogg- 
shell, Talmon Beardsley, Lewis Miller, L. V. 
Bierce, J. Sumner, Wm. Buchtel, Dr. Childs, 
Jerry Long, W. B. Doyle, Brewster Bros., M. 
J. Atwood, Frank Adams, James Christy, 
John Christy, John Burton, John Wolf, Thos. 
Willey, C. Howe, Richard Howe, J. B. Lane, 
S. A. Lane, M. T. Cutter, J. B. Woods, Chas. 
Bonstead, John Seiberling. 

Having decided in favor of Akron, the next 
important question was where to erect the 
building. The trustees of the Ohio conven- 
tion, accompanied by citizens of the city, spent 
some time visiting diff^erent sections and con- 
sidering offers from various parties. The re- 
sult was the selection of the old cemetery 
grounds. The decision has never been re- 
gretted. 

On the 31st day of May, 1870, the Board 
of Trustees and Committee on Education met 
at the Court House in Akron at 10 a. m. 
Trustees present: Rev. J. S. Cantwell, H. L. 
Canfield, J. W. Henley and Andrew Willson 
and Mr. 0. F. Haymaker; Committee on Edu- 
cation, Revs. B. F. Eaton and E. L. Rexford. 
Rev. H. F. Miller, financial secretary, stated 
that the citizens of Summit County had com- 
plied with the terms of the Trustees and Com- 
mittee on Education. On motion of Rev. B. 
F. Eaton, it was unanimously voted to locate 
the college in Akron and to authorize Rev, H. 
F. Miller, W. Spaulding, Geo. Messenger, 
Henry Blandy, J. R. Buchtel. Hon. N. D. 
Tibbals, E. P.' Green. Col. George T. Perkins, 
.Tames Lantz and George Steese, together with 
the Trustees and Committee on Education to 
act as corporators. 

By what name shall the college be known? 
This was a deeply interesting and important 
question and was earnestly discussed by the 
Trustees and Committee on Education. Some 
favored naming it Murray Centennial Col- 
lege, others Buchtel UniversaH«t College. Mr. 
Buchtel was invited to attend the meeting and 
express his opinion. Honestly and frankly 
he said "name it what you like. The college 



204 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



is yours, not mine. It shall have my hearty 
support. If prospered, I expect to give it one 
hundred thou.sand dollai's." Then it was 
unanimously voted to name the child of the 
Ohio Universalist convention Buchtel College, 
in honor of the man who financially most loy- 
ally aided it in its infancy. 

All necessary legal measures were taken, the 
corporation adopted articles of association, 
also a seal ; elected a board of trustees, became 
a "Body Corporate" and then delivered all the 
propert}' into the hands of the trustees. This 
board then organized by electing Hon. John 
R. Buchtel, president; Hon. Sanford M. 
Burnham, secretary, and Hon. George W. 
Grouse, tre^asurer. The services of Rev. H. F. 
Miller as financial secretary were secured, to 
date from January 1, 1870. 

During the first week in June the Ohio 
Universalist Convention was held at Kent. 
The attendance was unusually large. In this 
centennial year of the Universalist Church in 
America, the college occupied a prominent 
place in the thoughts of all delegates and vis- 
itors. The action of the Trustees and the 
Committee on Education was earnestly in- 
dorsed amid great enthusiasm. The follow- 
ing resolutions were' unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That this convention joyfully rec- 
ognize the succass of the friends of Universal- 
ism in their efforts to establish a denomina- 
tional institution of learning in this State; 
that we appreciate the magnificent gift of our 
friend and brother, Hon. John R. Buchtel, 
of Akron, for this object and pledge to him 
our cordial co-operation to make the enter- 
prise so generously aided a complete suc- 
cess. 

Resolved, that, haA'ing confidence in tihe 
man, in his honor, rectitude, integrity, in his 
disinterestedness in this friendly gift, in the 
positive manly virtues of his life and the ex- 
ample which his history affords to the stnig- 
gling youths of our country, we gratefully 
recognize the wisdom which gives the institu- 
tion his name, and that will hereafter enable 
us to rank Buchtel College among the proud- 
est monuments of our centennial year. 

Under the able management of Rev. H. F. 



Miller, efliciently aided by Revs. J. S. Cant- 
well, editor of the Star in the West, Andrew 
Willson, H. L. Canfield, B. F. Eaton, R. T. 
Polk and many others, the canvass for funds 
Avas successfully pushed. The people had a 
mind to give, and preparations for erecting 
a suitable building were speedily commenced. 
T. W. Silloway, of Boston, was employed a^ 
architect and in due time Noah Carter, of 
Akron, was engaged to superintend the work 
of the building. 

On the 4th of July, 1871, was laid the cor- 
ner stone bearing the inscription, "Centenary 
of Universalism in Americ'a, 1870." In the 
presence of a great multitude, Horace Greeley 
gave an address on "Human Conceptions of 
God as They Affect the Moral Education of 
Our Race." In the evening a reception in 
honor of Mr. Greeley was held at the home of 
Hon. John R. Buchtel. 

The trustees^ of the college appointed a com- 
mittee, of which Hon. Henry Blandy was a 
member, to select a president for the institu- 
tion. As Mr. Blandy had business engage- 
ments in New England, he was instructed to 
confer with leading scholars in the denomina- 
tion and if possible report the name of some 
well-qualified man for that responsible posi- 
tion. On his return he reported that Rev. S. 
H. McCoUester, D. D., had been highly rec- 
ommended and that he would visit Akron in 
March of 1872. The promi.?ed visit was made 
and resulted in the engagement of Dr. McCol- 
lester, who moved to Akron the first of June 
of that year. 

By this time the chapel was nearly finished 
and in it was held the Ohio Universali.'st Con- 
vention. This was a memorable session for 
the college. There were present delegates 
from nearly all the churches in the State and 
great interest was manifested in the new insti- 
tution. Early in the year Rev. H. F. Miller 
resigned his position as financial secretary and 
retired the first of April. Rev. D. C. Tom- 
linson was then employed to fill the vacancy, 
and, under his leadership, assisted by Rev. J. 
S. CantwcU and others, about $17,000 was 
pledged for the college. Subscriptions varied 
in amount from $1,000 to $1.50 by a little 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



205 



girl, Lillie Snell, of Dayton. The cost of fur- 
nishing each room was estimated at $60, and 
the person or church paying that sum had the 
privilege of naming the room. Pledges for 
furnishing nearly all the rooms were made be- 
fore the close of the convention. To furnish 
a room in the name of Rev. I. D. William- 
son, D. D., one of the ablest and most exten- 
sively known of the pioneer ministers, a hat 
collection was successfully taken. 

On the building and furni.shings between 
$160,000 and $200,000 had been expended. 
The following description was given in the 
first catalog i.ssued. "The college building is 
two hundred and forty feet long, fifty-four 
feet wide and five stories high. Its style of 
architecture combines the Doric, Gothic and 
Norman. It is a grand structure of symmetri- 
cal and harmonious proportions. Its rooms for 
lectures, apparatus, cabinets, music and stu- 
dents, including the dining room and gymna- 
sium, are light, airy and amply furnished 
with modern and most improved conven- 
ience. The building is w^armed by steam. 
st*am, lighted by gas and supplied by water. 
The site of the college is high, affording from 
its obser\'atory one of the most extensive and 
delightful prospects in Ohio." Under the su- 
pervision of Julius Sumner the spacious 
grounds had been laid out artLstically and re- 
ceived the admiration of all visitors. 

There was great rejoicing when, on the 
11th day of September, 1872, the college doors 
were open for students. On the first day ninety 
were enrolled. The next day the number 
reached 127, and during the year a total of 
217. The faculty consisted of Rev. S. H. Mc- 
Collester, D. D., 'president; N. White, A. M., 
professor of ancient languages; S. F. Peck- 
ham, .profes.sor of natural sciencas ; Miss H. F. 
Spaulding, professor of English literature; 
Carl P. Kolbe, professor of modern languages ; 
A'lfreid WeLsh, A. B., professor of mathe- 
matics; H. D. Person, professor in normal 
department. 

The Akron Beacon said: "A more auspi- 
cious beginning or a better augury of the com- 
mencement of a grand and pro.^perous career 



was not expected even by the most sanguine 
of the friends." 

The college was dedicated September 20, 
1872. On this memorable occasion President 
McCollester was assisted by home talent and 
by Rev. Paul Kendcll of Lombard University; 
Rev. J. E. Forraster, D. D., of Chicago ; Rev. 
L. J. Fletcher, of New York, who represented 
the Universalist Gencra.l Convention, and by 
Mrs. Caroline A. Soule, author of the Dedica- 
tion hymn. The architect, T. W. Silloway, 
made a brief address and delivered the keys 
to the trustee. On behalf of the trustees, Hon. 
Henry Blandy expressed satisfaction with the 
w"ork and accepted the keys. The congrega- 
tion then sang the following Dedication 
hymn, written by Mrs. Caroline A. Soule: 

DEDICATION HYMN, 

A hundred years of our story- 
Had garnered their heavy sheaves, 

Harvests of valor and glory, 
As brilliant as Autumn leaves! 

And tenderly then the reapers 
Of this golden, precious grain, 

Chanted the dirge of the sleepers 
In a soft and solemn strain. 



The dirge was only for sleepers, 

As its music died away, 
There rose from the voice of reapers 

The song of an op'ning day. 
Like martyrs crowding the altar. 

All pledging themselves anew 
In work of love ne'er to falter 

Which their hands may find to do. 



And now we review the story. 

As we gather in our sheaves! 
Harvests of valor and glory. 

And crown them with laurel leaves! 
Father Almighty! we pray Thee 

To bless this work of our hands. 
And may it shed unceasingly 

Bright radiance o'er all lands! 



Whei'e error bindeth its tetters, 

Where sloth holdeth prey in chain. 
May soldiers of science and letters 

Their triumph and honors gain! 
From North and South we will call them — 

The sons of our sainted sires; 
From East and West we will draw them 

To kindle these sacred fires! 



206 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



As the years shall tell their story. 

And reapers harvest the grain. 
In the flush of each year's glory 

Our loved will meet here again I 
Blessing Founder of this College, 

Praising our Father above 
For his bestowals of knowledge, 

And treasures of Infinite Love! 

Rev. S. H. McCollester, D. D., was then in- 
stalled president. Hon. John R. Buchtel, 
president of the Board of Trustees, conduct- 
ing the service. Hon. Henry Blandy then 
presented the keys to President McCollester 
who gave his inaugural address on "The Edu- 
cational Demand of the Nation." 

On the first Sunday after the college was 
opened. Rev. James H. Herron, of the Erie 
M. E. Conference, preached in the chapel, and 
froim that time regular Sunday services were 
held by Dr. McCollester, or substitutes. To 
him belongs the'credit of the organization of 
the Universalist Church that was intended to 
furnish a religious home for all who desired a 
denominational place of worship. He also or- 
ganized the educational work and placed it 
upon a solid foundation.. Day and night he 
labored for the succass of the institution and 
gave generously of his means for its support,. 

For some time the attendance was encour- 
aging. Money was generously contributed 
and the institution seemed on the highway to 
great prosperity, when a dark cloud settled 
over the financial affairs of our country and 
threatened many enterprises with speedy de- 
struction. This cloud is known as the panic 
of 1873. lis full force was not felt by the 
college until a year or so later. It was this 
trying ordeal that tested the loyalty of the 
professed friends. It was then demonstrated 
that John R. Buchtel was truly reliable. 

In the spring of 1875 Rev.' D. C. Tomlin- 
son resigned the office of financial secretary. 
Soon the Executive Committee sought the 
services of Rev. Andrew Willson, then pastor 
of the churches at. Kent and Brimfield. After 
being persistently urged, in the following De- 
cember Mr. Willson accepted the responsible 
position, which he held till June. 1878. Dur- 
ing thi.s period the college passed through its 
most tr^nng financial experience. Only John 



R. Buchtel and the financial secretary knew 
how nearly it came to olosing ifc doors. In 
debt nearly $50,000, a large portion to banks 
at 10 per cent interest, it was no easy tiisk to 
prevent notes going to protest. All the bank- 
ers were as patient as their rules would per- 
mit, and no note was ever protested. While 
money for the debt was earnestly sought, 
special attention had to be given to securing 
funds for the payment of interest and regu- 
lar current expenses. By 1878 financial confi- 
dence was measurably restored, and the col- 
lege having passed safely through its severe 
ordeal, began to .plan for more aggre-sive 
work to meet the indebtedness and increase 
the endow^ment. 

In the time of pressing need many besides 
John R. Buchtel and wife had a mind to 
work and give. Rev. and Mrs. George Mes- 
senger had endowed the mental and moral 
philosophy professorship; Mr. and Mrs. 
John Hilton, the chair of modern language,*; 
Mrs. Chloe Pierce, of Sharpsville, Pennsyl- 
vania, had given $10,000 for the chair of Eng- 
lish literature, and the balance of $10,000 
had been nearly all subscribed by many don- 
ors. Twenty-five scholarships of $1,000 each, 
fifteen of them drawing interest, had been es- 
tablished by the following donors: James 
Pierce, Elijah Drury, Mrs. Mary C, 
Roosa, James F. Davidson, Betsey Thomas. 
John Perdue, Eli M. Kennedv, John K. 
Smith,. N. S. Olin, John B. Smith, Candia 
Palmer, George W. Steele, Mrs. George W. 
Steele, Mrs. Betsy Dodge, Brice Hilton, John 
Loudenback, John Espv, Joseph Hidv, Sr,, 
Rev, H. P. and Mrs. D". E. Sage, Mrs.' E. V. 
Stedraan, Mrs. Henry Boszar, E. F. Louden- 
back, IT. D. Loudenback, Thomas Kirby, Mr. 
and Mrs. Isaac Kelly. 

To help meet interest and current expenses 
generous contributions were made by Rev. S. 
H. McCollester, D. D., Joy H. Pendleton, 
Ferd. Schumacher, Avery Spicer, J. T. Trow- 
bridge, .ludge N. D. Tibbals. M. W. Henry, 
S. M. Burnham, Col. George T. Perkins, Gen. 
A. C. Voris. E. P. Green, Esq., George Steese, 
Hon. George W, Crouse, I, Park Alexander, 
.Tonas and Frank Pierce, of Sharp«ville, Penn- 




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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



209 



sylvania; Thomas Espy, of Kenton, Ohio; W. 
H. Slade, Columbus, Ohio; Rev. C. L. Ship- 
man, Girard, Pennsylvania; 0. F. Haymaker, 
Kent, Ohio; Edmunt Stearns, Olmstead, 
Ohio; E. L. Litchfield, Conneautville, Penn- 
sylvania; Rev. H. L. Canfield, Rev. Andrew 
Willson and many others. Nearly all the 
professors and teachers voluntarily donated a 
part of their salaries. 

In June, 1878, Rev. Andrew Willson re- 
signed as secretary and ex-officio financial 
secretary. Rev. H. F. Miller succeeded him 
for a few months. In June, 1879, A. B. 
Tinker, M. S., LL. B., was elected and con- 
tinued in that position until 1891, when he 
was succeeded by C. R. Olin, B. S. During 
the early work of the college, Rev. S. P. Carl- 
ton acted for a few months as canvassing 
agent, and at a later period Rev. W. P. Bur- 
oell devoted a few months to that business. 
Financial and general agents were employed 
as follows: William F. Crispin, from 1880 to 
1885; Rev. H. L. Canfield, D. D., 1885 to 
1886; Arthur A. Stearns, A. M., 1887 to 
1889 ; Julius Simmons, a part of 1891 ; Rev. 
E. W. Preble and H. H. Hollinbeck, in 189R 
and 1894. 

For many years the college did not have 
any very unu-sual financial experiences. Like 
all similar institutions, at was always hungry 
for money and thankfiil for the donations of 
friends. The panic of 1893 limited its re- 
sources, but did not seriously affect its finan- 
cial conditions. The trAnng ordeal came De- 
cember 20, 1899, when the building that wa> 
sacred in the estimation of the founders and 
early teachers and students, was totally de- 
stroyed by fire. With the building went val- 
uable natural science collections, the gifts of 
Dr. McCollester, Prof. E. W. Claypole and 
others. Many articles cannot be duplicated. 
The fire was a great calamity. It shocked and 
saddened, but did not discourage the friends 
of the institution. Arrangements were speed- 
ily made to continue the regular work of the 
college in Crouse Gymnasium and other build- 
ings, until a new stmcture could be erected. 
The calamity deeply stirred the citizens of 
Akron and vicinity, and the friends of liberal 



education throughout a large territory, and 
general sympathy was embodied in generous 
donations. New buildings were speedily 
planned. It was not deemed wise to erect one 
large structure, but to have .several separated 
from each other. The college received from 
insurance, $63,986.12. From donations, $38,- 
233.95, a total of $102,220.07. Exclusive of 
furnishings, the ■ new buildings cost $95,- 
269.28, viz. : Buchtel Hall, $47,466.67 : Acad- 
emy Building, $25,559.73; Heating Plant, 
$10,591.73; Curtis Cottage, $11,674.15. 

The donations came from individuals and 
churches in various sums, varying from a few- 
cents by children up to several thousand dol- 
lars. The largest sum donated by any Uni- 
versalist Church, outside of Akron, was $500 
from Brimfield. The next was All Souls 
Church, Cleveland, $207. Unity Church, 
Cleveland, included a handsome individual 
subscription of $610. 

For trustees the college has had the follow- 
ing named persons: 
Entered. Retired 

1S72 John R. Buchtel, Akron 1892 

1872 Gen. A. C. Voris, Akron 1889 

1872 Rev. Geo. Messenger, Akron 1872 

1872 Judge N. D. Tibbals, Akron 

1872 Rev. Andrew Willson, D. D., Ravenna. . 
1872 Rev. H. L. Canfield, D. D.. Pasadena, 

Cal 1890 

1872 Judge E. P. Green, Akron 1894 

1872 Col. Geo. T. Perkins, Akron 1896 

1872 Avery Spicer, Akron 1881 

1872 Rev. J. S. Cantwell, D. D., Chicago 1881 

1872 Milton W. Henry, Akron 1880 

1872 Rev. E. L. Rexford, Columbus, 1878 

1872 Philip Wieland. Mt. Gilead 1878 

1872 Hon. James Pierce, Sharpsville, Pa.... 1875 

1872 J. L. Grandin, Tidioute, Pa 1874 

1872 S. K. Shedd, Youngstown 1874 

1872 Henry Blandy, Zanesville 1873 

1872 John F. Sieberling, Akron 1873 

1872 J. Dorsey Angler, Titusville, Pa 1873 

1873 Hon. Geo. W. Crouse, Akron 1875 

1873 Isaac Eberly. Columbus 1875 

1873 Geo. M. Hord, Cincinnati. 1875 

1874 Joy H. Pendleton, Akron 1891 

1874 William A. Mack, Norwalk 1875 

1875 Ferdinand Schumacher, Akron 1899 

1875 Henry Boszar. Brimfield 1891 

1875 Jonas J. Pierce. Sharpsville, Pa 1894 

1875 James T. Trowbridge. Akron 1881 

1875 John A. Garver, Bryan 1877 

1877 James S. Birkey, Newark 1878 

1878 Rev. J. F. Rice, Olmsted 1881 

1878 William A. Mack, Norwalk 1881 

1878 Hon. S. M. Burnham, Akron 1899 



210 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COINTY 



Entered. Retired 

1880 Wm. H. Slade, Columbus 1898 

1881 Horace Y. Beebe, Ravenna 1883 

1881 Col. A. L. Conger, Akron 1883 

1881 Chas. J. Robinson, Akron 1886 

1881 A. W. Wright, Saginaw City, Mich 1882 

1881 Austin A. Spicer, Akron 1883 

1882 Joseph Hidy, Jr., Ph. B., Wash. C. H..!l8S3 

1883 Rev. Wm. H. Ryder, D. D., Chicago, 111.. 1884 
1883 Hon. H. L. Morey, Hamilton 1886 

1883 Arthur A. Stearns, A. M.. Cleveland. .. !l9ff4 

1884 Judge Selwyn N. Owen, Bryan. 1886 
1886 Rev. C. E. Nash, A. B., D. D., Pasadena, 

^■1' 1S89 

1886 Chas. H. Stephens, Cincinnati O 1889 

1886 Jacob A. Motz, Akron.. igsg 

1889 Dayton A. Doyle, A. B.. LL. B., Akron! :i895 

]lll i"*"" J- ^•^'^^' ^^^ City, Mich 1896 

1889 Hon. Geo. W. Crouse, Akron 

1889 Rev. J. F. Rice, Coe Ridge 1x95 

1890 Judge A. C. Voris, Akron. igog 

1892 r"''! "'n'"'"'^''' ^- «•■ L^- B.: Akron:: 896 

1892 Geo. L. Case, Cleveland... iqnq 

]lll ^''- ^"by Schumacher, Ph. b:,' Akron: : 1896 

1894 FrTn;, p"'""'"'' 2u ^°°''^' Springfield. . . . 1900 

1894 Prank Pierce, Sharpsville, Pa. isqv 

w't"^. ^^^"-' b- s.. Akron::::::::i9 3 

1S9& w. T. Sawyer, Akron... jq/,., 

1895 D. Irving Badger, Akron 1002 

CoT A 1- "p^''^"^^' ^^^^'^°°- ■'■'■■■■■ : 1' 

i«95 Col. A. L. Conger, Akron... isqr 

18 6 Rev. C. F. Henry, Cleveland.:::: S 

1896 Judge U. L. Marvin, Akron.. 1900 

Eberly D. Smith, Blanchester. :::::::' ' 

1896 Samuel L. Thompson, A B LL B 

Brink Haven ' ' " -.c^.a 

1898 Johnson A. Arbogast, Akron : : 

1900 Wallace L. Carlton, Akron. ^ 

1900 uT- 1 ""r ''^"'"''^- ^- ^- D- D.; Akron: : 

00 Frank «• m^"'""' °- ^- Bellville. . . . 1903 

1900 Frank H. Mason, Akron... lonK 

W^'^n "" ^"^^^' ^- S- Cleveland::: 

1901 Wm. Buchtel, Akron.. \aaK 

1901 Robt. Tucker, Ph. B.. Toledo: :::::: 905 

1902 Supt. Henry V. Hotchkiss, Ph D Akron 90^ 

1902 Rev. Lee S. McCoIlester, D. a, DettoU 

Mich 

1903 Chas. C. Goodrich, a: B. :ikron 

1903 E. T. Binns, Bryan iqnfi 

1903 Prank T. Fisher, New York City 1906 

1904 James Ford. B. S., Washington C H 

1905 John R. Smith, A. B., Akron. 

1905 Frank M. Cook, A. B., Akron 

1905 Albert A. Kohler, A. B., M. D., A:kron 

1906 Hon. Joseph Hidy. Ph. B., LL. B., 

Cleveland 

1906 A. V. Cannon, B. S.. Cleveland 

1906 Oscar F. Haymaker, Kent 1907 

1907 A. E. Roach, Akron 

1907 R. A. Clark, Pittsburgh. Pa 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

President of Board — 

Entered. Retired 

1872 John R. Buchtel 1892 

1892 Ferd Schumacher 1894 

1894 Geo. W. Crouse ; 1905 

1905 Rev. A. B. Church, D. D 

Secretary — 
1872 Hon. S. M. Burnham 1877 

1877 Rev. Andrew Willson, D. D 1878 

1878 Hon. S. M. Burnham 1879 

1879 Albert Tinker, M. S., LL. B 1892 

1892 C. R. Olin 

Treasurer — 

1872 Hon. G. W. Crouse 1875 

1875 James T. Trowbridge 1879 

1879 Joy H. Pendleton 1891 

1891 Albert B. Tinker 1897 

1897 Charles R. Olin, Sec'y and Treasurer. . . . 

Executive Committee — 

1872 Hon. John R. Buchtel 1892 

1872 Henry Blandy 1873 

1872 Rev. J. S. Cantwell, D. D 1873 

1872 Hon. S. M. Burnham 1877 

1872 Gen. A. C. Voris 1873 

1873 Col. Geo. T. Perkins...: 1877 

1873 Judge E. P. Green 1880 

1873 Rev. Andrew Willson, D. D 1876 

1876 Milton W. Henry 1877 

1877 Joy H. Pendleton 1881 

1877 James T. Trowbridge 1880 

1877 Rev. Andrew Willson, D. D 1878 

1878 Hon. S. M. Burnham 1879 

1879 Albert B. Tinker 1882 

1880 William H. Slade 1881 

1880 Col. Geo. T. Perkins 1883 

1881 Col. A. L. Conger 1882 

1881 Edwin P. Green 1883 

1882 Judge A. C. Voris 1889 

1882 Charles S. Robinson. B. S 1884 

1883 Ferd. Schumacher 1894 

1884 Joy H. Pendleton 1891 

1885 Albert B. Tinker 1889 

1889 Col. Geo. T. Perkins 1892 

1889 Rev. Andrew Willson, D. D 1890 

1890 Hon. G. W. Crouse 1891 

1891 Albert B. Tinker 1895 

1891 Hon. G. W. Crouse 

1893 Dayton A. Doyle 1895 

1894 Geo. L. Case 1895 

1894 Judge N. D. Tibbals 1898 

1895 W. T. Sawyer 1900 

1895 D. Irving Badger 1898 

1896 Johnson A. Arbogast 

1897 Frank H. Mason 1903 

1897 Wallace L. Carlton 

1901 Supt. Henry V. Hotchkiss 1905 

1901 Rev. A. B. Church, D. D 

1905 Frank M. Cook, A. B 

INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT. 
Presidents — 

1S72 Rev. S. H. McCoIlester, D. D 1878 

1S7S Rev. E. L. Rexford, D. D 1880 



AND REPRESENTATI^'E CITIZENS 



211 



Entered. Retired 
18S0 Rev. Orello Cone, D. D 1896 

1896 Charles M. Knight, A. M. (Provisional 

President) 1897 

1897 Rev. Ira A. Priest, D. D 1901 

1901 Rev. A. B. Church. D. D., LL. D 

Mathematics — 
1872 Alfred Welsh, A. M 1S74 

1874 Elias Frauntelter, A. M., Ph. D 1883 

1883 George S. Ely, Ph. D 1884 

1884 Charles S. Howe, Ph. D 1889 

1889 Hermas V. Egbert, A. M 1903 

1903 Frank M. Morrison, A. M 1905 

1905 Wilfred H. Sherk, A. M 1906 

1906 Paul Biefeld, A. M., Ph. D 

Natural Science — 

1872 S. F. Peckham, A. M 1873 

1873 Sarah M. Glazier, A. M 1874 

.1874 Alfred Welsh, A. M 1875 

1875 Charles M. Knight, A. M 1883 

1883 Edward W. Claypole, B. A., So. D., F. 

G., S. S. of L. E. and A 1897 

1897 Samuel P. Orth, B. S 1903 

1903 Charles Brookover, M. S 

Ancient Languages — 

1872 Rev. Nehemiah White, A. M., Ph. D....1876 

1876 Rev. I. B. Choate, A. M 1878 

1878 Rev. G. A. Peckham, A. M 1880 

1880 Benjamin T. Jones, A. M 1882 

1882 Wm. D. Shipman, A. M. (Greek) 1895 

1882 Charles C. Bates, A. B. (Latin) 1895 

1895 Charles C. Bates, A. B. (Latin and 

Greek) 1904 

1904 Joseph C. Rockwell, A. M 

Modern Languages — 

1872 Carl F. Kolbe, A. M 1877 

1877 G. H. G. McGrew, A. M 1878 

1878 Carl F. Kolbe, A. M.. Ph. D 1905 

1905 Parke R. Kolbe, A. M 

Physics and Chemistry — 

1884 Charles M. Knight, A. M., Sc. D 

English Literature — 

1872 Helen F. Spalding, A. M 1873 

1879 Benjamin T. Jones, A. M 1880 

1880 Maria Parsons, A. M 1884 

1884 Marv B. Jewett, A. M 1892 

1892 Margaret G. Bradford, B. A 1893 

1893 Ellen E. Garrigues, A. M 1896 

1896 Maria Parsons, A. M 1905 

1905 Albert L Spanton, A. M 1893 

Philosophy. Economics and History — 

1902 Oscar E. Olin, A. M 

Rhetoric and Oratory — 

1890 Cecil Harper 1891 

1891 L. Alonzo Butterfleld, A. M., Ph. D 1894 

1894 Mrs. A. M. Garrigues 1896 

1896 L. Elmie Warner, Ph. B 1900 

1900 Carita McEbright, A. B 1901 

1901 Maude Herndon. B. S 1902 

1902 Anna M. Ray ' 1906 

1906 Louise Forsyth 

Instructors in Law — 

1883 Albert B. Tinker, M. S., LL. B 1890 

1890 Frediric C. Bryan, A. B., LL. B 1891 

1891 Charles R. Grant. A. B 1893 



Entered. Retired 
1894 Frediric C. Bryan, A. B., LL. B 1896 

1896 Lee K. Mihills, LL. B 1897 

Principals of Preparatory and Buchtel 

Academy — • 

1872 Prin., H. D. Persons 1873 

1874 Prin., Jennie Gifford, B. S 1898 

1897 Prin.. Oscar E. Olin, A. M 1904 

1904 Prin., Godfrey Charles Schaible, A. B...1906 
1906 Prin., Charles O. Rundell, B. S 

Art Department— 
1882 Mrs. Kate D. Jackson 1884 

1884 Mrs. Ada E. Metcalf 1885 

1885 Emma P. Goodwin 1886 

1886 Alexander T. Van Laer 1890 

1890 Bolton Coit Brown, M. D 1891 

1891 Minnie C. Fuller 1898 

1899 May F. Sanford 

Music — 
1872 Gustavus Sigel 1899 

1898 Estella F. Musson, Ph. B 1904 

1904 Lucy lone Edgerton 1906 

1906 Isabel Kennedy 

Valuable service as teachers has been rendered 
by: 

Wallace Mays. A. B. i Helen S. Pratt, L. A. 
Lizzie M. Slade, A. B. j Lillie R. Moore, A. B. 
Inez L. Shipman, B. S. Philip G. Wright, A. M. 
James H. Aydelotte, B.I Charles R. Olin. B. S. 

S. I Tracy L. Jeffords. Ph. B. 

Mary E. Stockman. L. i gdwin L. Pindley, A. B. 



Susie Chamberlain, M. 

S. 
Dora E. Merrill. 
Martha A. Bertie. 
Samuel Findley, A. M., 

Ph. D. 
Charles W. Foote, A. 

M., Ph. D. 



Willard H. Van Orman, 

B. S. 
Claudia E. Schrock, A. 

B. 
Blanche M. Widde- 

combe. Ph. B. 
Charles H. Shipman, A. 

B. 



Lack of space forbids mention of all names 
entitled to credit for valuable services in dif- 
ferent department^. 

ENDOWMENTS. 

Besides the gifts already mentioned since 
June, 1878, donations have been received a^ 

follows : 

DONATIONS. 

BUCHTEL PROFESSORSHIP. 

The Buchtel Professorship of Physics and 
Chemistry was named in honor of Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Buchtel. late of Akron. 



212 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



AINSAVORTH PROFESSORSHIP. 

The Ainsworth Professorship of Mathe- 
matics and Astronomy was endowed hy Henry 
Ainsworth, late of Lodi. 

RYDER PROFESSORSHIP. 

The Ryder Professorship of Rhetoric and 
Oratory was established by the Board of 
Trustees in memory of Dr. William H. Ryder, 
late of Chicago. 

MESSENGER FUND. 

The Messenger Fund was created by Mrs. 
Lydia A. E. Messenger, late of Akron. The 
fund consists of $30,000. 

The Isaac and Lovdnia Kelly Fund was 
created by Isaac Kelly, late of Mill Village, 
Pa. This fund consists of $35,788. 

WILLIAM PITT CURTIS FUND. 

This fund was established by "William Pitt 
Curtis, of Wadsworth, Ohio. It now amounts 
to $25,000. 

A friend of the college and the church has 
given for the endowment of a Theological 
Professorship, the sum of $10,000. 

Twenty-six scholarships have been endowed 
by the following named doners: 

S. T. and S. A. Moon Cuba 

George Thomas Greenwich 

Mrs. E. W. Terrill Jeffersonville 

Mrs. John H. Hilton Akron 

Samuel Birdsell Peru 

Samuel Grandin Tidioute, Pa. 

N. B. and A. E. Johnson Mingo 

Henry Ainsworth Lodi 

Miss Anna A. Johnson Bay City, Mich. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Miller Edgerton 

John P. Chapin New Philadelphia 

Christian Swank Creston. O. 

Mrs. S. O. Acomb Tidioute, Pa. 

Mrs. Jane Betz Hamilton 

Miss Hannah Allyn Akron 

Mrs. Rosa G. Wakeiield Green 

These scholarships are intended to aid 
worthy and deserving students, and are 
awarded by a Scholarship Committee under 
authority from the Board of Trustees. 



The following from the catalogue for 1906- 
1907, contains valuable information worthy 
of a place in the history. 

The College Campus comprises six acres, is 
situated on the highest eminence in the 
county and faces on Buchtel Avenue, one of 
the pleasantest residence streets of the city. 
The Loop Line electric cars, which receive 
transfers from all city and suburban lines, 
pass the college gates. 

BUCHTEL HALL. 

Buchtel Hall, designed for college classes^ 
in all work except chemistry, is a beautiful 
building, classic in design and convenient in 
.arrangement. The main entrance is up 
a broad flight of marble steps to the first floor, 
which is high enough to leave the basement 
story almost entirely above ground. In the 
center of the first floor is the grand staircase 
and an open court extending to a skylight. 
There are four large recitation rooms with a 
professor's private office connected with each 
on'the first and second floors. On the groimd 
floor, besides a work-shop and separate study, 
bicycle, and toilet rooms for young men and 
women, is a suite of six rooms well planned 
and equipped for the Physical Laboratories. 

BUCHTEL ACADEMY. 

The ^\^cademy is designed for the conven- 
ience of the Prepairatory, Oratory and Art 
Schools. It is a roomy and convenient three 
story building. On the ground floor are the 
Physical Laboratories, and the separate lock- 
ers and toilet rooms for young men and wo- 
men. On the second floor are the Adminis- 
tration offices and the main recitation rooms. 
On the third floor are the large -Art Rooms 
and Assembly Room, which is used for Me- 
chanical Drawing. 

riRE-PROOF. 

These two new buildings are fire-proof and 
have the heating, ventilating and sanitary ar- 
rangements and appointments of the most 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



213 



approved kind known to modern builders. 
With the Gymnasium; they are heated from 
one central heating plant. 

ASTKONOMICAL OBSERVATORY. 

The Observatory is intended for the use of 
students, and, although some of the appara- 
tus is very delicate and costly, yet it will be 
freely placed in the hands of those students 
who prepare themselves for its use. It is 
furnished with the following instruments : 

An equatorial telescope of 4.5 inches aper- 
ture. 

A meridian circle of 3 inches aperture, pro- 
vided with various necessary accessory appa- 
ratus, and so mounted that it can be used as 
a zenith telescope. 

Two astronomical clocks, furnished with 
electrical connections. 

A chronograph. 

Various other minor apparatus. 

CROUSE GYMNASIUM. 

This building is named in honor of Hon. 
George W. Grouse, of Akron, one of the lib- 
eral benefactors of the college. The struc- 
ture is a substantial brick building, one hun- 
dred and two feet in length by fifty-three in 
breadth. The basement contains the locker, 
dressing and bathing rooms thoroughly fur- 
nished. On the first floor are the directors' 
office and the gymnasium proper, which is 
eighty-four feet long and forty-eight feet 
broad. This room is equipped with the most 
approved apparatus and offers every facility 
for physical development. A nlnning gal- 
lery of twenty-five laps to the mile surrounds 
the room. 

The Gymnasium is open at stated times for 
the exclusive use of the young women, and 
at others times for the exclusive use of the 
young men, in both instances under a trained 
director. 

In addition to the above mentioned facili- 
ties for physical culture, the college possesses, 
only three squares away, exten.sive and elab- 
orately equipped Athletic Grounds of four 



acres, which are admirably adapted for use of 

the students in playing base ball, foot-ball, 
lawn tennis and similar games. 

At present the Chemical Laboratory occu- 
pies a suite of six rooms in the basement of 
the Gymnasium and is niodernly equipped 
for practical work. 

The Buchtel College Music School occupies 
certain rooms in the Gymnasium. 

A two-manual pipe organ has been recently 
erected for chapel use and instruction. The 
Gymnasium is also used, for the present, as 
the chapel assembly room. 

THE HEATING PLANT. 

The Heating Plant is located in a building 
by itself, thus avoiding any danger from fire 
or explosion. The plant is equipped with a 
thoroughly anodem smoke consuming device. 
By means of conduits the steam is conveyed 
to the other buildings where fresh air is 
heated and forced through the rooms by the 
fan system. 

CURTIS COTTAGE. 

Curtis Cottage is the college home for wom- 
en. It was completed and first occupied in 
January 1905. It has eleven student rooms, 
uniform in size and furnishings and arranged 
for two students in a room, — -parlors, dining 
room, kitchen, laundrj' and its own efficient 
hot water heating plant. It furnishes also a 
delightful suite of rooms for each of the wom- 
en's fraternities. 

The Cottage is in charge of a preceptress 
of culture and school experience, and pro- 
vides, at a m>oderate expense, a home for 
women students, which is most modern and 
sanitary in all of its appointments, conven- 
ient and comfortable in its arrangements, and 
delightful and elevating in its social life. 

THE president's HOUSE. 

The President's House is situated on the 
campus within easy access of the other build- 
ings, is a commodious, substantial brick 
structure wth modern conveniences and is 
occupied by the President and his family. 



214 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



BUCIITEL SCHOOL OF ART. 



Buchtel College is organized and equipped 
to give young men and women a wholesome 
phj'sical development, a most thorough men- 
tal discipline, and a practical, altruistic, moral 
training; to hold up before them the noblest 
ideals of manhood and womanhood, and to 
develop within them a genius for usefulness. 



INSTRUCTION. 

The instruction of the college aims to com- 
bine the advantages of the lecture, recitation 
and laboratory system. 

COLLEGE COURSES. 

The curriculum embraces ; 

First: A Classical Course. 

Second: A Philosophical Course. 

Third : A Scientific Course. 

These are four year courses leading to the 
degrees of A. B., Ph. B., and S. B., and are 
equal to those adopted by other similar in- 
stitutions of the country. 

.VCADEMY COURSES. 

In connection with the college, but oc- 
cupying a separate building on the Campus, 
and a separate Faculty, is Buchtel Academy, 
in which students are thoroughly prepared for 
college entrance. Owing to limited numbers, 
tie student is under the personal .supervision 
of a strong corps of teachers and is afforded 
daily practical drill in class room and labora- 
tory work. 

BUCHTEL SCHOOL OF MUSIC. 

The Music School is located at the college 
in Crouse Gymnasium. Thorough and tech- 
nical training, beginning with fundamentals, 
is given in instrumental course by capable 
and experienced specialists. 



The Art School is situated at the Academy 
Building in a specially arranged and equipped 
suite of rooms and is under the personal su- 
perivsion of a trained and experienced spe- 
cialist. The School offers excellent advantages 
for the study of art. It embraces instruction 
in charcoal, crayon, pencil, pastel, oil and 
\vater color. Students work from original 
designs, life, casts, and still life. 

LABORATORY AND APPARATUS. 

The larger portion of the basement rooms 
of Crouse Gymnasium have been reaiTanged 
since the fire of 1899 for use as chemical lab- 
oratories consisting of five rooms. A general 
laboratory for the use of students during the 
first year of work in chemistry has been fitted 
with all modern facilities. Drainage, gas, hot 
and cold water, and all necessary apparatus, 
are at each student's desk. The students pur- 
suing quantitative methods have ample room 
and opportunities for the more refined and 
careful researches in a laboratory by them- 
selves, undisturbed bj- other workers. The 
ventilation of the laboratories is good, special 
wall flues carrying off noxious vapers. 

The laboratories for physics are arranged 
in the basement of Buchtel Hall. Six rooms 
are given to the use of experimental physics. 
The rooms for experiments in electricity and 
magnetism are free from iron in their con- 
struction, and solid masonrv' floors in all lab- 
oratories secure the instruments from all out- 
side jar and disturbance. 

Excellent facilitic,* for work in photography 
are provided by a well equipped dark-room, 
and students in physical science are encour- 
aged to become familiar with the best methods 
of experimental illustration. 

The department of Natural Science is lo- 
cated in the new Buchtel Hall, where three 
laboratory and lecture rooms are fitted for 
work in biology and geology'. The student is 
supplied with microscopes, reagents, micro- 
tomes, and other apparatus needful for thor- 
oTigh work in biographical research. A collec- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



215 



tion of minerals and crystals, together with 
maps, charts and paleontological cabinet, 
comprise the equipment for work in Geology. 

The College is supplied with excellent sur- 
veying instruments, in the way of compass, 
engineer's level, surveyor's transit, with solar 
attachment for determining the true meri- 
dian, independent of the needle, chains, tapes, 
poles, pins, etc. 

The Astronomical Observatory is adequate- 
ly equipped with efficient, delicate and costly 
instruments for carrying on in a practical 
laboratory way that line of higher mathe- 
matics. 

BIERCE LIBRARY. 

The College Library had its origin with a 
collection of works donated in 1874 by the 
late Gen. L. V. Bierce. During the early 
days of the college the library was augmented 
by books purchased from the proceeds of a 
bequest received from Gen. Bierce'4 e-state. 
In recognition of this etxrly gift the library 
has been called the Bierce Library. 

At the present time the Library is in Buch- 
tel Hall and embraces about 9,000 bound 
volumes of standard works (exclusive of pub- 
lic documents). These books have been 
mostly selected with special reference to their 
use in connection with the various depart- 
ments of college instruction. All are classi- 
fied and arranged on the shelves by the Dewey 
system of ola.ssification. The whole Tibrar^' 
is practically one of reference, as students 
have access to the shelves at all hours of the 
day. Books may also be drawn by students, 
professors and officers, in accordance with the 
regulations, for use outside the Library. 

Since the fire of 1899 the Library has been 
reclassified and recatalogued and put in the 
best working order for students. 

In connection with the College Library is 
the College Reading Room, which has upon 
its files the leading periodicals and newspa- 
pers of the day. These are selected, upon 
recomendation of the various professors, with 
special reference to supplementing their class- 
room instmction. 



A trained librarian of experience has charge 
of the library to render it of the greatest use- 
fulness to the students. 



ATHLETICS. 

Recognizing the fact that physical training 
is as legitimate a part of any system of edu- 
cation as is the mental, Buchtel College has 
made ample provision for this course in edu- 
cation, in her large and well equipped Gym- 
nasium and Athletic Field. Systematic in- 
struction is given to both young men and 
wamen in the Gymnasium each year by train- 
ed instructors, and the young men are given 
systematic training and regular drill in track 
athletics. Public sports such as foot-ball, base 
ball, basket ball, and lawn tennis are per- 
mitted and encouraged so far as is consistent 
with the student's health and with his prog- 
ress in the cla.*s-room. 



ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION. 

The students of Buchtel College maintain 
an Oratorical Association to which all college 
students are eligible. The object of the socie- 
ty Ls to secure an increased interest in public 
speaking, with special reference to the pres- 
entation of original productions. The local 
association is a branch of the State Associa- 
tion, which includes a number of the leading 
colleges of the State. Each year a local con- 
test is held by the association, the winner of 
which is sent by the association to the State 
contest. The successful contestant in the 
State contest represents the State in the inter- 
State contest. 

LITERARY AND DEBATING CLUB. 

A Literary and Debating Club is organized 
among the students. Regular meetings are 
held for the discussion and debating of topics 
of interest. Often public debates are held 
with the neighboring societies and colleges. 



216 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



DRAMATIC CLUB. 

A Dramatic Organization is maintained 
by the students for mutual self-culture, and 
for the study of literature and the histrionic 
art. One or more public entertainments are 
given each year with credit to the club and 
the College. 

All such literary organizations and efforts 
are approved and encouraged by the College. 

CO-EDUC.\TION. 

The College and Academy admit students 
of both sexes. No sex discrimination is made 
in requirements, and equal educational ad- 
vantages and honors are offered to each. 

master's degrees. 

The degree of A. M. will be conferred up- 
on those who have acquired the degree of A. 
B. or Ph. B., and the degree of M. S. upon 
those who have acquired the degree of B. S. 
These degrees will be granted in not less than 
two years after gi'adualion, unless the appli- 
cant, in residence, can devote the larger part 
of his time to his work, when the degrees may 
be granted in one year. 

TRIZK I'lNDS. 

Alumni Prizes. — A fund has been estab- 
lished by the alumni of the College, the in- 
come of which is annually appropriated ac- 
cording 'to the following regulations: 

Lst. That student being a member of 
the Senior Class of the academy — who makes 
the highest average grade during the year 
in full Senior Avork in the Academy, and com- 
pletes his Senior year without conditions, shall 
be entitled to free tuition during the suc- 
ceeding year. 

2nd. That student' — being a member of 
the Freshman Class — who attains the high- 
est average grade during the year in the regu- 
lar freshman work and completes the year 
without any conditions, .shall be entitled to 
free tuition during the succeeding year. 



3rd. That student — being a member of 
the Sophomore Class — who attains the high- 
est average grade during the year in not few- 
er than thirty-two term hours above the fresh- 
man yeai', and completes this year without 
conditions, shall be entitled to free tuition 
during the succeeding year. 

4th. That student — being a member of 
the Junior Class — who attains the highest 
average grade during the year in not fewer 
than thirty-two term hours above the fresh- 
roan year, and completes this year without 
conditions, shall be entitled to free tuition 
during the succeeding year. 

5th. In determining the award of prizes 
for any year, there shall be considered only 
grades made in regular class work at Buchtel 
College during that year in subjects <'om- 
pleted before Commencement day. 

6th. In case of a tie in any class the 
prize shall be equally divided. 

7th. The prize for any class shall go to the 
student attaining the second highest average 
grade only in case the one ranking highest 
does not return to Buchtel College the next 
succeeding year. 

Oliver C. Ashton Prizes. — A fund consist- 
ing of $3,000 has been established by the late 
Oliver C. Ashton, endowing the 0. C. Ashton 
Prizes for excellence in reading and recitation. 

The annual income of this fund will be 
paid, one-third to competitors from the Senior 
Cla.ss, one-third to competitors from the Jun- 
ior Class, and one-third to competitors from 
the Sophomore Class, in a first and second 
prize to each class, in the proportion of two 
to one. 

These are public exercises, and will take 
place at stated times during the year. 

Pendleton Law Prizes. — For the purpose 
of encouraging the study of Law and Civil 
Government, a fund of $1,000 has been es- 
tabli,shed by Joy H. Pendleton, late of Akron, 
the annual income of which is u.sed as prize= 
for essays in the Law Class. Two-thirds of 
such income is annually to be paid for the 
best esf;ay, and one-third for the second best 
e.«,say, on some subject of Law or Government 
announced by the Instructor in Law. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



21' 



High Schools. — The College offers annual- 
ly one scholarship to each of several high 
schools, to be awarded to the student standing 
highest during the last year of his High 
School course. Each scholarship entitles the 
holder to two years' free tuition in College, 
subject to conditions which may be learned 
on application to the President of Buchtel 
College. 

Township. — Two standing schohirships in 
the Academy are offered to pupils in each 
Township of Summit County who complete 
the common school course in the country 
schools. These scholarships are awarded to 
the two pupils in each township passing the 
best examination before the County Board of 
School Examiners, under the provisions of the 
Patterson Law. 

Students winning the High School or 
Township Scholarships must begin their 
course of study not later than one year from 
the opening of the following school year. 



The College has just closed the thirty-fifth 
j'eai' of substantial educational work. It has 
been ably officered and has had a well quali- 
fied faculty, one that will compare favorably 
with that of any similar institution in our 
countiy. It has had generous support and 
liberal patronage, and has made history of 
which its friends are not ashamed. This has 
required earnest work and large sacrifice. The 
founders were men and women of large hearts, 
who planned for the best good of humanity. 
Cheerfully and freely did they give time and 
money for the erection of buildings and the 
endow-ment of the institution, and if their de- 
scendants truly honor the founders, tlie Col- 
lege will increase in strength and usefulness 
as the years go by. It surely has a bright out- 
look. 

WH.\T H.\S THK COLLEGE DONE FOR .VKRON 
.A.ND SUMMIT COUNTY. 

It is impossible to fully ani?wer this very- 
appropriate and important question. Some 
facts mav more than suggest the true answer. 



It has brought into the City approximately 
one million dollars for building purposes, en- 
dowment funds and current expenses. Each 
year students expend thousands of dollars for 
board, clothing and other items. 

It has increased the value of real estate, 
especially in its vicinity, and it has advertised 
the city, its various industries and enterprises 
as nothing else could have done. Young men 
and women who have spent several years in 
the institution will not soon cease to sound 
the praise of the city that gave them generous 
hospitality. 

While the College was established by the 
Ohio Universalist Convention, and a very 
large share of the building fund and endow- 
ment has been donated by members of the 
Universalist Church, yet it is not, strictly 
speaking, denominational. It is religious but 
not sectarian. It tolerates and respects all re- 
ligious opinions and organizations and asks 
no questions of students concerning their the- 
ology. 

It seeks to occupy a high moral plane and 
aims to inspire in students exalted ideals of 
character and life. 

Its educational standard is equal to that of 
any college in Ohio. Graduates are welcomed 
to Harvard, Yale, and all American Univer- 
sities on the diplomas received at Buchtel. 
More than this, .students who spend one or 
more years at Buchtel are everywhere credit- 
ed, without examination, with all the marks 
that have been received. Its standing is un- 
questioned. With its record its friends have 
abundant reason to be satisfied. 

Possessing buildings well adapted for the 
purpose designed, well equipped for teaching 
Science, Art, Literature, etc., with a faculty 
composed of able, scholarly men and women, 
the College has furnished the opportunity for 
hundreds of young men and women to obtain 
a liberal education at home at a comparative- 
ly trifling expense. By bringing into the city 
a considerable number of gifted men and 
women it has helped to elevate the intellectual 
and mora Itone of the citizens. It is now 
known not only as an enterprising commer- 
cial town, but as an educational center, that 



218 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



challenges the attention of people of char- 
acter and influence. Summit County has 
abundant reason for being grateful to those 
who earnestly and successfully labored to se- 
cure the institution in its County Seat. While 
it has a wide field and draws patronage from 
several states, yet it peculiarly belongs to 



Akron, and in its perpetuity and prosperity 
citizens should take a just pride and extend 
generous help. As a beacon light to Akron, 
Summit County, and humanity, it challenges 
the respect and confidence of the world and 
truly merits the generous support of a large 
constituency. 



CHAPTER XIII 



RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT 



First Churches and Pioneer Clergi/ — General History of Religious Organ! 

and Clergi/ of To-day. 

Akron has sixty-two churches within its 
corporation limits. This demonstrates that 
the city is not wholly given to manufacturing, 
leisure and society. Akron is a typical Ameri- 
can city and believes that all work and no 
play makes Jack a dull boy. Therefore, its 
citizens are provided with large and modern 
theaters and a beautiful music hall. A strong 
religious influence also permeates Akron's 
life. The same desire for culture which has 
brought such great success in educational 
lines, has manifested itself in the various re- 
ligious societies of the city. There has been 
a sound and healthy rivalry among them to 
provide splendid meeting places for worship 
for their various congregations. As a result 
Akron today enjoys superior advantag&s for 
the church-goer. 

The oldest church organization in Akron 
today is the First Presbyterian Church. It was 
organized December 15, 1831, by Rev. B. C. 
Baldwin and Rev. John Hughes with twenty- 
six members. They occupied the old brick 
church on Kent Street for any years, un- 
til 1906, when they completed the beautiful 
modem church building on East Market 
Street near Buchtel Avenue. 

In 1834 the Congregational Church was 
organized by J. W. Pettit. In 1885 a small 
frame church was built where the Court 
House stands now. Rev. James B. Walker 
was its first permanent pastor. In June, 1843, 
the society built a large church on the comer 
of North Main and Federal Streets. During 
the pa.*torate of Rev. Carlos Smith, the brick 
church on South High Street was built. The 



'zations — Churches 



society has now, in the year 1907, purchased 
a site on the corner of East Market and Union 
Streets, and will build a fine church at that 
point during the next year. Rev. Thomas 
E. Monroe became pastor of this church 
April 1, 1873, and continued as its active pas- 
tor until 1901. He is now Pastor Emeritus. 

In 1830 a Methodist congregation was or- 
ganized by Rev. John Janes, and meetings 
were held in the school house at the corner 
of South Broadway and Buchtel Avenue. In 
1836 a church was built at the corner of 
South Broadway and Church Streets. In 
1871 the fine brick church at the comer of 
South Broadway and Church Streets was com- 
pleted. The Sunday-school rooms were plan- 
ned by Lewis Miller and gave rise to the 
"Akron Plan" of arranging Sunday-school 
rooms. 

On October 19, 1834, a Baptist congrega- 
tion was organized in the school house, on the 
corner of South Broadway and Buchtel Ave- 
nue. The moderator of the meeting was Ca- 
leb Green. Amasa Clark acted as scribe. 

The Universalist was one of the early re- 
ligious organizations in Akron, and held 
meetings here as early as 1835. In 1837 
Rev. Freeman Loring organized a chiirch, 
and meetings were held at the corner of Main 
and State Streets. A church was built on 
North High Street a few years later. It was 
built of stone and was one of the finest stmc-, 
tures in the State at that time. 

In 1836 a parish of the Episcopal Church 
was organized in Akron by Rev. W. H. New- 
man of Cuyahoga Falls. In 1844 a chiirch 



'-i20 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



building was built on South High Streets. In 
1884 the parish built the fine stone church on 
East Mai-ket and Forge Street. 

The Disciples congregation was organized 
in 1839, although meetings had been held as 
early as 1830. The society was organized by 
Elders Bently and Bosworth. 

In 1842 the German Evangelical Protes- 
tant Congregation was organized. It is the 
parent of the German Lutheran Church and 
the German Reformed. 

The Grace Reformed society was organized 
in 1858 by Rev. N. Gher. 

The German Lntlieran society w^as formed 
in August, 1854, by Rev. P. J. Buehl. Its 
church on the corner of South High and 
Quarry Streets was erected in 1837. 

Trinity Lutheran Church was organized in 
1870, and its fine church on Prospect Street 
was erected in 1872. In October, 1882, the 
Rev. Excell organized the United Brethren 
Church on the corner of High and James 
Streets. 

As early as 1835 services of the Roman 
Catholic Church were held in Akron, various 
priests coming from neighboring parishes for 
that purpose. In 1843 a church was built 
on Green Street. On March 17, 1864, the 
present stone church on the corner of West 
Market and Maple Streets was begun. Rev. 
M. A. Scanlon was pa«tor of St. Vincent de 
Paul's Church from .June, 1859, to December, 
1873. Rev. T. F. Mahar became pastor Au- 
gust 1, 1880, and has continued until the 
present time. St. Mary's congregation was 
established in 1887. and a church was erected 
on South Main Street, opposite McCoy Street. 
In 1861 St. Bernard's Catholic Church was 
organized. The first pastor was Rev. Father 
Loure. In 1866 Rev. John B. Broun took 
charge of the church, and he has continued 
as its pa.stor until the pr&sent time. In 1903 
a magnificent Church on South Broadway 
and Center — the finest in the city — was com- 
pleted. 

In 1865 the Akron Hebrew congregation 
was organized, and services were held in the 
first story of the Allen's block on South How- 
ard Street. They were afterwards held in the 



first story of the Barber Block. In 1885 the 
congregation purchased the Episcopal church 
on South High Street and has occupied it 
since as a temple of worship. 

These were the parent congregations of the 
city. As the city grew rapidly in all direc- 
tions, and some of the city congregations were 
located in many cases two or four miles from 
the city churches, various branches were es- 
tablished. 

The following is a complete list of all the 
city churches, with their respective pastors, 
and their location, at the present time: 

First Baptist, 37 South Broadway; Rev. A. 
M. Bailey, pastor. 

Second Baptist, comer Hill and James; 
Rev. R. A. Jones, pastor. 

Maple St. Baptist, South Maple near Ex- 
change; Rev. J. C. Swan, pastor. 

Arlington St. Baptist, South Arlington; 
Rev. J. M. Huston, pastor. 

German Baptist, West Thornton, corner of 
Haynes. 

First Congregational, South High, near 
Market; Rev. H. S. MacAyeal. 

West Congregational, corner West Market 
and Balch; Rev. P. E. Bauer. 

Welsh Congregational, McCoy Street. 

First Church of Christ, South High ; Rev. 
George Darsie, pastor. 

Broad Street Church, Broad near Market; 
Rev. I. H. Durfee, pastor. 

Third Church of Christ, comer Wabash 
and Euclid Avenue; Rev. A. F. Stahl. 

Fourth Church of Christ, Steiner Avenue; 
Rev. C. A. MacDonald, pastor. 

St. Paul's Church, E. Market corner Forge; 
Rev. S. North Watson, D. D., rector. 

Church of Our Saviour, corner Crosby and 
Oakdale Avenue; Rev. Geo. P. Atwater, 
rector. 

St. Andrew's Mission, West Tallmadge 
Avenue, near Cuyahoga. 

Calvary Church, corner Bartges and Co- 
burn: Rev. W. L. Naumann, pastor. 

Kenmore Church, Kenmore: Rev. E. S. 
Flora, pastor. 

First U. E. Church, corner Wooster Avenue 
and Locust; Rev. H. W. Epsy. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



223 



Akron Hebrew Reformed Congregation, 
South High near Mill; I. E. Philo, rabbi. 

Sons of Peace Congregation, 235 Bowery; 
E. W. Lutz, rabbi. 

Hebrew Congregation meets at 706 Edge- 
wood Avenue. 

Trinity Lutheran, South Prospect near 
Mill; Rev. E. W. Simon, pastor. 

German Lutheran, South High, corner 
Quarry; Rev. W. H. Lothmann, pastor. 

St. John's Lutheran Church, Cobum near 
Voris; Rev. E. C. Billing, pastor. 

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
West Thorn ; Rev. J. H. Zinn, pastor. 

Grant Street Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
East Thornton near Grant; Rev. J. Franklin 
Yount, pastor. 

Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
Kent near Market; Rev. G. S. Ohslund, pas- 
tor. 

First M. E. Church, South Broadway cor- 
ner Church, Rev. Frank W. Luce, D. D., 
pastor. 

Grace M. E. Church, East Market near Car- 
roll ; Rev. A. R. Custer, pastor. 

North Hill M. E. Church, North Howard 
corner Tallmadge Avenue; Rev. J. 0. David- 
son, pastor. 

Woodland M. E. Church, South Main 
south of Thornton ; Rev. E. T. Mohn, pastor. 

Main Street M. E. Church, Corner Balch 
and Crosby; Rev. F. C. Anderson, pastor. 

Arlington Street M. E. Church, North Ar- 
lington near North ; Rev. B. P. White, pastor. 

Wooster Avenue M. E. Church, Wooster 
Avenue corner Raymond ; Rev. B. P. White, 
pastor. 

German M. E. Church, corner Exchange 
and Pearl ; Rev. D. J. Harrer, pastor. 

Zion A. M. E. Church, South High, near 
Cedar; Rev. E. C. West, pastor. 

Free Methodist, 1044 Yale; Rev. J. E. Wil- 
liams, pastor. 

Wesleyan Methodist, 729 Princeton ; Rev. 
I. F. McLei-ster, pastor. 

First Presbyterian, 647 East Market; Rev. 
H. W. Lowry, pastor. 



Central Presbyterian, East State near Main. 

First United Presbyterian, services in G. A. 
R. Hall; R_ev. W. A. Chambers. 

Grace Reformed, South Broadway near 
Mill; Rev. Irvin W. Hendricks, pastor. 

German Reformed, South Broadway cor- 
ner Center; Rev. Edward Stuebi, pastor. 

Trinitj^ Reformed. South Broadway cor- 
ner York; Rev. J. S. Freeman, pastor. 

Wooster Avenue Reformed, Wooster Ave- 
nue, corner Bell ; Rev. E. R. Willard, pas- 
tor. 

Miller Avenue Reformed, 81 West Miller 
Avenue; Rev. S. E. Snepp, pastor. 

Goss Memorial Reformed Church, Ken- 
more. 

St. Bernard's Church, South Broadway 
corner Center; Rev. J. B. Broun, pastor. 

St. Vincent de Raid's Church, West Mar- 
ket corner Maple; Rev. T. F. Mahar, pastor. 

St. Mary's Church, South Main opposite 
McCoy ; Rev. J. J. Farrell, pastor. 

First LT. B., East Center near Buchtel Ave- 
nue; Rev. William Clarke, pastor. 

Howe Street U. B., Corner Howe and Na- 
than ; Rev. 0. W. Slusser, pastor. 

First Universalist, corner Broadway and 
Mill; Rev. E. G. Mason, pastor. 

Christian and Missionarv Alliance meets 
85 West Cedar; Rev. S. M. Gerow. 

Seventh Day Adventists meet 57 West 
South Street. 

Latter Day Saints, Reorganized Church of 
.lesus Christ, meets corner Main and Bartges 
Streets. 

Christian Science, Services are held in tbe 
Hebrew Temple, High Street. 

Spiritualists meet in G. A. R. Hall. 

Hungarian Church, South Main extension. 

Union Gospel Mission, 51 North Howard; 
Rev. C. A. McKinney. superintendent. 

Gospel Church, East South; Rev. C. A. 
McKinney, pastor. 

Salvation Army, 54 Main : Adjutant and 
Mrs. D. G. Main in charge. 

Industrial Home, .33 and 35 Viaduct, store 
874 South Main. 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE PRESS 



BY HON. CHARLES R. GRANT AND HARRY S. QUINE. 



Since Laurin Dewey set up a hand press in 
Middlebnry in 1825 and began the publica- 
tion of the 07uo Canal Advocate, it is recorded 
that Akron and Summit County have had 
nearly 100 somen-hat similar ventures. Mr. 
Dewey was Summit County's first editor and 
publisher. The publication of his paper was 
made possible by the contribution of $204 in 
amounts varying from $2 to $10 by public 
spirited citizens of Middlebury. Some of these 
early newspaper promoters were the follow- 
ing: Erastus Torrey, Henry Chittenden, 
Charles Sumner, Nathan Gillett, Jr., Rufus 
Hart, Edward Sumner, Samuel Newton, Chas. 
W. Brown, Theophilus Potter, Miner Spacer 
and Paul Williams. 

Laurin Dewey was a "practical printer," 
and came to Middlebury from Ravenna. The 
building of the canal was being advocated 
about that time, and Middlebury citizens be- 
lieved that if built, the future greatness of the 
place would be assured. And they believed, 
further, that a newspaper booming the canal 
might help their hopes along toward realiza- 
tion. Mr. Dewey saw an opportunity, and 
seized it. Second-hand materials were pur- 
chased from the Cleveland Herald, brought 
to Middlebury in two wagons, and the first 
issue appeared September 28, 1825, the name 
having been changed, in the meantime, to 
the Portage Journal, as the building of the 
canal was by that time assured. Hiram 
Bowen, afterwards founder of the Bearon. 
was associated with Laurin Dewey in the 
publication of the Portage Journal. The size 
of the Portage Journal -was nineteen by twen- 
tj'-four inches; the price was two dollars a 



year. It was independent in politics and op- 
posed Jackson. In 1826 it passed into the 
hands of McMullen & Mason, then was again 
transferred to Alvah Hand, who discontinued 
it in 1829. 

The first paper was unsuccessful, financial- 
ly. This was perhaps unfortunate, as a prece- 
dent, for the same might be said of the most 
of the ninety odd newspaper and magazine 
publications which have followed, in the 
years from 1825 to 1907. 

Today three daily newspapers — two being 
entire local products and the third a Cleveland 
publication, keep Akron and Summit County 
thoroughly informed. Then there are a num- 
ber of other newspapers and similar publica- 
tions, which will be dealt with in their turn. 
It might be added in passing, however, that 
Akron's present newspapers ai'e far more suc- 
cessful, from a business view point, than mo.st 
of their predecessors. 

In no 'department of its industry may the 
progress of the city be so well followed as in 
its newspaper history. The printing art has 
improved and developed amazingly. Lane 
says, speaking of the Portage Journal, Sum- 
mit County's first newspaper: 

"With this fund, an old style Ramage press 
and a quantity of second-hand materials were 
purchased from the Cleveland Flerald, the 
entire outfit being transported overland in a 
couple of two horse wagons." One team 
could probably have hauled the entire outfit 
an ordinars'^ distance. The equipment may 
have weighed a ton. A new press was brought 
to Akron in the spring of 1907 for the Akron 



HISTORY OF , SUMMIT COUNTY 



225 



'times. It ^veighs over 52,000 pounds, with- 
out its accessories. 

Ill 1825, and in fact until a comparatively 
few years ago all type-setting was done by 
hand. Now it is indeed an obscure and back- 
ward paper which does not have one or more 
type-setting machines. In the old days, a 
strong youth furnished power for the print- 
ing press, turning out, possibly 300 to 500 in 
a laborious hour. Today presses in use by 
Akron's daily papers are operated by great 
engines or motors, and vastly larger papers 
than the earlv ones are turned out at the rate 
of 12,000 to 15,000 an hour. 

The telegraph, the telephone, the perfecting 
of mail delivery service, the evolution of the 
photographic and tlie photo-engraving proc- 
ess liave made newspapers entirely different 
things, both to publishers and to readers, than 
they were in the early days. Akron, proper, 
had no newspaper before 1836. Its people 
received their news through the Western In- 
telUgence, 1827: the Ohio Observer, 1832; 
published at Hudson and Cuyahoga Falls. 

In 1836, Akron was incorporated. Im- 
mediately thereafter Madison H. White, of 
Medina, came over and establi-shed the Akron 
Post, the first issue appearing March 23. It 
was a five column weekly, and it died in No- 
vember of the same year. Its equipment was 
purchased by Constant Bryan, then a young 
lawyer, and later a judge, who established the 
AIcro7i Journal. December 1. 1836. The 
Jottrnal gave up the ghost six months later. 

The Post and Journal had been Demo- 
cratic. Now the Whigs had an inning, when 
Horace K. Smith and Gideon J. Galloway 
brought forth the first issue of the American 
Balanre. August 19, 1837: suspended August 
9, 1838; age one year. 

Easily the liveliest and most comTuendable 
of the early Akron new.spaper ventures was 
that of Samuel Alanson Lane, who established 
the American Buzzard, in 1837, his object 
being to reduce the lawless young town of 
Akron, filled with bad men, to a state of law 
and order. In its stated object and in finan- 
cial matters the Evzzard was quite sticcessful, 
and after an exceding bri.«k career as editor 



and manager for two years, Mr. Lane dis- 
posed of it to Hiram Bowen, who turned it 
into the Summit Beacon, in 1839. 

The Beacon has continued to this day, be- 
ing issued as a daily under the name of the 
Beaton Journal. It represented the Whig 
Party, and had a hard time of it for several 
years. In 1844 Mr. Bowen sold the Beacon 
to Richards 6. Elkins, who was succeeded as 
editor by Laurin Dewey in 1845. They in 
turn sold it to John Teesdale, of Columbus, 
in 1848. Mr. Teesdale was still in command 
when the Republican party was formed in 
1855, and the Beacon became its organ. He 
sold out to Beebe & Elkins in 1856, and was 
succeeded as editor by James, later Judge 
Cai"penter; A. H. Lewis, of Ravenna, succeed- 
ed him, and in 1861 S. A. Lane, former pro- 
prietor of the Buzzard, became editor. Four 
years later Mr. Lane and Horace G. Canfield 
bought an interest, and in Januar^^, 1867, the 
business was taken entirely out of the hands 
of Beeibe & Elkins, the publishers' names being 
changed to Lane, Canfield & Company. The 
new proprietors believed that Akron had 
grown to a point where it should have a daily 
paper; the necessary preparations were made 
and the first issue of the Akron Daily Beacon 
made its appearance December 6, 1869. Mr. 
Lane was editor-in-chief, and Thomas C. Ray- 
nolds, wa« assistant editor. Mr. Raynolds 
afterward piloted the Beacon's ship of des- 
tiny for many years. 

The Beacon Publishing Companv was 
formed in 1871, capital $25,000. Messrs. Lane 
and Denis A. Long retained an active inter- 
est : H. A. Canfield and A. L. Paine retired 
and Mr. Raynolds was made editor-in-chief. 
The paper grew, and the fact that its entire 
jilant was destroyed by fire in 1872 checked 
its progress but little. In 1875 the property, 
rehabilitated, was purchased by Mr. Rav- 
nolds, -n-ith Frank J. Staral and John H. 
.\uble. Later Mr. Raynolds secured control. 

In 1869, the Akron Daily Beacon, the first 
local daily, made its appearance. It grew, and 
in 1891 absorbed the Akron Daily Republi- 
can, which had, in the meantime sprung up 
to di.spute its right to the whole of the local 



226 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



daily field. This led to a complete reorgani- 
zation. The Republican was a consolidation 
of two papers, the Daily Telegram and the 
Sunday Gazette, the latter founded by Paul 
E. Werner in 1878. 

When the Beacon took over the Republi- 
ran, it reorganized as follows: George W. 
Grouse, president; K. B. Congle, vice-presi- 
dent, and T. C. Raynolds, business manager. 
The Beacon and Republican continued in 
that form until 1897, when it was again 
deemed expedient to reach out and absorb a 
competitor, this time the Daily Journal. 
founded by Charles H. Wright. AVhen this 
change was made the name of the paper be- 
came the Beacon-Journal and a? such it ap- 
pears today. About that time R. T. Dobson, 
who, with his brother, had been conducting 
the Times, and had disposed of his interest 
there, came over and acquired in interest in 
the Beacon-Journal. This interest grew until 
it controlled the industry and it was much 
more prosperou,* under the Dobson direction 
than it had been in years before. A few 
years ago, Mr. Dobson, tiring of the newspa- 
per business, disposed of his interest to T. .1. 
Kirkpatrick, of Springfield, Ohio, and the 
latter removed to Akron and took personal 
charge, with C. L. Knight as business mana- 
ger. A year ago Major Kirkpatrick disposed 
of his holding and returned to Springfield 
where he has again engaged in the publish- 
ing business. Mr. Knight remains, as the 
manager and controller of a majority of the 
stock. William B. Baldwin, an Akron boy, 
and in newspaperdom a product of the local 
field, has been the editor of the Beacon-Jour- 
nal for years, and continues in that position. 
The Beacon-Journal Company occupies its 
own block at the corner of Quarry and Main 
Streets, and has a modern and complete 
equipment. So much for the story of what 
has developed into the leading Republican 
newspaper of the County. The Beacon-Jour- 
nal is a prodiict of gradual growth, of devel- 
opment with the years, as the city and county 
have developed. 

The Akron Tim,es, Summit County's lead- 
ing Democratic paper, daily and weekly, has 



another story to tell — a story of magnificent 
success in shorter time — a narrative of a 
struggle, which though short and successful, 
has been sharp. 

The American. Democrat, published at 
Akron for the first time on August 20, 1842, 
>was the first newspaper of that faith to make 
its appearance in Summit County. It? pub- 
lisher was the late Horace Canfield, pioneer 
printer, whose son, now honored and full of 
years, still plies the trade in the city of Akron. 

The life of the American Democrat was a 
little above six years. Then it daunted. Mr. 
Canfield immediately began the publication 
of another paper, with indifferent success. In 
1849, in partnership -with the late ex-gover- 
nor Sidney Edgerton, Mr. Canfield as mana- 
ger and Mr. Edgerton as editor, he began the 
publication of the Akron Free Democrat. 
That was in .July. After the fall election 
that year, the name of the paper was changed 
to the Free Demiocratic Standard. The paper 
continued for years, its name being frequently 
changed, however, to correspond with editorial 
belief or their burning issues. Its names 
were, successively, the Democratic Standard, 
the Summit Democrat and the Summit Un- 
ion. As the Summit Vnion the paper died 
in 1867. 

But Akron and Summit County were not 
to be left without a Democratic newspaper, 
and in the same year a new newspaper ven- 
ture, at least more enduring than its prede- 
cessors, was launched and christened the 
Akron Times. The present Akron Times is 
its lineal descendant. As a weekly paper 
the Akron Weekly Times continued un- 
til 1892. During those years, though it was 
without competition in its own field, its for- 
tunes were varied and it was at no time over- 
opulent, conforming in that respect to the 
well-known small newspaper rule. But it held 
on, and it grew despite the fact that it was 
the apostle of a minority in- local political be- 
lief. Among its editors were E. B. Eshelman, 
known better as editor of the Wayne County 
Democrat, and Frank S. Pixley, who has since 
become famous as a playwright. 

In 1892 fate decreed that the Times should 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



227 



emerge from its weekly newspaper chrysalis 
and become a daily. It happened that in that 
year W. B. and R. T. Dobson — then aggres- 
sive Democrats — decided that Akron must 
have a Democratic daily paper. The Akron 
Daily Democrat was accordingly launched by 
them. This was early in the year. The daily 
quickly occupied the field formerly taken by 
the weekly, and the weekly Times surren- 
dered, being taken over by the Brothers Dob- 
son. 

For five years the new arrangement contin- 
ued, W. B. Dobson having in the meantime 
become postmaster of the City of Akron, and 
the newspaper having been taken over by his 
brother, Russell T. Dobson. 

In 1898 the latter decided that he would 
dispose of the paper. In his employ at the 
time was an energetic youth who had gradu- 
ated from the printers' case to the editorial 
rooms and had become fii-st a reporter and 
later city editor of the paper. His name was 
Edward S. Harter. It was his ambition, of 
course, to own a newspaper, and when it was 
made known that the Daily Democrat and 
Weekly Times were for sale, he wanted to 
buy. With a partner then — Fred W. Gayer, 
of Akron — Mr. Harter made the purchase, 
paying whait was under the circumstance a 
large price for the property. It is a matter 
of local history that the seller boasted, when 
he completed the sale, that he would "have 
it back in six months." This came to the 
ears of Harter, the new editor. It checked 
his enthusiasm to a marked degree, but it 
also spurred him on to prevent, if possible, 
any other outcome of his venture than com- 
plete success. Mr. Dobson has not got the 
property back in ten years — by default. — and 
it is not likely that he ever will. Under the 
energetic direction of Mr. Harter and those 
associated with him then and since, the Times 
has grown. AVhen purchased its press ec(uip- 
ment wa? antiquated, type was set by hand, its 
office equipment was poor, its circulation small 
and its good will — an exceedingly important 
part, of a newspaper— was almost nil. 

Today the Times occupies its own building, 
a fine two-story brick structure at the corner 



of Mill Street and Broadway. Below are 
counting-room offices and pressroom, above 
reportorial and composing rooms. A battery 
of four linotype machines prepares the type; 
an elevator carries the pages to a pressroom 
equipped to the minute with the best and new- 
est machinery; a two-color sixteen-page press 
has just been installed, and today the Times 
has easily the most modern and complete 
newspaper plant in the county. Edward S. 
Harter, leaving the tripod for a business desk, 
is manager ; Judge C. R. Grant, a large stock- 
holder in the enterprise, wields a pen that 
moulds opinions, and the Times today is in 
the very front rank among Summit County 
publications. 

This paper is produced by the Akron Dem- 
ocrat Company, of whom the following are 
officers: Judge C. R. Grant, president; J. V. 
Welsh, vice-president; Edward S. Harter, sec- 
retary and manager, and M. N. Hoye, treas- 
urer. 

For the large number of German speaking 
people within its borders Akron has a live 
German newspaper, the Germania, edited and 
largely owned by Louis Seybold. This paper 
has had a long and successful career, having 
been founded in 1868 by H. Gentz. Within 
a year after its birth, it passed into the hands 
of the late Prof. Karl F. Kolbe, who for more 
than half a century was prominently identi- 
fied with all that was good in German litera- 
ture in this community. Louis Seybold became 
editor in 1875. In 1887 the Germania Print- 
ing Company was incorporated, with Paul 
E. Werner, president; Louis Seybold, secre- 
tary, and Hans Otto Beck, business manager. 
Later Mr. Werner and Mr. Beck disposed of 
their connections, Mr. Beck returning to Ger- 
many and Mr. Werner going into other things 
But the Germania lives on, Editor Seybold at 
the helm and members of his family at his 
right hand — a power for good in that part of 
the community for which it is especially in- 
tended. Some twenty years ago the Freie 
Presse was started, but the Germania quickly 
absorbed it. 

In a work of the present scope it would be 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



impossible to name all the publications which 
have at various times catered to the local pub- 
lic for a time, then passed on. D&serving of 
special mention, however, at the present time 
is The People, published weekly under the 
direction of the Akron Central Labor Union. 
The People is by far the most pretentious 
labor publication ever attempted in the Akron 
field. It enjoys a wide patronage and circu- 



lates among the members of the various local 
labor unions. 

The Akron Press, an edition of the Cleve- 
land Press, printed and prepared in Cleveland, 
is also circulated considerably in Akron. It 
is understood that its ow'uers at the present 
time contemplate the erection of a plant in 
this city, and the publication of the Akron 
Press as a bona fide Akron paper. 




JOHN BROWN 




THE OLD JOHN HKOWN JlOME UKKuUK UELNc; KEMODELED 



CHAPTER XV 



GREATNESS ACHIEVED BY SUMMIT COUNTY SONS 



JOHN BROWN. EDWARD ROWLAND SILL. 

There are two names in the history of Sum- 
mit County up to the year 1907, which, in 
the years to come, will stand out far above 
all others. The name of one who lived 
among us will always be honored because of 
the memories associated with the anti-slavery 
struggle; the fame of the other is secure be- 
cause of the perfection of his art. One 
wrought; the other wrote. Although they 
are the greatest by far of all Summit County's 
citizens, yet neither of them was a native of 
the county. They were both born in Connecti- 
cut, and the places of their birth were but 
forty miles apart. Nor, was the great work 
which each of them did, accomplished in 
Summit County. Nevertheless, as a large 
part of the lifetime of each was spent within 
her borders, the county claim? them both as 
her own sons. She views with increasing 
pride the added fame which the years bring 
to the memory of John Brown of Osawatomie, 
and Edward Rowland Sill, one of the worthi- 
est and truest of American poets. 

Torrington, in Western Connecticut, is set 
amid all the glories of the Housatonic Moun- . 
tains. Nature presents few landscapes more 
charming than this idyllic region. Litchfield, 
which means so much to the residents of Sum- 
mit County is only a few miles to the south- 
west. John Brown was born at Torrington 
on the 9th day of ilay in the year 1800. 
The town record supplies the date and states 
that he was the son of Owen and Ruth 
Brown. He was a direct descendant of Peter 
Brown, an English Puritan carpenter who was 
on6 of the Mayflower company. His ancestors, 
too, had been part of that remarkable colony 



which founded Windsor, Connecticut. In his 
own words, he was born of "poor but re- 
spectable parents." His father was a tanner 
and shoemaker who was often hard put to 
in order to provide the bare necessaries of life 
for his faanily. His grandfather was Captain 
John Brown, of the Revolutionary Army. 
Hi^ mother was Ruth IVIills and she, too, could 
boast of a father who had fought with great 
credit in the war of the Revolution. His 
mother was of Dutch descent, her first Ameri- 
can ancestor being Peter Mills who emigrated 
from Holland about 1700. 

In 1805 Owen Brown moved with his wife 
and babies to Ohio. It was an emigration 
rather than a moving; for the way was long 
and toilsome and beset with many perils. They 
settled in Hudson, which at that time was 
only a clearing in an almost unbroken wilder- 
ness. In the story of his life John mentions 
that it was filled with Indians and wild 
beasts. During the first few years of his life 
in Hudson, he was accustomed to intimate 
association with the Indians; his early play- 
mates were Indians and from them he learned 
much woodcraft and some of their language. 
He mentions with much feeling the loss of a 
yellow imarble (the first he ever had), which 
had been given to him by an Indian boy. 
Soon after settling in Hudson, his father was 
made a trustee of Oberlin College. This 
speaks volumes for the standing of the family 
and the character of that worthy father. In 
spite of the scholastic connection of his father, 
however, the youthful John received very 
scanty schooling. Dres.sed in his rough buck- 
.skin clothes he preferred to tend the cattle 
and .«heep, and roam on long trips in the for- 
est. AVhen onlv twelve vears old he made a 



232 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



trip of over a hundred miles driving alone a 
herd of cattle. He enjoyed immensely the 
hardest and roughest sports, and lost no op- 
portunity to "wrestle, snow-ball, run, jump 
and knock off old seedy wool hats." Perhaps 
the battles in Kansas were being won on the 
field of those rough frontier sports in Ohio. 
His mother died when he was eight years old, 
and the poor little fellow mourned for her for 
years. His father soon married again, but 
his heart remained lonely for his mother. At 
ten years he commenced reading books. It 
is easy to determine how that rugged charac- 
ter was formed by considering the sources of 
its inspiration. From that time on, his fav- 
orite books were: first and always, The Holv 
Bible; then Baxter's Saints' Rest; The Pil- 
grim's Progress; Josephus' Works, Plutarch's 
Lives; The Life of Oliver Cromwell; Rollin's 
Ancient History; Napoleon and His Mar- 
shals; and Henry on Meekness. 

At the age of sixteen he joined the Congre- 
gational Church at Hudson, and remained a 
steadfa.st and bible-reading Christian all the 
days of his life. After he became a nationnl 
character, the extent of his Bible knowledge 
was much marvelled at. About this time he 
determined to study for tbe ministry and 
entered the Hallock School, Plainfield, Ma=sa- 
chusetts, and also Morris Academy in Con- 
necticut. Inflammation of the eyes compelled 
him to quit study, and he returned to his 
business of tanning hides in Hudson. He 
was made foreman in his father's tannery 
and also mastered the art of .surveying. Sub- 
sequent sui-veys showed that Iiis early sur- 
veys Avere made with great accuracy. 

On June 21, 1820, he was married in Hud- 
son to Dianthe Lusk, of that village. He de- 
scribes her as "a remarkably plain, but neat, 
industrious and economical girl, of excellent 
character, earnest piety and good, practical 
common-scn.?e." He confesses that .«he "main- 
tained a most powerful and good influence 
over him" so long as she lived. By her, he 
had seven children, the first three of whom 
were born in Hudson, Ohio; the others in 
Richmond, Pennsylvania. These children 
were John Brown. Jr.; Jason Brown, now 



livijig in -Vkron ; Owen Brown ; Frederick 
Brown ; Ruth Brown, who afterward married 
Henry Thompson ; Frederick Brown, mur- 
dered in the Kansas trouble by Rev. Martin 
White; and an infant son who died three 
daj's after birth. Jason Brown was born in 
Hudson, January 19, 1823. He was the most 
prominent of the "Sons of Hudson" who re- 
turned for the "Old Home Festival" in the 
autumn of 1907, having walked all the way 
from Akron to Hudson to attend it. In 1826, 
John Brown moved to Richmond, Crowford 
County, Pennsylvania, where he carried on 
the business of tanner until 1835. His wife 
died here in Augu.st, 1832, and he soon re- 
married. His second wife was Mary A. Day, 
who bore him thirteen children as follows: 
Sarah Brown, born May 11, 1834, at Rich- 
mond, Pennsylvania; Watson Brown, October 
7, 1834, at Franklin Mills, Ohio, (now Kent, 
Ohio) ; Salmon Brown, October 2, 1836, Hud- 
son, Ohio; Charles Brown, November 3, 1837, 
Hudson, Ohio; Oliver Brown, March 9, 1839, 
Franklin Mills, Ohio; Peter Brown, Decem- 
ber 7, 1840, Hudson, Ohio; Austin Brown, 
September 14, 1842, Richfield, Summit 
County, Ohio; Anne Brown, December 23, 
1843, Richfield, Ohio ; Amelia Brown, June 
22, 1845, Akron, Ohio; Sarah Brown (2d) 
September 11, 1846, Akron; Ellen Brown, 
Mav 20, 1848, Springfield. Massachusetts; in- 
fant son, April 26, 1852, Akron, died May 
17, 1852, and Ellen Brown (2d), September 
25, 1854, Akron. 

In 1835 he moved back to Ohio; this time 
settling at Franklin Mills (now Kent) in 
Portage County. He was unfortunate in the 
real estate business here, and in 1840 he re- 
turned to Hudson and formed a partnership 
with Heman Oviatt, of Richfield, to engage in 
the wool business. In 1842 he moved across 
the Cuyahoga Valley to Richfield, where he 
lived two years. AVhile living in Richfield 
four of his children died. In 1844 he moved 
with his family to Akron and formed a part- 
nership with Col. Simon Perkins, of Akron, 
to engage in the wool business. The firm 
name was Perkins & Brown and they sold 
large quantities of wool on commission. John 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



233 



Brown was an expert judge of wool; in fact, 
he had few equals. His reputation as a wool 
expert extended over the whole eastern part 
of the countrj'. A Massachusetts friend re- 
lates this anecdote of him : "Give him two 
samples of wool, one grown in Ohio and the 
other in Vermont, and he would distinguish 
each of them in the dark. One evening, in 
England, one of the party wLshing to play a 
trick -on the Yankee farmer, handed him a 
sample and asked him what he would do with 
such wool as that. His eyes and fingers were 
then so good that he had only to touch it to 
kno^' that it had not the minute hooks by 
which the fibers of wool are attached to each 
other. 'Gentlemen,' said he, 'if you have any 
machinery that will work up dog's hair, I 
would advise you to put this into it.' The 
jocose Briton had sheared a poodle and 
brought the hair in his pocket, but the laugh 
went against him, and Captain Brown, in 
spite of some peculiarities of dress and man- 
ner, soon won the respect of all whom he 
met." 

Perkins it Brown was not a success. Tlie 
failure was due solely to John Brown's lack 
of business instinct. He was not intended by 
Nature for a business career. He lacked all 
the fundamental requisites. He was by na- 
ture a dreamer, a seer, a poet, if you will. The 
impulses or intuitions he had at sixteen were 
correct; he would have made a splendid 
preacher. Colonel Perkins said of him: "He 
had little judgment, always followed his own 
will, and lost much money." During his 
residence of two years in Akron, he lived in 
the frame house on the top of Perkins Hill, 
now occupied by Hon. Charles E. Perkins, 
and which for several years was used as a 
club-house liy The Portage Golf Club. In the 
spring of 1846 he went to Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts as the agent for certain large wool 
growers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1848 
he went to England with 200,000 pounds of 
wool, which he was compelled to sell at about 
half its value. His record as a wool factor is 
a series of failures. He was now reduced to 
poverty again. 

In 1849 he fell in with Gerritt Smith's 



quixotic plan to found a colony of negro set- 
tlers in the wild lands of the Adirondack 
wilderness, and moved his family there in that 
year, settling in North Elba, Essex County, 
New York. Mr. Smith gave John Brown the 
land and the latter started to clear it and en- 
deavored to show the negro how to cultivate 
and plant their farms in the colony. North 
Elba was the home of his family until the time 
of his death. It was a wild, cold and bleak 
place, and they suffered many privations while 
living there. From that time on John 
Brown's business was to fight slaverj'. He had 
been an abolitionist since the war of 1812. 
His witnessing the ill-treatment of a little 
slave boy, about his own age, to whom he was 
much attached, brought home to him the evils 
of human slavery and led him to declare eter- 
nal war with slavery. "This brought John to 
reflect on the wretched, hopeless condition of 
fatherless and motherless slave children, for 
such children have neither fathers nor moth- 
ers to protect and provide for them. He would 
sometimes raise the question : 'Is God their 
Father?' " — Autobiographical letter to Harry 
Stearns. Verily, God was their Father and 
was even then "trampling out the vintage 
where the grapes of wi'ath are stored." In 
1837. while the whole family were assem- 
bled for prayer, John Brown made them all 
take a solemn oath to work with him for the 
freeing of the slaves, and then, kneeling, they 
invoked the blessing of God on their compact 
In Ohio and also in Massachusetts, he was 
active in assisting runaway slaves to es- 
cape. 

In 1854 his sons began to emigrate to Kan- 
sas, intending to settle there and grow to 
wealth with the country. In two years five 
of them, John, Jr., Jason, Owen, Frederick 
and Salmon, had located in the new terri- 
tory. They built their rude huts not far from 
the Missouri line, and, as it later turned out, 
right in the center of the struggle between the 
Free State and Pro-Slavery forces. The Mis- 
souri Compromise of 1820 had prohibited 
slavery in the new territory; the Kansas-Ne- 
braska Act of 1854 repealed that prohibition 
and allowed the settlers in the new territory 



234 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



to decide the question for themselves. Then 
the Kansas war was on. The Brown broth- 
ers found themselv&s drawn into it. Perhaps 
they remembered their oaths of 1837. At any 
rate, they wrote to their father to send them 
arms, and finally asked him to come and help 
them. The father did both. September, 1855, 
found John Brown in Kansas fighting his 
first big battles for the freedom of the slaves. 
In March, 1856, the time for the election 
whether the state should be "free" or "slave," 
Kansas was invaded by 5,000 Missourians, 
who took possession of the polls and con- 
trolled the election. From that time the war 
was on in good earnest. Its record is a part 
of our national history, and this is not the 
proper place to review the stirring incidents 
of those times. John Brown was now a na- 
tional figure. He was the leader of the Free 
State forces. June 2, 1856, he won the "bat- 
tle" of Black Jack. In August he was in 
command of the "Kansas Cavalry." On Au- 
gust 30, 1856, he won the fight called the "bat- 
tle of Osawatomie." It was from this battle 
that he got that nickname which has always 
clung to him. On September 15, 1856, he was 
in command of the defenders of the town of 
Lawrence and successfully resisted the attack 
of the "Missouri Ruffians." These fights are 
called "battles" ; in reality, they were skir- 
mishes in a guerrilla warfare. It was as a 
guerrilla leader that John Brown won his suc- 
cesses. By his activity he made it impossible 
to hold slaves in Kansas and thus the state 
was saved to the cause of Freedom. 

In October, 1856, he started, with his sons, 
for the East, begging assistance for the Kan- 
sas cause as he journeyed. On the 18th of 
February, 1857, he addressed the Massachu- 
setts legislature in a notable speech. He spent 
the winter with his family at North Elba, 
New York, and, in making speeches, collect- 
ing money for the cause and, buying arms. 
He alreadv liad Harper's Ferry in his mind. 
Autumn of 1857 found him in Iowa raising 
his forces and drillino- them for the invasion 
of Virginia. Mo.st of 1858 was spent in Kan- 
sas at the request of Abolition friends in the 
East, who were furnishing funds for the 



cause. ^Vll the prepai'ations for and the at- 
tack on Hai'per's Ferry are a matter of na- 
tional and not local history. Suffice it to say 
that on July 3, 1859, he hired a farm near 
Haiper's Ferry, called the Kennedy Place, 
and assumed the name of Isaac Smith and be- 
gan to ship in the arms he had collected. - He 
succeeded in concealing his little band about 
this farm until he was ready to strike. Early 
on the morning of October 16, 1859, the blow 
fell. With his little band of twenty-two fol- 
lowers he seized the United States arsenal at 
Harper's Ferry. On October 17 he was at- 
tacked, by United States forces, most of his 
followers were killed and he, himself, was 
wounded and made prisoner. He was put on 
trial October 26, charged with treason, con- 
spiracy and murder, was found guilty on No- 
vember 2 and executed by hanging on the gal- 
lows on December 2, 1859. His body was 
delivered to his wife at Harper's Ferry and 
by her taken to North Elba, where he was 
buried. Wendell Phillips preached the 
funeral sermon. 

All the North looked upon John Brown as 
a martyr. As Christ had died to make men 
holy, this man had died to make them free. 
The Summit County boy had awakened the 
conscience of the Nation. It is difficult to 
realize that the bright-eyed little fellow, play- 
ing with his Indian mate? and tending his 
father's sheep up at Hudson, had become the 
central figure of our national life for the few 
years preceding the fall of Sumter. He did 
more; he had compelled the attention of the 
whole world. Victor Hugo published a sketch 
of him in Paris in 1861, which contained 
Hugo's own drawing of John Brown on the 
gallows, and which he marked Pro Chrisfo 
sicut Christus — he died for Christ in Christ's 
own manner. Biographies of him were pub- 
lished in England, Germany and other Eu- 
ropean countries. Emerson, Thoreau, Wen- 
dell Phillips, Thoanas Wentworth Higgin- 
son and other philosophers, poets and states- 
men were proud to acknowledge their friend- 
ship with the latest martyr to the cause of 
Eternal Freedom. 

On the day of his execution Akron made 




EDWARD ROAVLAND SILL 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



237 



public display of her mourning. Business 
was entirely suspended, flags were at half- 
mast, bells were tolled, and in the evening 
memorial services were held, at which promi- 
nent citizens made addresses. He was Sum- 
mit County's first, but not her last, martyr to 
the cause of Human Freedom ; he was only 
the leader of a mighty company of noble men 
who made willing sacrifices of their lives for 
the cause of their Country and Humanity. 
Victor Hugo was right. 

EDWARD ROWLAND SILL. 

Year by year the fame of this true poet is 
growing. It will be only a little while in the 
future until he is given the rank he deserves — 
among the foremost of America's poets. In 
many of his poems he attained the highest 
level of American art. In many respects his 
career offers a striking parallel to that of John 
Brown. He was born in the village of Wind- 
sor, Connecticut, April 29, 1841. This vil- 
lage was not far from John Brown's birth- 
place, and had been founded by a colony of 
Puritans, of whom John Brown's ancestors 
had been an influential part. He was not 
born to the poverty that was John Brown's 
lot. His family were well-to-do, and he re- 
ceived a splendid education at Yale College, 
from which he was graduated with the class 
of 1861. On the 9th of December of that 
year he sailed for California and landed in 
San Francisco March 25, 1862. The long sea 
voyage restored his health, which was im- 
paired upon his graduation. His first posi- 
tion was that of clerk in the postoffice at 
Sacramento. He kept the position only a 
short time, going to Folsom, California, to ac- 
cept a place as clerk in a bank. In July, 1862, 
he had determined fully to study law and en- 
ter upon that profession. He was then much 
disturbed as to the end toward which his life's 
activities should be directed. He writes "as 
Kingsley puts it, we are set down before that 
greatest world-problem — 'Given Self, to find 
God.' " In 1864 he determined to enter the 
ministry, and by February, 1865, he was deep 
in his theological reading. During these ear- 



ly days in California he wrote much — both 
prose and poetry. Early in 1867 he returned 
to the East and entered the Divinity School 
of Hai-vard University, where he studied for 
a few months. Why he quit the divinity 
school and relinquished the hope of the min- 
istry he tells in a little autobiographical let- 
ter ^\Titten March 29, 1883, as follows: "At 
last I went to a Theological Seminary (in 
Cambridge, because there you did not have to 
subscribe to a creed, definitely, on the start), 
and thought I would try the preliminary 
steps, anywaj', toward the ministry. But here 
I finally found I did not believe in the things 
to be preached, as churches went, as historical 
facts. So I desperately tried teaching." In 
June, 1867, he returned to Cuyahoga Falls, 
fully determined not to return to his theo- 
logical studies. He says in a letter: "There 
could be no pulpit for me. * * * It is 
no sentimentalism with me — it is simply a 
solemn conviction that a man must speak the 
truth as fast and as far as he knows it. — truth 
to him. * * * Emerson could not preach, 
and now I understand why." He then deter- 
mined upon school teaching as his life work — 
a singularly happy choice. "School teaching 
always has stood first," he wrote, significantly, 
at this time. He began by teaching the dis- 
trict school at Wadsworth, Ohio. In Septem- 
ber, 1869, he assumed the position of princi- 
pal of the High School at Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio, to which he had been appointed during 
that summer. His predecessor in that posi- 
tion was Vergil P. Kline, well known later to 
the people of Northern Ohio. The memories 
of his happy days in California were drawing 
him thither. He secured a position in the 
High School at Oakland, California, in 1871. 
In 1867, he was married to his cousin. Eliza- 
beth Newberrv' Sill, of Cuyahoga Falls, daugh- 
ter of Hon. Elisha Noyes Sill and Elizabeth 
(Newberry) Sill. No children were born to 
them. In 1871 he resigned his position as 
principal of the Cuyahoga Falls High School 
and, with his wife, moved to California to 
accept the new teaching po-sition in Oakland. 
In 1874 he was oflFered and accepted the chair 
of English Literature in the Univcrsitv of 



238 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



California, where he taught successfully un- 
til 1882. His health, which had never been 
very rugged, failed him entirely in this year. 
In 1883, he returned to Cuyahoga Falls, 
where he died February 27, 1887. His life 
work was teaching, but he will be known in 
the years to come because of his verse. Most 
of it ranks very high. The critics have com- 
pared him with Emerson, Arnold and Tenny- 
son. His first volume of poems was published 
in 1868, and was entitled "The Hermitage 



and Other Poems." In 1883 his second vol- 
ume, "The Venus of Milo and Other Poems," 
was privately printed at Berkeley, California. 
In 1887 Houghton, Mifflin & Company is- 
sued "Poems of Edward Rowland Sill"; in 
1889 "The Hermitage and Later Poems," and 
in 1900, "Hermione and Other Poems." In 
1900 these publishers also issued the "Prose 
of Edward Rowland Sill" and a splendid edi- 
tion de luxe of his complete poems. 



CHAPTER XVI 



MILITARY HISTORY 



Revolutionary War — War of 1812 — Mexican War — War of the Rebellion — Militia Or- 
gan iza tions — Spanish- A merican \ Var. 



Few, if any, communities have been more 
patriotic than Akron, and indeed all of Sum- 
mit County. Her sons have gone forth 
willingly and gladly to fight their country's 
battles, on many occasions not waiting to be 
called upon. Akron's volunteers were numer- 
ous and acquitted themselves manfully in 
1898, and during the stirring years from 1861 
to 1865 the city and the county furnished 
their full quota of defenders of the Union. 
Akron sent forth her brave and strong to the 
Mexican struggle of 1846, within her gates are 
buried men who fought in 1812, and in her 
soil rest even a few of those heroes who fought 
in 1776, and the years following, to give the 
nation birth. There is no chapter of local 
military history that were best skimmed 
lightly over. Glory, unselfishness and patriot- 
ism are written large on every page that tells 
the story of her soldiery. 

REVOLUTION.1RY WAR. 

A few of the names of the veterans of the 
Revolution, who became settlers of the county 
and were buried in it, are preserved to us. 
Among them were Captain Nathaniel Bettes, 
buried in the family lot at Bettes' Corners; 
Daniel Galpin and Elijah Bryan. 

WAR OF 1812. 

Of soldiers of 1812 buried in the city the 
following may be mentioned: John C. Hart, 



Henry Spafford, James Viall, Sr., George 
Uunkle, John C. De La Matyr, Asa Field, 
'J'imothy Clark, Gideon Hewett, William 
Ilardesty, Jame.s Mills, Andrew May and Wil- 
liam Roland. 

MEXICAN WAR. 

Akron citizens who served in the Mexican 
war were: Jeroboam B. Creighton, Adams 
Hart, George Dresher, Ezra Tryon, Oliver P. 
Barney, Joseph Gonder, Thomas Thompson, 
Cornelius Way and Valmore Morris. 

From the time Akron was a small village 
her citizens were appreciative of military 
glory. They did their full share of the serv- 
ice required of the citizen-soldiers under the 
early militia laws. Among the early militia 
organizations to win renown were the "Sum- 
mit Guards," commanded by the late General 
Philo Chambeilaiu. From that time down t:i 
the present Akron has seldom been mthout a 
military company. Now her organizations are 
companies B and F of the Eighth Regiment, 
Ohio National Guard, commanded respective- 
ly by Captains William F. Yontz and Wil- 
liam E. Walkup. 

CIVIL WAR. 

It was in connection with the Civil War, 
however, that Akron achieved the larger meas- 
ure of her military glory. Immediately fol- 
owing President Lincoln's first call for troops, 
in 1861, two companies of volunteers were 



240 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



mustered, and, their services being accepled, 
were sent into the service as companies G and 
K, Nineteenth Regiment, O. V. I. Company 
G was commanded by Captain Lewis P. Buck- 
ley, First Lieutenant Andrew J. Fulkerson 
and Second Lieutenant Gilbert S. Carpenter. 
The oflicers of Company K were Captain An- 
drew J. Konkle, First Lieutenant Paul J. 
Kirby and Second Lieutenant James Nelson. 
A third company, formed shortly after, in re- 
sponse to the same call, was not required to 
help make up the 75.000 volunteers called 
for and was accordingly disbanded. When 
Companies G and K joined their regiment at 
Columbus, May 16, there was an election of 
officers. Captain Buckley being promoted to 
the rank of major at that time. Assigned to 
the command of General Rosecrans, the Nine- 
teenth was in the battle of Rich Mountain, 
July 7, being especiallj^ mentioned for its 
good conduct and bravery. Having enlisted 
for only ninety days, the Nineteenth Ohio was 
mustered out in July, 1861, but was imme- 
diately reorganized, many of the Akron men 
remaining. Its excellent conduct so long as 
it remained in service is a matter of national 
history. Major Buckley, at the expiration of 
the three months' ser\'ice of the original 
Nineteenth, was made colonel of the Twenty- 
ninth Regiment, 0. V. I., serving with credit 
until physical disability forced him to leave 
the sei-vice in 1863. He died in Akron in 
1868. Buckley Post, G. A. R., Akron's pres- 
ent organization of Civil AVar veterans, wa? 
named for him. 

Of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, 0. V. I.. 
three companies, D, G and H, were composed 
largely of Summit County men. In 1862 the 
regiment, after some delays, got into active 
service under General Shields, and remained 
in the service until the close of the war. The 
Twenty-ninth was in the folloT^ang battles, as 
well as many others. Antietam, Chancellors- 
ville. Gettysburg, and with Sherman on his 
march "from Atlanta to the Sea," remaining 
in service continuously for over four years. 
Akron, Middlebury and Portage contributed 
largely to the Twenty-ninth. 

One company of the Sixty-fourth, 0. V. I., 



Senator John Slierman's regiment, contained 
many Summit County men. This was Com- 
pany G. The Sixty-fourth saw much fight- 
ing; among the battles in which it took part 
were the following: Shiloh, Stone River, 
Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Resaca, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Siege of At- 
lanta, Franklin and Nashville. The 238 sur- 
vivors were mustered out at Victoria, Texas, 
December 3, 1865. 

Those who remember Akron's part in the 
struggle of the North and the South, thrill 
at the name of the Sixth Ohio Battery, a sec- 
tion of which was made up of Akron and 
Summit County men. The Akron section 
was formed November 21, with Captain Cul- 
len Bradley, an army officer of experience, in 
command, the other two commissioned officers 
being 0. H. P. Ayres and A. P. Baldwin. The 
Sixth Ohio Battery saw much hard service, 
some special incidents in its career being its 
almost continuous fighting for 120 days in 
the siege of Atlanta, and its mention by Gen- 
eral Howard for its accurate firing before 
Kenesaw. The battery was mustered out at 
Huntsville, Alabama, September 1, 1865. 

In the gallant One Hundred and Fourth, 
0. V. I., Akron had nearly all of Company H, 
and was represented in several other compa- 
nies. The regiment was formed in August, 
1862. Captain Walter B. Scott commanded 
Company H. His immediate subordinates 
were First Lieutenant Hobart Ford and Sec- 
ond Lieutenant Samuel F. Shaw. The One 
Hundred and Fourth was under fire within 
a month, its first assignment being to head 
off General Kirby Smith's advance on Cincin- 
nati. The first clash came near Covington, 
Kentucky, September 10, 1862, the Confeder- 
ates being repulsed. Shortly after this the 
regiment went on guard duty at Frankfort, 
Kentucky. In February, 1863, it was relieved, 
and in September of the same year became a 
part of General Burnside's command. It took 
the Confederate arms and stores at the sur- 
render at Cumberland Gap; it took an active 
part in the Atlanta campaign in 1864; had 
almost daily exchanges of the "courtesies of 
war" with Hood's men, near Nashville, and 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



•J41 



cuptui-ed eleven battle flags at the battle of 
Frankfort. It was a part of the Army of the 
Potomac and was detailed to receive the sur- 
render of Johnston. Six hundred and forty 
survivors were mustered out at Camp Tay- 
lor, Cleveland, June 27, 1865. 

The One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment, 
0. V. I., like the One Hundred and Fourth, 
was formed at ^lassillon, in August, 1862, and 
went int&the United States service in Septem- 
ber. Companies C, G and I contained many 
Summit County men. It was assigned to 
various re.sponsible duties, guarding prisoners, 
doing provost work, and in all things acquit- 
ting itself well until October, 1863, when on 
orders it joined General Rosecrans at Chatta- 
nooga. Here part, of the regiment was put 
into guerrilla warfai'e, and the remainder as- 
signed to guard duty along the line of the 
Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. In De- 
cember, 1864, while engaged in guarding this 
railroad, being stationed in block houses. 
Companies C, F and G were captured by the 
enemy. Among the prisoners were two-thirds 
of the Summit County men in the regiment. 
Many of these Summit County prisoners, 
upon being exchanged for Confederates, near 
the close of the war. were unwilling partici- 
pants in, and some of them victims, of the 
famous Sultana disaster. They were confined 
during their captivity at Andersonville and 
at Meridian, Mississippi. April 25, 1865, the 
exchange took place at Vicksburg, and the 
Summit County men, with some 2,000 others, 
were packed aboard the river steamer Sultana 
for tran.sportation to Cincinnati on their way 
home. Shortly after leaving Jlemphis, past 
midnight of April 27. as the homeward- 
bound soldiers either .slept upon the decks or 
lay awake thinking of their loved ones, and 
anticipating .joyful reunions, one of the Sul- 
tana's boilers exploded, wrecking her and set- 
ing her afire, so that she burned to the water's 
edge. Half of her passengers were lost, either 
killed by the explosion, or drowned when they 
were hurled into the water. Thirty of the 
victims were Summit County men, though no 
.\kronians are known to have lost their lives. 
The One Hundred and Fifteenth wa« assigned 



to active and dangerous work at Murfrees- 
boro, where it also performed garrison and 
.guard duty for a time; it continued in the 
same kind of duty until mustered out at Cleve- 
land at the close of the war. As provost mar- 
shal at Cincinnati, Captain Edward Bucking- 
ham, of Company I (an Akron man), was 
practically in command of the city during 
the Vallandingham afi'air. Lieutenant George 
S. Waterman, of Cincinnati, was shot and 
fatally wounded at Cincinnati by "Copper- 
heads," as one of the incidents of that af- 
fair. 

John Morgan and Kirby Smith, rebel 
raiders, caused Ohio much uneasiness in 1862. 
Cincinnati was threatened; all available troops 
were stationed near the border, but even then 
the presence of more defenders seemed ad- 
visable. So Governor Tod issued a call for 
volunteers to defend the borders of the state, 
his message, dated at Columbus, September 
10, 1862, calling for the transportation of "all 
armed men that can be raised, immediately 
to Cincinnati," being responded to with com- 
mendable promptness by citizens in all walks 
of life. Akron and the vicinity sent two 
hundred. Many of them were "fearfully and 
wonderfully" armed and accoutered, but all 
had the fighting spirit. Some placed their 
faith in the old-fashioned rifles, with which 
they had picked squirrels out of Summit 
County trees in Summit County guUie.", and 
the presence of this variety of arms caused 
the volunteer defenders of Cincinnati to be 
called "The Squirrel Hunters." When thev 
arrived at Cincinnati, however, the enemy had 
retreat-ed and the "Squirrel Hunters" returned 
to their homes, not having fired a shot. Dan- 
iel AV. Storer was captain of the company from 
Akron and vicinity. 

The Second Ohio Cavalry was recruited en- 
tirely in the Western Reserve, and three com- 
panies were largely made up of Akron men. 
Then as now, more sentiment attached to the 
cavalrj'- branch of the service than to either 
artillery or infantry, and the career of the 
Second was watched closely from old Sum- 
mit. The regiment began its existence late 
in 1861, Colonel Charles Doubleday being in 



242 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



command. Among Akron men prominent in 
its affairs were George A. Purington, captain 
of Company A (promoted to be a colonel and 
afterwards entering the regular army), and 
Dudley Seward, who rose to be colonel of the 
Second before the war was over. The regi- 
ment joined General Porter in Missouri early 
in 1862, engaging in skirmish work against 
the guerrilla Quantrell soon after. It assisted 
in the capture of Fort Gibson and after about 
a year of active, wearing work on the border, 
returned east and was reorganized and re- 
equipped -at Columbus. In 1863 it was in 
the pursuit and capture of Morgan, the rebel 
raider. In the same year it joined Rosecrans, 
engaging in numerous hot fights, seeing the 
hardest kind of service and gaining death and 
glory quite impartially. Half the command 
re-enlisted Januaiy 1, 1864, and fought, first 
under Burnside, and then with Sheridan, be- 
having brilliantly throughout, and taking 
part imder this dashing commander in the 
la«t raid of the war, which resulted in the cap- 
ture of Early's army. The Second was mus- 
tered out at Camp Chase September 11, 1865. 
It had marched 27,000 miles and took part 
in ninety-seven fights of various magnitudes. 

In the First Ohio Light Artillery, formed 
in 1861, were two batteries composed largely 
of Akron and Summit County men, A, Cap- 
tain Charles Cotter, of Middlebury, command- 
ing, and D, Captain Andrew J. Konkle, of 
Cuyahoga Falls. The First immediately got 
into the fighting, firet with McCook, then 
with Buell in Kentucky, again M'ith McCook 
in 1863, doing fine work at Chickamauga, 
and, after re-enlisting as veterans, taking 
part in the entire Atlanta campaign. After 
making a record that was full of fight, it 
ended its .service in Texas, when the war 
ended, and was anu.stered out at Cleveland, 
having tiravcled 6,000 miles and fought the 
enemy thirty-nine times. 

Akron was represented honorably in the 
Fifty-eighth Regiment, 0. V. I., a German 
regiment, organized by Colonel A^alentine 
Bausenwein in 1861, which remained in the 
service till the close of the war, taking part 



in some of the greatest battles fought in the 
four years. 

The One Hundred and Seventh 0. V. I., 
also a German regiment, was organized in 
1862. It contained Akron men, among them 
being Captain George Billow, the well-known 
local undertaker. The local men were in 
Company I. The One Hundred and Seventh 
fought under General Franz Sigel, and lost 
42 per cent of its men in the Gettysburg cam- 
paign. It was mustered out at Charleston, 
South Carolina, July 10, 1865. Among other 
fights in which it took part may be mentioned 
Chancellorsville, Getty,sburg, Hagerstown, 
Sumterville and Swift Creek. 

A handful of Akron men were members of 
the Thirty-seventh Regiment, 0. V. I., the 
third German regiment organized in Ohio. 

In the Ninth Ohio Battery the following 
Akron men played their parts in the war: 
Robert Cahill, Adam France, Charles Gifford, 
Martin Heiser, F. A. Patton, Frederick Pot- 
ter, Caleb Williams, Thomas Williams and C 
0. Rockwell. 

The Sixty-seventh 0. V. I. was the vehicle 
that started the late General A. C. Voris on 
his way toward the military eminence which 
he attained during the war. He and two 
other Akron men, C. W. Bucher and C. A. 
Lantz, were, however, the only local repre- 
sentatives in that famous command. When 
the war broke out, Hon. A. C. Voris was a 
representative in Ohio's General Assembly. 
He enlisted as a private in the Twenty-ninth 
Regiment, 0. V. I. Soon after he received 
a second lieutenant's commission and left the 
Twenty-ninth to help form the Sixty-seventh, 
being elected lieutenant-colonel when the regi- 
ment was organized. In 1862 he became col- 
onel and entered upon a series of events which 
stamped him as a man of dashing courage, 
and paved the way to the promotions which he 
earned so hardly and deserved so richly. He 
was made a major-general in 1865, after a life 
of real leadership, plenty of fighting and 
wounds and great glory. General Voris was 
one of Akron's most distinguished soldiers 
in the Civil War. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



243 



The One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Regi- 
ment, 0. N. G., composed of "100 day men," 
contained a host of Summit County men. Its 
service consisted of guarding the capitol at 
Washington in 1864, and, although it took 
part in no battles, several of the local men 
died of disease. The One Hundred and Sixty- 
fourth was mustered out at Cleveland, August 
27, 1864. 

Akron was represented by a half-dozen sol- 
diers, including Captain Josiah J. Wright, in 
the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regi- 
ment, 0. V. I., organized August 10, 1863, 
and mustered out in March, 1864. 

Several Summit County men were also in 
the One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Regi- 
ment, 0. V. I., Ohio's last complete regimental 
contribution to the Civil War. 

The service of Ulysses L. I\Ia.r\'in was 
unique, as he was probably Akron's only of- 
ficer of colored troops between 1861 and 
1865. He enlisted in 1862 as a private in the 
One Hundred and Fifteenth 0. V. I., was 
commissioned a lieutenant in the Fifth U. S. 
Colored Infantry in 1863, took part in the 
Peninsula campaign, was promoted to cap- 
tain during the siege of Richmond, was at 
the final surrender of the Confederate army 
at Releigh, N. C, was brevetted major at the 
clo.se of the war and made judge advocate on 
the staff of General Paine. 

Another Akron soldier who won promotion 
was George T. Perkins. He was a volunteer 
in 1861, joining the Nineteenth Regiment, 0. 
V. I., as a second lieutenant. In August, 
1862, he enlisted for three years as a major 
of the One Hundred and Fifth. This regi- 
ment has a glorious history. Major Perkins 
was made a lieutenant-colonel in 1863 and 
colonel in 1864. He ser\'ed until the end of 
the war. 

Among other regiments besides those which 
have l)een mentioned, in which Akron's sol- 
diers fought during the Civil War, were the 
following: Forty -second 0. V. I., Eighty- 
fourth 0. V. I., One Hundred and Twenty- 
Fifth 0. V. I., One Hundred and Eighty- 
eighth 0. V. I., One Hundred and Seventy- 
seventh 0. V. I., Seventv-sixth 0. V. I., Sev- 



enty-fifth 0. V. I., Twenty-fourth O. V. I. 
Sixteenth 0. V. I., Twenty-fifth 0. V. I., One 
Hundred and Twenty-fifth O. V. I., and 
many others. 

ThvLs far the reader has followed in brief 
fashion the fortunes of those who went to the 
front, those who smelled the powder, faced 
the bullets, endured the discomforts and the 
dangers of camp, march and battle. All 
through the Civil War, however, Akron and 
Summit County had a full share of heroes 
and heroines who worked, not on the firing 
line, but right here at home. The departure 
of so many men from this city and surround- 
ing territory left hundreds of families to be 
provided for. And the boys at the front 
must have comforts and necessities, and 
money and hospital supplies. Patriotic citi- 
zens, unable to enlist themselves, gave for- 
tune after fortune to the cause. In the later 
days of the war there were the drafts to en- 
courage. And all through the great struggle 
Akron women praj'ed and worked, and their 
toil and their unceasing interest gave many 
a dying soldier a moment of comfort and 
made many a forced march endurable. The 
woanen of Akron did their full share toward 
the preservation of the Union. 

MILITI.V ORGANIZ.\TIONS. 

After the Civil War there was a natural re- 
turn to the pursuits of peace. Akron's ceme- 
teries contained numerous green, yet grim, re- 
minders of the thing that had been. There 
were aching hearts in numberles.s homes, yet 
time applied its healing lotion, and the deep.^r 
wounds in human hearts were eventually 
healed, so far as such wounds may be. For a 
full generation there was peace. The militia 
man was the only reminder of war to be met 
with frequently in the flesh. 

Under the militia law passed by the legis- 
lature in 1870, interest in citizen soldiery, 
which had lagged considerably after the war. 
was revived. In 1875 the "Porter Zouaves" 
were organized, under command of Henry 
Porter, a veteran soldier. Shortly aftenvard 
the organization changed its name to "Bierce 



244 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Cadets," in honor of the late General Lucius 
V. Bierce, who had backed the organization 
financially. M. W. Santry was the first cap- 
tain under the reorganization. 

In the same year the "Akron City Guards" 
were organized, many of the members being 
veterans. D. \V. Thomas was the first cap- 
tain and the official membership was thirty- 
seven. A new election was held January 3, 
1876, D. W. Thomas being re-elected. 

These two organizations saw some strike 
and riot service within a reasonably short 
time. Both companies were included in the 
Ninth Regiment, when organized in 1877, 
and the first regimental encampment was 
held in Akron in October, 1877. Captain 
Thomas of the City Guards was the regi- 
ment's first colonel. 

In 1878 the Ninth was mei'ged into the 
Eighth Regiment, and the City Guards, which 
had become Company A of the Ninth, now be- 
came Company B of the Eighth. Company 
B continues till thLs day. Colonel Thoma* 
took" command of the regiment by reason of 
his rank, being succeeded by Colonel A. L. 
Conger, and then by George R. Gyger, of Al- 
liance, in 1891. The regiment was fre- 
quently called upon for strike duty, riot duty 
and annual encampments, until 1898, when a 
war cloud again appeared above the horizon 
and the stirring scenes of 1861 were, in a 
mca.sure, repeated. 

Akron was also represented in the artil- 
lery branch of the Ohio militia for manv 
years. The Sixth Battery, 0. N. G., was 
formed in 1877. Joseph C. Ewart was the 
first captain. The organization thrived from 
the beginning. In 1886 a regiment of Ohio 
artillery was formed, and the Sixth Battery 
became Battery F, First Regiment, 0. N. G., 
retaining that dftsignation until the out- 
break of the Spanish-American war. This 
organization w-as called upon for important 
services and invariably acquitted itself in sol- 
dierly fashion. 

Unique in Akron's citizen army was "Com- 
pany Buchtel," composed of veterans of the 
German army, who organized in Akron in 
1883, with a membership of twenty-five. Its 



first captain was Paul E. Werner. The com- 
pany retained its identity for a number of 
years. It was named after the late John R. 
Buchtel, who assisted the organization finan- 
cially at the beginning. 

SPANISH-AM ERIC.\N WAR. 

War with Spain was declared April 21, 
1898. There Avas little fighting; peace re- 
turned after a few months, so far as the Cuban 
campaign was concerned, yet it was a deadly 
campaign. When President McKinley called 
for volunteers, Akron boys responded as 
promptly and as patriotically as many of their 
fathers had done in 1861. The two local mili- 
tary organizations, Company B of the Eighth 
Infantry, 0. N. G., Captain H. 0. Feecferle, 
commanding, and Battery F, First Regiment 
Light Artillery, 0. N. G., volunteered as one 
man. The infantrymen were accepted. The 
artillerymen were not taken on the first call. 
There was a special reason for the acceptance 
of the one organization over the other. The 
home of President McKinley was in Canton, 
and that city was represented by three compa- 
nies, F, L and I, in the Eighth Regiment. 
It was a matter of considerable gratification to 
the President that the boys from his home 
and regiment of which they were members 
(including Akron and Company B) should 
be among the first to respond to his call for 
troops. He demonstrated his appreciation of 
that promptness by accepting the proff'ered 
.seiTices immediately. Moreover, the Eighth 
was at that time considered one of the most 
compact and best drilled bodies of citizen 
troops in Ohio. 

The regiment, consisting of twelve compa- 
nies, was mobilized at Akron, April 26, 1898, 
and then embarked for Columbus, where it 
was drilled thoroughly and on May 18th was 
mustered into the vohniteer service of the 
ITnited States as Company B. Eighth O. V. I. 
Colonel C. V. Hard, of Wooster, was in com- 
mand of the regiment, LieutenantrColonel 
Cluarles Dick, of Akron, since commander-in- 
chief of the Ohio guard, being second to Col- 
onel Hard under that organization. Company 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



24& 



B was a part of the Third Battalion, com- 
manded by Major C. C. Weybrecht, of Al- 
Hance. On May 16th the Eighth proceeded 
to Camp Alger, near Falls Church, Virginia, 
and was assigned to the Second Brigade, First 
Division, Second Army Corps, under Briga- 
dier-General George A. Garretson, of Cleve- 
land. Here, under the sun of Virginia, the 
regiment was prepared for service in the trop- 
ics, attracting much attention from visitors 
from Washington by reason of its designa- 
tion as "The President's Own," and the fact 
that two nephews of President McKinley were 
enlisted in Canton companies. 

On July 4 the Eighth was ordered to Cuba 
to re-enforce General Shafter before Santiago. 
A quick run was made from Camp Alger to 
New York and on the evening of July 6 the 
regiment, on board of the auxiliary cruiser 
St. Paul (Capt. Sigsbee), steamed out of New 
York harbor, bound for Cuba. Five days 
later they arrived off Santiago, and were 
landed in small boats at Siboney. One bat- 
talion was landed that night and the re- 
mainder the next day. One hundred rounds 
of ammunition and three days' rations were 
issued, and the march inland began. 

On July 13 the Third Battalion, including 
Company B, was detached from the remainder 
of the regiment for special guard duty and 
did not rejoin the main body until the time 
came for departure for tlie United States. The 
surrender of Santiago came almost simul- 
taneou.sly with this detail, and the long wait 
and the battle with sickness began, ending in 
the embarkation of the regiment at Santiago, 
Augvist 18. The Eighth was taken to Mon- 
tauk Point. Long Island, whence, after a rest, 
the health of the men being extremely bad, 
the various companies returned home Septem- 
ber 6. After sixty days' furlough, the Eighth 
was mustered out at Wooster, Ohio, November 
10. The regiment lost seventy-two men by 
death between the muster in and the mu.ster 
out, yet did not fire a single shot. Company 
B's death roll during that time numbered 
eight. 

Shortly after the muster out, the company 



was .reorganized as a militia company, and 
continues as such today. Its present officers 
are: Captain, William E. Walkup; fir.st lieu- 
tenant, Royal A. W^alkup; second lieutenant, 
Austin B. Hanscom. The Eighth Regiment 
Band, composed mostly of Akron musicians, 
accompanied the Eighth Regiment on the 
expedition to Cuba. 

Though Battery F's offer of its services ■ 
came just too late to be available under Presi- 
dent McKinley's first call for volunteers, that 
organization was later mustered into the serv- 
ice of the United States and did its pan 
faithfully and well in the War with Spain. 

The Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry was 
formed of the militia organization remaining 
after Ohio's quota of the first call troops had 
been filled. It contained naval militia, light 
artillerj', engineers and infantry, all or- 
ganized as infantry for the purposes of the 
campaign. The regiment was formed in re- 
sponse to President McKinley's second call 
for volunteers, Battery F repeating its offer 
and cheerfully giving up its heavy guns and 
shouldering Springfield rifles in compliance 
with the conditions governing acceptance. 
The organization retained its letter, becoming 
Company F. Mobilization was at Camp 
Bushnell, Columbus, June 25th, the com- 
pany being mustered into the United States 
service July 7th, with the following officers: 
Captain, Herman Werner; firsst lieutenant, 
John M. Straub; second lieutenant, J. P. 
Caldwell (afterwards transferred to signal 
service) ; second lieutenant, Ora F. Wise. 
Uniforms were issued to the regiment on July 
13th. On AugiLst 18th the regiment was or- 
dered to Camp Meade, Middletown, Pennsyl- 
vania, where it became a part of the Second 
Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps, 
under command of General Graham. Here 
the Tenth remained until November 12th, 
when it was ordered to Augusta, Georgia. At 
this place "Camp Young" had been estab- 
lished, this name being afterward changed to 
"Camp MacKenzie." The Tenth remained 
at Camp MacKenzie until March 23rd, when 
it was mustered out. 



246 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 

The members of Company F returned to bers of the company died of disease during 

Akron and about two weeks later as a com- the service in 1898. 

pany became a part of the Eighth Regiment, Akron sent her full share of soldiers to the 

0. N. G., of which regiment Company F still Philippines, both in 1898 and later; many 

forms a part, its present commanding officer are still in that service; others have returned 

being Captain William F. Yontz. Six mem- home and taken up the pursuits of peace. 



CHAPTER XVII 



FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS 



A.s the reader runs through the long list 
of secret societies, and other bodies of men 
and women united for a common cause, which 
have existed and prospered in Summit Coun- 
ty, almost from its very earliest time, he can- 
not fail to Ix' impressed with the truth that 
the spirit of brotherhood has, indeed, been 
very strong in this community. Today, there 
are many lodges whose memljershij) rises as 
high as 400 and 500. Two fraternities witli 
national plans. The Pathfinders and The 
Chevaliers, liad their origin here. There is 
not a single fraternity of any prominence 
whatsoever that is not represented in Sum- 
mit County. In addition, there are innum- 
erable non-secret organizations for every con- 
ceivable purpose. The last ten years liave 
been remarkable for the growth of the club 
idea among the women of the county. The 
women's clubs of Akron are an important 
factor in the daily life of that city. Nearly 
every church has its men's club or its boys' 
brigade and other associations of its members. 
Many workingmen are members of trades 
unions. The farmers have organized granges, 
horticultural societies and neighborhood 
clubs. The Summit County citizen who has 
not '"joined" something is, indeed, a rarity. 



The first lodge of any secret society to be 
formed within the- county was Akron Lodge, 
No. 83, of the Free and Accepted Masons. 
Its charter was granted October 21, 1841. 
Its first master of the lodge was Hon. R. P. 
Spaulding. He was succeeded in 1842 by 
Gen. L. V. Bierce who held the office until 
1850. Dr. S. W. Bartges then assumed the 



chair for four years. Other distinguished 
masters of this lodge were C. A. Collins, Dr. 
Thomas McEbrighf, Hon. S. C. WUliamson, 
R. P. ]\Iarvin, B. F. Battles and A. P. Bald- 
win. It has had two past grand masters in 
L. V. Bierce and Frank vS. Harmon. It now 
numbers 433 members and is officered (1907) 
as follows: Orlando W. Groff, master; John 
Crisp, senior warden; James R. Cameron, 
junior warden; A. C. Rohrbacher, treasurer; 
A. E. Roach, secretary; M. E. Fassnacht, 
senior deacon; William A. Sackett, junior 
deacon ; Harry F. Runyeon , tyler ; Ernest C. 
Housel, chaplain: W. E. Wangle, marshal; 
C. AVeaver and W. Boesche, stewards; H. T. 
Budd, J. M. Weidner and R. A. Walkup, 
prudential committee; and George N. Haw- 
kins, assistant secretary. 

Washington Chapter, No. 25, Royal -Arch 
Masons, was established October 25th, 1841. 
In 1907 its membership was 454. Its present 
officers are : D. W. Hollowav, high priest ; H. 
T. Budd, king; W. B. Baldwin, scribe; 0. W. 
Groff, captain; AV. A. Sackett, principal so- 
journer; 0. A. Nelson, treasurer; W. E. 
Waugh, secretarv; C. A. Dixon, R. A. captain; 

F. A. Clapsadel,'G. M., 3d Vail; E. C. Housel, 

G. M. 2nd Vail; R. R. Peebles, G. M. 1st 
Vail: H. F. Runyeon, guard; Ira A. Priest, 
chaplain; Geo. W. Shick, M. of C. & D. of 
M. ; Judson Thomas, Geo. W. Shiek, and 
Joseph Kolb, prudential committee; and R. 
A. AValkup and Charles Meier, stewards. 

The next Masonic body to be established 
was Akron Commandery, No. 25, Knights 
Templar. The commandery officers, for 1907 
are: C. S. Eddy, eminent commander: C. 
C. Benner, general; H. J. Blackburn, cap- 
tain ; F. W. Shirer, senior warden ; A. A. 



24S 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



KohliT, junior warden; R. F. Palmer, prel- 
ate; John Motz, treasurer; Bela B. Clark, 
recorder; W. H. Douglas, standard bearer; 
Robert Wilson, sword bearer; C. W. Wicklinc, 
warder; H. F. Runveon, sentinel; Geo. W. 
Sliick, M. of C; E.'e. Morse, H. T. Budd, 
and 11. M. Hagelbarger, guards; W. F. Lau- 
bach, G. H. Dunn, and A. W. Hawkins, pru- 
dential committee; 0. W. Groff, electrician: 
and Frank Farst, organi.-it. 

The next Ma.sonic body to be established 
was Adoniram Lodge, No. 517, F. & A. M., 
the charter for which was granted October 
16th, 1878. Its ofRcere in 1907 are: H. J. 
Blackburn, master; Lee R. Knight, senior 
warden; J. S. Lowman, junior warden; Geo. 
W. Shick, treasurer; Norman G. Nelson, sec- 
retary; H. H. Garman, senior deacon; C. A. 
Dixon, junior deacon; A. T. King.sbury, 
chaplain; H. R. Tucker, tyler; E. E. Morse 
and C, S. Hiddleson, .stewards; W. B. Bald- 
win, mai-shal; and F. M. Cooke, J. A. Palmer 
and D. W. Holloway, prudential committee. 
In the list of past masters of this lodge appears 
the name of Henry Perkins, who held the 
master's chair for four years. 

Akron Council, No. 80, R. & S. M., was 
organized September 28, 1897. At the pres- 
ent time it has 175 members. Its officers 
are C. W. Wickline. T. I. M.; O. W. Groff, 
D. I. M.; H. T. Budd, P. C. AV.; Geo. 
L. Curtice, treasurer; W. E. Waugh, record- 
er; W. A. iSackett, captain; E. E Morse, 
conductor; C. A. Dixon, steward; H. F. 
Runyeon, sentinel; Judson Thomas and R. 
B. Wilson, auditing committee; Geo. W. Bil- 
low, chaplain; Geo. W. Shick, marshal; and 
W. F. Farst, musical director. 

The Akron Masonic Relief A.ssociatioii was 
incorporated February Ifith, 1888. It.-; ob- 
ject is to provide a fund for funeral and other 
immediate expenses in the event of the death 
of one of its members. All master masons 
in good standing under sixty yeai-s of age are 
eligible to membership. George Billow is 
president; John Crisp, vice-president; Geo. 
W. Shick, trea.surer; W. E. Waugh, secretarv; 
and O. W. Groff, C. C. Benner, Judson 



Thomas, D. ^^^ Holloway, C. W. Wickline, 
all of Akron; A. A. Cahoon, of Wadsworth; 
€. E. Bass, of Hudson ; T. J. Davies, of Bar- 
berton; Fred Bolich, of Cuyahoga Falls; and 
A. B. Young of Kent; are the board of di- 
rectors. 

The Akron Ma.-^onic Temple Company was 
incorporated May 9, 1896. Its officers are 
Geo. Billow, president; P. W. Leavitt, vice- 
president; W. A. MoClellan, treasurer; A. 
E. Roach, secretary: and R. M. Pillniore. P. 
W. Leavitt, Geo. W. Shick, W. A. McClellan, 
John Crisp, John Motz and George Billow, 
directors. 

The Masonic Club, of Akron, Ohio, was in- 
corporated November 27, 1899. Its object is 
to promote and cailtivate social and fraternal 
relations among it? members and also to pro- 
vide amusement for the members' wives and 
daughters. It maintains very well appointed 
club rooms, on the second floor of the Masonic 
Temple. It-; officers for 1907 are: F. M. 
Cooke, president; C. W. Wickline, vice-presi- 
dent; Bela B. Clark, secretarv; John Crisp,- 
treasurer; and H. T. Budd, J. W. Kelley, and 
D. W. Holloway, directors. It has 309 mem- 
bers at i)resent. 

Many Akron Masons are also members of 
the Society of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite 
Masons and of Al Koran 'Temple, nobles of 
the Mystic Shrine, which is located in Cieve- 
hnid, Ohio. 

I. n. o. F. 

The Odd Fellows were not far behind the 
Masons in e.stablishing their first lodge in 
Summit County. On September 16, 1845, 
Edward Rawson and eight others acting as 
charter members instituted Summit Lodge 
No. 50 of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. This lodge has had an unbroken record 
of prosperity since that early day. Its officers 
in 1907 are: Noble grand, R. A. Porter; vice- 
grand, Charles P. Gregory; recording secre- 
tary, William F. Chandler; financial secre- 
tary, Frank T. Hoffman : treasurer. Perry A. 
Krisher; trastees, W. H. McBarnes, A. C. 
Bachtel and IT. W. Haupt ; relief committee, 
Ilenrv Bollincrer. 




^.^i^ 




I. 0. 0. F. BUILDING. AKRON 



FIRST NATIONAL BANK, AKRON 



-<■ 





DUB.SON BLlLDINd, AKKoX 



FLATIRON BUILDING, AKRON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



251 



The second lodge was Akron Lodge, No. 
5-17, I. 0. 0. F., which was instituted July 
9, 1873. Among its charter members were 
John J. Wagoner, Aaron Wagoner, R. P. 
Marvin, H. J. Church, Charles L. Brown, 
John Memimer, Jolm H. Auble, D. W. 
Thomas and T. W. McGillicudy. It officers in 
1907 are: Noble grand, A. P. Myers; vice- 
grand, E. B. Anderson ; secretary, C. B. 
Quine; treasurer, Charles Warner; tnistees, 
E. W. Stuart, A. W. Hawkins and W. J. 
Coney; relief committee, A. K. Fouser. 

Nemo Lodge, No. 746, I. 0. 0. F. was insti- 
tuted May 22, 1886, by Richard Bacon, grand 
master. Among its charter members were H. 
G. Canfield, P. H. Hoffman, E. Colloredo, A. 
A. Bartlett, A. G. Keck, P. W. Leavitt, C. W. 
Kline, Jacob Koplin, Robert Guillet and D. 
R. Bunn. Its officers for 1907 are: Noble 
grand, H. R. Wells; vice-grand, Harvey Par- 
ker; recording secretary, F. G. Smith; finan- 
cial secretarv, J. H. Wagoner; treasurer, Wil- 
liam H. Rook. Sr. ; trustees, F. G. Marsh. A. 
G. Keck and W. F. Payne. 

Granite Lodge, No. 522, I. 0. 0. F., is the 
German lodge and is located in fine lodge 
rooms in the Kaiser Block. East Akron is 
also represented in Odd Fellowship, having 
a lodge named Apollo Lodge. In Cuyahoga 
Falls there are Howard Lodge, No. 62, I. 0. 
0. F.. and Rebecca Lodge. I. 0. 0. F., Elm 
227. The total membership of the five Akron 
lodgjs in 1907 Avas 1400. 

The greatest event in the history of Odd 
Fellow.ship in Summit County was the dedi- 
cation of the magnificent New Temple on 
South Main Street in Akron. The building 
is one of the finest in the city and consists of 
eight stories and a tower. It was dedicated 
with due ceremony on April 2, 1895. It 
was built by the Akron Odd Fellows Temple 
Company. The first board of officers were: 
President, A. C. Bachtel; vice-pre.sident, Lewis 
Bullinger; .secretary. A. G. Keck; treasurer, 
Ma.-on Ciiapman. The officers of the Temple 
Company for 1907 are: President, John Mem- 
mer; vice-president, W. H. Lohr; secretary. 
A. G. Keck; treasurer, A. W. Hawkins. 



OTHKR ORDERS. 

The other orders represented in Akron are 
the following: Buckley Post, No. 12, Grand 
Army of the Republic, organized in March 
1867, of which Major H. A. Kasson is now 
commander. Woman's Relief Corps, Buckley 
Corps, No. 23. Union Veteran's Legion, Abra- 
ham Lincoln Command, No. 1 ; Women's Vet- 
eran Relief Union, No. 2; Sons of Veterans, 
Akron Camp, No. 27; Ladies' Aid Society, 
No. 8, Auxiliary to the Sons of Veterans; 
Knights of Honor, Acme Lodge and Spartan 
Lodge; National Union, Diamond Council, 
48 ; American Legion of Honor, Akron Coun- 
cil, No. 248; Knights and Ladies of Honor, 
Agenda Lodge, No. 310 and Akron Lodge,. 
No. 2518; Royal Arcanum, Provident Coun- 
cil, No. 16; Protected Home Circle, Akron 
Circle, No. 54 and Summit Circle No. 565; 
The Maccabees, Akron Tent, No. 26, Lean 
Tent, No. 282, Charity Tent, No. 538 and 
Unity Division, Uniformed Rank, No. 14; 
Ladies of the Maccabees, Busy Bee Hive No. 
35, Protective Hive No. 60, Independent 
Hive No. 147, Favorite Hive No. 164 ; Ladies 
of the Modern Maccabees; Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks No. 363; Sons of 
St. George, Akron Lodge No. 180 ; Daughters 
of St. George, Ganter Lodge No. 18 ; Foresters 
of America, Court. Akron No. 42, and Court 
Summit City No. 24; Independent Order of 
Foresters, Court Pride No. 356 and Court 
Portage Path No. 4470; Companions of the 
Forest, Pride of Akron Circle, No. 220 ; Royal 
Neighbors of America, Puritan Camp No. 
1746 and Evening Star Camp; Independent 
Order of Red Men, Saranac Tribe No. 141 and 
Ogareeta Council No. 29. Modern Woodmen 
of America, Akron Camp, 4334, Security 
Camp No. 4937, and Welcome Camp. The 
Pathfinders, Akron Lodge No. 1, and Acme 
Lodge No. 135. National Protective Union. 
Akron Legion No. 712. Junior Order United 
American Mechanics, Commodore Perry 
Council No. 209. Daughters of Liberty. Co"- 
lumbia Council, No. 21. Independent Order 
of Heptasophs, Akron Conclave, 713. Order 
of Ben Hur. Antioch Court No. 11. Kniglits 



252 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and Ladies of Security, Summit Council No. 
661 and Liberty Council, No. 1356. Inde- 
pendent Order of the Red Cross, Teutonic 
Commandery No. 25. United Commercial 
Travellers, Akron Council No. 87. Royal 
Templars, Summit Council No. 36. Fraternal 
Order of Eagles, Akron Aerie 553. Court of 
Honor, Akron District Court, No. 238. Royal 
League, Akron Council No. 243. Home 
Guards of America, Akron Home No. 47. 
American Insurance Union, Akron Chapter 
No. 175. Knights of Columbus, Akron 
Council No. 547. Knights of St. John, Akron 
Commandery No. 42 and St. George Com- 
mandery No. 6. Catholic Knights of Ameri- 
ca, St. Vincent's Brancli No. 227. Catholic 
Knights of Ohio, St. Mary'.-i Branch No. 21. 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division No. 
1, and Ladies Auxiliary. Father Mathew 
Temperance Society, No. 1621. Catholic 
Ladies of Ohio, St. Rose Branch, No. 5. Catho- 
lic Mutual Benevolent Association, Gibbons 
Branch No. 14, St. Bernard's Branch 37, and 
St. Mary's Branch No. 78. Ladies' Catholic 
Benevolent A.ssociation, St. Mary's Branch 
No. 180. National Association of Stationary 
Engineei-s, Akron Section No. 28. The Order 
of Mutual Protection. Independent Order of 
Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria. 
Western Reserve Lodge, No. L Daughters of 
Jerusalem, Ida May Council No. 12. United 
Order of True Reformers, Superior Fountain 
1311, and .\kroii Star llHO. 

The principal nun-si'crct organizations are 
the following: German Club, Akron Lieder- 
tafel, Akron Turnverein, Thalia Unter.stuet- 
zung's Verein, Landwehr Society, ■ Akron 
Saengerbund, Gruetli Society, Saxony Bene- 
ilcial Association, German IMilitarj- Society, 
Young Men's Hebrew Association, St. Joseph's 
Benevolent Society, St. Bernard's Benevolent 
Society, Alsace-Loraine Benevolent Union, 
Women's Christian Temperance Union, 
Young Women's Christian Association, Young 



Men's Christian Association, Elks Club, Kirk- 
wood Club, Masonic Club, Odd Fellows Club, 
Akron Camera Club, Akron Dental Society, 
Portage Path Canoe Club, Akron Bar-Asso- 
ciation, Celsus Club, Summit County Clinical 
Society, Summit County Medical Society, and 
many others . 

In Barberton, many orders are represented 
by lodges as follows: Free and Accepted Ma- 
sons, National Lodge No. 568; Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, Pharos Lodge No. 863 ; 
Daughters of Rebecca, Summit Lodge No. 
603 ; Knights of Pythias, Barberton Lodge 
No. 486 ; Modern AVoodmen of America, Al- 
pha Camp No. 3206; Knights of the Macca- 
bees, Barberton Tent 114 ; Ladies of the Mac- 
cabees, Lake Anne Hive, No. 104; Independ- 
ent Order of Red Men, Katonka Tribe, No. 
218 and Pocohontas Council ; Woodmen of 
the World, Magic City Camp No. 136; Path- 
tinders, Barberton Lodge No. 5; Independent 
Order of Foresters, Lodge 4058; C. M. B. A. 
l^ranch 55; Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, Barberton Lodge No. 982; Fraternal 
Order of Eagles, Barberton Aerie, No. 562 ; 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Barberton 
Branch ; Junior Order United ^Vnierican Me- 
chanics; Daniel Webster Council No. 161, 
Barberton Cadets and Daughters of America. 

In Cuyahoga Falls the principal organiza- 
tions are the following: Free and Accepted 
Masons, Star Lodge No. 187 ; Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, Howard Lodge No. 
62 ; Royal Arcanum, Enterprise Council No. 
234 ; National Union, Security Council, No. 
51; Knights of Pythias, Pavonia Lodge No. 
301 ; Grand Army of the Republic, Eadie 
Post No. 37 ; Sons of Veterans, Wood Camp 
No. 66; Good Templars, Lodge No. 59; 
l')aughters of Rebecca, Elm Lodge No. 227; 
Protected Home Circle, Glen No. 85 ; Pythian 
Si.'itorhood, Ivy Lodge No. 8 ; The Public Li- 
brary As,sociation, the Women's Christian 
Temperance Union, and others. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 



North Akron was founded by a doctor. The 
prosjjerous and bufiv Akron of today is due 
more to the restless energy of Eliakim Crosby, 
M. D., than to any other factor. Since his 
time, the medical profession have not been 
content to busy themselves with pills and 
fevers alone, but have been active in an extra- 
ordinary degree, in the civil, business and 
social life of the community. The first two 
large additions to the city were those planned 
and executed by physicians: Dr. S. H. Co- 
burn and Dr. S. W. Bartges. Two of the im- 
portant streets of the city have been named 
after them. -The founder of one of Akron's 
largest manufactories — perhaps the largest — ■ 
was Dr. B. F. Goodrich, from whom the B. F. 
Goodrich Company takes its name. The pro- 
fession has also been prominent in the City 
Council, the Board of Education and Public 
Library affairs. 

There is very little on record concerning 
the early physicians of the county. Who was 
the first to regularly practice medicine in 
Summit County is a matter of dispute. Dr. 
Crosby was practicing in Middlebury in 1820 ; 
Dr. Joseph Cole began his practice in 1826, 
removing to ■A'kron in 1827. Other early 
physicians were Elijah Hanchett, Titus Chap- 
man, Theodore Richmond, E. F. Bryan, H. 
A. Ackley, D. D. Evans, W. T. Huntington 
and Edwin Angel. Perhaps, the very oldest 
residents now living will recall the names of 
Drs. E. L. Munger, Elijah Curtis, A. Kilbourn 
and Wareham "W&st. Of all these early phy- 
>icians there is only one whose name is famil- 
iar to posterity: It is that of Dr. Eliakim 
Crosby. It is perpetuated in the names of 
Crosby School, Crosby street and the Crosby 
Race. He was born in Litchfield, Connecti- 



cut, March 2, 1779, studied medicine in Buf- 
falo, N. Y. ; began his professional career in 
Canada, where he also married; served in the 
American Army in the war of 1812, as a sur- 
geon ; and, in 1820, moved to Ohio and re- 
sumed the practice of medicine, in Middle- 
bury, now a part of the city of Akron. In 
1826 he formed the partnership of Crosby 
and Chittenden, contractors. From that time 
on his gigantic business affairs claimed his at- 
tention almost exclusively, and what practic- 
ing of medicine he did was merely incidental. 
His next business venture was the operation 
of the Cuyahoga Furnace for the reduction of 
the local iron ores. Then in rapid succession 
he took on the manufacture of agricultural 
implements, the operation of a sawmill, and, 
lastly, a grist-mill. Finally, in 1831, came 
his great scheme for the hydraulic canal and 
the founding of the village of Cascade, which 
are fully described in another chapter of this 
history. In 1836, he started the "Portage 
Canal and Manufacturing Company" project, 
a gigantic undertaking, but one which ended 
disastrously. He lost his entire fortune in 
this disaster, and evidently his fine spirit was 
cru.<hed by the completeness of the failure, 
for we hear of him no more in connection 
with any additional schemes. Upon the cele- 
bration of the completion of the Crosby Race, 
May 29, 1844, this was the one sentiment of 
the entire community as voiced by the chair- 
man of the meeting, namely, "Dr. Eliakim 
Crosby : The noble projector and efficient ex- 
ecutive of the great enterprise this day suc- 
cessfully accomplished, of introducing the 
waters of the Great Cuyahoga River to Akron 
by land. Of his noble and persevering spirit 
of enterprise, his fellow citizens are justly 



254 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



proud." The tribute was as deserved as it 
was fitting. Dr. Crosby's wife, whom he mar- 
ried in Canada in 1810, died in Akron, Octo- 
ber 13, 1830. Seven children had been born 
to them. He was twice subsequently mar- 
ried. In 1853 he moved, with his family 
to Wisconsin, near the city of Green Bay, 
where he died September 2, 1854, in the 76th 
year of his life. Akron owes much to Dr. 
Crosby. We should pause once in each year 
and pay a tribute of respect to his memory. 
In the 30's and 40's the Crosby family was 
easily the foremost in the village, in every 
sphere of activity. The Doctor was not only 
foremost in the work of founding the city 
and establishing its business enterprises but 
he was active in every good work. One is 
compelled to admire that restless energy, that 
magnificent .spirit of activity, that was his 
first characteristic. If Akron should ever 
have a "Founder's Day" in its list of Anni- 
versary Days, the largest part of the celebra- 
tion will be the recalling of the works of this 
early physician. 

Dr. Joseph Cole was born in Winfield, New 
York, September 17, 1795, graduated in med- 
icine in 1825 and began the practice of his 
profession in Old Portage in 1826. The next 
year he moved to Akron where he built up 
a very large practice. He took a leading 
part in formulating local sentiment in favor 
of the Temperance and Anti-slavery Move- 
ments. He aided in securing the Akron 
School Law, and served on the Akron Board 
of Education in 1847. Dr. Cole died Octo- 
ber 28, 1861, in the 67th year of his life. 

Dr. Elias W. Howard, another of the most 
prominent of the early physicians, was born 
in Andover, Vermont, April 14, 1816; studied 
and was graduated in medicine; and came to 
Akron in 1889. Here he enjoyed a large 
general practice for more than fifty years. 
Dr. Howard served many years in the 70's 
on the Board of Education, the City Council 
and the Board of Health. In 1875, he was 
president of the Council. He was one of the 
founders of the Summit County Medical So- 
ciety and was a member of many other medi- 
cal societies. He was married in 1840 to 



JClizabeth Chittenden who bore him two sons; 
Dr. II. C. Howard and Frank D. Howard. 
Dr. E. W. Howard died August 9, 1890. 

Dr. Amos A\'right was the first white male 
child born in Tallmadge. He was born Oc- 
tober 8, 1808. His parents were natives of 
Connecticut. His father was a practicing 
physician, and he read medicine in his fath- 
er's office and also attended lectures in New 
Haven, Connecticut. He began hLs practice in 
Tallmadge in 1833 and continued his minis- 
trations until his death, more than sixty years 
of active practice. He was married to Clem- 
ence C. Fenn, of Tallmadge, March 31, 1831. 
Nine children were born to them. 

Dr. Mendal Jewett was born in Greenwich, 
Massachusetts, on September 4, 1815; moved 
to Portage County in 1836; was graduated 
from Western Reserve Medical College 
with the class of 1839, and began the prac- 
tice of his profession in Mogadore in the 
autunni of that year. In the 50's he was 
elected to the State Legislature and served 
four years. He was a strong advocate of 
temperance and a bitter foe of slavery. He 
was much interested in education, horticulture 
and scientific matters, and the city owes much 
to his activity in worthy causes. He moved 
to Middlebury in 1858 and continued his 
practice until the time of his death. He was 
married to Cordelia H. Kent, on June 14, 
1839. 

Dr. Stephen H. Coburn, the father of Mrs. 
J. A. Kohler, was one of the most prominent 
citizens of Akron during the period 1850- 
1880. He was born in Hillsdale, New York, 
December 29, 1809 ; studied medicine and be- 
gan his practice in Massachusetts; moved to 
Akron in 1848 and for many years enjoyed 
a large practice as a homeopathic physician. 
He was married to Adeline Myers, May 15, 
1839. Soon after coming to Akron, he be- 
came interested in several business concerns, 
and was very successful. He made large in- 
vestment.s in real estate and platted a large 
tract in the southwestern part of the city, 
which is still known as the Coburn allotment. 
Coburn Street, in that portion of the city, was 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



255 



named for him. He died June 1"-, 1888, at 
the age of 78 years. 

Another early Akron physician who made 
considerable money in his real estate ventures 
was Dr. Sanuiel W. Bartges, who was born in 
Mifflinsburg, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1814. 
Upon completing his medical studies in 1842, 
he commenced practice in Akron, and soon 
enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. The 
Bartges allotment and the Bartgcri-Mallison 
allotment were both laid out by him' and 
were big successes. They now constitute a 
substantial portion of the city. Dr. Bartges 
was married to Catherine A. Citimp in 1835. 
He died November 24, 1882, aged 68 years, 
leaving a widow and three children. 

The kindly face of Dr. Daniel A. Scott will 
be recalled by all old Akron residents. He 
was born in Cadiz, Ohio, May 4, 1821 ; was 
graduated in medicine and commenced prac- 
tice in Akron in 1848. He was soon in com- 
mand of a large practice, which he continued 
to look after until the day of his death — .Janu- 
ary 23, 1890. During the last four years of 
his life he was a member of the Akron Board 
of Health. 

Many of us in Akron have reason to be 
thankful for the skill and patient care uni- 
formly exercised by Dr. Thoma.s McEbright 
toward hLs large circle of patients during his 
long professional career. He came to Akron 
in November, 1864, upon the mustering out 
of the 166th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry. He had served as an Army Surgeon 
continuously since 1861. Dr. McEbright 
was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, April 14, 
1824. His parents soon moved to Ohio 
where he received his education in Norwalk 
Academy and Ohio Wesley an University. 
Graduated in medicine in 1851 he commenced 
active practice at once. In 1857 he moved 
to Millersburg. When the Civil War broke 
out. he offered his services to his country, and 
for three years rendered splendid service as 
an army surgeon. In 1864, he was appointed 
ealonel of the 166th Regiment. Dr. Mc- 
Ebright was married to Nancy Liggett, of 
Millersburg. on the 16th day oif June, 1853. 
Until the time of his death. Dr. McEbright 



tonk an intense interest in public affairs, es- 
pecially those concerning education. Hi^ 
strong public spirit is shown by the fact that 
he served for more than fourteen years as a 
member of the Akron Board of Education, 
some of the time as its president. The next 
public school building should be named for 
him. 

Another of the early doctors who was also 
greatly interested in Akron school affairs, and 
for whom the Bowen School on North Broad- 
way was named, was Dr. William Bowen. 
He was born in New York July 3, 1805, and 
about 1825 moved to Ohio, locating in Can- 
ton. He taught school and .studied medicine 
there until 1832, when he commenced prac- 
tice in Doylestown, Ohio. In 1836, he was 
graduated from the Ohio Medical College and 
resumed his practice, locating first in Canton 
and later in Massillon. In 1857 he came to 
Akron and soon won a large practice. In, 
1830 he was married to Iluldah M, Chitteri- 
den. Nine children were born to them, oxie 
of whom married Dr. A. E. Foltz, of Akron. 
Dr. Bowen served for maay years as a member 
of the Akron Board of Education, part of the 
time as its president. While living in Massil- 
lon he published a journal called "The Free 
School Clarion" in the interests of education. 

Dr. Byron S. Chase was born in Vermont, 
January 9, 1834. About 1856 he came to 
Akron and studied medicine with Dr. E. W. 
Howard. He finished his medical education 
at Michigan University and began his active 
practice in Akron. Upon the advent of the 
Civil War, he was appointed surgeon of the 
16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served 
faithfully throughout the whole war period. 
In 1865 he resumed his practice in Akron. 
In 1863 he was married to Henrietta Sabin. 
Four children were born to them, the eldest 
of whom is Dr. William S. Chase, a success- 
ful practicing physician of Akron at the pres- 
ent time. Dr. Chase, the elder, died February 
23. 1878. at the early age of forty-four years. 
Dr. Elizur Hitchcock was born in Tall- 
madge; Ohio, August 15, 1832 ; graduated at 
Yale in 1854 ; received his medical education 
at the University of Michigan and the West- 



250 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



erii Reserve Medical School; practiced two 
years, and then entered the Union Army as 
surgeon of the Seventh Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry. In 1870 he came to Akron 
and practiced successfully until his death a 
few years ago. In November, 1861, he was 
married to Hattie Reed, who died in 1834. 
He afterward married Lucrctia Kellogg, who 
bore him two children, Hal. K. Hitchcock, an 
electrical engineer of Pittsburg, and Lucius 
W. Hitchcock, the artist, now living near 
New York City. 

Dr. William C. Jacobs probably enjoyed 
the confidence of a larger circle of patients 
and friends than any other phj^sician who 
ever practiced in Summit County. Hi.s death 
a year or two ago was lamented throughout 
the county. He was an earnest, honest, 
straight-forward and plain-spoken man whom 
everyone who knew hini loved for his fine 
qualities. He was born in Lima, Ohio, 
February 26, 1840 ; was educated for the Navy, 
but resigned from the Academy at Annapolis 
to study medicine. In Annapolis he was a 
schoolmate of Admirals Schley and Sampson. 
He was graduated from Ohio Medical College 
in Cincinnati, with the class of 1862. He 
immediately joined the Union Army as a sur- 
geon and served until the close of the war. 
He was connected with the Fourth Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and the Eighty-first 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He 
came to Akron in October, 1865, and com- 
menced to practice medicine and surgery. 
He was one of the chief workers in founding 
the Akron City Hospital, and at the time of 
his death was Chief of the General Staff of 
that institution. Dr. Jacobs was twice mar- 
ried, his first wife being Ilulda M. Hill, to 
whom one child was born, Dr. Harold Hill 
Jacobs, at present a successful and respected 
surgeon of Akron and the head of the City 
Hospital. 

Dr. James H. Peterson came to Akron in 
1854 and was one of the earliest practitioners 
of dentistry in Summit County. He was 
born in New Bnmswick in 1830 and passed 
his early years in BufiFalo, New York. In 
November, 1855, he married Caroline Van 



Evra, of Akron. The eldest of their three 
children is the wife of Senator Charles Dick. 
Up to the time of his death. Dr. Peterson gave 
much attention to public affairs and rendered 
valuable service in behalf of the general wel- 
fare. 

Dr. Mason Chapman, who came to Akron 
in 1865, was another successful dentist who 
took a deep interest in municipal affairs, 
serving in the 70's as a member of the Akron 
City Council. 

Dr. John W. Lyder, now rounding out a 
successful career as dentist, came to Akron 
in April, 1870. He has been very much in- 
terested in Horticultural and Agricultural de- 
velopment, and has been of much service to 
those interests during his residence in Sum- 
mit County. Other physicians who came to 
Akron just after the close of the Civil War 
and to whom this community is much in- 
debted both for the unselfish and faithful 
practice of their profession, and their untir- 
ing zeal in jiublic affairs, are Dr. Warren J. 
Underwood, the father of the present Dr. Ed- 
ward S. Underwood; Dr. A. C. Belden, who 
met an untimelv death by accident, Decem- 
ber 11, 1890; Dr. Abner E. Foltz, the father 
of the present Dr. Esgar B. Foltz; Dr. 0. D. 
Childs, who is still continuing his successful 
practice; and Dr. Leonidas S. Ebright, Ak- 
ron's efficient postmaster, who has been con- 
tinued in that post since the first term of 
President McKinley. The five last mentioned 
were veterans of the -Civil War, and the first 
four served long appointments as army sur- 
geons in various Ohio regiments. This chap- 
ter should not close without reference to the 
services of Doctors John Weimer, George P. 
Ashmun. 0. E. Brownell, George G. Baker, 
.Mexander Fisher, Henry M. Fisher and Rol- 
lin B. Carter. The following is a complete 
list of the Physicians and Surgeons practic- 
ing their professions in Akron and vicinity 
in the year 1907 : 

PHYSIf'I.XNS AND SITRGEOXS OF AKRON. 



Adams. F. X. 
Alspach, E. Z. 



Angler, J. C. 
Barton, E. W. 




12; 
o 
P5 

<; 

Q 

o 

< 

CO 

< 




O 

P? 

O 

K 

CO 
CO 

;zi 

h- 1 
CO 

o 
>^ 





1^ 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



259 



Beidler. Williniii 
Bowman, I). S. 
Boyd, J. P. 
Callin, F. B. 
Cauffield, E. J. 
Chase. W. S. 
Childs, 0. D. 
Clapcadel, F. A. 
Cleaver. J. \'. 
Conn, Eli 
Conner, II. E. 
Cranz, D. E. 
Dixon, C. A. 
Eberhard. L. R. C 
Ebright, L. S. 
Emery, Wm. J. 
Evans, Jennie L. 
Evans, Nellie M. 
Ewers, F. A. 
Fehr, Peter 
Foltz & Foltz 
Fouser, A. K. 
Grant, J. G. 
Halter, M. V. 
Hassenflue. -T. W. 
Havs, C. J. 
Held. C. E. 
Hiddleson, C. S. 
Hill, C. T. 
Hill, J. E. 
Hottenstein. E. K. 
Hulse. J. A. 



Humphrey, C. M. 
Humphrey, L. B. 
Jacobs, H. H. 
Johnson, S. W. 
Jones, A. W. 
Keller, ^\'. L. 
Kendig, R. C. 
Kennedv & Kergan 
Kneale.^V. E. 
Kohler, A. A. 
Kurt, Katherine 
Leas. Luev 
Lee, J. L.' 
Leonard, ^^'. \V. 
Leppa & Co. 
Lyon. 0. A. 
McDonald. D. M. 
McKay, R. H. 
Mather. E. L. 
Millikin, C. W. 
Montenyohl, E. A. 
Moore, T. K. 
Morgan, D. H. 
Morgenroth, Simon 
ISIurdock, Wm. 
NorrLs, C. E. 
Parks, Thos. C. 
Pumphrev, J. M. 
Rabe, J. \V. 
Rankin. G. T. 
Rankin. I. C. 



Reed, F. C. 
Robinson, R. DeW. 
Rockwell, J. \V. 
Rowe, Darius 
Rowland, Albert 
Sackett, W. A. 
Sanborn & Gleason 
Seller, J. H. 
Shirey, J. L. 
Shuman, J. C. 
Sicherman, Armin 
Sippv, A. F. 
Stauffer, G. W. 
Stevenson, M. D. 
Sturgeon, S. H. 
Swan, C. G. 
Svveitzer, L. S. 

Taggart, H. D. 
Theiss, G. A. 
Theiss, H. C. 
Todd, H. D. 
Underwood, E. S. 
Waldron, L. P. 
Weaver, Elizabeth M. 
Weber, J. H. 
Weeks, E. A. 
Weller, J. N. 
Wilson, William 
Wise, L. J. 
Workman, T. W. 
Wright, S. St. J. 



DENTISTS OF AKRON. 



Albany Dental Parlors, Dr. C. C. Spangler, 
Prop. 

American Painless Dentists, Dr. F. H. Mc- 
Lean, Prop. 

Barton, H. W. 

Branch, E. E. 

Browne, L. T. 

Buchtel, A. P. 

Capron, F. M. 

Cole, H. W. 

Conner. W. B. 

Cooper, W. C. 

Dewey. W. H. 

Dreutlein, B. H. 



Felker, Charles 
Hamilton, T. J. 
Henninger, D. H. 
Hillman, J. W. 
Hottenstein, W. J. 
Johnson, A. G. 
Lewis, F. M. 
Lyder, J. W. and F. H. 
Maxwell, W. J. 
Mottinger, C. C. 

Philadelphia Dental Rooms, Dr. W. J. 
Slemmons. Prop. 
Pontius, B. B. 
Quirk, E. E. 



260 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Risch, J. F. 
Ruegsegger, D. U. 
Saunders & Locy 
Schultz, J. E. 
Shriber, B. A. 
Sibley, N. B. 
Smitii, C. E. 
Yedder, J. B. 
Watters, W. J. 

White Dental Parlors, Dr. A. C. Buffing- 
ton, Prop. 

Williams,, E. J. 
Williamson, G. B. 



Lahmers, Frederick 
Livermore, F. B. 
Mansfield, W. A. 
RodenBaugh & Rodenbaugh 
Snyder, H. A. 
Stall, A. H. 
Whipple, C. H. 

BARBERTON DENTISTS. 

Chandler & Benner 
Galloglv, D. B. 
Hille, 6. A. 
Wearstler, 11. 0. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF BARBERTON. 

Brown, G. A. 
Carr, C. B. 
Cory, Mrs. Kate W. 
Davidson, H. S. 
Gardner, G. E. 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF CUYAHOGA 

FALLS. 
Bill, A. II. 

Hough, W. S. 
Middleton, W. B. 
Smith, F. D. 
Taylor, W. X. 



CHAPTER XIX 



the: bench and bar 



Ein-hj HiMi>nj^Thr Pir^rnt Bar and Us Ilifjh Sfunding. 



Prior to the erection of Suiniiiit County, 
about the year 1838 or 1839, there were com- 
paratively few lawyers in the city of Akron. 
Those who were here, were required to attend 
the courts in Ravenna, Medina and Canton, 
which were then the county seats of Portage, 
Medina and Stark Counties. The county of 
Summit was, in fact, made up by taking a 
number of townships from each of the coun- 
ties named. 

Among the earliest practitioners who had 
established themselves in the little town of 
Akron, were some of the old pioneer advo- 
cates who have long since passed away. 

The completion of the Ohio Canal about 
the year 1827, and the subsequent junction 
at Akron of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal 
brought the town of Akron into great promi- 
nence, as there were practically no railroads 
at that time in the state, and the opening 
of these canals, opened water-ways for the 
tran.sportation of produce to the cities of 
Cleveland, Pittsburg and Cincinnati. 

Quite a number of lawyers came to Akron 
who had previously located at Ravenna, 
and among the earliest lawyers of that time 
may be mentioned Gregory Powers, Rufus P. 
Spaulding, Seneca and Alvin Hand, John C 
Singletery, Van R. Humphrey, David K. 
Carter, George Bliss and others, who came in 
later years. 

Later on the General Assembly of this sitate 
enacted a law, authorizing suits against water 
craft by name, and as the canal was then in 
full tide of prosperity, and there being a con- 



(stant procession of boats in use, a large 
amount of litigation in the way of collections, 
damage suits and otherwise resulted, and this 
class of business occupied a considerable por- 
tion of the time of the court. 

In those earlier years, following the erec- 
tion of the Court House, there were compara- 
tively few divorce cases and very few cases for 
the recovery of damages for personal injury. 
And the amounts involved in suits, compared 
with the present time, were exceedingly small. 
But the records of the court will show that 
the eases that were brought into court were 
generally tried by the court or jury, and they 
will also show that the cases were, without 
regard to the amount involved, carefully pre- 
pared and thoroughly and ably tried. There 
were then, as now, generally three terms of 
court during the year, but these terms rarely 
lasted longer than two or three weeks at the 
outside, and during this time the business 
was generally fully di.sposed of. Unlike the 
j)resent time, when the court convened, on 
the first day of the term, the lawyers of the 
town vacated their offices and attended the 
court. They were on hand and present at the 
trial of each ca.se, so that practically all the 
members of the bar heard the testimony and 
arguments of counsel in each case. And dur- 
ing the tenu of court there was generally a 
full audience, not only the members of the 
bar, but bystanders and people who came in 
to hear. The large court room in the present 
old Court House, was none too large to ac- 
commodate the people who were almast uni- 



2()2 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



formly present during the entire term of 
court. The lawyers were given ample time 
for the trial of their cases. They were rarely, 
if ever, limited as to the time for argument 
as to the court or jury. It ls needless to say 
that rare ability and the most persuasive elo- 
quence was frequently displayed in the trial 
of cases. 

All this has greatly changed in recent 
years, .so that appeals to the passions and 
prejudices of men are rarely permitited at 
the present time, and so valuable is the time 
of the court and so practical in business, that 
concise, clear and business-like statements 
have taken the place of the oratory and elo- 
quent addresses of the lawyers of former 
years. 

RUFUS P. SPAULDING, among the 
earlier lawyers, was conspicuous for his efforts 
as a member of the General Assembly in se- 
curing the passage of the act creating Sum- 
mit County. He was foremost in the effort to 
make Akron a county seat, Cuyahoga Falls 
being at the time a very strong competitor 
for the location. Judge Spaulding was indeed 
an ornament to the bar and an example to 
imitate. He was dignified and courteous in 
his deportment, a logical and forcible de- 
bater, and he wa,- deeply learned in law. He 
was a graduate of Yale College, and in later 
years of life he became a judge of the Su- 
preme Court in the State of Ohio. He was. 
however, strongly inclined to a political life, 
and his interest in politics brought about his 
election as a member of Congress to represent 
the Cleveland District, of which Summit 
County was then a part. He served in Con- 
gress with rare distinction during the period 
of the Civil War. 

Another lawyer of great distinction was 
GENERAL LUCIUS V. BIERCE. He prac- 
ticed law a great many years. He came to 
Akron about the year 1836 and died in 1864, 
and during that time he was engaged in 
perhaps as many suits in the courts of this 
county and Portage as any other lawyer of 
tha/t. time. He was very skillful. Among his 



partners during that time was Charles G. 
Ladd, and subsequently Alvin C. Voris. Gen- 
eral Bierce was very efficient in aiding the 
government during the Civil War; he raised 
several companies of men for the military 
and naval service. He w^as elected to repre- 
sent Portage and Summit Counties in the 
(Jhio Senate, and made an enviable record as 
a Senator. And in later years, towards the 
close of life, he was elected mayor of the city 
of Akron. He was an able and vigorous 
writer, and in the intervals of his large legal 
practice he prepared a number of lectures, 
which he delivered in various parts of the 
country. But above all General Bierce was a 
large practitioner, and very successful in his 
bu.^iness. 

VAN R. HUMPHREY was one of the old 
(imo judges and lawyers. He was presiding 
judge and held court in Ravenna, Akron be- 
ing then a part of that jurisdiction. He was 
a very portly man, affable and genial. He 
was skilled in the old common law practice, 
and when the oivil code went into effect in 
1851, all those old common law forms were 
abolished and Judge Humphrey never could 
reconcile himself to the new modes of prac- 
tice, and constantly made war upon the new 
proceeding. Pie was a very able lawyer and 
continued in practice up to the date of his 
death, which occurred at Hudson, in Sum- 
mit County. He was effective, both before 
the court upon questions of law and in argu- 
ing oases to the jury. 

GEORGE BLISS was a native of Vermont. 
He was educated at Granville College and 
came to Akron in 1832 and studied law with 
Hon. D. K. Carter. He practiced law in Sum- 
mit County, and was appointed in 1851 presi- 
dent judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 
this county, succeeding Benjamin F. Wade. 
He held this po.sition which he filled with 
distinguished ability, \mtil the taking effect 
of the new Con.=;titution in 1852. He was 
elected a member of Congress, from this 
district in 1854, and subsequently he re- 
moved to Wonster, in Wavne Countv, where 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



'263 



he practiced law in partnership with the Hon. 
John McSwaney. It is safe to say that Judge 
Bliss had few equds and no superiors as a 
lawyer. He was learned in the law and hi^ 
logic was most profound. His command of 
language was such that his extempore argu- 
ments to the court or jury would read like 
a page of Junius. His eloquence was of the 
Web.sterian type, profound and convincing, 
while in the art of examining and cross-ex- 
amining witnes.ses he has never been excelled. 
He married late in life, and at his death a 
wife and five children survived him. He was 
a most companionable nian, very witty and 
interesting. He never lost his temper, but 
exercised complete selfcontrol. He took an 
active part in politics, and achieved a na- 
tional reputation as one of the leading stat&^- 
men of the country. He was one of the lead- 
ing counsel in the case of Ohio against -James 
Park.-:, which was the first and perhaps the 
most important murder trial ever tried in 
Summit County. 

JAMES S. CARPENTER was a very prom- 
inent lawyer, born in New Hampshire in 
1805. Moved with his i>arent.s to Pottsdam, 
New York, and was educated at the St. Law- 
rence Academy at Pottsdam. In June, 1832, 
he came to Ohio and removed to Medina, in 
Medina County, in 1835, where he edited a 
newspaper called the Constitutionalist. He 
was elected to the Legislature of the State dn 
the fall of 1839. He was a strong anti-slav- 
ery man and advocated in his papers as well 
as in his addres.ses the rights of the colored 
people of Ohio. He moved to Akron in 184(; 
and practiced law at Akron for many years. 
He occupied the Common Pleas Bench from 
1856 to 1861. Judge Carpenter was of Eng- 
lish ancestry, and in his example and by 
precept he represented the extreme type of 
Puritan morality and uprightnes-;. He was 
very highly educated as a judge, lawyer and 
citizen. His wife and three children sur- 
vived him. 

COLONEL WILBUR F. SAUNDERS was 
born in Lorn, New- York. May 2, 1834, and 



he came to Akron in 1854. He taught in the 
high school of Akron for a year or two, after 
coming to Ohio, and during the time studied 
law in the office of his uncle, Hon. Sidney 
Edgerton, and was admitted to the bar in 
1876. On the breaking out of the Civil War 
in 1861, he enlisted in the army and was 
elected a lieutenant in Company G, Sixty- 
fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He re- 
mained in service until 1863. He commenced 
the practice of law in Akron with his uncle, 
Sidney Edgerton, and his rise in the pro- 
fession was rapid. He was a very fluent 
speaker, and was especially prominent in po- 
litical discussions. Ho accompanied his un- 
cle, Sidney Edgerton, to the territory of Idaho 
and to Bennock City; this was in 1884. So- 
ciety in this portion of the west at that time 
was in a very chaotic condition. There was 
but little security for life or property, through 
the regular legal channels. Murders, rob- 
beries and crimes of all kinds were of such 
frequent occurrence that the peoi^le of this 
portion of the territory, for their protection, 
organized themselves into a body, called 
■'Vigilantes." Colonel Saunders was very 
prominent in this organization, and fifty or 
more outlaws and desperadoes were hung un- 
der the orders of this court. It was a very 
speedy and effective measure of justice, but 
it made honest men and it was not long before 
law and order prevailed. Colonel Saunders was 
appointed United States attorney by President 
Grant, and he became also a inember of the 
Territorial Legislature, and in 1890 was 
elected L'nited States Senator from the newly 
organized State of Montana. At the expira- 
tion of his term he returned to the practice 
of the law in the city of Helena, Montana, 
where he lived until his death. 

CHRISTOPHER PARSONS WOLCOTT 
came from Connecticut, was born in 1825, 
and with his parents removed to Steubenville, 
Ohio. He graduated at Jefferson College, 
Pennsylvania, and .studied law with Tappin 
& Stanton in Steubenville. Upon his admis- 
sion to the bar in 1843, he formed a partner- 
ship with General L. V. Bierce at Ravenna, 



264 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Ohio, and in 1846 came to Akron, forming 
a partnership with William S. C. Otis, and 
after Mr. Otis removed to Cleveland, he be- 
came a partner of Judge William H. Upson. 
Upon the death of the Attorney General F. 
D. Kendel in 1856, Governor Chase appointed 
Ml-. Wolcott to fill the vacancy, and he was 
subsequently elected. His services as Attor- 
ney General were particularly notable. Dur- 
ing that time there occurred a heavy defalca- 
tion in the State Treasury and this brought 
on a number of very important State trials, 
in which Mr. Wolcott took a very prominent 
j)ai1, and perhaps the most important case 
that occurred was the case of ex parte Bu^h- 
nell, sometimes called the "Oberlin rescue 
ciuses." It grew out of the attempt to en- 
force the fugitive slave law by carrying back 
fugitive slaves to the State of Kentucky. The 
people of Oberlin resisted the enforcement of 
this law; indeed public opinion in the North 
was strongly against this enforcement, and a 
mn liber of citizens of Oberlin were arrasted 
for resisting the enforcement of tliis law, and 
the case came up in the Supreme Court of 
Ohio on application for a writ in Habeas cor- 
pus; in behalf of the persons who had been 
arrested. The main quesition was over the 
constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave law. 
Mr. AVolcotts argument on this occasion was 
a most masterh' effort. The decision of the 
court was against him, but they did Mr. Wol- 
cott the honor of having his argument in 
full, printed in the volume of the Ohio Re- 
ports. Mr. Wolcott was strictly a lawyer; he 
gave law his whole attention, even at the ex- 
pense of his social duties. His arguments 
were .solid, logical and convincing. He never 
indulged in matters of sentiment, or appealed 
to the emotions or passions. He relied simply 
upon his logical processes and reasoning. ^Ir. 
Wolcott was one of the leaders of the Summit 
County bar. Soon after the breaking out 
of the Civil W^ar, he was appointed by his 
brother-in-law, Edwin M. Stanton, assistant 
secretary of war. He entered upon the dis- 
charge of these important duties with energy 
and skill, taxing himself to sucli an extent 
that his health broke down, and lie died in 



the city of Akron shortly after his retiring 
from that position. 

SAMUEL W. McCLURE was born in 
Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Novem- 
ber, 1812. In 1828 he came to Medina 
County, Ohio, and taught school at Medina 
for a period of two years. He then attended 
Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, where he 
graduated. At that time he intended becom- 
ing a minister of the Gospel. He taught the 
academy at Ashland, in Ashland County, for 
two years, and while so engaged studied law 
in the offices of Silas Robbins and Judge 
Charlas Sherman ; during the time he edited 
the Ashland Phoenix. He subsequently re- 
turned to Medina and became the editor of 
the Constitutionalist, and during that time 
also entered into a law partnership with Judge 
Carpenter. He removed to Cuyahoga Falls, 
in Summit County, about the year 184.3, and 
practiced law at that place with great suc- 
CC.S.S, until he removed to Akron, about 1865, 
where he practiced his profession in partner- 
shiip with the late Edward Oviatt. Judge Mc- 
Clure held the office of prosecuting attorney 
in Summit County, and was elected a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly of the State in 
1848, and he was .subsequently elected a judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas for the dis- 
tricts of Summit, Medina and Lorain Coun- 
ties, which office he held for one term. Judge 
McCluro 'was a very able lawyer, and by his 
constant attention to business and his skill 
and energy, he acquired a large practice and 
was very .successful, especially in the trial of 
jury cases. While Judge McClure lived at 
Cuyahoga Falls, he entered into a partner- 
ship with Hon. Henry McKinney, who .still 
lives in the city of Cleveland. 

MR. McKINNEY was elected i)rosecuting 
attorney of Summit County, which office he 
filled with great succe,«s, and was also elected 
a Senator from this district. He removed to 
Cleveland in about 1880, where he wiis elected 
a judge of the Court of Common Plea-; and 
held the oftice for one term. It i< no more 
tlian just to say that Judg.' McKiniiiy liad 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



2(55 



few equals as a trial lawyer. He was espe- 
cially strong in the trial of jury cases, and 
his preparation for trial, both as to law of 
the case and the facts involved, was com- 
plete dn every particular. He w'as a man of 
large s}-mpathie.s and most generous impulses. 

HON. SIDNEY EDUERTON, ' formerly 
one of Ohio's distinguished citizens, who from 
1852 until 1865 sei-ved his city. State and 
country, in positions of honor and great re- 
sponsibility, was born at Cazenovia, New 
York, August 17, 1818. His fathei'. a teacher 
by profession, was afflicted by l^lindness dur- 
ing his later life, dying when Sidney was six 
months old. Mi's. Edgerton, left in strait- 
ened circumstanc&s, could support lier family 
for a few years only, and the boy was forced 
into the world at the age of eight to battle 
for himself. 

After attending the district school for the 
usual period, he began at the age of seventeen 
to ie-M-h school, soon earning enough to en- 
able him to enter Wesley Seminary, at Lima, 
New York, where he was subsequently en- 
gaged as a teacher. In the spring of 1844 
he came to Akron, making the journey by- 
water. The day after Ms arrival he entered 
the office of Judge Rufus P. Spalding, for 
the study of law, and during the following 
winter he taught in the Tallmadge Academy. 
In 1846 he was graduated from the Cincin- 
nati Laav School and admitted to the bar in 
that city and immediately opened an oflico 
at Akron. He soon became identified with 
public affairs, and in 1848 was a delegate 
to the convention which resulted in the for- 
mation of the Free Soil Party. In 1852 lie 
secured election as pro.secuting attorney of 
Summit County, in which office he served for 
four years. In 1858 came his election to 
Congress, followed by his re-election in 1860. 
His record as a statesman was such that in 
1863 lie was appointed by President Lincoln 
to the oflice of chief justice of Idaho. It wa?, 
Mr. Edgerton who prepared the bill for the 
organization of the territory of Montana, and 
who went to Washington and presented it to 
Congress, making the long journey partly 



by stage and horseback through a country 
then almost entirely unsettled. President 
Lincoln recognized the value of his services 
l)y appointing him governor of the Territory 
of Montana, an office he held until a more 
perfect organization was effected, and the way 
[>aved for further legislation and the opening 
up of that rich region to settlement. Mr. 
Edgerton then resigned his office and in Jan- 
uai-y, 1866, resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession at Akron, where he continued a resi- 
dent during the rest of his life, which ter- 
minated July 19, 1900. 

On May 18, 1849, Mr. Edgerton was mar- 
ried to Mary Wright, of Tallmadge, Ohio, 
and they became the parents of nine chil- 
ilren. ilrs. Edgerton died August 3, 1883. 
Four of their children survive, namely: 
Martha E. Plassmann, residing at MLssoula., 
Montana; Mary Pauline Edgerton, of Akron; 
Lucia Idaho Buckingham, wife of George E. 
Huckingham, of Akron, Ohio; Nina E. Whit- 
man, wife of CaiJtain W. M. Whitman, U. 
S. A., now stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. 
Those (locca.^ed are: Wright Prescott Edger- 
t')n, jirofessor of mathematics at the We.-t 
Point Military Academy, at the time of his 
death, June 24, 1904; Sidney Carter Bdger- 
t'lii. died November 29, 1895; Francis Lowell 
Edgerton, died Octol>er 2, 1861 : Lucy lone 
]':duerton, died May 10, 1906. 

Sidney Edgerton was a man of stanch 
moral courage, wonderfully proven in the 
anti-slavery struggle, and in the formaitdve 
jieriod of the New West, He was gifted with 
a mai'velous memory, his reading broad, yet 
discriminating. In his profession of law he 
gained distinction, and was parti cularly re- 
nowned as a jury lawyer. He had a keen 
<;Mise of humor, and possessed an inexhaust- 
ible supply of anecdotes. He was an ardent 
champion and a fervent hater, and his whole 
life was a struggle for the upbuilding of 
right and justice. 

HON. NATHANIEL \Y (GOODHUE, for- 
merly judge of the Probate Court of Sunniiit 
County, was one of the county's mo.st promi- 
nent and u.^eful men in his day and genera- 



266 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tioii. He was barn in Lincoln County, Maine, 
December 20, 1818, in childhood accompany- 
ing bia parents to Lower Canada, where he 
lived until the age of seventeen years. 

In 1837 N. W. Goodhue moved to Wayne 
County, Ohio. At that time there were fewer 
avenuea of labor promising satisfactory emol- 
uments than at present. He was ambitious 
and turned his eyes in the direction of the 
law even while spending his summers in ped- 
dling notions and general merchandise 
through the country and his winters in 
teaching school, which occupied his time for 
several years. In 1840 he studied law in 
the office of Hand & Nash, at Middlebury, 
having come to Summit County as a teacher, 
and in 1846 and 1847 was fortunate enough 
to secure the posiition of engrossing clerk in 
the House of Representatives, at Columbus. 
In the latter year he was admitted to the bar, 
in 1848 he was elected auditor of Summit 
County and was re-elected in 1850, fill- 
ing the office for four years. In 1856 
he was appointed canal collector, serv- 
ing for two years, and was collector of inter- 
nal revenue for Summit County, from Sep- 
tember, 1882, until September. 18G(). He bed 
always been active in the Reinil)lican party 
since its formation, and in 1878 he was elected 
by this organization State Senator from Sum- 
mit and Portage Countie,s, sen-ing two years. 
In 1880, he was Republican elector for the 
Eighteenth Congres.sional -District and presi- 
dent of the Ohio Electoral College. In Oc- 
tober, 1881, he was elected .judge of the Pro- 
bate Court of Summit County, this being has 
last public honor. On the bench lie gave 
entire satisfaction and occupied this honor- 
able position until his death, which occurred 
September 12, 1883. In his many official 
capacities he had always acquitted hin^'elf 
with credit. 

Judge Goodhue was married December 20. 
1841, to Nancy Johnston, who was born in 
Green Township, Summit County and they 
had four children, namely: James P., who 
died in infancy; Allan J., now residing at 
Chicago, Illinois, who served as a member of 
the 104th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infan- 



try, during the Civil War; Mary H., now de- 
ceased, who was the wife of Rev. Samuel 
Maxwell, a clergyman of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church ; and Nathaniel P., ex-clerk of 
the Summit County Court. The last named 
is a prominent business citizen of Akron, in- 
terested in many of her successful enterprises, 
and is treasurer of the Bruner, Goodhue, 
Cooke Company and president of the Akron 
Laundry Company. He resides at No. 140 
Adolph Avenue. 

CONSTANT BRYAN. Judge Constant 
Bryan was another of the old time lawyers. 
He was born in the State of New York in 
1809. Read law and graduated from the law 
department of Yale College in 1833 and was 
admitted to the bar in 1834. He was elected 
Probate Judge for Summit County in 1852. 
He took a great interest in the cause of edu- 
cation and was a member of the School Board. 
Judge Bryan was a very dignified, quiet gen- 
tleman. He had no taste for the hurlyburly 
of a court trial, he preferred rather the quiet 
of an office practice, and the business part 
of the legal profession. He was a man of 
jiroved integrity and was very highly re- 
spected. 

CHARLES B. BERNARD was a son of 
Rev. David Bernard, a former Baptist clergy- 
man in Akron. Mr. Bernard was l>orn in 
New York, and came to Akron in 1846, where 
be taught school and later entered the office 
of the county auditor. Six years later he was 
elected auditor and served four years. Dur- 
ing this time he studied law and was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and became a member of 
tlie firm of Wolcott, LTpson & Bernard. He 
was a member of the Board of Education. 
During the Civil Wair he was made adjutant 
of the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio 
Rt'giment, Ohio National Guard. Mr. Ber- 
nard was a splendid .specimen of physical 
manhood and was prominent in public affairs. 
His probity no one ever doubted, and his 
character M-as the very highest. As a busi- 
nes's laiwyer, or rather a lawyer for office prac- 
tice, he had no superiors. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



267 



CALMN PEASE HUMPHREY, son of 
Van R. Humphrey, Avas born at Hudson, 
Ohio, in 1840. He graduated at "Western 
Reserve College in 1863, and was soon after 
admitted to the bar. He served for a time in 
the Civil War. After the close of the war 
Mr. Humphrey commenced the practice of 
his profession at Cuyahoga Falls, later com- 
ing to Akron, where he entered into a part- 
nership with .ludge E. \V. Stuart. Mr, 
Humphrey made a specialty of patent laws 
and he became a very successful and efficient 
attorney in that department. He wa.s a clever 
lawyer as well as a skillful mechanic. 

E. P. GREEN. Judge Edwin P. Green 
was born in Windsor County, Vermont, Marcli 
10, 1828. He was educated at Bradford 
.Vcademy, and commenced the study of law 
in Littleton, New Hampshire. Coming to 
Akron in 1852, he entered the office of Hum- 
phrey & Edgerton, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1853. He was elected clerk of the 
court in October, 1854, .and at the clo.^ie of 
his term he resumed his law practice, and he 
was elected Judge of the Common Pleads 
Court, •which office he held for five years. 
Judge Gre«i was president of the Ohio Bar 
Association in 1878. He Mas a very careful 
lawyer; he was not an advocate in any sens? 
of the temi, but he was learned in the law 
and WHS a prudent judicial advisor. His de- 
cisions a* judge of the Connuon Pleas Court 
were very able, and his judgments were very 
rarely reversed by the higher courts. Judoe 
Green was prominent in educational matters, 
he was a great reader and po.ssessed a splendid 
and well selected library of books. He was a 
member of the Akron Public Library A.s.so- 
ciation, and was one of the corporator- and 
trustees of Buchtel College. 

ROLIN W. SADLER was born in St. Jo- 
seph County, Michigan, in 1856. His father 
was a .school teacher by profession. ^Ir. Sad- 
ler entered Baldwin University and later went 
to Mt. Union College, where he graduated in 
1871. He then engaged in teaching, finst a- 
principal of the High School at R-ad'ng. 



Michigan, and then at Bedford, Summit 
County, Ohio. In 1876 he entered the law 
office of Edgerton and Kohler, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1876. He was for sev- 
ertil years in partnership with Mr. Kohler 
and later he became a partner in the firm of 
Marvin, Sadler & Atterholt. Mr. Sadler was 
one of the j'ounger members of the bar, but 
from the very start of his profession he ex- 
hibited tho.se qualities which brought him 
to the front of the profession, and he very 
soon became one of the best equipped lawyers 
of the Summit County bar. He had a thor- 
ough education and his mind readily grasped 
the most intricate leading questions and 
solved them with intuitive ease and clearness. 
He was also an influential, persuasive and elo- 
quent speaker. He met with an accident in 
the city of Akron which co.st him his life, 
and had he lived there is no doubt that he 
would have achieved a national reputation 
as a great lawyer and advocate. In his prac- 
tice and in the trial of cases he was, in the 
best sense of the term, a gentleman, and made 
it clear that one can be a perfect gentleman, 
kind and courteous, and at the same time a 
most effective trial lawyer. 

FRANK M. ATTERHOLT was born in 
1848 near New Lisbon, Ohio. He w-as edu- 
cated at New Lisbon High School and at Mt. 
Union College, graduating at the latter in- 
stitution in 1870. He wa.s a prominent 
teacher for several years and became editor 
of the Columbiana Register. He came to Ak- 
ron in 1879 and read law with Upson, Ford 
and Baird. "Was admitted to the bar in the 
Supreme Court at Columbus, and later be- 
came a partner of Judge ilarvin in the law 
])ractice. i\Ir. Atterholt was a member of the 
Board of Education, member of the Board of 
School Examiners and trustee of Mt. Union 
College. Mr. Atterholt ga.ve the latter years 
of his life almost exclusively to business af- 
fairs, being largely interested in a number of 
corporations and in organizing others. He 
was a prominent member of the Methodist 
Church in the city of Akron. He died at 
Akron after a long and painful illne.-s. 



268 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



DAVID LESLIE MARVIN, son of Ulysses 
L. Marvin, was born at Kent, Ohio, in 1862. 
He was educated in the Akron public schools 
and at Kenyon College, Gambler. He was 
elected assistant engineer of the board of 
Public Works of Ohio, and was re-elected in 
1888 and 1890. During this time he read 
law, and was admitted to the bar in Decc^m- 
ber, 1889. Coming to Akron he began tlie 
practice of his profession, as a member of 
the law firm of Marvin, Atterholt, Slabaugh 
& Marvin. Mr. Mar\-in was a bright, capable 
and genial young man, and gave promise of 
success in his profession. His untimely death 
was mourned by all who had enjoyed the 
pleasure of Ids acquaintance. 

HENRY AVARD INGERSOLL was born 
in Richfield, October 23, 1833. He moved 
•with his family to Hudson. He was grad- 
uated at the Western Raserve College in 1857, 
and studied law in the office of Judge Van 
R. Humphrey, and Avas admitted to the bar 
by the Supreme Court at Columbus, March 
9, 1859. Upon the breaking out of the Civil 
War he enlisted in the Second Ohio Cavalry 
Regimental Band, serving in the division of 
General Blont in the Western campaign. He 
was commi,s.sioned by Governor Tod as Cap- 
tain in the 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 
In 1864, at the caU of Governor Brough, he 
served one hundred days in defense of the 
National Capital as a member of the 164th 
Ohio National Guard. Mr. Ingersoll was a,n 
indefatigable worker, energetic and pains- 
taking. He was a man of high character and 
was highly educated. In addition to hi? at- 
tainments as a lawyer he was a fine mn- 
sician ; he had- a splendid voice, which was 
highly cultivated. 

WILLIAM M. DODGE desen-es honorable 
mention among the earlier lawyers of Sum- 
mit County. He was born in 1805, in New 
York, where he studied law with Judge 
WTieeler. After his admission to the bar, he 
came to Middleb;ir\% which was then the chief 
town in Summit County. He was elected 
prosecuting attorney of the new county, being 



the first one to hold that ofHce in the new 
jurisdiction ; he was re-elected and held the of- 
fice two years. He was one of the leading 
advocates and workers for the famous Ak- 
ron School Law, and became a member of the 
first board of education in the city of Akron. 
In 1860 Mr. Dodge was elected probate judge 
of Summit County, and this office he held un- 
til his death, July 21, 1861. He was fifty-six 
years of age at the time of his death. 

EDWARD OVIATT was another of Sum- 
mit County's earlier lawyers. He was born 
in Hudson Township in 1822. He attended 
school at the Richfield Academy, whei'e the 
family lived, and later at Granville Institute 
and Western Reserve College. He prepared 
for admission to the bar in Akron in the of- 
fice of Hon. D. K. Carter, and he was admit- 
ted to the bar at Medina in 1844. He was en- 
gaged in practice for a number of years until 
about 1865, when he became partner of Hon. 
Samuel W. McClure, and after the dissolution 
of that firm Mr. Oviatt continued his profes- 
sional practice with his .«on-in-low, George G. 
Ellen, Esq.; later Mr. Charles Cobbs was ad- 
mitted to the firm. Mr. Oviatt held the office 
of prosecuting attorney of Summit Cinnity. to 
which he was elected by the people, and dur- 
ing the Civil War he served in a hundred day 
service as a member of the 164th Regiment, 
Ohio National Guard. Mr. Oviatt was a 
patriotic, public-spirited citizen and a most 
painstaking, conscientious lawyer. He was 
frequently selected and instructed with the set 
tlement of estates in which he was very prompt 
and thorough. 

ROLLAND 0. HAMMOND was another of 
the old lawyers long since pa.s,?ed away. He 
was born in 1826 in the town.ship of Bath. He 
wa? educated at Oberlin College and also at- 
tended Western Reserve College. He pre- 
pared for the business of his profession in the 
office of Judge Carpenter and IMcClure and 
was admitted to the bar in Painesville in 1850. 
He held the office of probate judge, imder ap- 
pointment from Governor Reuben Wood. He 
made a very excellent officer, and, upon the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



269 



election of James Buchanan as president, he 
wai appointed postmaister of the city of Ak- 
ron, which office he held for four years. Mr. 
Hammond Avas an excellent trial lawyer. He 
was a man of high tastes and culture, and was 
a fine writer as well as a persuasive and elo- 
quent orator. 

HON. ULYSSES L. MARVIN was born 
in Stow, in 1839. He was educated in the 
district schools and Twinsburg Institute, and 
for a time engaged in teaching the common 
schools. In 1858 he entered the law office 
of H. B. Foster in Hudson, and then he 
came to Akron and entered the law office of 
Hon. Sidney Edgerton, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1860. In 1862 he enlisted as a 
private in the 115th Regiment, Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry, and later he became first lieu- 
tenant of the Fifth United States Colored 
Regiment. He was promoted tO' captain dur- 
ing the Siege of Richmond in 1869. Judge 
Marvin was elected probate judge of Summit 
Count}^, serving six j^ears and was appointed 
Common Pleas Judge by Governor Faster in 
place of Judge Tibbals, serving until the fol- 
lowing October. He was later elected a judge 
of the Circuit Court for Cuyahoga, Summit, 
Lorain and Medina District and is still serv- 
ing as a judge of that court, having been 
nominaited for a third term. 

GEORGE C. KOHLER was born at Akron 
June 26, 1869. He attended the High School 
in Akron and Buchtel College, and in 1885 
went to Williston Seminary, East Hampton, 
Masj^achusetts, graduating there three years 
later. He then went to Yale College and 
graduated from that University, returning to 
Akron and entered upon the study of law in 
the office of Kohlcr & Mu.-ser, and was later 
admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court 
at Columbu.s. He was a member of the Board 
of School Examiners in the city of Akron for 
several years and was appointed by the Su- 
preme Court a member of the board of the 
examination of applicants for the admission 
to the bar. He became a member of the law 
finn of Musser, Kohler & Mottiiiger, and is 



now a member of the firm of Kohler, Kohler 
& Mottinger, attorneys, of Akron, Ohio. 

HENRY W. HOWE, son of Captain Rich- 
ard Howe, was born in Bath, 1828. He came 
to Akron with hiis parents and was educated 
in the Akron public schools, and afterwards 
attended the Oberlin College, where he grad- 
uated in 1849. He read law with James S. 
Carpenter and became his partner and prac- 
ticed with him, until the judge's election to 
the bench in 1856. Mr. Howe was a mem- 
ber of the Akron Board of Education. For 
many years last past Mr. Howe has devoted 
his entire time to agTicultural matters, living 
upon his farm in Northampton Township. 
He is a prominent member of the Grange, 
and is a close and careful student of impor- 
tant questions, and has largely directed his 
attention, his writing and addresses to the 
subject of agriculture. 

LORENZO DOW WATERS was born in 
Carroll County, Ohio, 1855, and when four- 
teen years of age, came to Akron with his 
parents. He attended "the public schools here 
until 1872, at which time he entered Buchtel 
College, where he studied for three yeare. Jn 
1877 he became a student in the office of -John 
J. Hall, Esq., and upon his admission to the 
bar in 1879, became a partner of Mr. Hall, by 
the firm name of Hall and Waters. Mr. Wat- 
ers was mayor of the city of Akron, 1883 
to 1885, and was re-elected, serving in 
all four years. At the end of his term Mr. 
Waters then resumed his practice of law on 
his own account. He was popular as an office 
holder, and his discharge of the duties of 
mayor' were highly satisfactory. 

HON. CHARLES DICK was born in Ak- 
ron November 3, 1858, and was educated in 
the Akron schools. Mr. Dick marked out for 
himself a bu.siness life, and commenced as 
clerk in a hat .store. He then became book- 
keeper for the Citizens' Savings and Loan As- 
sociation. Later he was chief bookkeeper for 
the Empire Reaper and MoA^'er Company. In 
1881 he formed a partnership with Liicius C. 



270 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Miles, under the name of Dick & Miles, in a 
general grain and commission business. Mr. 
Dick was elected auditor of Summit County in 
1886 and was re-elected in 1889. Tliis ottico 
he filled with great credit to himself, and 
made many friends by his prompt and agree- 
able manner in doing business. About this 
time Mr. Dick took a prominent part in the 
politics of Summit County; he became chair- 
man of the Republican E.xecutive Commit- 
tee, and so efficient was he in the perform- 
ance of his duties that he became a member 
and chairman of the State Executive Conunit- 
tee. He has held that office for a number of 
years, successfully carrying the Republican 
party to victory in this state in many succes- 
sive campaigns. He was one of the close 
friends of William McKinley, as well as of 
Mark Hanna. Upon the death of Mark 
Hanna, Mr. Dick was elected United States 
Senator, which office ho now holds, and the 
duties of which he has performed to the sat- 
isfaction of lids constituents and with great 
credit to himself. 

ARTHUR S. MOTTINGER, born at In- 
land, Green Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
May 14, 1873. He attended the district school 
and completed a course at Uniontown High 
School, graduating in 1892. He then taught 
in district and village school at. Summit, 
Ohio, for several yeai-s, entering Hiram Col- 
lege in the fall of 1895, and graduating from 
that in.«titution in 1899, having completed the 
collegiate course, including one year of legal 
work. October 29, 1899, he came to Akron 
and took up the study of law with the tirm of 
Musser & Kohler. He was admitited to the, 
bar in the January term of 1901, «nd re- 
mained in the employ of Musser & Kohler un- 
til January, 1905, when he was taken into 
the firm of Mus,ser & Kohler. the firm l)eing 
Musser, Kohler & Mottinger. In June, 1906, 
this firm was dissolved, Mr. ]\Iusser reliring 
from the firm, and Judge J. A. Kohler taking 
his place, since which time the firm has been 
known as Kohler, Kohler & Mottinger. Mr. 
Mottinger was married August 9, lOOli. 1o 
Cassie M. Lawyer, of Burton, Ohio. 



F. J. ROCKWELL, attorney-at-law, Akron, 
was born in Akron, Ohio, February 19, 1878, 
and has always resided in this city. His lit- 
i>rary education was acquired in the public 
schools, including the High School, from 
which he was graduated in 1895, and at Buch- 
tel College, 'where he was graduated in 1899. 
He studied kw with tlie firms of Atterholt & 
Marvin, Rowley & Bradley, and Rogers, Row- 
ley & Bradley, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1902, He immediateh' entered into part- 
nership with Messrs. Rogers, Rowley and 
Bradley, and is now a member of the suc- 
cessful law firm of Rogers, Rowlev & Rock- 
well. 

ERNEST C. HOUSEL, son of Martin J. 
and Amanda C. Housel, was born in Middle- 
bury (now East Akron), Summit Countv, 
Ohio, Augusit 18, 1868. He attended the Ak- 
ron public schools, read law in the office of 
John J. Halland, and was admitted to the 
bai', October 3, 1889, since Avhich time he 
has been engaged in the practice of law in 
the city of Akron. He wa* elected justice of 
. the peace in Akron Township in the spring 
of 1891. and .served in that capacity for the 
term of three years. He was a memlier of 
the Akron Board of Education from 1902 to 
1905. He was appointed a director of public 
safety for Akron, in January, 1906, to serve 
for the term of four years. Mr. Housel was 
married, December 28, 1892, to Emma E., 
daughter of Robert and Jane Caine, and ha^ 
one daughter, Elinore E. 

CHARLES BAIRD, a well known attor- 
iiey of Akron, was born in this cily ^larch 25, 
1853, a son of Robert and Helen Baird. His 
father Avas a native of Scotland, born in Kin- 
cardine.^liire, in 1818, who came in 1843 to 
America, settling in Akron, where he fol- 
lowed the trade of blacksmith for many years. 
He was a strong anti-slavery man and free- 
stiiler. and later one of the most faithful ad- 
herents of the Republican party. He was 
married in Akron to Helen Knox Moir, a na- 
tive of Forfarshire, Scotland, and daughter 
of Charles and Mary (Gordan) Moir. She 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



271 



died in Akron in February, 1891, at the age 
of seventy-oiie year.*. They were the parents 
of five children — William, Isabel, Charles, 
Mary and Helen. 

Charle.3 Baird acquired his elementary edu- 
cation in the common schools, being later 
graduated from the Akron High School. He 
then spent a year in classical study at Buch- 
tel College, after which he entered the law of- 
fice of Upson & Ford, under whose mentorship 
he studied closely until his admission to the 
bar, November 2, 1875. He then entered into 
partnership with Judge Up^on, under the firm 
name of Upson & Baird. Mr. Ford entering 
the firm in 1877, its style became Upson, 
Ford & Baird, and it was so continued until 
March, 1883, when Mr. Upson was called to 
the Supreme Bench of Ohio. The firm was 
then dissolved and Mr. Baird practiced alone 
until 1891, at which time he formed a partner- 
.ship with Edwin F. Voris, under the firm 
name of Baird & Voris, which connection 
la.sted until June, 1895. Mr. Baird now has a 
large and lucrative law practice and gives spe- 
cial attention to corporation law, in which 
branch of his profession he has been very 
successful. 

j\Ir. Baird has taken an active part in the 
orjganization and development of some of Ak- 
ron's important industries. He was one of 
the incorporators of the Portage Straw Board 
Company, and also one of its directors, until 
it was consolidated with the American Straw 
Board Company. He also assisted, in 1880-81, 
in the organization of the Diamond Match 
Company, and was one of the incoiporators of 
the Goodrich Hard Rubber Company, in 
which he has also been interested as a director 
and .stockholder. He has taken a prominent 
part in the organization and development of 
the town of Barberton, and i.? interested as an 
officer, director, or stockholder, in various 
other important enterprises, both local and 
foreign. He has also been concerned as ad- 
ministrator or executor in the administration 
of several of the largest estates ever admin- 
istered in Summit County, notably the Com- 
mins c-tate, in 1888. and that of Thomas W. 



Coi-nell, of which he was appointed one of 
the executors in 1892. As an attorney Mr. 
Baird practices in the courts of IllinoLs, In- 
diana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, 
New York and Ohio, and also in the federal 
courts. 

Mr. Baird was married, Febmary 10, 1882, 
to Miss Lucy Allen Voris, a daughter of Gen- 
eral A. C. Voris, of Akron, of which union 
there have been born children as follows : Al- 
vin Voris, December 3, 1882; Helen Eliza- 
beth, August 30, 1884; Betsev Coe, June 11, 
1886; Charles, October 15, 1888; and Kath- 
arine, November 19, 1890. 

JAMES MADISON POULSON wa^ born 
March 27, 1842, near Holmesville, Holmes 
County, Ohio. In his boyhood he attended 
the district schools and was early trained to 
agricultural work. For several years before 
attaining his majority he taught winter 
school, working on a farm during the sum- 
mers. He supplemented his education by at- 
tending a private school in Fredericksburg for 
several terms, and, after studjdng for a year 
in Hayesville Academy, he entered, in 1865, 
Princeton, New Jersey, College, from which 
he was graduated in June, 1868. In the 
same year he 'became a student at the Colum- 
l)ia College Law School at New York, and was 
graduated therefrom in May, 1870. On May 
12, 1869, he was admitted to the bar in New 
York city, on examination. In August, 1870, 
he came to Akron, and was admitted to the 
bar of Summit County on September 9th fol- 
lowing. He soon after entered into partner- 
ship with Mr. John J. Hall, which wa.5 con- 
tinued until January 1, 1877. He was elected 
on the Democratic ticket prosecuting attorney 
for Summit County in October, 1874, and 
efficiently performed the duties of tliat office 
for two years — from January 1, 1875, to Jan- 
nary 1, 1877. He has since been engaged in 
the general practice of his profession and has 
lieen very successful. !Mr. Poulson was mar- 
ried September 28, 1875, to Miss Helen F. 
Smagg, only daughter of William Smagg, of 
Akron. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



MATTHEW CANFIELD READ was born 
August 21, 1823, in Williamsfield, Ashtabula 
County, Ohio. When he was about twelve 
years old his parents removed to Mecca, 
Trumbull County, where he attended the dis- 
trict schools, working a part of the time on a 
farm. Resolved to secure a better education, 
he attended successively the Western Reserve 
Seminary, at Farmington, and the Grand 
River Institute, at Austinburg, and then, in 
1844, entered the Western Reserve College. 
From tliis institution he was graduated in 
1848, afterwards receiving from it the de- 
gree of A. M. He taught school for a while, 
and began the study of law under Chaffee A. 
Woodbury, at Jeffei'son. On the close of his 
law studies he became editor of the Hudson 
Family Visitor, and about the same time he 
taught for a year in the grammar school of 
Western Reserve College. After this he prac- 
ticed law for a while in Hudson. During the 
Civil AVar he was employed as general agent 
of the Western Department of the United 
States Sanitary Commission, and at its close 
became deputy revenue collector. He then 
obtained the congenial position of geologist 
on the Geological Survey of Ohio. For sev- 
eral years he was lecturer on zoology and 
practical geology in the Western Reserve Col- 
lege, and he had charge of the archeological 
exhibits of Ohio at the Centennial Expositions 
at Philadelphia and New Orleans. He has 
also spent some time in the investigation of 
mineral lands for private parties. Mr. Read 
has served in the local offices of township 
clerk, justice of the peace, mayor, etc., in all 
jwoving an efficient public servant. 

HON. "\WLLIAM H. UPSON, now living 
retired at Akron, after a long and distin- 
guisihed public life, wa.s born January 11, 
1823, in Franklin County, Ohio. In 1832 he 
removed with his parents to Tallmadge, Sum- 
mit County. 

At an early age he displayed the native abil- 
ity which in later life contributed to his pro- 
fessional success, for he was but nineteen years 
old when he was graduated from the Western 



Reserve College. He then read law with 
Judge Reuben Hitchcock, at Painesville, aft- 
erwards spending one year in the laAv depart- 
ment of Yale College. In September, 1845, 
he was admitted to the bar, and in January 
of th© following year entered upon the prac- 
tice of his profession at Akron. For many 
years he was in partnership with Hon. Sid- 
ney Edgerton and Christopher P. Wolcott, 
and stood at the head of his profession in 
Summit County. He was elected the first 
president of the Summit County Bar Associa- 
tion, and was a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the State Bar Association. In 
March, 1883, Mr. Upson was appointed by 
Governor Foster, judge of the Supreme Court 
of Ohio, and served until December. In 1884 
he was elected judge of the Circuit Court, and 
in 1886 was re-elected for the full term of six 
years. 

Judge Upson has always been a stanch sup- 
porter of the Republican party, and for years 
stood very near to the head of the organiza- 
tion in the .«tate. His first public office was that 
of prosecuting attorney, in which he served 
Summit County from 1848 to 1850. He was 
a member of Ohio State Senate, 1854-5. In 
1868 he was elected to Congress from the 
Eighteenth District, serving imtil 1873. His 
party delighted to honor him, and in 1864 
he was sent as a delegate to the Republican 
National Convention, which renominated 
Abraham Lincoln. He was also a delegate- 
at-large to the convention which nominated 
Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1876. 

From Judge Upson's return to privaite life 
until his retirement from the practice of his 
profession he took a conspicuous part in every- 
thing pertaining to the development of Akron 
and Summit County. For many yeare he 
has been a trustee of the Western Reserve 
College, Oberlin College and the Lake Erie 
Female Seminary. 

On May 20, 1856, Judge Upson was married 
to Julia Ford, a daughter of Hon. James P. 
and Julia A. (Tod) Ford, of Akron, whose 
family consisted of seven children. Mrs. Up- 
son's father was born in New York state, Jan- 
uary 28, 1797, and in earlv manhood became 




HON. WILLIAM H. UPSON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



a resident of Suiuiiiit County, where the re- 
mainder of his Hfe was spent. He was ap- 
pointed by Governor Bartley, associate judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, for Summit 
County, and filled this position until ill health 
forced him to resign, in 1849 ; his death took 
place less than two years later, January 2, 
1851. His wafe was a daughter of Judge 
George Tod, of Youngstown, Ohio. Judge 
Upson and his wife have four children, name- 
ly: William Ford, a practicing attorney in 
New York city, with residence in Glen Ridge, 
New Jersey; Henry Swift, a resident of Cleve- 
land, engaged in the practice of medicine; 
Anna Perkins, wife of Colonel G. J. Fieberger, 
U. S. Engineer Corps, now professor of en- 
gineering at the U. S. Military Academy, West 
Point, New York : and Julia Ford. Judge Up- 
son resides with his family on East Market 
Street. 

SENEY A. DECKER, attorney-at-law, at 
Barberton, is a leading member of the Sum- 
mit County bar and has been established in 
this city since May, 1903, having convenient 
offices in the Barberton Savings Bank build- 
ing. He was born in Seneca County, Ohio, 
March 11, 1875, and is a son of Samuel and 
Levi n a (Noel) Decker. 

Mr. Decker was reared on his father's farm 
and attended the country schools. He was 
an ambitious boy and made the most of his 
opportunities and secured a certificate per- 
mitting him to teach, before he had completed 
his own education. For five years he taught 
country schools and then attended Heidel- 
berg College, at Tiffin, Ohio, for two years, 
following this by the study of law in the of- 
fice of Piatt & Black, leading attorneys at Tif- 
fin. After two years of study there he at- 
tended the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, 
for eight months, and on December 6, 1902, 
he was admitted to the bar. His close devo- 
tion to study had somewhat impaired his 
beallh. and he returned to the home farm, 
where he remained until the follo^ang March, 
when he located for practice at Attica. From 
there, six weeks later, he came to Barberton, 
where he found he was not deceived in believ- 



ing that a field of business was awaiting him. 
On February 19, 1905, Mr. Decker was 
married to Minnie Leininger, who is a daugh- 
ter of Isaac and Elizabeth Leininger, of Flat 
Rock, Seneca County, Ohio. Mr. Decker is 
fraternally connected with the Elks and the 
Eagles. His i^rofcs-sional ability has brought 
him many business friends while the agree- 
able personality of himself and wife has led 
to their welcome admission into the most 
select social circles of Barberton. 

CETARLES C. BENNER, attorney, of Ak- 
ron, Ohio, was born in ^Manchester, Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 27, 
1870, son of Simon and Caroline (Slaybaugh) 
Benner. His parents, both of whom are now 
deceased, were natives of Franklin Township, 
this county. 

Simon Benner was a farmer and dealt in 
stock. Born January 17, 1846, he died Au- 
gust 22, 1884. His wife was born July 21, 
1844, and died January 7, 1890. They had 
nine children, as follows: Elda F., wife of 
Frank Warner, of Barberton ; Clinton A., at- 
torney at Cleveland; Melvin L., who owns and 
conducts a ranch at Sidney, Montana; Charles 
C, subject of this sketch; Otto M., who died 
in 1877, aged five years; Irvin R., a dentist 
of Barberton; Gertrude M., single, a resident 
of Akron; Wallace J., a physician of Cleve- 
land, Ohio; and Howard C, auditor for the 
.Etna Insurance Company, who resides in 
Cleveland. The parents were members of the 
M. E. Church. Simon Benner was a Demo- 
crat, and though not in any sense a politician, 
he held the office of justice of the peace in 
Norton Town.ship. 

Charles C. Benner was reared on the farm, 
and acquired his literary education in the dis- 
trict and High Schools of Copley and Norton 
Townships. He attended the law school of 
the Northern Ohio University, at Ada, Ohio, 
and finishing his law course in ihe office of 
Baird and Voris, of Akron. Ohio, was ad- 
mitted to the bar June 8, 1893, at Columbus, 
He immediately opened an office at No. 12 
East ISIarket Street, where he has since re- 
mained, bavins: met witli a mo~l gratifying 



276 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



degree of success. He wa.s police pro.^ecutor 
from 1897 to 1901. 

On September 29, 1897, Mr. Beniier was 
married to Gertrude F. Foster, a native of 
Akron, and a daughter of Martin B. and 
Sarah (Clark) Foster. In politics Mr. Ben- 
ner is an Independent Democrat. 

Fraternally he belongs to the Elks, being 
Past Exalted Ruler, a charter member of the 
local lodge, and a life member of the Grand 
Lodge of the United States. He is also a 
charter member of Akron Lodge 603, K. of 
P., a member of Adoniram Lodge 517, F. & 
A. M.; Wa-^hington Chapter, R. A. M., No. 
25; Akron Council, R. & S. M., No. 80; Akron 
Commandery, K. T., No. 25, and Lake Erie 
Consistory, Ancient Accepted & Scottish Rite 
of Free Masonry, of Cleveland. He was captain 
of Company B, Eighth Regiment, Ohio Na- 
tional Guard, for four years, 1894-1897. He 
is a member of the Portage Country Club and 
a trustee of the City Ho.spital of Akron. 

HON. WILLIAM BARNABAS DOYLE, 
until recently a prominent member of the 
Summit County bar, formerly mayor of Ak- 
ron, and editor of the present volume, was 
born in the city of Akron, in the old Doyle 
homestead, at (old) No. 150 South High 
Street, April 19, 18G8. His parents were Wil- 
liam B. and Mary Maud (Lantz) Doyle, and 
he is a lineal descendant of Felix Doyle, who 
came to America from the North of Ireland 
very early in the eighteenth century, and 
made a home for himself in the wilderness, 
where a son, whom lie named Barnaba«, was 
born. 

This Barnabas became the father of ten 
children, among whom were Barnabas Doyle, 
Jr., and Thomas John Sylvester Doyle. 

Thomas J. S. Doyle, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, married Anne Taylor, 
who was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Feb- 
ruarv 12, 1797, and who died in Akron De- 
cember 12, 1882. Their children were: Wil- 
liam Barnabas (1), Thomas John, and Mary 
A., the last mentioned of whom became the 
wife of Hon. James Ferguson, of Chambers- 
burg, Pennsylvania. 



William Barnabas Doyle (1) wi\s born in 
Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in a valley 
of the Blue Mountains called Path Valley, 
March 5, 1825. When thirteen years old, he 
was apprenticed for three years to learn the 
trade of cabinet-maker, which he mastered. 
At the age of seventeen, filled with a spirit of 
adventure, he turned his steps toward the 
West; in 1842 arriving in Akron practically 
penniless, and having walked the entire dis- 
tance on foot. He soon found employment at 
his trade, however, and in time became a 
master cabinet-maker. After several years he 
gave up that business, and became a member 
of the firm of Doyle & Chamberlain, dealers 
in cattle and meat. Later he engaged in agri- 
culture on a large farm which he had pur- 
chased in Coventry Township. In August, 
1865, with John H. Dix and Daniel Farnum, 
he purchased the lumber and manufacturing 
business of S. G. Wilson and originated the 
firm of W. B. Doyle & Co. Of this business, 
he subsequently became the sole owner and 
conducted it alone until his death, which took 
place in Akron, August 6, 1890, when he was 
sixty-five years old. He was a stanch sup- 
porter of the Republican party, but neither 
held nor sought office. In 1863 he was cap- 
tain of the Coventry Company of National 
Militia, organized under the act of April 14, 
that year, but the company was not called 
upon to go to the front. 

Mr. Doyle Avas married October 30, 1855, 
to MLss Harriet Sage, of Monroe County, New 
York, who died November 6, 1862, leaving 
one child, Dayton A. Doyle. On June 9, 
1867, IVIr. Doyle married Mary Maud Lantz 
of Akron, who died February 11, 1874, leav- 
ing three children — William B. Doyle (2), 
Delia May Doyle Wilcox, and Dean Lantz 
Doyle. In 1877 Mr. Doyle married again, 
and of that union there was one daughter, 
iVnna. 

William Barnabas Doyle (2), son of Wil- 
liam B. and Mary Maud (Lantz) Doyle, whose 
nativity has been already given, was educated 
in the Akron public schools from 1874 to 
1883 ; in the Wes.tern Raserve Academy from 
1883 to 1886, where he graduated after com- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



277 



pleting the classical course; he received his 
higher educational training at Amher.st Col- 
lege from 1886 to 1890, and was graduated 
as a member of the class of 1890. In Janu- 
ary, 1891, he was elected a director and treas- 
urer of the Akron Electrical Manufacturing 
Company, but resigned to enter Harvard Law 
School in October, 1892. He .«pent three 
years at Harvard and graduated in June, 
1895, receiving the degree of LL. B. from 
Harvard University. In 1895 he was again 
elected a director and treasurer of the electri- 
cal company, positions which he continued to 
hold until recently. In October, 1895, Mr. 
Doyle w'as admitted to the bar by the Supreme 
Court of the State of Ohio, at Columbus, and 
immediately commenced the active practice 
of his profession in his native city. He sensed 
as mayor of the X'ity of Akron for the years 
1901-1903, having been elected on the Re- 
pul>lican ticket April 1, 1901. He was invited 
by the League of American IMunicipalities to 
read a pai^er on "The .JMunicipal Situation 
in Ohio" at its annual meeting in Grand 
Rapids, Michigan, in August, 1902. This 
paper was afterwards printed by several legal 
journals. In June, 1903, he was granted the 
degree of Master of Arts by Amherst College, 
for researches in Municipal Government. 

Upon quitting the office of mayor he re- 
sumed the successful practice of law in Akron 
until Februarj", 1907, when the tnistees of the 
Carnegie Technical Schools of the Carnegie 
Institute in Pittsburg invited him to take the 
chair of Contract Law in their school of Ap- 
plied Science. As he felt himself especially 
fitted for work of that nature, he accepted the 
invitation and will hereafter reside in Pitts- 
burg. 

Mr. Doyle was married on September 14, 
1899, to Frances Louise Wilcox, of Akron. 
They have five children : Mary, Enid, Kath- 
leen, Wilhelmine and William B. Doyle, Jr. 
The last named was born November 15, 1907. 

Mr. Doyle is a member of the Beta Theta 
Pi college fraternity, and was for two years 
chief of the New England district. In July, 
1906, he was elected president of the national 
convention of the fraternity, held at Denver, 



Colorado. He is connected by membership 
with the Congregational Churcli, the Sons of 
the American Revolution and various Masonic 
bodies. 

FRANK G. MARSH, a leading member of 
the Akron bar, with offices in the Dobson 
Block, belongs to one of the old pioneer fami- 
lies of this section, and was born March 18, 
1869, in Franklin Township, Sunnnit County, 
Ohio. He is a son of Hiram F. Marsh and 
a grandson of George Marsh, who came to 
Summit County among its earliest settlers. 

Mr. Marsh was educated in the schools of 
Franklin Township and at a superior select 
school at Manchester, <where he spent four 
years. He began to teach when only sixteen 
years of age, and continued in that occupation 
for four school yeare in his native county. In 
1891 he went to Detroit, where he took a 
course in stenography and typewriting at the 
Pernin Institute, and after his return he 
worked during that fall for the Republican 
Central Committee, teaching school dui'ing 
the following winter. On March 10, 1892, 
he accepted a position with the Aultman-Mil- 
ler Company, and remained with that firm for 
eleven years, tenninating the connection in 
1903. In 1896 he registered w'ith the law 
firm of Andress & Whittemore and was sup- 
plied with law text books. These he studied 
during all the hours he could call his own, 
for the next three years, and his diligence 
and perseverance were rewarded iwhen he suc- 
cessfully passed the examination necessary be- 
fore the Supreme Court, at Columbus, in Oc- 
tober, 1899. He was still retained by the 
Aultman-Miller Company as special corre- 
spondent and assistant counsel for the com- 
pany up to May, 1903, when he went to the 
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, entering 
the sales department, where he remained one 
year. On May 15, 1904, Mr. Marsh .severed 
his connection with that firm and in the fol- 
lowing month began the practice of law, in 
which he has been engaged since, meeting 
with the success which his years of prepara- 
tion entitle him to. His personal popularity 
was proved in the following September, when 



278 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he was brought forward as a candidate for a 
place on the Board of Education. Although 
he was one of fifteen contestants, he was 
selected as having the third largest number 
of votes and was subsequently elected for a 
term of four years. He has always been in- 
terested in politics and was a candidate for 
mayor before the Republican convention in 
1907, but while ho had a large following, was 
not nominated. At a meeting held Septem- 
ber 16, 1907, by the City Council of Akron 
Mr. Marsh received the apiaointment of justice 
of the peace, to fill the unexpired term of 
George A. Patterson, resigned. On Tuesday, 
November 5, of the same year, he was elected 
one of the four justices of the peacfe 
in and for the township of Akron for a term 
of four yeai's beginning witli Januaiy 1, 1908. 
Fraternally Mr. Marsh belongs to the Odd 
Fellows and to the. Modern AVoodmen of 
America. He is a member of the Reformed 
Church. 

W. A. SPENCER, attorney, "a member of 
the well-known law firm of Esgate, Spencer 
and Snyder, at Akron, was born in London, 
England in 1870, and was seven years of age 
when his parents came to America and located 
at Akron. 

In 1888 Mr. Spencer was graduated from 
the Akron High School and spent the follow- 
ing year on a fruit farm in Tennessee, earn- 
ing the money with which to give him two 
years training at Buchtel College. He then 
entered upon the study of law in the office 
of Sawders and Rogers, at Akron, where he 
remained until the spring of 1898, when he 
enlisted in Company B, Eighth Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantrj', for service in the 
Spanish-American War. His regiment was 
sent to Cuba, and with his comrades he partic- 
ipated in the Santiago campaign, and re- 
mained in the service for eight months. He 
■was mustered out at Wooster, Ohio, and re- 
turned to Akron, where he was admitted to 
the bar one year later. He began practice 
alone, but later became a member of the pres- 
ent firm of Esgate, Spencer and Snyder, which 
succeeded Esgate, Spencer and Loomis, on the 



death of Mr. Loomis. Mr. Spencer is a di- 
rector in the Uerman American Building and 
Loan Association. He has ever taken an ac- 
tive jiart in i^olitics and is chairman of the 
Democratic executive comniittecs of city and 
county. Under Mayor Kemple he served two 
years as police prosecutor. 

In 1900 Mr. Spencer was married to Ger- 
trude Huse, of Akron, and they have one 
child, Margaret. Fraternally Mr. Spencer is 
identified with the Masons and the Pathfind- 
ere, and he belongs also to the Spanish- Ameri- 
can War Veteran Association. He is a self- 
•made man to a large extent, and owes little 
to favoring circumstances attending his boy- 
hood or youth. 

JOHN C. FRANK, of the law firm of Tib- 
bals and Frank, Akron, has been a resident 
of this city for the past twenty-seven years, 
and has been one of the enterprising citizens 
whose energies have contributed to its re- 
markable development during that pei'iod. 
He was born at Uniontown, Stark County, 
Ohio, in 1864, and when sixteen yeai's of age 
came to Akron, completing his literary edu- 
cation in the Akron High School. He pre- 
pared for his chosen profession in the law 
department of the University of Michigan, 
where he was graduated in 1885. He imme- 
diately entered the law office of the late Gen- 
eral Voris, where he remained until June, 
1886, at which time he became associated pro- 
fessionally with Judge Tibbals. He subsequent- 
ly practiced alone for two years and then 
formed his present partnership with Judge 
Tibbals. The firm of Tilibals and Frank is 
now the oldest law firm in Akron, and has 
been concerned in a large share of the most 
important litigation that has come before the 
courts of the city and county during the 
period of its existence. Probably no law firm 
in Summit County stands higher in public 
esteem, or more justly deserves the high repu- 
tation which it enjoys. 

Mr. Frank was married in 1888 to Celia 
E. Esselburn, of Akron, and he and his wife 
have two sons, Charles W. and Paiil A., both 
of whom are receiving superior educational 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



279 



training, calculated to fit them for the best 
American citizenship. Politically Mr. Frank 
is a liepublican, and takes an active interest 
in public affairs. He is a member of the 
Court House Building Committee, an impor- 
tant office at this time. With his family he 
belongs to Grace Reformed Church. 

COL. GEORGE MITCHELL WRIGHT, 
only son of Clement Wright and Lucy Ayer 
Whitney, his wife, was born August 8, 1847, 
in Tallmadge Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, on the farm, one mile south from Tall- 
madge Center, on which his great-grandfath- 
er, Captain John Wright, and his grandfather, 
Alpha Wright, settled in 1809, and where his 
father, Clement Wright, was born. Of this 
branch of the Wright family four generations 
have lived on this farm and, including Col- 
onel Wright's children, five generations have 
lived in Tallmadge. The home of Colonel 
Wright, however, was on the farm only dur- 
ing his infancy, his father having moved from 
the farm to Tallmadge Center and there en- 
gaged in the mercantile, business when Col- 
onel '\\'right was less than two years old. 

The father and mother of Colonel Wright 
were both from well-known New England 
families of high standing, which had been 
transplanted from England to America prior 
to 1640. His father was a direct descendant 
of the eleventh generation, in the male line, 
from .John Wright, Escj., of Kelvedon Manor, 
Kelvedon Hatch, County Essex, England, 
who acquired Kelvedon Manor by purchase 
in 1538, the emigrant ancestor to this country 
being Thomas Wright, who settled at Weth- 
ersfield, Connecticut, before 1640, probably in 
1639. The mother of Colonel Wright was 
from one of the most ancient and honorable 
families of Herefordshire, England, the ear- 
liest ancestor in England, in the direct male 
line, having been one of the invaders who 
came with William I. in 1066. Of this branch 
of the Whitney family, the emigrant ancestor 
to America was .John Whitney, who, with his 
wife Elinor and five children, came from Eng- 
land in 1635 and settled at Watertown, Mas- 
sachusetts. Colonel Wright's mother was of 



the seventh generation from this emigrant 
ancestor to America; and before such emi- 
grant ancestor this branch of the family is 
traced in England for eighteen generations in 
the direct male line. Although for manj- gen- 
erations after the Norman Conquest this fam- 
ily was one of the most distinguished in Here- 
fordshire, it began gradually to die out in 
England about the time the American branch 
was transplanted and established in this 
country. 

Colonel Wright was educated in the public 
schools, Tallmadge Academy and Western Re- 
ser\'e College, but left college early in the 
course. After studying law at Akron, Ohio,- 
with his uncle Hon. Sidney Edgerton and 
Hon. Jacob A. Kohler (who were then in 
partnership) he was admitted to the bar in 
Ohio, June 16, 1873, and began practice at 
Akron as a partner of Hon Henry McKinney, 
who had then recently moved from ^Vkron 
to Cleveland, Ohio, and desired a partner for 
his Summit County business. The law part- 
nership of "McKinney & Wright" existed for 
several years, and Colonel Wright afterwards 
continued in the active and successful practice 
of the law until 1882. But his interest in 
scientific researches in the domain of geology 
was so great that for several years he devoted 
much time and attention to scientific studies. 
Finally, in 1882, having received an appoint- 
ment as Assistant Geologist in the United 
States Geological Survey (without the aid of 
any political influence whatever, but on the 
recommendations and indorsements of scien- 
tific experts only), he left the practice of the 
law and during the next four yeai's devoted 
him.self wholly to geological field-work and in- 
vestigations for the government. Assigned at 
first to the stafif of the Division of the Great 
Basin, his field-work was in Nevada, Califor- 
nia and Utah. Subsequently transferred to 
the staff of the Division having charge of the 
geological survey of the Yellowstone National 
Park, that interesting region was his special 
field of work for three years, with field-work 
also in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. While 
his work and investigations were in structur- 
al and dynamical geology in general, his spe- 



280 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



lialty was the study of volcanic and crystalline 
ri)c-k.-i and the problems of volcanic action and 
phenomena (which throw so nmch light on 
mineral deposits), and he also did some spe- 
cial work in glacial geology. During the win- 
ters he was stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah, 
New York City, N. Y., and Washington, D, 
C., engaged in scientific study and research, 
working out the problems presented by field 
observations and collections, and writing re- 
port;3. Having had the valuable experience 
and education of these four years of scientific 
study and field investigation under the most 
favorable circumstances and in some of the 
most instructive and interesting regions 
known, he resigned in 1886, although re- 
quested and desired to continue in this scien- 
tific work for the government, and resumed 
the practice of the law at Akron, Ohio, where 
he continued in active practice until the 
breaking out of the war with Spain in April, 
189S. 

Colonel ^^'right has always taken great in- 
terest in military affairs, and prior to the War 
with Spain he had been an officer of the Ohio 
National Guard, having held a commision for 
more than five years in the First Regiment of 
Light Artillery — then one of the finest mili- 
tary organizations in the United States. At 
the beginning of the war he was commissioned 
in the military service of the United States, 
May 13, 1898 (having been enrolled April 
26, 1898), as second lieutenant and battalion, 
adjutant in the Eighth Regiment of Ohio 
A'^olunteer Infantry; wa.s detailed as acting 
ordnance officer of the regiment, May 14, 
1898, and accompanied the regiment from 
Camp Bushnell, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp 
Alger, Virginia; was appointed aide-de-camp 
and brigade ordnance officer on the staff of 
Brigadier General George A. Garret.son, June 
13, 1898, and served as such until after the 
close of the war; left Camp Alger, Virginia, 
July 5th, with brigade headquarters and two 
regiments, and proceeded by rail to Charleston, 
South Carolina — the third regiment of the 
brigade being transported by rail to New 
York, there to embark for Cuba; sailed Jvtly 
8th from Charleston, S. C, for Cuba, on the 



U. S. S. "Yale," carrying Major General Nel- 
son A. Miles, conmianding the U. S. Army, 
and staff', and arrived off Santiago Harbor, 
July 11th, while the fleet was bombarding the 
city, six days before the surrender; and took 
part in the demonstrations against the Span- 
ish works at the entrance to Santiago Harbor 
before the surrender of Santiago, being on 
duty with the troops under command of Gen- 
erals Henry and Gai'retson, held in readiness 
for three days under orders to be landed at a 
given signal, under protections of the fire of 
the fleet, west of Sacopa Battery — the first plan 
being to try to connect with the right of Gen- 
eral Shaffer's line, which plan was changed to 
one involving an attempt to carry Sacopa by 
a.ssault. After the surrender of Santiago the 
troops held on shipboard, being no longer 
needed at Santiago, were available for the ex- 
pedition to Porto Rico, the final plans for 
which were arranged in a conference between 
General Miles and Admiral Sampson on 
board the flag-ship "New York," lying off 
Aguadores, July 16th. Colonel (then lieuten- 
ant) Wright was so fortunate as to be one of 
the staff officers present at this conference. 
Lieutenant Wright continued on board the 
"Yale," which the next day (July 17th) 
steamed eastward for Guantanamo Bay, still 
carrying General Miles and staff and also 
General Garret.son and staff. The troops for 
the first expedition to Porto Rico having been 
concentrated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the 
transport squadron, with its naval convoy, 
sailed for Porto Rico, July 21st, carrying an 
effective force of only about 3,300 troops to 
invade the island of Porto Rico, where the 
enemy then had 8,233 Spanish regulars and 
9,107 armed volunteei-s — more than 17,000 
troops in all. But General ^liles having out- 
witted the Spanish commanders by causing 
the course of the fleet to be changed at the 
last moment, a landing was effected at Guan- 
ica on the southwestern coast of Porto Rico, 
.July 2oth, without loss of life. Lieutenant 
Wright Avas with the first troops landed here, 
and was present when General Miles formal- 
ly planted the flag and took possession of the 
island for the LTnited States ; and he also took 




WADE G. SHORT. LL. B. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



283 



part in the decisive action the next day (July 
'26th), under General Garretson, in front of 
Yauco, Porto RicOj which gave the American 
troops possession of the important town of 
■Yauco and the railroad leading thence to 
Ponce, and resulted in the surrender of Ponce, 
then the largest town on the island, without 
resistance. In the commanding general's of- 
ficial report of this action the name of Lieu- 
tenant Wright ajjpears in a list of the names 
of eight officers "especially commended for 
gallantry and coolness under fire.'' Lieutenant 
Wright accompanied the troops under Gener- 
als Henry and Garretson on the march from 
Guanica, via Yauco, to Ponce ; and, in Gen- 
eral Mile^' subsequent concerted movement of 
the four columns of troops from the southern 
coast northward. Lieutenant Wright accom- 
panied the left-center column, under Gener- 
als Henry and Garretson, in its march from 
Ponce over the mountain trail, via Adjuntas 
and Utuado, toward Arecibo — ^which column 
penetrated farther north than any other 
American troop.s before the peace protocol put 
an end to hostilities. 

Colonel (then Lieutenant) Wright wa.* rec- 
ommended for brevets as First Lieutenant and 
Captain (recommendation indorsed and ap- 
proved by General Miles) for meritorious serv- 
ices during the Porto Rican campaign, and 
for great personal bravery in action with 
Spanish troops near Yauco, Porto Rico, July 
26, 1898 ; and after the close of the war he 
was honorablv discharged from the service of 
the United States, November 21, 1898. In 
1899 he resumed the practice of the law and is 
still engaged in active practice at Akron, 
Ohio. 

In the Ohio National Guard Colonel Wright 
has held tlie following commissions and posi- 
tions: second lieutenant, First Regiment, 
Light Artillery; second lieutenant and bat- 
talion adjutant. Eighth Regiment, Infantry; 
captain and regimental adjutant. Eighth Reg- 
iment, Infantry; acting adjutant general, 
Second Brigade; lieutenant-colonel and assist- 
ant adjutant general, adjutant general of the 
division ; lieutenant-colonel and chief of staff 
of division : and colonel and chief of staff of 



division. He is now (November, 1907) chief 
of staff of division, -with the rank of colonel; 
and he has served as such chief of staff, or 
as adjutant general and chief of staff ever 
since January 29, 1900 — for very nearly eight 
years. 

Colonel Wright is a member of the Philo- 
sophical Society of Washington, D. C, and is 
at present the president of the Akron Bar 
Association. He is also a member of the 
-Vlpha Delta Phi college fraternity, and a 
member of numerous military and patriotic 
orders and societies, in several of which he has 
held some of the higher offices. 

Colonel Wright was married October 18, 
1876, at Akron, Ohio, to Lucy Josephine 
Hale, of Akron, a daughter of James Madi- 
son Hale and Sarah Allen, his wife. Their 
children, all born at Tallmadge, Ohio, are: 
(1) Clement Hale Wright, born July 4, 1882, 
who graduated at the United States Military 
Academy, June 15, 1904, and is now a second 
lieutenant in the Second United States In- 
fantry, on duty with his regiment in the 
Philippine Islands; (2) Allen Whitney 
Wright, born July 17, 1889; and (3) George 
Maltby Wright, born June 24, 1892. Lieu- 
tenant Clement Hale Wright was married at 
Hartwell (a suburb of Cincinnati), Ohio, 
January 1, 1906, to Laura Mitchell, a daugh- 
ter of Rev. Frank Gridley Mitchell, D. D., 
and Mary Electa Davis, his wife. 



AVADE G. SHORT, LL. B., principal of 
the Hall BiL~ine,'>s L^niversity at Youngstown, 
Ohio, the Lorain Business College, at Lorain, 
and the Hammel Business College, at Akron, 
is engaged in the practice of law, with offices 
in the Dobson Building, at Akron. Profes- 
sor Short was born in Geauga County, Ohio, 
in 1880, where he secured hi-^ preliminary 
educational training. 

When but fifteen years of age Mr. Short 
went to Cleveland, where he made a thorough 
.«tudy of eomriiercial work, and graduated 
from a commercial college in that city, and 
later from the law denartment of Baldwin 
L'niversitv. He was admitted to the bar in 



284 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



1902. For sonic six yeaxs before coming to 
Akron, Mr. Short had been closely connected 
with business college work, having purchased 
the Hammel BiLsiness College from its 
founder, who had established it in 1881. In 
June, 1904, he bought the Hall Business Uni- 
versity, which had been established at Youngs- 
tofWTi, in 1892, and in 1903 he established the 
Lorain Business College, at Lorain. The offi- 
cers of these several commercial schools are 
as 'follows : Of the Hamauel Business College, 
W. G. Short, LL. B., is president, and J. W. 
Short is business manager. Of the Hall Biisi- 
ness University, C. C. Short is manager, J. W. 
Shorti, treasurer, and W. G. Short, LL. B., 
principal. The saime personnel makes up the 
official force of the Lorain Business College, 
W. G. Short, LL. B., being president, J. W. 
Short, vice-presiident, and P. S. Short, man- 
ager. All these gentlemen are thoroughly 
competent in the work of commercial instruc- 
tion and their institutions take high rank in 
the business world. 

Few men of his years have accomplished so 
much along a given line in so short a time as 
has Mr. Short, and he is justly numbered 
with the progressive and enterprising young 
men of this city. In addition to his law prac- 
tice and commercial college interests, Mr. 
Short handles a large amount of real es- 
tate. 

RAY F. HAMLIN, a young but able mem- 
ber of the Akron bar, now serving his sec- 
ond term as city clerk, in spite of his youth 
has been nominated by the Republican party 
for the important office of city treasurer. Mr. 
Hamlin was born at Akron, April 24, 1881, 
and is a son of Byron S. Hamlin, a native of 
Summit County and for forty years a resi- 
dent of Akron. He was reared in his native 
city, where he attended the public schools, 
and then took a two-years' course in the law 
department of Columbia University at Wash- 
ington, D. C, and was graduated from Bald- 
win Univer.*ity at Cleveland in 1903. Upon 
his return to Akron he took the bar examina- 
tion and in the same year was admitted to 
practice. lie was at once appointed city clerk 



and thus, from the beginning of his career, 
has been recognized as a political factor. 

On May 28, 1907, Mr. Hamlin was mar- 
ried to Mabel J. Gordon, who is a daughter of 
Fred F. Gordon, of Akron. He is a member 
of Woodland Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights 
of Pythias and the Odd Fellows. He and 
wife are participants in the pleasant social life 
of the city, and both are valued for their 
personal attributes. 

ORLANDO WILCOX, one of the leading 
members of the Summit County bar, and sen- 
ior member of the law firm of Wilcox, Par- 
sons, Burch and Adams, at Akron, was born 
in Medina County, "Ohio, in December, 1851, 
and is a son of Dr. Orlando Wilcox, once a 
man of great prominence in this section. 

Dr. Orlando Wilcox settled at Cuyahoga 
Falls in 1828, and in the following year, in 
association with Henry Wetmore, organized 
the first temperance society in the state of 
Ohio. He remained one of the leading citi- 
zens of Cuyalioga Falls until 1831, when he 
moved to Medina County, where he practiced 
for many years, but prior to his death, in 
1886, he returned to the Falls. It is inter- 
esting to recall historic events and compare 
them with those of modern times. The tem- 
perance organization mentioned above, was 
the cause of the first strike in the industrial 
world of Summit County. At that time Mr. 
Wetmore was the owner of the paper mills 
at Cuyahoga Falls and it had been his cus- 
tom to each Saturday set out a barrel of 
whiskey for his employes to help themselves. 
After the organization of the temperance so- 
ciety, he cut off this luxury, with the result 
that the men went out on a strike, and a num- 
ber of them were never again employed in the 
mills. Mr. Wilcox has in his possession, with 
other interesting papers, a number of the 
original contracts made between Joshua Stow 
and William Wetmore, father of Henry Wet- 
more, for the organization of Stow Town- 
ship, some of these bearing the date of 1804. 

Orlando Wilcox was reared in Medina 
County and attended the country schools prior 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



286 



to entering Baldwin University. He subse- 
quently read law in the otRcc of A. J. Mar- 
vin, of Cleveland, being admitted to the bar 
in the spring of 1884. Locating at Cuyahoga 
Falls, he entered upon the practice of his 
profession and continued it there until 1898, 
when he went to Indian Territory, being as- 
signed to duty as special United States dis- 
trict attorney. During the time he remained 
in Indian Territory, which covered a period of 
two years, he tried sixty-four murder cases, 
- and convicted the first man that was ever 
* hung in the Territory by order of the Fed- 
eral courts. For various reasons Mr. Wilcox 
resigned this position and returned to Ohio, 
in 1900 establishing his law office at Akron, 
and becoming dissociated with C. T. Grant in 
the firm of Wilcox and Grant, which con- 
tinued until the spring of 1904. In a new 
association Mr. Wilcox became senior mem- 
ber of the law firm of Wilcox, Parsons and 
Burch, Mr. Adams later being admitted as 
the junior member of the firm. Mr. Wilcox 
has successfully handled ■ a large number of 
important cases before the Ohio courts, and 
has an enviable record in the different 
branches of his profession. 

Mr. Wilcox still retains his home at Cuya- 
hoga Falls and is interested in several finan- 
cial enterprises in that city. He is a director 
in the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank and 
in the Falls Savings and Loan Associa- 
tion. He is also president of the Mer- 
cantile Credit Company, of Cincinnati. 
Fonnerly he took an active interest in politics 
and his party chose him as its candidate for 
prosecuting attorney, and in 1896 for pro- 
bate judge. He came within seventy-seven 
votes of the nomination for the latter office. 
For fifteen years he was city solicitor for Cuya- 
hoga Falls, but the demands of his profes- 
sion have given him very little time to push 
his claims for political preferment, had he 
po.?sessed the ambition to do so. 

In 1874 Mr. Wilcox was married to Zelia 
M. Severance, of Medina County, and they 
have two daughters, Lottie and Mabel. Lot- 
tie is the wife of Charles C. McCuskey. resid- 
ing at Cuyahoga Falls. Mabel is a student at 



Buchtel College, where she has made a re- 
markable record, taking the highest honors of 
her class, both in 190o and 1907 ; she antici- 
pates graduating in the class of 1908. The 
family belong to the Disciples Church at 
Cuyahoga Falls, which Mr. Wilcox has sensed 
as a member of the board of tnistees; he is 
now superintendent of the Sunday school. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Elks 
and the Knights of Pythias. The family is 
one of social prominence at Cuyalaoga Falls. 

H. E. ANDRESS, a member of the law 
firm of Allen, Watere, Young & Andress, with 
oflices in the Hamilton Building, Akron, has 
been a resident of this city since 1893. He 
was born in Ashland County, Ohio, and is 
a son of the late Samuel D. Andress, former- 
ly an agriculturist in Ashland County. 

Mr. Andress spent his boyhood and obtained 
his early education in the schools of his na- 
tive county, and later entered Vermillion In- 
stitute, where he was graduated in 1892. He 
then read law for two years with W. E. Sla- 
baugh and in 1894 entered the Cincinnati 
Law School, from which he was graduated in 
1895. During the period in which he was 
securing his own academic and collegiate 
training, he taught school, his time in this 
profession aggregating about five years. For 
six months after locating at Akron, Mr. An- 
dress continued to practice alone, and then 
entered into partnership with F. E. Whitte- 
more, under the firm name of Andress & 
Whittemore. This business association con- 
tinued until 1902, when Mr. Andress became 
a member of the firm of Allen, Cobbs & An- 
dress, T\'hich later became Allen, Cobbs, Wa- 
ters & Andress, changing to Allen, Waters & 
Andress, on the death of Mr. Cobbs in 1905. 
The present style was assumed November 1, 
1906, when W. E. Young became a member 
of the firm. This combination of legal talent 
is regarded by the bench and bar of the 
coimty as one of the strongest in this section ; 
flieir work covers all branches of law and 
jurispnidence and they have .successfully 
handled many cases of grave importance. 

In 1898 Mr. Andress was married to Addie 



286 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



L. ]\lontcnyohl, who was formerly a popular 
teacher in the Akron public schools, and is 
a daughter of George Montenyohl. They 
have one child, Virginia. 

Mr. Andress is a prominent Democrat and 
has served as chairman of the Democratic 
County Committee, and as a member of the 
Democratic State Central Committee. For four 
years he .«erved as clerk of the Summit County 
board of elections, and i.s a member of the 
board of Sinking Fund trustees of the city 
of Akron. ' He is interested in a number of 
the city's prosperous business enterprises, but 
the larger part of his time is given to his 
law practice. He is one of the directors of 
the National City Bank and a stockholder in 
other financial institutions. 

Since early life, Mr. Andress has been 
united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and he served on the board of trustees of the 
First M. E. Church at Akron for some time. 

PHILIP B. TREASH, attorney, wa.-^ bori^ 
at Uniontown, Stark County, Augu.-^t 10, 1875, 
and a few j'eai's later came with his parents 
to Akron, where he has since resided. His 
preliminary education was received in the 
public schools and he graduated from the 
High School in 1895. During his High 
School course Mr. Treash decided to study law, 
but desiring to first acquire a broad academic 
education he. studied two terms at Buchtel 
College, then entered Oberlin College, from 
Mhich institution he graduated in 1900 with 
the degree of Ph. B. 

Immediately after graduation from Oberlin 
he took up the study of law, only interrupt- 
ing that study long enough to earn funds 
with which to continue. In 1901-1902 he 
wa^ assistant principal of the Cuyahoga Falls 
High School. Subsequently entering the law 
department of Ohio State University, he was 
graduated in June, 1903, and being admitted 
to the bar, he chose Akron as his field of work, 
and became associated with the law firm of 
Young & Wanamaker until Mr. Wanamaker 
was elected to the Common Pleas Bench. Af- 
ter the dissolution of this firm he remained 
with Mr. Youno; until November. 1906, since 



which time he has practiced alone. Mr. 
Treash is actively connected with the business 
development of the city, and is also a lead- 
ing Republican, at present being chairman of 
the City Republican Committee. In 1905 Mr. 
Treash was married to Ida M. Roberts, of 
Akron. He is a member of the West Con- 
gregational Church and is serving as its treas- 
urer. He belongs to Akron Tent, K. O. T. M., 
the Protected Home Circle, the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and several other or- 
ganizations. 

F. E. WHITTEMORE, of the well-known 
law firm of Grant and Whittemore, at Akron, 
was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 
1870. When he was seven j'ears of age his 
parents located in Akron, where he was reared 
graduating from the Akron High School in 
1887. He then entered Denison University, 
where he was graduated in 1892, with the 
degree of Ph. B. He studied law in the office 
of Marvin. Saddler and Atterholt, of Akron, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1894. He 
was with Judge Stuart, in the probate office 
for one year, which gave him excellent spe- 
cial training, and he then began the practice 
of his profes.<ion alone, one year later entering 
into partnership with H. E. Andress, under 
the firm name of Andress and Whittemore. 
This partnership continued until 1903, and 
about nine months later the firm of Grant 
and Whittemore was organized. It is con- 
sidered one of the strong legal combinations 
of the city and handles a large amount of 
important litigation. Besides attending to his 
law practice, Mr. Whittemore has duties as a 
director of the Akron Grocery Company and 
the Colonial Tire and Rubber Company. For 
a number of years he served as clerk of the 
Board of Elections. 

In 1897 Mr. Whittemore was married to 
Anna G. Clark, who is a daughter of the late 
George B. Clark, and they have two children 
— Marian Esther and Robert C. The family 
belong to the First Baptist Church, which Mr. 
Whittemore is serving as a member of the 
official board. 

Fraternallv he is a ThiVtv-second Degree 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



28'; 



Ma^ou, iiiid belongs to the Blue Lodge, Chap- 
ter, Council and Comniandei'v at Akron, and 
to Lake Erie Consistory at Cleveland. 

N. M. GREENBERGER, attorney, and 
Republican candidate for city solicitor of Ak- 
ron, is one of the prominent j^ounger mem- 
bei-s of the bar, and a very popular citizen. 
Mr. Greenberger has practically .^pent hid 
whole life in this city, securing his literary 
education in it.s excellent schools, and select- 
ing it a.s the field of his professional work. 

As soon as he had completed his education, 
Mr. Greenberger entered the law office of Ed- 
win F. Voris, where he finished his law- 
studies. He was admitted to the bar, by the 
Supreme Court of Ohio, in June, 1902. He 
has been notably successful, having climbed 
from the bottom of the ladder to his present 
position entirely through Iils own efforts. His 
fellow citizens who honor him a.s one fitted 
for high responsiljilities, recall when he 
blacked shoes and sold newspapers rather than 
be dependent. Later, while traveling for the 
Brooks Oil Company, of Cleveland, he spent 
his nights in hi.s hotel, poring over his law 
books. Energetic and ambitious, he has al- 
ways taken an active interest in politics and 
has recently been nominated for city .solic- 
itor on the Republican ticket, over four com- 
petitors, all of them strong men. His friends 
are confident that he has a bright future be- 
fore him. both in hi^ profession and in pub- 
lic life. He is a member of Court Pride, of 
the Independent Order of Foresters, and of 
Akron Camp, Modern AVoodmen of Amer- 
ica, also of thi-s city. He is located in the 
Central Office Building, Akron. 

CHARLES H. STAHL, attorney-at-law, at 
Akron, with offices at No. 518 Hamilton 
Building, is a prominent citizen and has large 
financial interests in Summit and other 
counties. He was born near Winesburg, 
Holmes County, Ohio, May 18, 1873, and is 
a son of Charles and Louise (Dodez) Stahl. 
The father of Mr. Stahl was born in Gennany 
and was a pioneer of Holmes County. Ohio, 
v>-herc he became a man of suhstance and lo- 



cal prominence. He held county offices and 
wa* long numbered among the leading men 
cf his community. His wife, Louise, was of 
French extraction, but was born in Wayne 
County, Ohio. 

Charles H. Stahl was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the country schools, later 
entering the Ohio Northern University at 
Ada, where he was graduated with the degree 
of A. B. He then engaged in teaching and 
for two years was principal of the Winesburg 
public schools. In 1902 he wa.s graduated with 
the degree of LL. B. from the law department 
of the Ohio State University, and in the same 
year received the A. M. degree from his alma 
mater. In that year he was also admitted to 
the bar, and in the following .spring he located 
in Akron and entered upon the practice of his 
profession, in which he has since continued. 
Politically he is a Democrat and has taken 
an active part in public affairs. He has many 
financial interests, being a director in the 
South Akron Banking Company, in the Ak- 
ron Realty Company, and in the Beach City 
Banking Company, of Beach City, Stark 
County, Ohio. 

September 26, 1906, Mr. Stahl was married 
to Cora B. Snyder, who is a daughter of C. 
J. Snyder, a prominent business man of this 
city. Mr. and Mrs. Stahl have one daughter, 
Margaret Louise, born August 8, 1907. 

Mr. Stahl is a Knight Templar Mason and 
belongs to Akron Comrnandery, No. 25. and 
to Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council, of this 
place. He is a member of the Lutheran 
Church. He has never given up his member- 
ship in the Delti Chi college fraternity, hav- 
ing been one of the charter members of the 
organization, at the Ohio State Universitv in 
1902. 

ARTHUR JAMES ROWLEY, formerly 
city .solicitor of Akron and a member of the 
law firm of Rogers, Rowley & Rockwell of 
this city, was born December 4, 1868. at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, Ohio, and is a son of William and 
Mary J. (Wills) Rowley. 

Mr. Rowley is of English ancestry and his 
grandfather, Enoch Rowlev. was the first of 



288 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tlio family In .si'llle in Akron, where he did 
in 1H48. To the hitter helongs the dLstinc- 
tion of establishing the tirst pottery here. He 
brought a family of seven children from Eng- 
land, and four more were added after the fam- 
ily settled here. He died in this city, aged 
seventy-three years. William Rowley, fath- 
er of Arthur J., \va.s ten years old when his 
parents came to Ohio. He assisted his father 
in his work as a potter and succeeded him in 
the business. In 1886 he retired from active 
business and died in November, 1891, at the 
age of fifty-four years. HLs children were : 
Florence, who died in infancy; Arthur .J.. 
Maude L., and Zelle I. 

Arthur James Rowley was graduated from 
the Akron High School in January, 1885, 
and from Buchtel College, in June, 1890. He 
then began the study of the law with Charles 
Cobbs, and the firm of Green, Grant & Sieber, 
and wa.s admitted to the bar in March, 1892. 
In the following year Mr. Kowley was elected 
a member of the Akron Board of Education. 
In 1895 he was made city solicitor, two years 
later being re-elected and by a larger majority 
than any other candidate. Since the close of 
his second term of office he has applied him- 
self entirely to his large and growing practice. 
In 1902 he became a member of the firm of 
Rogers, Rowley & Rockwell, whose offices are 
in the Central Savings & Trust Building. 

Fraternally Mr. Rowley is an Elk and re- 
tains membership in his college iraternity, the 
Delta Tan Delta. He belongs also to the Sum- 
mit County Bar Association. He stands very 
high in public esteem, both as a citizen and 
profe.s.sionally. 

On October 20. 1897, he was married to 
Amelia Grether and they have three children : 
Pauline Barbara, William Arthur and John 
Grether Rowley, all of whom reside at the 
family resident, 838 Eaet Market Street. 

ALEXANDER H. COMMINS. an attorney, 
practicing at Akron, is interested in a num- 
ber of Akron business enterprises. He was 
born at Akron in 1872, and is a son of the 
late Alexander II. Gomtnins. After complet- 
ing the common school course in his native 



city, Mr. Commins entered Kenyon College, 
where he was graduated in 1894, with the de- 
gree of A. B. Shortly afterward, he began 
reading taw with Charles Baird. In 1899 he 
was admitted to the bar, and since has been 
associated with Mr. Baird in the practice of 
his profes.sion. He is a director in the Cen- 
tral Savings and Trust Company, at Akron, 
and is largely interested in real estate through 
Sunnnit County, pai'ticularly in the vicinity 
of Akron and Barberton. In 1900 Mr. Com- 
mins was married to Ethel Sheldon, who is 
a daughter of C. E. Sheldon, president of the 
Whitman-Barnes Company. Mr. and Mrs. 
Connnins have two children, Ethel Louise 
and Henrietta. 

WATSON E. SLABAUGH, .senior mem- 
ber of the law firm of Slabaugh & Seiberling, 
has been a resident of Akron since 1886. He 
was born in Portage County, Ohio, where he 
attended school until he entered Mount Union 
College. Mr. Slabaugh has been mainly the 
maker of his own foi-tunes. At the age of 
eighteen years he began to teach school, which 
profession he followed for four years. In the 
meantime he was preparing himself for a 
collegiate course in law, and in 1885 he was 
graduated from the Cincinnati Law School. 
In the following j'ear, he located at Akron, 
and here he entered into practice with Ed- 
ward P. Otis, under the firm name of Otis 
& Slabaugh. Later he became a member of 
the firm of Marvin, Atterholt & Slabaugh, 
which continued until 1892. From that date 
until 1898 Mr. Slabaugh practiced alone, and 
then entered into partnership with Mr. Seiber- 
ling, under the present firm style. This firm 
is regarded as one of Akron's most reliable 
combinations of legal talent, and many im- 
portant interests are placed in their hands. 

Mr. Slabaugh is a director in the Second 
National Bank and a stockholder in numer- 
ous other prosperous concerns. While not 
veiy active in politics, he has the welfare of 
the city at heart and has served on many 
boards which have civic progress a* their ob- 
ject. Lie is a leading member of the High 
Street Christian Church. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



289 



Mi: Slabaugh was married (lir^t) in 1884, 
to Mary Bettes, who died iu 1892, leaving one 
son, Edwin, who is a student in the public 
schools. She was a daughter of Dr. George 
W. Bettes, of Randolph, Portage County. Mr. 
Slabaugh was married (second) iu 1895, to 
Jessie M. Gongwer, who is a daughter of Sam- 
uel Gongwer. Of this union there are iwo 
children, Harold and \V. E., Jr. 

ELLSWORTH E. OTIS, attorney, junior 
member of the law firm of Otis and Otis, at 
Akron, with well ajjpointed offices at Nos. 15- 
16 Arcade Building, has been in active prac- 
tice since 1887. He was born in Tuscarawas 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Resin P. and 
Cathei'ine (Bair) Otis. Mr. Otis comes of 
Revolutionary stock, three membei's of the 
family, Robert, Stephen and Edward Otis 
having served in the Continental army, one 
of them losing his life in the cause. These 
patriots were great- and great-great-uncles of 
Edward P. and Ellsworth E. Otis, of Akron. 
The parents of Mr. Otis were both born in 
Ohio. The Otis family came to this state frou;i 
New England, where it has been prominent 
from the days of the Revolution. The Bair 
family came from Pennsylvania and is of 
German extraction. 

Ellsworth E. Otis was liberally educated, at- 
tending both Wittenberg College and AVooster 
LTniversity prior to entering the law depart- 
ment of the University of Michigan, where 
he was graduated in 1887. His elder brother, 
Edward P. Otis, was already established in the 
practice of law at Akron and Mr. Otis imme- 
diately entered into partnershij) with him, 
under the firm name of Otis and Otis. This 
firm has continued up to the present time and 
has become well known all over Summit 
County. In a city where legal talent is espe- 
cially con.spicious, the firm has won many 
hard-fought battles, and both members are 
numbered with the able men of the profession. 

On June 27, 1894, Ellsworth E. Otis was 
married to Mary Louise Guth, who is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob R. Guth, an old resident of Akron. 
They enjoy a beautiful home at No. 642 East 
Market Street. Politically Mr. Otis is identi- 



fied with the Republican party, but only as a 
good citizen, anxious to promote the pros- 
perity of his community and the country gen- 
erally. He is connected fi-aternaliy with the 
Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and 
is secretary of the local chapter of the Beta 
Theta Pi, his college fraternity. For many 
years he has been a member of the Lutheran 
Church. 

EDWARD P. OTIS, senior member of the 
prominent law firm of Otis and Otis, at Ak- 
ron, with offices in the Arcade building, wa^ 
born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Resin P. and Catherine (Bair) Otis. 
He comes of Revolutionary stock, three mem- 
bers of the family, Robert, Stephen and Ed- 
ward Otis, having sei-ved nobly with the Con- 
tinental army, one of them losing his life in 
the cause of freedom. These militant patriots 
were great- and great-great-uncles of Edward 
P. and Ellsworth E. Otis, of Akron. The 
name of Otis has always been identified with 
military valor, .statesmanship and professional 
prominence. The family settled early in Ohio 
and in this state both the parents of the sub- 
ject of this sketch were born. 

Edward P. Otis prepared for Oberlin Col- 
lege in the local schools, and after attending 
the college for a while, taught .school prior to 
entering Wittenberg College, in 1877, where 
he remained until graduation in 1882. He 
immediately began the study of law m the 
office of Nealy and Patrick, at New Philadel- 
phia, and during 1884-5 he attended the Cin- 
cinnati Law School, in June of the latter year 
being admitted to the bar. Mr. Otis located 
at Akron in August, 1885, and was associated 
in a law practice for two years with W. E. 
Slabaugh. He then formed a partnership 
with his younger brother, Ellsworth E. Otis, 
the firm of Otis and Otis coming into existence 
in 1887. During its continuance of two dec- 
ades it has made its ability felt at the bar of 
Summit County, and has been engaged in 
much of the most important litigation of this 
section. 

On September 21, 1887, Mr. Otis was mar- 
ried to Jessie L. Wolfe, who is a daughter of 



290 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Henry H. Wolfe, of Springfield, Ohio. He has 
one daughter, Catherine Louise. The beauti- 
ful family home at No. 65 Adolph Avenue 
is often the scene of many pleasant social 
functions, Mrs. Otis being a gifted musician 
and a patroness of the leading musical events 
of the city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Otis are mem- 
bers of the Luthertm Church. Politically the 
former is a Republican, but is too much en- 
gaged in his profession to be willing to accept 
political honors. Fraternally he is a Free 
Mason, and is also president of the local chap- 
ter of his college fraternity, the Beta Thefa Pi. 
He has shown his interest in the growth and 
development of Akron, as becomes a public- 
spirited citizen, and has helped to promote her 
educational and religious interests, for a num- 
ber of years having been a member of the 
board of directors of Wittenberg College. 

GEORGE W. ROGERS, attorney, and 
credit man with the Goodyear Tire and Rub- 
ber Company, at Akron, was born at Akron, 
Ohio, in. 1875. He is a son of John Rogers, 
and a grandson of James Rogers, both of 
whom survive, honored residents of this city. 
He was reared in his native city and after 
graduating from the Akron High School, en- 
tered Buchtel College, which he left in order 
to enter upon the study of law with the well- 
known law firm of Baird & Voris. One year 
later this firm was dissolved, after which Mr. 
Rogers remained for a time under Mr. Baird's 
instruction, later becoming a student with 
Oviatt, Allen & Cobbs. In March, 1899, he 
was admitted to the bar and engaged in the 
practice of his profession at Akron, thus con- 
tinuing until April, 1902. when ho accepted 
his present position. 

In. 1895, Mr. Rogers joined Company B, 
Eighth Regiment, Ohio National Guards, and 
in 1898 when war was declared againsit Spain, 
went out a.s a member of that Company. He 
was mustered into the United States service at 
Columbus. May 13, 1898, and a few days later 
went to Washington, D. C. where the regi- 
ment remained in camp at Camp Alger imtil 
the fifth day of the following Julv. It was 
then transported to Cuba, where it was on 



duty for six weeks, and then returned to 
America, landing at Montauk Point. Mr. 
Rogers wtis given a furlough of sixty days 
which he spent at home, and was then mus- 
tered out, in November, 1898. During this 
brief military experience he was corporal of 
liis company. 

On October 15, 1902, Mr. Rogers was mar- 
ried to Anna G. Bauer, a daughter of Jacob 
Bauer, of Akron, and they have one son. Har- 
old G. Mr. Rogers is a member of the Royal 
Ai-canum, and of the organization of United 
Spanish War Veterans. 

LOUIS D. SEWARD, attorney, and a lead- 
ing member of the Akron bar, was born at 
Akron, Ohio, in 1852, and Is a son of the late 
Colonel Dudley Seward, who Avas a distin- 
guished officer in the Civil War. 

Colonel D'udley Seward came to Akron in 
1840, where he entered into business aind be- 
came a factor in politics. Prior to the Civil 
War he served as sheriff of Summit County. 
He was one of the first men to offer his life 
and services at the beginning of the war and 
was promoted for gallantry to be colonel of 
the Second Ohio Cavalry, serving all through 
as such. After the war he was a captain in 
the Eighth Regiment, United States Cavalry, 
and brevet major in the United States army, 
receiving his appointment in the United 
States army for gallant and meritorious serv- 
ice at MonticeUo, Kentucky. He did good 
service in the West during the Indian trou- 
bles. At the time of his death, in 1881 , he 
was on the retired list of the army. 

Lonis D. Seward was reared and educated in 
Akron, and read law in the offices of Edger- 
ton & Kohler and of H. C. Sanford. In 1876 
he was admitted to the bar, and has been in 
active practice ever since in his native city. 
He has been active in politics since early man- 
hood, LS at present serving in the City Coun- 
cil, and was mayor of Akron from 1886 to 
1888, a period of great prosperity and advnnce- 
mont for this municipality. 

In 1890 Mr. Seward was married to Kath- 
erine Johnston, who ds a daugliter of AV. G. 
Johnston, of Akron, a prominent citizen, who 




LOUIS I). SEWARD 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



293 



has just completed a six-yeai' term as a mem- 
ber of the State Botu'd of Public Works. Mr. 
and Mrs. Seward have one daughter, Martha, 
who is attending school. Mr. Seward is a 
Knight Templar Mason, and is well known 
in the fraternity. He is one of the trustees 
of the East Akron cemetery, and he is a 
sitockholder in various successful business en- 
terprises of Akron. 

CHARLES S. COBBS, formerly a leadmg 
member of the Akron bar, and for twelve 
years a partner in the prominent law firm of 
Oviatt, Allen and Cobbs, of this city, was born 
July 7, 1853, near Alliance, Columbiana 
County, Ohio, and died at his home in Akron, 
January 27, 1903. He was a son of Walker 
and Hannah (Morris) Cobbs. 

On the maternal side, Mr. Cobbs came of 
distinguished ancestry. His forefathers in- 
cluded Robert Morris, one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence; Jonathan 
Morris, who married Mary West, sister of the 
great painter, Benjamin West; and Jonathan, 
Benjamin, William, Joseph and Samuel Mor- 
ris, all of whom served in the Revolutionary 
War. The Morris family professed the peace- 
ful principles of the Quaker faith, but in time 
of public stress, they proved their loyalty even 
to the extent of taking up arms. Jonathan 
Morris was wounded and taken prisoner at 
the battle of Camden, August 16, 1780, and 
was kept a prisoner on Ediso Island, off the 
coast of South Carolina, during the remainder 
of the war. William Morris was taken prison- 
er on board an American privateer, and later 
was incarcerated in Dartmouth Prison, Eng- 
land. He made his situation known to his 
uncle, Benjamin West, who was then in Lon- 
don, who first interceded with the king, and 
later succeeded in bribing the guards, .secur- 
ing William's release in this way. The latter 
escaped and returned to the United States. In 
the War of the Rebellion there were five mem- 
bers of this family in the Union army; one 
of them, J. Morris Johnston, fell at Murfrees- 
lioro. Tennessee. Another, Benjamin F. Mor- 
ri.-i, was wounded and subsequently captured 
at Macon, Georgia. The Morris family has 



also been prominent in the paths of peace in 
various parts of the reunited couutrj-, ' and 
many of their blood have won laurels in pro- 
fessional careers. 

Charles S. Cobbs completed his education at 
Mt. Union College, where he was graduated in 
1877. During the two succeeding years, while 
studying law, he engaged in teaching school, 
and for the larger part of this period, was 
superintendent of the Malvern Union schools. 
Innnediately after his admission to the bar, 
in 1879, he located in Akron, where his legal 
ability quickly became recognized, and in the 
.spring of 1881 he was elected city solicitor. 
In this office he served two full terms, declin- 
ing a re-election, and henceforth devoting 
himself entirely to practice of his profession. 
On March 9, 1891, he entered into partnership 
with the late Edward Oviatt and George G. 
Allen, under the firm style of Oviatt, Allen 
and Cobbs — a strong combination, which for 
years handled a large part of the important 
litigation in Summit County. In addition to 
his work as a member of this firm, Mr. Cobbs 
was retained by various corporations and was 
local attorney for the Valley Railway Com- 
pany. 

On November 2, 1881, Mr. Cobbs was mar- 
ried to Margaret S. McCall, who was born at 
^Lilvern, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Rev. 
Hosea McCall, a native of the state of Connec- 
ticut. Mr. and Mrs. Cobbs had four chil- 
dren, two of whom survive — Reginald Mc- 
Call and Margaret. Mrs. Cobbs resides at No. 
(382 Buchtel Avenue, Akron. 

FRANCIS SEIBERLING, attorney-at-law, 
and a member of the law firm of Slabaugh & 
Seiberling. at Akron, with offices in the Ever- 
ett Building, was born September 20, 1870, 
at Des Moines, Iowa, and is a son of Nathan 
Septimus and Joseva (Myers) Seiberling. 

Nathan Septimus Seiberling, father of Fran- 
cis, was a son of Nathan Seiberling, who was 
one of the early pioneers of Summit County. 
Nathan S. Seiberling, at the age of eighteen 
years, enlisted for service in the Civil War, 
in March, 1865. for one year, and was a mem- 
ber of Company D, 198th Ohio Volunteer In- 



294 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



fantry. He was honorably discharged, May 
8, 1865, at the close of hostilities. He mar- 
ried Joseva Myers, who was a daughter of Al- 
pheus Myers, one of the earliest settlers in 
Norton Township. Both the Seiberling and 
Myers families came to Summit County in the 
days when it was a wilderness and both as- 
sisted materially in the development of its 
resources and in bringing about civilizing in- 
fluences. 

When but three years of age, Francis Sei- 
berling suffered the loss of his father, who 
died in early manhood. His mother thea» re- 
turned to her old home in Norton Township, 
this county, where he was reared to the age of 
twelve year.~. He then went to Medina 
County and completed his course of study at 
the Wads worth High School. He entered 
Wittenberg College, Si^ringfield, Ohio, in the 
fall of 1888, where he remained two years, 
and then entered Wooster University, where 
he was graduated in 1892, with his degree of 
A. M. He immediately began the study of 
law in the office of Marvin, Saddler & Atter- 
holt, and was adinitted to the bar in October, 
1894. He practiced his profession for about 
one year alone, and then entered into his 
present partnership, under the firm name of 
Slabaugh & Seiberling. Mr. Seiberling's in- 
terest, in politics is merely that which he has 
in common with every good citizen. 

On June 16, 1897, Mr. Seiberling was mar- 
ried to Josephine Laffer, who is a daughter 
of James M. Laffer, one of the pioneer drug- 
gists of Akron. He and his wife have two 
children, Eleanor and Josephine. Mr. Sei- 
berling is a member of the Lutheran Church 
and belongs to its board of trustees. Frater- 
nally he is a Mason. 



he was graduated at Mt. Union College, after 
which he was engaged in school teaching for 
about four years. In 1877 he came to Akron 
with the intention of studying law, and be- 
ing received into the office of J. M. Poulson, 
was admitted to the bar in 1878, and later to 
the Supreme Court of Ohio. For a number 
of years he was the attorney for Aultman, 
Miller & Company, and in their interests 
traveled all over the country. He has tried 
cases in all parts of the United States and 
necessarily has been long familiar with the 
laws of all sections. Probably in his partic- 
ular line of practice, he has no equal in Sum- 
mit County. Mr. Sadler has been active in 
county politics for a number of years and 
for one year was secretary of the Republican 
County Committee. He was appointed a 
member of the first Board of City Commis- 
sioners and of the first Board of Review, on 
which latter board he served for five years. 
He is a man of public spirit and on many 
occasions has proven his interest and useful- 
ness in civic affairs. 

In 1881 Mr. Sadler was married to Mar- 
garet Fox, who is a daughter of David Fox. 
They have three living children, namely : 
Frank Herbert, who has charge of the testing 
department of the Edison Storage Battery at 
West Orange, New Jersey; Edith, who is chief 
clerk in the Summit County treasurer's office ; 
and Jean Cairns, residing at home. In addi- 
tion to hLs other business interests, Mr. Sadler 
is vice-president and a member of the board 
of directors of the Akron Building and Loan 
Association, and has been a charter member 
on its board of directors since its inception in 
1888. He belongs to the Masonic Lodge and 
to the U. C. T. 



0. L. SADLER, an attorney at Akron, 
whose professional labors have called him to 
many sections of the countrj^ while still re- 
taining his home in this city, was born Sep- 
tember 11, 1854, at Rootstown, Portage 
County, Ohio. 

When Mr. Sadler was one year old his par- 
ents moved to Southern Michigan, where he 
was reared and primarily educated. In 1872 



EMORY A. PRIOR, M. S., LL. B., a lead- 
ing member of the bar at Cuyahoga Falls, was 
born in Northampton Town.«hip, Summit 
County, Ohio, Jime 27, 1855, and is a son 
of Henry W. and Emily (Bonesteel) Prior. 

The study of Mr. Prior's ancestral line leads 
us back to the early settlement of New Eng- 
land. The first of the name of whom he have 
record, was Benjamin Prior, whose birth is 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



295 



recorded at Duxbury, Massafluisetts. In 1697 
he married Bertha, daughter of John and Abi- 
gail (Wood) Pratt, of Plymouth, Massaehu- 
sett:^. 

Jo:~hua J'rior, son of Benjamin and Bertha 
Prior, was born in 1709 and died in 1784. He 
married Mary, daughter of Eleazer and Lydia 
(Waterman) Barnham, January 31, 1735. 

Simeon Prior, younge.-^t of the nine chil- 
dren of Jo.<hua and Mary Prior, and great- 
grandfather of Emory A., was born May 16, 
1754, at Norwich, Connecticut, and died June 
29, 1837. He was a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary War, enlisting in Connecticut, as 
armorer, under Colonel John Durgey, about 
1776, joining the army at King's Yard. New 
York City. His record shows that aliout 15 
weeks later he joined a regiment on Painter's 
Hook, and after the city was taken by the 
British, his regiment went to Fort Lee and 
later participated in the battle of Trenton. 
The family history asserts that on this occa- 
sion, Simeon Prior was a member of General 
Washington's body-guard. He married Kath- 
erine Wright, and in 1802 brought his fam- 
ily to Northampton Township. He was the 
first regular farming" settler here, the only 
other family being that of a Mr. King, who 
kept a tavern at Old Portage, the coramenoe- 
ment of Portage Path. Simeon Prior was a 
fanner, blacksmith and machinist, a combi- 
nation of occupations well qualifying him to 
make an admirable pioneer settler. 

William Prior, son of Simeon, and grand- 
father of Emory A. Prior, was born at Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, April 6, 1783, and died 
June 7, 1872. He accompanied his father to 
Northampton in 1802, where he secured farm- 
ing land. He participated in the War of 
1812, being a member of Colonel Rial Mc- 
Arthur's regiment. In politics he was a Jef- 
fersonian Democrat. He was twice married: 
first, to Sarah Wharton, who was a daughter 
of James Wharton, and who died in early 
married life; and, second, to Polly Culver. 

Henry AV. Prior, son of William and fath- 
er of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Northampton To-wnship, Summit County, 
Ohio, January 25, 1813, and died in 1875. 



He was a man of exceptional mentality and 
made the best of the educational advanttxges 
afforded him and of his business opportuni- 
ties. He acceptably filled all the local offices 
of any responsibility in Northampton Town- 
ship, and, although not united with any re- 
ligious body, was a liberal supporter of 
churches and all moral movements. In 1849 
he went to California, by way of New York 
and the Isthmus of Panama, and remained 
there one year engaged in prospecting and 
mining. Having much natural mechanical 
skill, he combined farming with carpenter 
work, and with his father and a brother, he 
built a mill on the present site of the Puritan 
mill, in Northampton Township, which they 
operated together for many years. He re- 
mained actively interested in agricultural pur- 
suits up to the clo.-e of his long and useful 
life. • 

His wife, Emily, was a daughter of Jacob 
Bonasteel, also an old settler in this vicinity. 
She died in April, 1860, on the home farm 
in Northampton Township. There were two 
children born to Henry W. Prior and wife, 
of whom Emory A. is the only survivor, the 
elder in order of birth having died in infancy. 

Emory A. Prior was aft'orded the best edu- 
cational advantages to be obtained in his na- 
tive locality, and he is inclined to think that 
in some ways the youth of his day, when they 
had the personal attention of their teachers, 
enjoyed better opportunities for individual 
advancement than is sometimes the lot of stu- 
dents under the present graded system. He 
attended the Cuyahoga High School, "and 
came under the personal attention of Almeda 
Booth, who was a noted teacher and philan- 
thropist at that time. In 1874 he was gradu- 
ated at Buchtel College, completing the scien- 
tific course and securing his B. S. degree, and 
later, after completing a post graduate course, 
received the degree of M. S. In 1877, after 
a course in the Harvard Law School, Mr. Prior 
was graduated there and secured his LL. B. 
degree, shortly afterward coming to Cuyahoga 
Falls. He took the necessary examination,^ 
in the Old District Court at Cleveland, Ohio. 



296 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and was admitted to the bar in the following 
September. 

After this prolonged season of close study, 
Mr. Prior decided to settle on a farm in North- 
ampton Township, and was engaged in farm- 
ing and dairying thereon up to 1890. He then 
opened an office in Akron, where he practiced 
law until 1895, when he located permanently 
at Cuyahoga Falls, entering,into a partnership 
with Charles H. Howland. This association 
lasted five years, during which time the firm 
had its share in the business of importance 
that came before the Sunnnit County courts. 

In the fall of 1902 Mr. Prior became secre- 
tary of the Falls Savings and Loan Associa- 
tion. In August, 1904, the Cuyahoga Falls 
Savings Bank was organized by the following 
capitalists who comprised its board of direct- 
ors: Emory A. Prior, C. M. Walsh, L. W. 
Loomis, Henry Thomas, W. R. Lodge, Ed- 
win Seedhouse and William A. Searle. This 
bank was organizexi to take up the business 
in this vicinity of the Akron Savings Bank, 
which had failed. Mr. Prior has been identi- 
fied with this institution as secretary and as a 
director eiver since, and since June, 1906, he 
has been a member of its financial committee. 
He is concerned in other business enterprises 
and was one of the organizers of the Walsh 
Paper Company, of which he is a stockholder, 
and in which he has been secretary since its 
founding. 

On March 25, 1882, Mr. Prior was married 
to Abbie F. Allen, who is a daughter of Al- 
bert Allen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and 
they have three children, namely : Henry 
William, Margaret H. and Ruth Wharton. 
The family belong to the Episcopal Church. 
In political sentiment, Mr. Prior is actively 
identified with the Republican party. He was 
elected village solicitor during his years of 
active practice and was re-elected, serving 
two terms. Otherwise, he has accepted no 
political office. He is a member of Star 
Lodge. No. 187. F. & A. M., Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio. 

ANDREW JACKSON KREIGHBAUM, a 
representative citizen of Springfield Town- 



ship, is a member of the Summit County bar, 
and is successfully engaged in the practice of 
his profession. He was born in Summit 
County, Ohio, September 23, 1862, and is a 
son of Johnston B. and Martha (Martin) 
Kreighbaum. 

The maternal ancestors of Mr. Kreighbaam 
were people of importance, several generations 
back, in Pennsylvania. Thomas Martin, the 
great-grandfather, was born in Ireland and 
married Kate Kennedy, a native of England. 
The maiden name of the grandmother of Mr. 
Kreighbaum was Way, and she was the first 
white child born in Suffield Township, Port- 
age County. Andrew Martin, the grandfath- 
er, was born in Pennsylvania, and wa.s nine 
years old when he accompanied his parents 
to Portage County. Andrew and Rebecca 
Mnrtin had the following children : Rebecca, 
residing in Summit County, who is the widow 
of Johnston Roser; Martha, the mother of Mr. 
Kreighbaum ; Elmira, residing in Stark 
County, who married John Grotz; Matilda, 
who married Benjamin W. Bi.xler, residing at 
Springfield Center; and David W., deceased, 
who is survived by his widow who formerly 
•was Rebecca Henderson. The grandparents 
died on the farm on which they settled after 
marriage. 

Johnston B. Kreighbaum was born in 
Green Township, Summit County, Ohio, No- 
vember IS. 1826. and was married January 
29, 1851, to Martha Martin, who was born 
July 16, 1831. Of their eight children, there 
are three survivors" — Andrew J., McClelland 
and Ida Ella. McClelland Kreighbaum was 
born September 23, 1864 and is engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in Summit County, own- 
ing a good farm. He married Minerva Press- 
ler, who is a daughter of William and Lu- 
cinda Pressler, and they have three children. 
Ida Ella Kreighbaum married Charles Mc- 
Calgan. of Stow Township, who died at Mun- 
roe Falls, leaving three children : Ru.ssell, 
Claude and Maud, the two latter being twins. 
Prior to entering the army for service in 
the Civil War, .Johnston B. Kreighbaum was 
engaged in farming and in operating a hotel 
at Green'iburs. Ohio. On Mav 2, 1864. he 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



297 



was enrolled at Cleveland as a member of 
Company H, lO^ith Regiment, Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry. He wa^ honorably discharged 
August 27, 1864. Although his sendee cov- 
ered but ninety days, the hardships encoun- 
tered during this period were the cause of his 
death, he having ruptured a blood vessel. For 
the fidelity and efficiency of his service he 
received the thanks of the President of the 
United States and the Governor of Ohio. He 
belonged to that portion of the army that 
operated effectively against Richmond and 
Petersburg. 

Andrew Jackson Kreighbaum attended the 
local schools through boyhood and prepared 
for the profession he had chosen by taking 
a couree in the Cincinnati Law School, where 
be spent the years of 1890 and 1891. After 
his admission to the bar he engaged in prac- 
tice at Akron, retaining his residence in 
Springfield Township. He married Ella 
Phillips, a daughter of Benjamin Franklin 
and Christiana Phillips, the latter of whom 
is deceased. Mr. Phillips resides at Akron. 
Mr. and Mrs. Kreighbaum have four children, 
namely: McKee, aged fourteen years; 
Martha, aged ten years ; Maud, aged seven 
years; and Claud, aged three years. Mr. 
Kreighbamu is in a position to give his chil- 
dren many advantages, both educational and 
social. 

While Mr. Kreighbaum has been actively 
identified with the Democratic party .since his 
maturity, he has never been a seeker for po- 
litical offiqes or honors, but has been a willing 
wf)rker for his friends. He is a member of 
the order of Maccabees, belonging to Union 
Tent at Uniontown. Stark County. With his 
family he belongs to the Reformed Church of 
Springfield Town.ship. 

CHARLES AMMERMAN. attorney-at-law. 
Barberton, where he has been established since 
1893. is one of the leading citizens of this 
village. Mr. Ammerman was born near Mil- 
ler.sburg. Holme.s County, Ohio, May 4, 1863, 
and is a son of Abraham and Sarah (Korns) 
Ammerman. He was reared on his father's 
farm in Holmes County, and obtained his pri- 



mary education in the district schools. Later 
he attended the Millersburg High School and 
then began to teach. He remained six years 
in the local educational field, and then he 
taught three years at Benton, Ohio, during 
the interims completing his education at the 
Ohio Normal L'niversity, at Ada. He read law 
with Judge Maxwell and Hon. George W. 
Sharp, at Millersburg, and subsequently at- 
tended the law school at the Ohio State Uni- 
versity at Columbus, being admitted to the 
Ohio bar, December 7, 1893. He immediate- 
ly located at Barberton, where he has since en- 
gaged in practice. He was elected village 
solicitor for two terms and was then appointed 
to the same office by the village council, and 
served on this occasion for a year and a half. 
He is recognized as an able lawyer and ha-? 
been chosen on numerous occasions to man- 
age important cases of litigation. 

On June 10, 1891, Mr. Ammerman was 
married 'to Kate Thompson, and they have 
three children — Harold, Helen, and Charles, 
Jr. Mr. Ammerman's fraternal connections 
' include the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fel- 
lows, the Elks, and the Independent Order of 
American Mechanics. 

STEPHEN C. MILLER, attorney-at-law, 
at Barberton. with offices in the American Na- 
tional Bank Building, on the corner of Fourth 
Street and Tu.scarawas Avenue, enjoys a large 
and lucrative general practice, which extends 
all over Summit County. Mr. Miller was born 
at Hudson. New York, March 1, 1863, and is 
a son of Abraham and Ann H. (Miller) Mil- 
ler. 

Abraham Miller, also a lawyer, practiced 
has profession for some years in New York, 
and died at Palmyra, in that state, in 1871, 
at the age of thirty-three. His wife Ann still 
survives. 

In 1876 the subject of this sketch came to 
Akron, Ohio, to make his home with his un- 
cle. Dr. S. H. Ooburn, with whom he remained 
until 1881, in the meantime attending the 
common and High Schools of this city. He 
commenced his law reading in the office of 
Edgerton & Kohlcr, at Akron, and completed 



298 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



his legal studies in Florida, to which state he 
went in 1881. He was admitted to the Flor- 
ida bar in 1890, and practiced at Tallahassee 
until 1895. He then returned to Akron, 
where he practiced law until 1901, and then 
located permanently at Barberton. Here he 
has taken part in a large portion of the im- 
portant business before the various courts, and 
has demonstrated his ability on many occa- 
sions. Mr. Miller was married dn Florida to 
Minnie Beazley, who was reared at Monticello, 
Jefferson County, Florida, and who is a daugh- 
ter of Judge William Beazley, of that place. 
They have two children, Susie and Isbell, the 
latter being named for Charles Isbell, of 
Akron. 

HON. GEORGE W. SIEBER, formerly 
state senator, serving in the Seventy-fourth 
General Assembly of Ohio, is a leading mem- 
ber of the Akron bar and a partner in the 
prominent law firm of Grant, Sieber & Mather, 
which, in January, 1907, succeeded the firm 
of Grant & Sieber. Mr. 'Sieber was born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1858, in Snyder County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is a son of Joseph and Sarah 
(Moyer) Sieber. The Sieber family Ls of 
German extraction. Both parents of Senator 
Sieber were born and reared in Pennsylvania. 
In 1868 they came to Summit County, where 
the father carried on a successful business for 
a number of years. He died in 1896. 

In 1876 George W. Sieber was graduated 
from the Akron High School. He then took 
a course in Buchtel College, afterwards en- 
tering the Cincinnati Law School, from which 
institution he was graduated in the class of 
June, 1882, carrying off first honors. In the 
same year he was admitted to the bar and be- 
gan practice at Akron. On March 25, 1897, 
he was admitted to practice before the Su- 
preme Court of the United States. In 1891 
Mr. Sieber entered into partnership with Hon. 
Edwin P. Green, formerly of the Common 
Pleas Court, and Hon. Charles R. Grant, 
formerly of the Probate Court, the new firm 
assuming the .style of Green, Grant & Sieber. 
The death of Judge Green caased a reorgan- 
ization of the firm as Grant & Sieber. 



Prominently identified with Republican 
politics. Senator Sieber has frequently been 
invited to accept public office. In 1886 he 
was elected prosecuting attorney of Summit 
County, and in his official capacity acquitted 
himself during his first term with such credit 
that he was re-elected and served in the oflice 
for six years, retiring in 1893. In 1899 he 
avas elected senator from the Twenty-sixth 
District, and when he completed his term of 
service and returned to his private practice, it 
was with the consciousness of public duty well 
performed. 

On September 1, 1883, Senator Sieber was 
married to Elsie C. Motz, who is a daughter 
of George M. Motz, a prominent citizen of 
Middleburg, Pennsylvania. They have three 
children: Joseph B., Florence S. and Ruth. 
The family belong to the Lutheran Church. 
Mr. Sieber is a Thirty-second Degree Mason, 
and belongs also to the Odd Fellows, the 
Knights of Pythias and the Elks. 

H. F. CASTLE, member of the firm of 
Felmly & Castle, prominent attorneys at Ak- 
ron, was born at Cuyalioga Falls, Ohio, and 
is a son of E. H. Castle, who came to Sum- 
mit County from New York, in 1860, and who 
has been engaged in farming near ^luiu'oe 
Falls ever since. 

H. F. Castle attended the district schools 
and spent four years in the Cuyalioga Falls 
schools, after Mhich he studied law at home, 
and on June 1, 1903, was admitted to the bar. 
He immediately located for practice at Akron 
and continued alone tmtil 1905, when the 
present firm was established. Mr. Castle has 
won his way to the front rank of his profes- 
sion by personal ability backed by hard 
work, and he has also become a factor in 
politics. He is a Republican and is a mem- 
ber of the Akron County Board of Elections, 
and is secretary of the Republican County 
Executive Committee. During the Spanish- 
American War he was a member of Com- 
pany A. Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
which was mustered into service in May, 
1898, but was never actively engaged, spend- 
ing its whole term of enlistment in camp at 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Tampa aud Key ^^'est. The company was 
mastered out of the service al Columbus, in 
November, 1898. Mr. Castle is a member 
of the Spanish-American War Veteran Asso- 
ciation, and belongs also to the Odd Fellows. 
Religiously, he is afRIiaited with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

T. W. WAKEMAN, attorney, and claim 
agent for the Northern Ohio Traction and 
Light Company, at Akron, has been identi- 
fied with the interests of this city since De- 
cember, 1884. Mr. Wakeman was born at 
Kendallville, Noble County, Indiana, in 1866. 
At the age of eighteen years he had already 
completed the common and High School 
courses at Kendallville, and when twenty-one 
had commenced the study of law, which he 
prosecuted in the office of R. W. Sadler, a 
prominent attorney in Akron at that time. 
Hl5 admission to the bar took place in March, 
1889, and he continued with Mr. Sadler un- 
til 1892, when he began individual practice, 
retaining the same office. In 1902 he became 
claim agent for the Northern Ohio Traction 
and Light Company, the duties of which posi- 
tion have since absorbed a large part of his 
time and attention. He is interested also in 
some of Akron's business enterprises and is a 
stockholder in the Highland Park Land Com- 
pany. Formerly he was quite active in poli- 
tics, but he now' finds little time to give to any- 
thing outside his profession. Mr. "Wakeman 
belongs to the Knights of Pythia«. the Elks, 
tlie Elks Club and the Portage Country Club. 

WILLIAM E. SNYDER, attorney, for- 
merly a member of the law firm of Esgate, 
Spencer & Snyder, of Akron, but now prac- 
ticing alone, with offices in the Hamilton 
Building, was born in Franklin Town.ship, 
Summit County, Ohio, in 1871, and is a son 
of Michael and Nancy (Marsh) Snyder. 

The father of Mr. Snyder was born in Al- 
sace-Lorraine, France, and after emigrating 
to America, he .«ettled first in Springfield 
Town.«hip. Summit County, Ohio, for several 
years, and then removed to Franklin Town- 
ship, where he lived until his death in 1893. 



having become one of the leading men of his 
community. He married Nancy Marsh, who 
was a daughter of George A. Marsh, a pioneer 
settler in the region of Turkey Foot Lake, and 
a son of Adam George Marsh, who settled 
there in 1810. 

William E. Snyder was reared in Franklin 
Township, attending the local schools. He 
then took a special course at \'alparaiso, In- 
diana, and subsequently spent one year at 
Mt. Union College. He began to teach sch(X)l 
when but seventeen years of age and contin- 
ued that occupation, with some intervals, for 
the next eight years. In 1895 he took up the 
study of law in the office of Otis & Otis, hav- 
ing mastered the elementary principles of the 
science while teaching. He was admitted to 
the bar in October, 1898, and in the follow- 
ing year he located in Akron, and entered into 
associatetl practice with Mr. Kerstetter, under 
the firm name of Snyder & Kerstetter. The 
firm lasted for two years, after which Mr. 
Snyder practiced alone until 1904, when the 
pr&sent firm of Esgate, Spencer & Snyder was 
formed. Mr. Snyder is somewhat interested 
in politics, but to a larger degree in his pro- 
fession. In 1894 Mr. Snyder was married to 
Olive C. Kerstetter, and they have three chil- 
dren, namely : Margaret, Marion and Harold. 
Mr. Snyder is a member of Grace Reformed 
Church. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, 

HON. E. W. STUART, senior member of 
the law firm of Stuart & Stuart, ait Akron, and 
formerly probate judge of Summit County, 
is a prominent citizen who is identified with 
a number of the successful enterprises of this 
city. .Judge Stuart was born May 9, 1840, at 
New Preston, Litchfield County, Connecticut. 
His parents settling in Erie County, Ohio, 
in 1842, his boyhood was .spent on his fath- 
er's farm. At the age of eighteen he entered 
the Western Reserve College, having prepared 
at the Huron Institute at Milan, and was 
graduated in October, 1862. 

For a period of four months he ser\'ed in 
the Civil War as a member of Company B, 
Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantrs', being stationed at Camp Chase, Colum- 



300 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



bus, Ohio. He enlisted in May, 1862, and 
was discharged on the 27th of the following 
September by reason of the expiration of his 
term of enlistment. Company B was organ- 
ized at Hudson, Ohio, and was composed of 
students of the Western Reserve College, the 
captain being C. A. Young, later a noted pro- 
fessor at this institution, Dartmouth College, 
and Princeton University. 

After his army experience and graduation 
from college, Mr. Stuart was engaged in teach- 
ing for four years, during which period he 
was principal of Shaw Academy, at Collamer, 
Ohio, for two years. In the meantime he had 
assiduou.?ly applied himself to the study of 
the law, and with such success that in 1866 
he was admitted to the bar. He entered upon 
the practice of his profession in partnership 
with Hon. S. P. Wolcott, at Kent, Ohio, 
where he continued until May. 1870. He then 
came to Akron and formed a law partner- 
ship here with C. P. Humphrey. Mr. Stuart's 
abilities were soon recognized, and he served 
Summit County as prosecuting attorney from 
January, 1877 to 1880, having previously 
served as. city solicitor of Akron from 1871 to 
1877. In 1890 he was elected to the Probate 
Bench of Summit County and served two 
terms, from February 9, 1891, to February 9, 
1897. His work in that position was char- 
acterized by the same qualities which have 
always commended him to the people — great 
industry, ability of a high order and fear- 
lessness in the performance of duty. Since 
retiring from the bench he has been engaged 
in the. practice of the law with his son at 
Akron. Pie is a director in the Central Sav- 
ings & Tn:st Company and in the Permanent 
Savings and Loan Company. 

JudgeStuart was married May 11, 1864, to 
Harriet E. Whedon, who is a daughter of 
Harvey Whedon, a former prosecuting attor- 
ney of Summit County, now deceased. They 
have one son, Fred H., a graduate of Buch- 
tel College, admitted to the bar in 1889, who 
is practicing law in partnership with his 
father. The firm of Stuart & Stuart having 
offices at No. 402 Hamilton Building, 
handles a large part of the important litiga- 



tion in Summit County. Judge Stuart re- 
sides at No. 24 Fir Street, and his son at No. 
31 North Prospect Street. 

NEWTON CHALKER, a retired law- 
yer of Akron, who has been identified with 
l)oth the business and professional life of the 
city for a number of years, is generally rec- 
(ignized as one of Akron's prominent men. 
Mr. Chalker was born at Southington, Trum- 
bull County, Ohio, September 12, 1842, and 
is a son of James, Jr., and Eliza J. Chalker. 

The Chalker family originated in England 
and became established about 1640 in Con- 
necticut, and in 1805 in Ohio. James 
Chalker, the grandfather of Newton Chalker, 
was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, where he 
married Mercy Norton, and with his wife and 
infant son he came to the Western Reserve, 
locating in Southington, Trumbull County, 
Selecting a location in the midst of the forest, 
he built a cabin of logs, and entered upon a 
pioneer existence. He lived until 1867, his 
span of life covering ninety years, and the 
death of his aged wife hut shortly preceding 
his own. They reared thirteen children — Or- 
rin, Joseph, Edmond, James, Phoebe, Anna, 
Polly, Calvin, Daniel, Philander, Harri.'^on, 
Allen and Mercy. 

Ja/mes Chalker. Jr., the father of Newton, 
was born in Southington, June 15, 1811. His 
educational opportunities were confined to 
three winter terms in an old log schoolhouse, 
situated one mile east of Southington Center, 
but by much reading he became in after years 
iwell versed in history, and was aLso a thor- 
ough student of the Bible. When a young 
man he purcha.«ed on credit a tract of fifty 
acres of woodland, located two miles west of 
Southington Center, where, after years of 
earnest labor, he established a comfortable 
home for himself and family. He eventual- 
Iv became one of the largest land owners in 
the township, having added to his original 
property from time to time. Mr. Chalker 
was married (first) to Eliza Jane Hyde, of 
Farmington, who died in 1849, leaving three 
children: Byron, who became a farmer, and 
died in Southington at the age of fifty-two 




NEWTON CIIAI.KER 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



303 



years; Newton, subject of this article; and Co- 
luimbus, who died at the age of twenty-seven 
years; another child, Benson, died in infancy. 
In 1851 Mr. Clialker was married (second) to 
Adeline Timmerman, who was born in the 
state of New York, and they had two daugh- 
ters, Mary Jane and Bertha. The former 
married A. J. Morris, a resident of Southing- 
ton, and died in her thirty-seventh year. The 
latter beoaine the wife of Thomas McConnell, 
a resident of Youngstown, Ohio. James 
Chalker died September 23, 1893, having 
passed his eighty-second birthday. For years 
he was a pillar of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Newton Chalker attended the district 
schools until he was fourteen years of age, 
after which, for six years, at irregular inter- 
vals, he was a student at the Western Reserve 
Seminary, West Farmington, in the mean- 
while becoming a very successful district 
school teacher. Prior to enlisting for service 
in the Civil War, in the. spring of 1862, he 
had taught school in his home neighborhood 
and at Braceville, Southington, Parkman and 
Champion, Ohio, and. after his return at 
Litchfield, ^Michigan. When twenty years of 
age he offered his services in defense of his 
country, enli.«ting in Company B, Eighty-sev- 
enth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
which Ijelonged to the department of the army 
then under the command of General George 
B. McClellan. The most important military 
event of his term of service was the protracted 
battle of Harper's Ferry, in which the Union 
forces were captured by thase of Stonew^all 
Jackson, the latter having a very much larger 
force. In the fall of 1862, on account of the 
expiration of its term of enlistment, the 
Eighty-seventh regiment wa=! mustered out, 
and the members who had survived its many 
dangers returned to their homes, Mr. Chalker 
being one of them. 

In the spring of 1863, Mr. Chalker entered 
Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was graduated in June, 1866, 
with the degree of B. A., later receiving that 
of M. A. During 1866-7 he served as prin- 
cipal of Dixon Seminary, at Dixon, Illinois, 



and in the year following he accepted the su- 
perintendency of the public schools at Dar- 
lington, Wisconsin. But while successful to 
a flattering degree as an educator, this was not 
the full extent of his ambition. In Septem- 
ber, 1868, therefore, after some preliminary 
preparation, he entered the Albany Law 
School, and in 1869 he was graduated with 
the degree of B. L. In the fall of that year 
he entered upon the practice of his profes- 
sion at Cameron, Missouri, where he remained 
until 1874. He then returned to Ohio, in the 
summer of that year locating in Akron, since 
which time this city has been his home. 

Mr. Chalker continued actively engaged in 
the practice of law until 1894, when he began 
to give the greater part of his attention to 
his other large and varied interests. He was 
one of he founders of the Peoples' Savings 
Bank at Akron, and of the Savings Bank at 
Barberton, owning a large amount of stock, 
and serving on the Board of Directors of the 
fonner institution. He owns a large amount of 
property, including a farm adjoining South- 
ington, which he now makes his legal resi- 
dence. He has purchased and improved a 
number of tracts in Summit County, several 
of these being new additions to Akron, 
notablv that choice residence section known 
as North Hill. 

After giving up his law practice, Mr. 
Chalker, in 1895-6, made a busy trip around 
the globe, having previou.sly visited, by pref- 
erence, almost everj' interesting portion of his 
own land. Among the countries he visited on 
this trip were Ireland, England, Scotland, 
France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland. 
Italy, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Eg^^pt, Nubia, 
India,. Burmah. China, Japan and our own 
Sandwich Islands, in all of which he found 
much to interest a man of cultured mind. 

Mr. Clialker is identified politically with 
the Republican party. Since 1892 he has 
ben a member of Buckley Post, Grand Army, 
of the Republic, and has sensed as its com- 
mander. One of his di.stin,guishing charac- 
teristics Is his civic pride in regard to .Ak- 
ron, and another, his tender memory of the 
old home where he was reared, and of the lo- 



304 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



cality with whicli his parents and grandpar- 
ents were so closely identified. The old Meth- 
odist Church in which they worshipped has 
profited many hundreds of dollars by his 
bounty in the past few yeai-s. There is also 
just being completed at Southington the New- 
ton-Chalker High School, which Mr. 
Chalker has erected at a cost of $20,000, and 
which was donated by him to the Board of 
Education, the donation ceremonies taking 
place on August 22, 1907-. His charities have 
always been large, their full extent being 
known only to himself. Ilis acquaintance is 
extensive, and his friendships include individ- 
uals of taste, learning and culture, all over 
the world. 

HENRY MARCELLUS HAGELBARGER, 

prosecuting attorney of Summit County, 
sen-ing his second term, was born at the ham- 
let of Spring Mountain, Coshocton County, 
Ohio, December 2, 1887, ^'ou of Henry and 
Louise (RaJey) Hagelbarger. 

The late Henry Hagelbarger was a farmer of 
, Monroe Township, Coshocton County, serving 
several terms as a justice of the peace. For three 
yeare in the Civil War he was a faithful sol- 
dier in the Union army, first as a member of 
Company A, Sixteenth Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, in which he enlisted April 
24, 1S61, for three months. He enlisted Sep- 
tember 18, 1861, in Company I, Fifty-first 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being a 
sergeant of said company, and was trans- 
ferred November 18, 1862, to Battery H, 
Fifth Regiment', United States Artillery, and 
was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. 
He died March 25, 1895. His widow sur- 
vives. 

H. M. Hagelbarger was reared on a farm 
and secured his primary educational training 
in the local schools. Me taught school three 
tern.s, and later attended the Ohio Northern 
University at Ada, subsecjuently studying law 
in the law office of ex-Lieutenant-Governor 
A. W. Jones, at Youhgstown, Ohio. In Feb- 
ruary, 1892, he came to Akron to accept the 
position of official stenographer for the courts 
of Summit County, to which he was appointed 



l)y tiie late Judge A. C. ^'o^is, and which he 
acceptably filled for seven and a htdf years. 
Having been admitted to the bar in October, 
1897, he resigned this position and began the 
practice of law in September, 1899, having his 
law office with that of Attorneys Young & 
Wanamaker. In politics Mr. Hagelbarger is a 
Republican. In November, 1901, he was elected 
prosecuting attorney of Summit County, tak- 
ing the office in January, 1902. In the fall 
of 1904 he was re-elected. In February, 1902, 
he formed a law partnership with ■ N. 0. 
Mather, under the Hi-m name of Hagelbarger 
& Mather, which continued three years, and 
wlien it was dis.solved, Mr. Hagelbarger moved 
his office to the court hou.se. 

On September 10, 1895, Mr. Hagelbarger 
was married to Martha May Jones, daughter 
of William H. and Sarah (Mustill) Jones, of 
iVkron. They have two sons and two daugh- 
ters, 'viz. : Paul Raley, Ralph Henry, Martha 
Louise and Sara. The family attend tlie 
Greece Methodist EpLscopal Church ait Akron, 
Mr. Hagelbarger being a member of its board 
of trustees. He is a Thirty-second Degree 
Mason, is a past master of Adoniram Lodge, 
F. & A. M., and for three years has been dis- 
trict lecturer for the Twenty-first Masonic Dis- 
trict. He is also a member of the Sons of 
Veterans, and in 1902 was Junior ^^ice Com- 
mander of the Ohio Division of the Sons of 
Veterans, and is at present Division Coun- 
.selor. 

HON. JACOB ADAMS KOHLER, presi- 
dent of the People's Savings Bank, at Akron, 
;uid senior member of the law firm of Kohlcr, 
Kohler & Mottinger, with offices in the Ar- 
cade Building, has been prominently identi- 
fied with the business and professional life 
of this city, and also with the public affairs 
of this .-section of Ohio. Mr. Kohler was born 
in Berks County, Penn-^ylvania, August 15, 
1885, and is a son of Henry and Mary 
(Slanker) Kohler. 

When the subject of thi.s sketch was an in- 
fant his parents moved to Franklin Town.ship, 
Summit County, Ohio, and he obtained hi< 
education in the district .schools of that lucal- 




HON. JACOB A. KOIILER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



305 



ity and at Lodi Acadeiav. In early manhood 
he letu-ned the cabinet-maker'^ trade, but later 
turned his attention to the law, for which he 
prepared under Attorney N. W. Goodhue, at 
Akron, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. 
During many of the years spent in the prac- 
tice of his profession he AVius alone, but at 
other times was in partnership, first with Hon. 
Sidney Edgerton, later, RoUin W. Sadler, and 
vStill later, with Hai'vey Musser, all once lead- 
ing members of the Summit County bar. 
Judge Kohler served two terms, from 1868 
to 1872, as i^rosecuting attorney of Summit 
County. In 1880 he was elected a member 
of the State Legislature, serving until 1885; 
from 1886 until 1888, he served as attorney- 
general of Ohio, and in November, 1895, he 
was elected judge of the Court of Common 
Plea*, for Medina, Lorain and Summit Coun- 
ties. He proved an able judge and retired 
from the bench with the respect and esteem 
of all those familiar with the able manner in 
which he had performed his duties. 

Judge Kohler has been more or less inter- 
ested in building and improving for some 
years. In 1882, in association w-ith his friend, 
the late Russell A. Alger, then of Detroit, 
Michigan, but formerly of Akron, he erected 
the Arcade Block in this city, a five-story 
structure on Howard Street, which is the larg- 
est and most modern of all the city's build- 
ings devoted to bu.sine.ss purposes. He owns 
a large amount of property in this section and 
is continually adding to its value by improv- 
ing it. 

Judge Kohlerwas married May. 16, 1860, to 
Frances H. Coburn, who is the only child of 
the late Dr. Stephen H. Coburn, one of Ak- 
ron's capitalists, whose estate is managed by 
the judge. 

Judge and Mrs. Kohler have been the par- 
ents of two children — Hurlbut Stephen, 
born January 20. 1868, and George Coburn, 
born November 17, 1870, both graduates of 
Yale College. Judge Kohler owns an impos- 
ing residence at No. 315 East Market StrcOt. 

EDWIN .F. VORIS, a prominent attorney 
at .\kron. senior member of the firm of \'oris. 



X'aughan & A'aughan, with offices in the Dob- 
son i^lock, was born July 31, 1855, at Ak- 
lon, and is a son of the late General Alviu 
C. and Lydia (AUyn) Voris. He was grad- 
uated in 1872 from the Akron High School, 
and in the following September entered Buch- 
tel College, where he was graduated June 30, 
1875. He entered the Harvard Law School, 
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was grad- 
uated there June 27, 1877. Early in the fol- 
lowing October he was admitted to the bar 
at Cleveland, Ohio. He first located for prac- 
tice at St. Louis, being admitted to the bar 
in the state of Missouri, and was associated 
there with the well known law firm of J. M. 
and C. H. Crum, from June, 1878, until 
Febiiiary, 1879. Upon his return to Akron, 
ho entered into partner.ship with his father. 
General Alvin C.VorLs, under the firm name of 
A^oris and Voris, which association continued 
until General Voris was called to the Common 
Pleas Bench. Mr. Edwin F. Voris then en- 
tered into partnership with Charles Baird, 
w;ith whom he practiced for about three years. 
Upon the death of the late John C. Means, 
Mr. Voris was appointed to fill out the unex- 
pired term as jn-osecuting attorney, and faith- 
fully and efficiently performed the duties of 
the office from Mav, 1886, until January, 
1887. 

On October 21, 1879, Mr. Voris was mar- 
ried to Lizzie U. Slade, of Columbus, Ohio. 
Their family numbere five children — Lydia, 
William S., Elizabeth, Edwin F., Jr., and 
Marion. Politically Mr. Voris is identified 
with the Republican party, but has never 
sought political honors. For a number of 
years he was a member of the Akron Board 
of Education. He is interested in the Sons 
of A'eterans, and was one of the organizers of 
Camp 27. of that Society. 

EDWARD H. BOYLAN, senior member 
of the well-known law firm of Boylan & 
Brousc, located at No. 23 Doyle Building, 
Akron, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1875, and is a son of Edward Boylan, form- 
erly a railroad man of that section. Mr. Boy- 
lan wn< left an or])haM when he was a child 



306 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of but ten year.--. To be placed face to face 
with the most serious problems of life in 
early childhood is a htird fate, and the boy 
who meets such a situation with a brave heart 
and has the courage and ambition to conquer 
fortune in spite of such initial difficulties, well 
deserves success. Mr. Boylan first learned 
telegraphy, working during the summers, but 
attending school in the winters. He thus ac- 
quired the means to take two years in the 
literary department of the University of 
Michigan. He then resumed telegraphic 
work, reading the jareliminary principles of 
law in his leisure time, and when, in 1900, 
he had secured sufficient capital, he became 
a student of huv at the University of Michi- 
gan. From this institution he was subse- 
quently graduated, and w-as admitted to the 
Michigan bar. He later returned to Ohio 
and, after taking the necessary examination 
in his native state, was admitted to practice 
in its courts, and soon after entered the law 
office of Dayton Doyle. He continued io prac- 
tice alone until October 8, 1903, when he 
entered into his present partnership with Ed- 
win W. Brouse, under the firm name of Boy- 
lan & Brouse. 

Politically Mr. Boylan is a Republican, and 
takes a lively interest in public matters and 
city affairs. Fraternally he is a Mason, an 
Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, a Macca- 
bee, and a AVoodman, in all these organiza- 
tions being valued for his bright and helpful 
qualities. He belongs also to the Masonic 
Club, and is a member of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Akron. 

F. B. TIIEISS, vice-president and executive 
officer of the First National Bank of Akron, 
and president of the First National Bank of 
Wadsworth, besides being a well-known law- 
yer, is one of the leading financiers of this 
section of Ohio, and is identified with many 
successful business enterprises, both in Akron 
and in other jiarts of Summit County. He 
was born in Northampton Township, Sum- 
mit County. Ohio, in 1866, and is a son of 
Christian Theiss, a native of Germany. 

The venerable parents of Mr. Theiss both 



reside in Northampton Township. They were 
both born in Germany and after emigrating, 
resided for a time in Pennsylvania, coming 
to Sunnnit County in 1855. In maidenhood, 
his mother was Charlotte Noe. She has 
reached her seventieth year, while her hus- 
'band is seven yeai-s her senior. They live re- 
tired on their .farm and are respected and 
esteemed in their community. 

F. B. Theiss completed the ordinary public 
school course in his native township and then 
entered Buchtel College, where he remained 
for four and one-half years. He then began 
to read law with the firm of Oviatt & Allen, 
and in 1888 was admitted to the bar. He 
continued with the same legal firm for five 
years, and then opened an office of his own. 
He is a member of the Summit County Bar 
Association. In addition to his above-named 
interests, Mr. Theiss is a director in the Amer- 
ican Sewer Pipe Company and the American 
Strawboard Company, and as stockholder and 
director, is interested in many other prosper- 
ing concerns. In 1889 Mr. Theiss-was mar- 
ried to Addie Smith, who is a daughter of 
John Smith, of Northampton Township. 
They have one child, Ruth. Mr. Theiss is a 
member of the First Church of Christ, at Ak- 



HON. ALVIN COE ABORTS. Among the 
distinguished sons of Summit County whose 
memories are enshrined in the hearts of its 
best citizens, and whose gallant deeds are re- 
corded on the page of our country's history, 
few, if any, occupy a more honorable place 
than he whose name staaids at the head of this 
biography. 

General Voris was born in Stark County, 
Ohio, April 27, 1827. His father, .Judge 
Peter Voris, was for many years one of the 
best known citizens of the county — a man of 
high standing in his profession and promi- 
nent in public life. Elected county surveyor 
in 184.3, Peter Voris succassfully performed 
its duties /or the full term of three years, and 
in 1847 was chosen one of the two represent- 
atives which Summit County was in that year 
entitled to in the State Legislature, his col- 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



301 



league beiug Captain Anio? Seward, of Tall- 
inadge. In 1850 he was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Ford associate judge of the Court of 
Connnon Pleas, to fill the vacancy occasioned 
hy the resignation of Judge Samuel A. Wheel- 
er, which office he held until the new consti- 
tution went into effect, in February, 1852. 

Alvin G. Voris was given a liberal educa- 
tion at Twinsburg Institute and at Oberlin 
College. Having his father's taste for a pro- 
fessional career, he studied law, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar on June 20, 1853. He had 
jireviously been deputj' county clerk for about 
two years, and had also, from 1851 to August, 
1852. jierformed the duties of probate judge, 
to which office Charles G. Ladd had been 
elected under Summit County's new- constitu- 
tion. Judge Ladd's health never permitted 
liini to a.ssume the duties of this office, and 
young "V'oris was apjiointed deputy clerk by 
him and ver\' acceptably performed the pro- 
liate business of the county until, upon the 
judge's death, his successor was elected. 

From this time on Mr. Voris went steadily 
forward. He soon became noted as one of the 
alil&st members of the bar, and in 1859 he 
was elected, in connection with Judge Sylves- 
ter H. Thompson, of Hudson, to represent 
Summit County in the State Legislature. In 
this body he .served until 1860. 

The serious condition of public affairs, and 
the outbreak of the Civil AVar. brought many 
changes to people in every walk of life. Laj'- 
ing aside for the time being all personal am- 
liition with respect to his profession, Mr. 
"\'ori.s enlisted as a private in the Twenty- 
ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
which was being recruited by Major Lewis P. 
Buckley for the three years' service. "Before 
the oi'ganization was completed, however, 
Governor William Dennison tendered him a 
second lieutenant's commission, with author- 
ity to recruit men for an entirely new regi- 
ment. The recruits secured by him were 
finally consolidated ■with others, raised in 
other portions of the state, into the Sixty- 
seventh Regiment, with Otto Burstenbinder a.s 
colonel and A. C. Voris as lieiitenant-colonel. 

The Sixty-seventh was mustered into the 



service at Camp Chase, December 22, 1861, 
and b\' January 19th being ready for active 
duty, was sent into the field in Western Vir- 
ginia. March 22, 1862, it reported to Gen- 
eral Banks, at Winchester, Virginia, and on 
the following day, Lieutenant-colonel Voris 
being in full command, had its first brush 
with the enemy, "driving the opposing forces 
till past midnight as far south as Kearnstern.'' 
Early on the morning of the 24th it was called 
to engage the enemy under Stonewall Jack- 
son, being the first regiment to enter the 
fight. 

Being ordered to support a battery of artil- 
lery, the regiment, under the impetuous lead 
of Colonel Voris, crossed an open field, three- 
fourths of a mile, on a double-quick, exposed 
to the enemy's fire, the Colonel forming his 
men on the left of General Tyler's brigade, 
within point-blank range of a rebel batteiy 
protected by a stone w'all." While engaged 
in arranging his men Colonel Voris was 
wounded in the thigh, but supported by two 
of his men, he seized the colors and started for- 
ward. After giving the enemy two or three 
volleys he ordered a charge, which was made 
with such vigor and impetuosity that the 
enemy broke and fled, this being one of the 
very few instance.? on which Stonewall Jack- 
son was discomforted in his brilliant military 
career. The Sixty-seventh lost in this battle 
fifteen killed and thirty-two wounded. 

After some heavy marching the regiment 
was ordered to reinforce the army of General 
McClellan on the James, and on June 26 em- 
barked on the steamer Herald and the barge 
Delaware, before the end of their journey be- 
ing in great peril from a severe storm, during 
which the hawser connecting the barge and 
steamer parted, lea\'ing the barge at the 
mercy of the wind and waves. Men, hoi-ses 
and equipment were wa.«hed overboard and 
lost. The rescue of the survivors was largely 
due to Colonel Voris, who wa* himself on the 
liarge, and who lost all his military trappings. 

The Sixty-seventh remained with the Army 
of the Potomac until the evacuation of the 
Peninsula in December, 1862, when it was 
transferred to North Carolina, and thence. 



308 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



February 1, 1863, to Hilton Head, South 
Carolina, where they endured all the dangers 
and privations of the siege, sustaining a heavy 
loss in the disastrous assault on Fort Wagner, 
July 18, 1863. In this engagement Colonel 
Voris was seriously wounded in the side, 
wliich necessitated his return home for rest 
and recuperation. 

At the end of sixty days Colonel Voris re- 
joined his regiment, which, in February, 
1864, re-enlisted as veterans and returned to 
Ohio on furlough. Early in May, 1864, the 
regiment joined General Butler's forces at 
Bermuda Hundred, and on the 8th was sent 
to guard the left flank of the Tenth Corps, 
while destroying the railroad from Chester 
Station to Petersburg. On the 19th they liad 
a desperate encounter with the enemy, los- 
ing sixty-seven officers and men in killed and 
wounded, but holding their ground against 
four successive charges. For their conduct on 
this day Colonel Voris and his command were 
highly complimented by General Terry, the 
Colonel being recommended for promotion as 
a brigadier-general of volunteers. The rest 
of the history of this regiment to the close of 
the war was one of glory and honor. May 
20, 1864, in a magnificent charge on the 
enemy's lines, the Sixty-seventh lost sixty-nine 
officers and men killed and wounded, but ac- 
complished the object of the charge — to re- 
cover a portion of our lines which had been 
captured by the rebels. In this engagement 
the rebel. General W. H. S. Walker was cap- 
tured. Colonel Voris relieving him of his 
sword, which he afterwards retained as a 
trophy. In Augu.«t, at Deep Bottom, four 
companies of the Sixty-seventh lost nearly 
one-third of their men in a charge on the 
enemy's rifle-pits, which, however, they cap- 
tured before the rebels could reload their 
guns. During that year the regiment was un- 
der fire 200 times, and, it wsos said by White- 
law Reid, that "out of 600 muskets taken to 
the front in the .spring, three-fifths were laid 
aside during the year on account of cas- 
ualties." 

In the spring nf 186^ the Sixty-seventh was 
actively engaged until the collapse of the re- 



bellion. Its record shows gallant service at 
Fort Gregg, Petersburg, April, where Colonel 
Voris was the first Union officer to enter the 
fort, and at Appomattox, where the Colonel 
received a wound in the left arm from a frag- 
ment of a rebel shell. "Brevetted Brigadier- 
General in 1864, and Major-General in 1865, 
on the close of hostilities General \'oris was 
assigned to command the politico-military 
district of South Anna, Virginia, and, with 
his regiment, to perform garrison and police 
duty. For six months and more the general 
performed the arduous and perplexing duties 
of the position so satisfactorily to all parties 
as to call forth the following commendatory 
notice from the Charlottesville Daib/ Chron- 
icle, of strong rebel proclivities: 'General 
Voris has conducted himself in command 
here in the kindest and most considerate man- 
ner, and has shown himself an energetic, 
faithful, and just oflicer. He leaves with the 
be.st wishes of our people.' " 

From the close of his army service until 
the end of his life, which closed July 28, 
1904, General Voris was actively engaged in 
professional work, and he was honored by an 
election to the Common Pleas Bench, for 
Summit, Medina, and Lorain Counties, No- 
vember 4, 1890. He was also a member of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1873, in the 
deliberations of which he bore a conspicuous 
and honorable part. 

On .lune 20, 1853, Judge Voris married 
Lydia Allyn, who died March 16, 1876, leav- 
ing three children, namely: Edwin F.. now 
senior member of the well-known law firm 
of Voris, Vaughan & Vaughan, of .Akron; 
Lucy, who became the Avife of Charles Baird; 
and B&ssie C, who married William T. Saw- 
ver. General Voris married, for his second 
wife, February 21, 1882, Mrs. Lizzie H. Kel- 
ler, a daughter of the late .Judge C. G. Ladd. 
Mrs. Voris who survives her distinouished 
husband, resides on Diagonal Road, Perkins 
Hill, Akron. 

HON. NEWELL D. TIBBALS, senior 
member of the law firm of Tibbals & Frank, 
at Akron, formerlv state senator, and judge 




HON. NEWELL D. TIBBALS 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



311 



of the Court of Common Plea^, has heen a 
])roiiiiiK'nt factor in public affairs in Sumnut 
County for many years. lie is a native of 
Ohio, and was born at Doerfield, Portage 
County, Ohio, September 18, 1.SM;>, and is a 
son of Alfred M. and Martha (Sweni) Tib- 
bals. 

The parents of Jud.ne Tibbals were pioneers 
in Portage County. The fatlur wius born in 
Massachusetts and the mother in New Jersey, 
a,nd both, in their youth, had accompanied 
older members of the family to this section, 
where the whole of their subsequent lives iwcre 
])a.ssed. They were among the early founders 
of the Methodi.st Episcopal Church.' They bo- 
came people of substance and reared their chil- 
dren in comparative comfort. 

Newell D. Tibbals completed his education 
in 1853 at McLain Academy, then a noted 
.school at Salem, Ohio. Two years of contin- 
uous study of the law prepared him for ad- 
mittance in 1855 to the bar, and he entered 
upon practice at Akron. In 1860 he was 
elected prosecuting attorney, and two year.^ 
later he was re-elected, and in 1865 he was 
elected city solicitor, being the first incum- 
bent of that office. While advancing thus 
rapidly in his profession, he was also becom- 
ing a valuable factor in the Republican party, 
which was proven by his election as state sen- 
ator to represent Portage and Summit Coun- 
ties, and his subsequent service in tlie notable 
sessions of 1866 and 1867. In 1875 he was 
called to the bench, being elected judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas, for the second sub- 
division of the Fourth Judicial District of 
Ohio, to which honorable position he was re- 
elected in 1880. Judge Tibljals continued to 
alJy perform his official duties until the 
spring of 1883, when he resigned in order to 
•levote his attention to the active practice of 
law. 

Judge Tibbals was married Octolicr 22, 
1856, to Lucy A. Morse, l)orn at Randolph, 
Portage Countv, Ohio, Julv 9, 1835, who died 
at Akron, October 28, 1894. She was a lady 
of beautiful Christian character and ininimer- 
ablc virtues. An admirable Tuotber and lov- 
ing wife, her heart was so largi' tliat her gen- 



tle ministrations went out to all who were 
unhappy or in need in any circle. 

She was at the head of many charitable 
organizations, both during the Civil War and 
subsequently, and was the founder of many 
benevolent enterprises, which still prosper and 
remember her with affection and admiration. 
Judge Tibbals and wife had seven children 
and the following still survive: JMrs. Martha 
A. Day, Mrs. Jessie A. Hoover, Mrs, Gier- 
trude A. Stanley, Newell L. and Ralph Waldo. 

i\.lthough Judge Tibbals has always been a 
man with laudable ambitions, he has never 
permitted the high honors conferred on him 
to close his eyes to loyalty to his country, in- 
terest in his city or devotion to his home. In 
1864 he .served as sergeant in Company F, 
164th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Wash- 
ington, D. C. Later he was commiissioned by 
Governor John Brough 'as major of the Fifty- 
fourth Battalion, Ohio National Guard. In 
1886 he was appointed judge advocate for the 
Department of Ohio, G. A. R., and in 1890 
was reappointed and made aide-de-camp to 
Commander-in-Chief R. A. Alger; also was 
on the staff of Commander-in-Chief R. B. 
Brown in 1906. Since the close of the Civil 
War he has constantly interested himself in 
the affaii-s of Buckley Post, No. 12, G. A. R., 
at Akron, and in 1894 was elected its com- 
mander. In that year he was the Post's rep- 
resentative at the National Encampment held 
at Pittsburgh, Penn.sylvania. Since 1887 he 
has been associated in the practice of law with 
Mr. J. C. Frank. 

HON. HENRY C. SANFORD, an able 
member of the Summit County bar, and one 
of Akron's most entei-prisinsi- citizens, is a 
con.spicuous example of the value of self-help, 
through which only he has attained his ]ires- 
ent position in life. He was born at I'oitland. 
Maine, September 11, 1833. 

His father, John Sanford, was a native of 
Maine and an inventive genius, being granted 
several patents, among whicli were those for 
a fanning mill, straw board, a journal for 
reducing friction, a pulley power, a tide mill 
fonc of the most novel) and several others 



312 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



that came into practical use. He married 
Pri.<cilla Delano, by whom he had nine chil- 
dren. The Delanos are of Huguenot ances- 
try, and are descended from the family of 
that name from which came General Grant. 
The first of them to come to this country made 
the passage in the sailing vessel "Fortune/' 
landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where 
the mother of the .subject of this sketch was 
born. 

When he wiis but nine years old, Henry C. 
Sanford's father died, and from that time 
until reaching the age of eighteen he made 
his home with a brother, at Manchester, New 
Hampshire. During his .school days he not 
only kept up with his classes in the Kendall 
Academy, but entered upon an apprenticeship 
in the Manchester Locomotive AVorks. When 
eighteen years old he came to Ohio. For a 
number of years thereafter he followed rail- 
roading, increasing his knowledge and receiv- 
ing steady promotion until he was one of the 
most capable engineers to be found on any of 
the various systems. In the latter part of his 
railroad career he was located for some time 
at Kent, Ohio, as engine dispatcher for the 
Erie Railroad. He also had charge of ordi- 
nary repairs on locomotives at that point. Dur- 
ing his career as a railroad man he encoun- 
tered many dangers and had many trying ex- 
perienc&s. One such occurred near Plymouth. 
when he wa.s engineer for the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy road, which in these days 
might have aaou him a Carnegie medal. It 
was a daring act which endangered his own 
life, to run his train into another for the pur- 
pose of crippling it, and thus prevent it from 
being engulfed at Crooked Creek, where he 
had discovered the bridge had been wa.«hed 
away. 

Before giving up railroading Mr. Sanford 
had procured books and begun the study of 
law. Every spare moment was taken advan- 
tage of. Sometimes he might have been seen 
sitting on the foot-board of his engine with a 
law book in his hand. His determined efforts 
were rewarded by .success. He completed the 
study of his chosen profession at tlie law- 
school of the Universitv of Michigan. .\nn 



^Vrbor, where he was a student for one year 
preceding his admission to the bar. When 
he came to Akron, in 1870, he was already 
recognized as an able attorney, and since then 
he has botli added largely to his professional 
reputation and has also served in public life 
with conspicuous success. Elected prosecuting 
attorney, he served in that important office in 
1S7.3 and 1874, and in 1879 and 1880 as city 
solicitor. Not content with thLs, his fellow- 
citizens .still further showed their appreciation 
of his ability and trustworthiness by electing 
him to the State Legislature, in which he 
served two full terms, covering the years from 
1888 to 1891, inclusive. He is still engaged 
in the active practice of law, having an office 
in Room 1, Arcade Block, Akron. 

Aside from his law practice and public 
service, Mr. Sanford has ever been a useful 
and public-spirited citizen. He has been per- 
sonally connected with the promotion of 
many worthy business enterprises, whose suc- 
ce.«s has contributed largely to the prosperity 
of the city. He was one of the two promoters 
of the Peoples' Savings Bank, and for some 
years a member of its board of directors. In 
the fall of 1907 he organized the Commercial 
Savings Bank of Akron, with a capital .stock 
of $100,000.00, which institution is located in 
the building owned by him, at the corner of 
Main and Exchange Streets. 

Mr. Sanford was married, January 10,1857, 
to Emily J. Fairchild, of Amher.st, Lorain 
County, Ohio. Mrs. Sanford died March 6, 
1890, having borne her husband three chil- 
dren, namely: AVilliam H., a graduate of the 
Cincinnati Law School, who is engaged in the 
real estate business in Akron; Burton L, who 
is now deceased; and May F., who for the 
past five years has had charge of the art de- 
partment at Buchtel College. 

WILLIAM T. VAUGHAN. a member of 
the prominent law firm of Voris, Vaughan & 
Vaughan, of Akron, Ohio, was born in Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 
1860, and is a son of Thomas and Catherine 
Vaughan, who was married in Ireland, in 
1848. His mother's maiden name was Cath- 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



313 



urine Callahan. The}- eauie to America from 
Ireland in the same year, and to Sunnnit 
County in 1849, and engaged in farming in 
Coventry Township in 1850, where he resided 
until his death in 1892. His wife Catherine 
died in 1884. He took a prominent part in 
local politics and was well and favorably 
known in his locality. They reared a family 
of seven sons, namely : Maiuice, who is con- 
nected with the freight department of the B. 
it 0. Railroad Company, at .Vkron; Timothy, 
residing on the old farm; Thomas, who was 
a graduate of St. Charles, Md., died in 1892; 
William T., who is a middle member of the 
law firm of Voris, Vaughan & A'aughan ; Cor- 
nelius, who is a foreman of the B. F. Goodrich 
Company ; Richard, re-siding on the old farm, 
and John R., wlio is the jmiior member of the 
la^^• firm of Voris, Vaughan & Vaughan. 

William T. Vaughan spent his boyhood 
days on a farm, and was educated at Buchtel 
College, Akron, and the Ohio Northern Uni- 
versity. He taught in the public schools in 
Summit County for fourteen years. He 
.studied law in the law office of Watters and 
Phelps, and was admitted to the bar in Oc- 
tober, 1894. He is interested in politics and 
in 1884 was elected clerk of Coventry Town- 
ship. In 1898 he was appointed member of 
the Board of Control of the Akron Public Li- 
brary, and is at present, 1907, president of 
said board. He was married to Mary Doherty 
in 1897 at Hudson. Ohio, and they have four 
children — Wilola, Francis, Eldred and Wil- 
liam T., Jr. Mr. Vaughan and family be- 
long to the Catholic Church, and he belongs 
to the order of the Knights of Columbus. 

JOHN R. VAUGHAN, a member of the 
prominent law firm of Voris. Vaughan. & 
Vaughan, of Akron, was born in Coventry 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 1869, 
and is a son of the late Thomas Vaughan. He 
was reared in his native township, where he 
attended school, after which he was for some 
time a student at Buchtel College. He then 
taught for two years in the public schools, 
and subsequently entered the Northern Ohio 
University at Ada. where he completed his lit- 



ertu-y education. He then engaged in the in- 
surance busines tis general agent for the 
Union Central Life Insurance Company, of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, which position he resigned 
to accept a position with C. T. Parks, under- 
taker, and remained with him for three years. 
Almost immediately on entering into business 
life he 'began to take an interest in politics, 
and was soon appointed deputy-sheriff, which 
position he filled for three yeai-s, when he 
resigned to take charge of the Akron District 
Telegraph Company. He was with this con- 
cern but a short time when he was appointed 
justice of the peace, in November, 1900, to 
serve out the unexpired term of E. J. Hard. 
In the meanwhile he had begun the study of 
law with the firm of Vaughan & Phelps, and 
was admitted to the bar in December, 1902. 
He immediately began practice with his 
brother, under the style of Vaughan & 
Vaughan, the firm being expanded later by 
the admission of Edwin F. Voris, when the 
present style of Voris, Vaughan & Vaughan 
was adopted. In addition to his law practice, 
which is considerable, Mr. Vaughan has large 
farming interests, and is one of the lead'ug 
citizens of this section. 

He was married, June 28, 1905, lo Mrs. 
Margaret Anne (Kennedy) Nelan. He is a 
member of St. Vincent de Paul's Callioli'; 
church, and is fraternally connected with the 
Knights of Columbus, the Maccabees, and An- 
cient Order of Hibernians. 

HON. CHARLES G. LADD, once promi- 
nent in the professional and social life of 
Akron, and the first probate judge ever elected 
in Summit County, was born June 22, 1822, 
at Rutland, Vermont. He came to Akron in 
the spring of 1840. his sister being already 
a resident of this city, and the wife of General 
Lucius V. Bierce. He was a young man of 
ability, but was largely dependent upon his 
own efforts, and by serving as a deputy to the 
United States marshal at Akron, he earned 
enough money to enable him to complete his 
education at the Western Reserve College. 
After adequate study in the office of General 
Bierce, he was admitted to the bar in 1845, 



314 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and \va.'< takoii iiitn partnership by his brother- 
in-law, under the lirm name of Bierce and 
Ladd. In the fall of 1851, he was elected 
probate judge of Summit County, but his 
health was then failing and the duties of the 
ofiice were aceordingiy delegated to Alvin C. 
A'oris, who was made liis deputy, and who 
f^erved as such until the lamented death of 
Judge Ladd, July 30, 1852. 

Judge Ladd was married July 12, 1845, to 
Hannali Ermina Williams, who was a daugh- 
ter of Barnabas "\Mlliams, one of the founders 
of Akron, Ohio. They had three children, 
namely: Walter C, Lizzie, and Emma E. 
^^"alter C. Ladd, born June 21, 1843, was mar- 
ried December 23, 1869, to Genevra F. Oviatt. 
and died in 1902. Lizzie, now residing on 
Diagonal Road, Perkins Hill, Akron, is the 
widow of the late GJen. A. C. Voris. She is a 
lady of social prominence in this city and is 
a charter member of the Daughters of the 
I-tev'olution. Emma E., the youngest daugh- 
ter, is the -widow of Albert J. McMeil, who died 
July 10, 1873. She has one child, Grace E., 
Avife of C4eorge B. Merrill, who is connected 
with the Robinson Clay Product Company. 
They have t-wo children — Henry and James. 

Judge Ladd died while Ijut at the entrance 
of what promised to be a brilliant and useful 
career. He served one term as mayor of 
Akron, and almost every office of trust and 
responsibility was within his gra.^p. 

HON. R. M. AVANAMAKER, attorney of 
Akron, was born at North Jackson, Mahoning 
County, Ohio, son of Daniel anl Laura (Scho- 
enberger) W^anamaker. He completed his 
literary education at the Ohio Nonnal Uni- 
versity, at Ada, Ohio. He began the study of 
law under Ridenour tt Halfhill, of Lima, in 
the fall of 1891 entered the law depailment 
at Ada University, and was graduated there- 
from in the spring of 1893, being admitted to 
the bar in Mai'ch of the same year. He came 
to Akron in September, 1893, and in October 
folloAving the firm of Young & Wanamaker 
A\as established. In 1895 Mr. Wanamaker 
v.'as elected prosecuting attorney of Summit 



County. He i- a ujember (it !!:<■ Stale liar 
Association, and of several fraternal order.-. 
In 1906 he was elected to the ottice of the 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the 
district composed of Summit, Medina and 
Lorain Counties. Judge Wanamaker was a 
very successful lawyer and ably filled the of- 
fice of prosecuting attorney for two terms, 
and during this time he reinesented the state 
in the celebrated case of the State of Ohio 
against Cottell for murder, and also prose- 
cuted a large number of indictments for riot, 
growing out of the great riot and destruction 
of proj^erty that occurred in the city of Ak- 
ron. He has entered now upon the discharge 
of his duties as Common Pleas Judge a. id 
hi(l~ to become as successful in that office as 
he was in the office of prosecuting atloniry. 

HON. C. R. GRANT, senior member of the 
law firm of Grant, Sieber & Mather, at Akron, 
and for se^veral terms probate judge of Sum- 
mit County, though >a resident of Ohio since 
1864, was born in Nesv Haven County, Con- 
necticut, October 23, 1846. When a school 
boy of only fifteen years, he demonstrated his 
patrioti.sm and manly cjualities by enlis-ting 
in the service of his eountry, being accepted, 
although so A'oung, as a member of the 
Twelfth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteer 
Infantry. He was later a.'Nsigned as beai-er 
of dispatches for se\-eral of the noted officers 
of the Union army in the Civil War, among 
them General B. F. Butler and Creneral Banks, 
serving on the staff of the latter general until 
October, 1863, when he was honorably dis- 
charged and returned to Connecticut. 

In April, 1864, Mr. Grant .settled on a farm 
in the neighborhood of Cuyahoga Falls, 
where, during his leisure moments, he pre- 
pared for college by pi'ivate study, and in 
September, 1868, he entered the freslnnan 
class of tlie Western Reserve College, at Cleve- 
land. A brilliant student, he was graduated 
at the head of his class, which consisted of 
eighteen members, dn 1872. receiving valedic- 
torian honors. For the two following years 
he was engaged in the .^udy of law under the 
supen'ision of Judge N. D. Tibbals, ai Akron, 




HON. C. R. (iRAXT 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



317 



and in 1874 lie was admitted to the bar. Close 
attention to study had somewhat impaired his 
health, and, therefore, he wisely returned for 
_a Avhile to the invigorating life of the farm. 
In 1876 Mr. Grant entered into partnership 
with H. B. Foster, of Hudson, and in the fall 
of that year the law firm of Foster, jMar\in & 
Grant was organize ' and continued in busi- 
ness at Akron until Sej^tember 16, 1883. 
This congenial association was then dissolved, 
owing to the junior member being appointed 
probate judge of Summit County by Governor 
Foster, to fill the vacancy caused by the death 
of Judge Goodhue. Twice afterward, in 1884, 
and in 1887, Judge Grant was elected to the 
bench and served through the w-hole period, 
acquitting himself with credit, and never for- 
getting thait he was entrusted with the admin- 
istration of an office, not only of honor, but 
of grave responsibilit}". He returned to his 
private practice, with 'many friends botli on 
the bench and bar. His present offices, with 
(he firm of Grant, Sieber & ]\lather, are in the 
Dobson Building. 

Judge Grant was married (first) October 9, 
1873, to Frances J. Wadhams, who died Sep- 
tember 14, 1874. He married (second), No- 
vember 9, 1876, Lucy J. Alexander, who died 
June 8, 1880, lea\ing one child, Frances Vir- 
ginia, who was born September 24, 1877. The 
third marriage of Judge Grant took place Au- 
gust 19. 1S91. U) Ida Schick, by whom he has 
two sun-iving children, Louise E.. and lone. 

WILLIAM E. YOUNG, of the firm of Al- 
len, Waters, Young and Andress, attorneys, 
of Akron, was born at Mount Hope, Holmes 
County. Ohio. February 3, 1863, son of Mat- 
thias and Catherine (King) Young. In 1882 
he entered the Ohio Normal L'nivei-sity from 
which he was graduated in 1888. He .studied 
his profession in the law department of the 
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and 
was graduated in 1892. He was admitted to 
the bar in March, 1892, and on January 1, 
1893, opened a law office in the Pflueger 
Block, on Howard Street, Akron. In October, 
1893. he formed a partnei-ship with Mr. Wana- 
niaker. In April. 1897. he was clectid mayor 



of Akron. November 1, 1906, Mr. Young 
assumed his present firm relationship, as above 
noted. 

WILLIAM T. SAWYER, attorney, of 
Akron, was, born in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, December 1, 1862, son 
of Robert V. and Martha Ann Sawyer. After 
liis father's death, which occurred in ]\larch, 
1877, he accompanied his mother to Akron. 
He spent two years in the city schools and 
two years in the preparatory department of 
Bucbtel College, and was then admitted to the 
college proper, from which he was graduated 
in June, 1887. After some time spent in 
travel, he began to read law under the direc- 
tion of the firm of Kornie and Caldw^ell. He 
was admitted to the bar of Tennessee in May, 
1888, and then returned to Akron. Here he 
further pui-sued the study of law and was ad- 
mitted to the bai- of Ohio in June, 1890, since 
which time he has been engaged in the active 
and .successful practice of his profession. Mr. 
Sawyer was elected mayor of the city of Ak- 
ron, in the fall of 1907, after a very spirited 
contest and his term of otfice will begin in 
January, 1908. 

SAMUEL G. ROGERS, a member of the 
law firm of Rogere, Rowley and Rockwell, of 
Akron, was born in this city, November 6, 
1865, son of Jaseph M. and Sarah J. (Gray- 
bill) Rogers. In 1885 he entered the law of- 
fice of Judge U. L. Marvin to begin the study 
of liis profession. After being graduated 
with honors from the Cincinnati Law School 
in 1887, he was admitted to the bar, and lie- 
gan the practice of his profession in Akron. 
In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney 
of Summit County, in which office he .sensed 
efficiently for three years. He has since con- 
tinued in the practice of his profession, and is 
now a conspicuous figure at the Summit 
County bar. He is one of the attorneys for 
the Northern Ohio Traction and Light Com- 
pany and is recognized as one of the most 
successful and efficient trial lawyers in the 
countv. 



318 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



GEORGE G. ALLEJSI, attorney, of Akron, 
member of the law firm of Allen, Waters, 
Young and Andre.ss, was born in Granger, 
Medina County,«Ohio, August 26, 1855. He 
was graduated from the Akron High school 
in 1S73, and began the study of law in the 
offices of John J. Hall and Edward Oviatt. 
He then took a six months' course in the law 
dqaartment of Michigan Univereity, at Ann 
Ax'bor, and was admitted to the bai' at Akron 
in August, 187(i. He began practice in as- 
sociation witli Edward Oviatt under the firm 
name of Oviatt and ^Vllen, and has since built 
up a very successful practice. He has taken 
an active part also in business and public af- 
fairs, and in 1883 was for a short time acting 
mayor of Akron. 

HON. DAYTON A. DOYLE, judge of the 
Common Pleas Court, was born in Akron, Sep- 
tember 27, 1856. He was graduated from the 
Higli scJiool in June, 1874, and from Buehtel 
College, with the degree of A. B., June 26, 
1878. After reading law for one year in the 
office of attornej'-general Jacob A. Kohler, 
lie entered the Cincinnati Law school, from 
which he was graduated May 26, 1880, wdth 
the degree of ]^L. B. He was admitted to 
the bar in the Supreme Court of Ohio, at 
Columbus, May 27, 1880, and to practice in 
the United States Courts, at Cleveland, May 
26, 1882. In 1885 he opened a law office in 
Akron, l)eing 'a.-^sociated as a partner with 
Frederick C. Bryan, Esq. In April of that 
year be was elected city solicitor, and he was 
re-elected to that office in April, 1887, ef- 
liciciitlv jxTforming its duties for four years. 
Up to tlic time of his elevation to the bench. 



he was one of the most prominent and suc- 
cessful attorneys practicing in Akron. 

FRANK D. CASSIDY was born January 
29, 1849, at Peninsula, Summit County, Ohio, 
son of William P. and Caroline M. (Kohler) 
Cassidy. After some exinerience in mercan- 
tile business, he began the study of law in 
1877 with the firm of Edgerton & Kohler, and 
was admitted to the bar in March, 1879. He 
has since j^racticed his profession in Akron 
and has made a reputation as an able attor- 
ney. He married, in 1878, Miss Sarah J. 
Francis, a daughter of Joseph Francis. 

NATHAN MORSE, ESQ., was born at 
Union, Tolland Countj^, Connecticut, Novem- 
ber 2, 1848; he was reared on a farm and 
graduated from Amherst College in 1874. 
He studied law with Senator George F. Hoar 
and at Boston University; and on examina- 
tion was admitted to the Suffolk (Boston) 
bar in 1875. After being a short time in 
Holyoke, Mass., lie located at New Hartford, 
Conn., in 1876, and in -June of that year he 
married Miss Ellen AVhite, of South Hadlev 
Falls, Mass. In April, 1882, he moved to Ak- 
ron, where he has since been engaged in the 
succes-;ful practice of the law. He has been 
closelv identified with The People's Savings 
Bank Company, as stockholder, director, and 
its attorney since about the time of its organi- 
zation. During all his Akron life, he has 
been connected with the First Congregational 
Church. Has been twice a delegate to the 
National Council of that body, and is now the 
registrar of Puritan Conference of the 
churches of that denomination. 



CHAPTER XX 



STATISTICS 



Population of Akron (ceu^us of 

1900) 42,728 

State rank of Akron according to jjop- 

ulation 7 

National rank of Akron according to 

population 87 

Valuation of Akron's proijerty ac- 
cording to general tax dupli- 
cate $22,(3-14,670.00 

Miles of paved streets in Akron '60 

Miles of sanitary sewers in Akron ... 75 

It is interesting to compare the neighbor 
cities of Youngstown arid Canton in respect 
to the last two items. Youngstown has seven- 
teen miles of paved streets and fifty-four miles 
of sanitary sewers. Canton haa eighteen miles 
of paVed streets and thirt3'-five miles of san- 
itary sewers. 

The sixth census — that of 1840 — does not 
give the population of Akron. Summit 
County is given 22,560. At that time Cleve- 
land had 6,071 ; Steubenville, 4,247 ; Zanes- 
ville. 4,766; and Chillicothe, 3,977. 



Census 
of 1850 

Bath 1,400 

Boston 1,180 

Coplev 1,541 

Coventry 1,299 

Franklin 1,674 

Green 1,928 

Hudson 1,457 

Northampton 1,147 

Northfield 1,474 

Norton 1,346 

PortaiTc 1,160 

Akron 3,266 

Richfield 1.268 



nsus 
1860 
1,165 
1,202 
1,323 
1,368 
1,820 
1,885 
869 
972 
1.340 
1,524 
1,328 
3,477 
1.053 



Springfield 1,907 1,815 

Stow 1,701 994 

Tallmadge 2.4513 1,086 

Twinsburg 1,281 1,141 

Cuyahoga Falls l,51o 

Middlebury 710 

ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OK AKRON. 

Book 219, page 253. 

SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Cmui- 
cil of the City of Akron, Ohio, that as the 
inhabitants of said City generally desire to 
enlarge the corporate limits of said City by 
the annexation of the following territory, to 
wit: 

Situated in the Township of Coventry, 
County of Summit, and State of Ohio, be- 
ginning at a point in the pre.sent south line 
of the Corporation of Akron, 180 feet ea-t 
of the center line of Brown street, which cen- 
ter line is also the west line of Lot No. 5, 
Tract 9, Coventry Township, and said Vje- 
ginning point is also 595.65 feet south of 
the north line of said Lot 5, and center line 
of South street; Thence south 0° 55' west 
2082.95 feet to a point in the south line of 
said lot 5, 180 feet east of the southwest cor- 
ner thereof; Thence south 1° west 1004.70 
feet to a point 180 feet east of the west line 
of Lot 6, in said Tract 9. Thence south 89" 
36' wesit 11712.87 feet to a point in Lot No. 
7, Tract 2, Coventry Township; Thence 
north 0° 39' 30" east 42157.45 feet to a point 
in the north line of Coventry Township; 
Thence nearly east along said north line of 
Coventry Township 2090 feet to a corner of 
Coventry Township; Thence east along the 
north Hne of Coventry Township 2430.50 



320 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



feet to a point in the west line of the corpo- 
ration of jVkron ; Thence south 2940 feet along 
said west line to the southwest corner of said 
corporation; Thence nearly east 2900 feet 
along the center of Crosier street ; it being the 
Ijresent south line of said corporation and 
about 82" 58' east 437 feet to a point in the 
center line of Main Street; Thence north 
19" 48' east about 235 feet along the center 
line of Main street and line of said corpora- 
tion ; Thence nearly east 5230 feet along the 
south lino of said corporation to the begin- 
ning. The courses here given as true merid- 
ian. 

KSituated in the Township of Ponage, 
County of Summit, and State of Ohio, begin- 
ning at a point in the Portage Path at the 
northeast corner of Tract No. 5, Coventry 
Township; Thence west along the south line 
of Portage Township 278.97 feet ; Thence 
north 0" 39' 30"' east 14486.65 feet to a point 
in Lot No. 10, west of the Portage Path in 
Portage Township; thence south 89° 13' 30" 
east 6362.87 feet to a point in the east line of 
the towing path on the east side of the Ohio 
Canal ; Thence along said east line of said 
towing path the following courses and dis- 
tances; north 2° 31' 30" west 685.30 feet; 
north 13° 18' 30" west 225.00 feet; north 6" 
12' 30" west 1343.40 feet; Thence leaving .said 
towing path and running north 89° 33' 30" 
(>ast (3075 feet to a point in the east line of 
Lot No. 3, in Tract 3, Portage Township; 
Thence along the line between lots Nos. 3 and 
4 in Tract 3, and lots Nos. 4 and 5 in Tract 6, 
smith 0° 18' 30" west 1978.50 feet to the cen- 
ter line of Tallmadge avenue; Thence along 
the east line of Lot 22, in tract 6, and the 
same continued south 0° 57' 30" west 4018 
feet to a point in the line between Tracts 
Nos. 6 and 7 ; Thence south 89° 51' west 504 
feet to the east line of the corporation of 
Akron in Tract 6; Thence along the present 
east line of said corporation in Tract 6, north 
1 907.75 feet to a corner of said corporation ; 
Thence running nearly west 9180 feet along 
the present north line of said corporation in 
Trncts 6 and 5 to the jiresont northwest cor- 
ner of said corporation; 'l'iicnc(> ninirly sdutb 



104.30 feet along the present west line of said 
corporation to the south line of Portage 
Township; Thence west along the south line 
of Portage Township 2430.50 feet to a point 
in the Portage Path; Thence southerly along 
said Portage Path and along a line of Portage 
Township 2090 feet to the beginning. 

The courses here given are true meridian. 

This Ordinance passed August 14, 1899. 
An ordinance accepting the application of 
the City of Akron for the annexation of ter- 
ritory above described was passed by Akron 
City Council, April 23, 1900. Instrument 
dated April 26. 1900. Received April 27, 
1900. at 1:10 p. m. 

Book 219, page 616. 

An Ordinance autliorizing the annexation 
of certain contingent territory to the City of 
Akron. The following described territory is 
herebv authorized to be annexed, to wit: 

The part of Lot 11, W. P. P. in the Town- 
ship of Portage, Sunnnit County, Ohio, and 
bounded and described as follows: 

l^eginning at a point in the west corpora- 
tion line of the City of Akron, where said 
corporation line intersects the north line of 
Portage Park Allotment as recorded in Plat 
Book 7, page 50, Summit County Records of 
Plats; Thence west along the north line of 
said allotment in Mull Avenue, and along a 
continuation of said north line due west to 
the center of West Exchange street, a dis- 
tance of about 1421.60 feet; Thence south- 
easterly along the center line of West Ex- 
change street to its intersection with the west 
corporation line of the city about 1931.40 
feet; Thence north along the west corpora- 
tion line of said City of Akron about 1336.50 
feet to the place of beginning, containing 
about twenty-two acres of land, twelve acres 
of which land is a part of the Portage Park 
Allotment and 6.41 acres of said 22 acres 
subject to public streets surrounding it as set 
apart for a public park. 

Passed November 17, 1902. Ordinance 
passed by Citv Council of Akron, Ohio, to 
accept the annexation of the above premises 
to the City of Akron, pas.sed April 20. 1903. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



821 



Instrument dated Mav 1, 1903. Received 
May 4, 1903, at 10:50 a. m. 

THE TREATY OF FOKT Si'lXTOSH IN 1785. 

On the 21.^t of January, 1785, George 
Rogei'.-i Clark, Riehard Butler and Arthur Lee 
met a body of Indian.s at Fort Mclnto.sh, who 
asserted them.*elve.s to be repre.-ientative.-; of 
the Wyandot.*, Delaware^, Chippewas and 
Ottawas. The document they signed on that 
occaiiion and known afterward as the Treaty 
of Fort Mcintosh is in the word.s and figures 
following : 

"The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the 
United States in Congress assembled, give 
peace to the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa 
and Ottawa nations of Indians, on the follow- 
ing conditions: 

Article 1. Three chiefs, one from among 
the Wyandot and two from among the Dela- 
ware nations, shall be delivered up to the 
commissioners of the United States, to be by 
them retained till all the prisoners, white and 
black, taken by the said nations, or any of 
them, shall be restored. 

Article 2. The said Indian nations do ac- 
knowledge themselves and all their tribes to 
lie under the protection of the United States, 
and of no other sovereign whatever. 

Article 3. The boundary line between the 
United States and Wyandot and Delaware 
nations, .shall begin at the mouth of the 
River Cuyahoga, and run thence up the said 
river to the portage between that and the 
Tuscarawas branch of Muskingum, then down 
the said branch to the forks at the crossing 
place above Fort Lawrence; then westerly to 
the portage of the Big Miami, which runs 
into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch 
the fort stood which was taken by the French 
in one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two; 
then along the said portage to the Great Mi- 
ami or Ome River, and down the southeast 
side of the same to its mouth ; thence along 
the south shore of Lake Erie, to the mouth of 
Cuyahoga, where it began. 

Article 4. The United States allot all the 
lands contained within the said lines, to the 



\\'yandot and Delaware nations, to live and 
to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation 
as now live thereon ; saving and reserving for 
the establishment of trading posts, six miles 
square at the mouth of Miami or Ome River, 
and the same at the portage on that branch 
of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, 
and the same on the Lake of Sanduske where 
the fort formerlj- stood, and also two miles 
square on each side of the lower rapids of 
Sanduske River, which posts, and the lands 
annexed to them, shall be to the use and un- 
der the Government of the United States. 

Article 5. If any citizen of the United 
States, or other person not being an Indian, 
shall attempt to settle on any of the lands al- 
loted to the Delaware and Wj^andot nations 
in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to 
the United States in the preceding article, 
such person shall forfeit the protection of the 
United States, and the Indians may punish 
him as they please. 

Article 6. The Indians who sign this 
treat}', as well in behalf of all their tribes as 
of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, 
south and we.st of the lines described in the 
third article, so far as the said Indians former- 
ly claimed the same, to belong to the L'nited 
States ; and none of their tribes shall presume 
to settle upon the same or any part of it. 

Article 7. The post of Detriot, with a dis- 
trict beginning at the mouth of the river Ro- 
sine, on the west end of Lake Erie, and run- 
ning we.st six miles up the southern bank of 
the said river, thence northerly and always in 
six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the 
Lake St. Clair, shall be also reserved to the 
sole use of the United States. 

Article 8. In the same manner, the post 
of Michillimachinac with its dependencies and 
twelve miles square about the same, shall be 
reserved to the use of the United Stat<.\«. 

Article 9. If any Indian of Indians shall 
commit a robbery or murder on any citizen 
of the United States, the tribe to which such 
offenders may belong, shall be bound to de- 
liver them up at the nearest past, to l^e pun- 
i-hfd according to the ordinances of the 
United States. 



322 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Article 10. Tlie commissioners of the 
United States in pursuance of the humane 
and H'beral views of Congress, upon this 
treaty's being signed, will direct goods to be 
distributed among the different tribes for 
their use and comfort. 

Separate Article. It is agreed that the Dela- 
ware chiefs, Kelelarrand, or Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Henry (alias Killbuck), Hengue Pushees 
or the Big Cat, Wicocalind or Captain White 
Eyes, who took up the hatchet for the United 
States, and their families, shall be received 
into the Delaware nation, in the same situa- 
tion and rank as before the war, and enjoy 
their due portion of the lands given to the 
Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty 
as fully as if they had not taken part with 



America, or as any other person, or persons 

in the said nations. 

■ Geo. Clark, Packelant. 

Richard Butler, Cingewauno, 

Arthur Lee, Waanoos, 

Daunghquat, Konalawassee, 

Abraham Kuhn, Siiawnaqum, 

Ottawerreri, Tnecookia. 

Hobocan, Wingeniim, 

Walendightun, Talapoxie, 

Witnes.s — Samuel J. Atlee, Francis John- 
ston, Commissioners of Pennsylvania; Alex- 
ander Campbell; Joseph Harmar, Colonel 
Commandant; Alexander Lowrey; Joseph 
Nicholas, interpreter; J. Bradford; George 
Slaughter; Van Swearingen; John Boggs; (t. 
Evans; D. Luckett. 




COL. SIMON PERKINS 



Representative Citizens 



COL. SIMON PERKINS. In Grace Park, 
Akron, stands a granite monument, which was 
erected by thi^ city, in 1895, in memory of its 
greatest philanthropist and one of its most 
distinguished former citizens. It recalls to 
memory one whose almost entire life was gen- 
erously given to promote the prosperity of 
Akron and to advance the happiness of her 
citizens. Simon Perkins was born February 
6, 1805, at Warren, Ohio, where he was reared 
to manhood, and was a son of General Simon 
and Nancy (Bishop) Perkins, nativ&s of Nor- 
wich, Connecticut. 

Colonel Perkjns traced a clear line of ances- 
try back to Puritan forefathers. General Si- 
mon Perkins attained his military rank while 
commanding the United States forces in 
Northern Ohio, during the War of 1812. He 
had moved from Connecticut and settled at 
Warren, Ohio, in 1801, where he was made 
commissioner of the Connecticut AVestern Re- 
serve Land Company. 

During his early manhood. Colonel Simon 
Perkins was associated with his father in han- 
dling the large amount of land which the lat- 
ter had acquired, and it was in relation to 
land that he came to Akron, in 1835. This 
city, then an insignificant one, became his per- 
manent home and as years went by greatly 
benefitted by his public spirit, his far-seeing 
judgment and his liberal and broad-cast gen- 
erosity. From the first he was a man of 
force and energy in every direction, and four 
years after coming to Summit County he was 
elected a member of the State Senate, and in 



1841-42 of the House of Representatives, from 
this county. The selection of the county seat 
was one of the questions in which Colonel Per- 
kins took a personal interest, and he was the 
champion of many of the important meas- 
ures which now appear as laws on the State 
records. 

While political life had many attractions 
for a virile, ambitious man like Colonel Per- 
kins, agricultural employments also claimed a 
large part of his attention. He advocated 
farming along the most modern lines then 
known, and was the pioneer live-stock breeder, 
from standard stock, in this section. He 
owned hundreds of acres of productive land. 
He was also one of the first to see the ad- 
ventages accruing from an extended line of 
railroad through Summit County, to run 
through Akron, and was the first pre=ident 
of the Cleveland, Zancsville & Cincinnati, now 
the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad, 
later becoming its general superintendent. In 
pushing the interests of this line. Colonel Per- 
kins is credited with sinking a large fortune, 
but even he could never have imagined the 
beneficial results this great transportation line 
has brought to the country through which 
it is operated. Perhaps no other citizen con- 
tributed so much, in time, energy, land and 
money, to the material development of Ak- 
ron, as did this broad-souled, large-hearted 
man. He lived to see the industrial, educa- 
tional and charitable institutions which he 
had more or less founded, enter upon a peri- 
od of pro.?perity, and to realize, in a small 
degree at least, the gratitude of his fellow- 



32(3 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



citizens. His death occurred July 21, 1887, 
at the age of over eighty-two years. 

Colonel Perkins was married in 1832, to 
Grace I. Tod, a daughter of Judge George 
and Sally (IngersoU) Tod, and a sister of the 
late Governor David Tod, a sketch of whom 
may be found in this work. Of the eleven 
children born of this marriage, ten reached 
maturity, and seven still survive. The Colo- 
nel's eldest son, Colonel George T. Perkins, is 
one of Akron's most prominent business men, 
being president of the B. F. Goodrich Com- 
pany and of the Akron Rubber Com])any. 
Mrs. Perkins died Ajirll 6, 1'867, aged fifty- 
six years. 

JOHN FREDERICK SEIBERLING, a 

former cdtizen of Akron, where he was for 
many years identified with a number of the 
important business interests of the city, 
some of which were directly the result of his 
own genius and energy, was born March 10, 
1834, at Norton, Ohio. He was one of a 
family of fifteen children (thirteen of whom 
grew to maturity) born to his parents, who 
were Nathan and Catherine (Peters) Seiber- 
ling. 

Mr. Seiberling completed his education at 
the Western Star Academy, and for two years, 
from 1856 to 1858, he was in the drug busi- 
ness at Akron. He was, however, of a me- 
chanical turn of mind, and in the latter year 
went to operating a sawmill at Norton. It 
was while there that he invented his noted 
E'xcehior mower and reaper, with the drop- 
per attachment, and in 1861 he established 
works for their manufacture at Doylestown, 
which are still in operation. By 1864 the 
business had sn exjianded that extra works 
were needed, which were erected at Ma«sil- 
lon. In 1865 the J. F. Seiberling Company 
was established at Akron, but in 1869, Mr. 
Seiberling withdrew and then began" the 
manufacture of tlie Emprrc machine, which 
is so well known all over the country. Mr. 
Seiberling by this time not only had a per- 
fect knowledge of business conditions and 
trade relations in every section, but he had 
command of a large amount of capital, and 



in 1871 he organized the Akron Strawboard 
Company, which he conducted until 1887. 
In 1883 he founded the Seiberling Milling 
Company and at this time built a six-story 
brick flouring mill, as well as the Academy 
of Music Block. In 1889 Mr. Seiberling ob- 
tained a controlling interest in the Akron 
Electric Street Railway. Later he expanded 
other inportant interests both in Akron and 
at other points. 

On September 6, 1859, Mr. Seilierling was 
married to Catherine L. Miller, of Norton, 
Their family numbered eleven children, nine 
of whom are still living. They are as fol- 
lows: Anna A., wife of S. Samuel Miller, of 
Akron; Frank A., president and general 
manager of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber 
Company, who married Gertrude F. Penfield, 
and resides at No. 158 Ea^t Market Street; 
Charles W., trea.surer of the Goodyear Tire 
and Rubber Company, who married Blanche 
Carnahan, and resides at No, 76 Fay Street; 
Co-ra D., wife of Lewis T. Wolle, of Cam- 
bria, Wyoming; Harriet M., wife of LuciiLS 
C. Miles, of Akron; Grace I., wife of Dr. W. 
S. Chase, of Akron; Kittie G., wife of Luther 
H. Firey, of Kansas City; Mary B., iwife of 
Henry B. Manton, of Akron;. Ruth J., wife 
of Ernest A. Pfleuger, also of Akron. The 
two decea.sed are John Frederick and Maude 
M., both of whom died in infancy. Mr. John 
Frederick Seiberling, the father of these chil- 
dren, died September 6, 1903. His widow 
still survives, and re.sides at No. 144 East 
Market Street. 

Mr. Seiberling wa.« a man who was honor- 
able, prompt, and true to every engagement. 
Throughout his career of far-reaching use- 
fulness he remembered with a generous heart 
those who had not been so fortunate, and 
in quiet benevolence brought much cheer to 
those who needed it. For many years he 
was a member and a trustee of the Trinity 
Lutheran Church. 

JAMES R. HEMPHILL, general manager 
of the Colonial Sign and Insulator Company, 
at Akron, was born in Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1860, and is a son of Robert. Hemphill, 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



327 



who came to Summit County about 1855, 
where he was first a farmer and later a dealer 
in lumber. 

James R. Hemphill was educated in the 
schools of Fairlawn and Akron and started 
into business as an employe of the Aultman- 
Miller Company, with whom he remained 
five years. Since then, with the exception 
of a period of two years, he has been en- 
gaged in his present business, first with the 
Akron Insulator and Marble Company, which 
was organized in 1894, and which in 1904 
was consolidated with the Colonial Sign 
Company. The business was incorporated 
with a capital stock of $50,000, as the Co- 
lonial Sign & Insulator Company, with H. 
B. Camp, president ; C. R. Quine, secretary ; 
W. H. Motz, treasurer, and James R. Hemp- 
hill, general manager. Mr. Hemphill has al- 
ways displayed a helpful interest in under- 
takings out.side his own sphere of work 
which have promised to benefit the city, and 
while never active in politics, performs every 
duty of a good citizen. In 1890 he was mar- 
ried to Louada Weeks, and they have had 
two children, Helen and Ray, the former of 
whom is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hem])hill 
are members of the Fir.*t Congregational 
Church. 

GEN. SIMON PERKINS. Verj^ many of 
the prominent families of Ohio trace their 
ance.~try to Connecticut, and this is the case 
with the distinguished Perkins family. Si- 
mon Perkins, who for so long a period was 
one of the leading men of Ohio, was born at 
Li.sbon. Conneetiout, September 17, 1771. 
In 1795 he is found at Oswego, New York, 
and in 1798 he was chosen by the Erie Land 
Company to act as its agent in the explora- 
tion of the Western Reserve, and in this ca- 
pacity he spent his .summers in Ohio. After 
his marriage, he settled permanently at War- 
ren, Ohio, where he was postmaster from 
1801 to 1829, and was also special agent of 
the government in establishing local oflices 
and treating with the Indians. In August, 
1812. as brigadier general of militia, he took 
oliarge of the troops in Northern Ohio and 



marched to defend the northern frontier. At 
the close of the campaign in the following 
year, he was offered by President Madison a 
commission as colonel in the regular army, 
which military honor he declined on account 
of his many pressing business duties. 

In 1813 General Perkins organized the 
Western Reserve Bank and remained its 
president until 1836. He was a member of 
the Ohio Canal Fund Commission from 1826 
until 1838. In 1825, in association with 
Paul Williams, he founded the village of 
Akron, and in 1831, in connection with 
Judge King and Dr. Cro.siby, that portion 
known as North Akron. He donated ground 
for public buildings, parks, schools and 
churches, and enriched in every possible way 
the young town where he enjoyed passing 
much of his spare time. He died at War- 
ren November 6, 1844, aged 73 years, one 
month and nineteen days. 

On March 18, 1804, he married Nancy 
Bishop, who was born at Lisbon, Connecti- 
cut, January 24, 1780, and who died at War- 
ren April 24, 1862, aged eighty-two years 
and three months. Among their children 
was Colonel Simon Perkins, now deceased, 
who for many years was a leading figure in 
the affairs of Akron. Colonel George Tod 
Perkins, president of the P. F. Goodrich 
Company and the Akron Rubber Company, 
a .sketch of whom may be found in this vol- 
ume, is a grandson of General Perkins. 

GEORGE P. GRAFTON, a prominent 
farmer of Norton Township, who carries on 
a general line of agriculture, operates a anilk 
route and also grows many berries for the 
market, is serving as clerk of the School 
Board of this town.ship, with which body he 
has been connected a number of years. Mr. 
Grafton was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, 
December 10, 1858, and is a son of .John 
D. and SaraJi J. (Palmer) Grafton. 

The parent.* of Mr. Grafton still reside on 
their farm in Jeffer.-ori County, where he 
was reared. He obtained a good district 
school education, and was trained to be a 
careful and capable farmer. He continued to 



328 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



live in Jefferson County for eight years fol- 
lowdng his marriage, moving then to Medina 
County, where he remained for almost a 
year. In March, 1892, he bought his present 
farm in Norton Township, and here has been 
since engaged in farming, dairying ad fiiiit- 
gronving. He devotes an acre to small fruit, 
finding a ready mai-ket for all he can pro- 
duce. He grows many potatoes, raising only 
the best varieties and giving them scientific 
care. 

Mr. Grafton marrieid Nora J. Rwickard, 
who is a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth 
(Zimmerman) Swickard, and who was born 
and reared in Jefferson County. They have 
had seven children, all surviving except Sid- 
ney, the sixth in order of birth, who died 
aged sixteen months. Those livino- are: 
Elvah, Lizzie, Clyde, Mabel, John and Ella. 

Mr. Grafton is a member of the First Lu- 
theran Church at Barberton and is a luember 
of the Church Council. For about two years 
lie has been a member of the school board 
and several years before completed a sen'ice 
of four years. 

J. B. LOOKER, pre.-iidcnt of (he Western 
Reserve Security Company, of Akron, is one 
v)f the city's leading citizens, participating 
largely in its business amd social life, and 
taking an interest in its development as ■well 
as in its good government. Mr. Looker was 
born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873, and was 
reared and educated in his native city. He 
came to Akron in 1897, for some eight years 
previously having been in the rectifying 
bu.sine.«s. For five years he was in business 
at Akron as a. representative of Fleischman 
<^ Company, of Cincinnati, and then opened 
a restaurant and was additionally interested 
in a. five and ten cent store at ColumbTis. Prior 
to December, 1903, when Mr. Looker organ- 
ized the Western Reserve Security and Loan 
Company, he had been engaged in a bank- 
ing and loan bu.«iine,ss. He still operates two 
restaurant, one in Canton and another in 
Akron, they being the most select and high- 
cla.ss places of the kind in the respective 
cities. 



In 1893, Mr. Looker was married to Leta 
Lake, of Chicago, and they have tluve 
children : Adelaide, Florence and Ilelene. 
Mr. Looker is a thirty-second Degree Mason, 
and belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, 
Council and Commandery at Akron and to 
Lake Erie Consistory at Cleveland. He is 
also a member of the Masonic and the Akron 
Lunch clubs. 

GEORGE VIALL. Akron has a number 
of sutetantial citizens living in easy retire- 
ment after a long and useful bu.saness life, 
and among these is George Viall, who was 
l)orn in this city March 12, 1834, his parents 
being Thomas C. and Mahala (Atwood) 
Viall. 

The father of Mr. Viall came to Akron in 
1824, where he built both a' saw- and a 
woolen-'mill, and besides operating tliem he 
invested in a large amount of farm property 
in Summit County. He died when his only 
child, George, was about two years of age. 

Mr. Viall completed his education in the 
schools of Akron, or old Middlebury, a* that 
.■section of the city wa« then denominated, 
and was nineteen years old when he engaged 
in a grocery business at Old Forge. Two years 
later he purchased a boat and for three sum- 
mers plied with it on the canal. After that 
lie wa.s for three year's in the grocery bu.siness 
ill Middlebury, and continued it for three 
more in the Tappan Block. He next en- 
gaged in the stoneware business, which occu- 
l)i«l him for eight years, and afterwards he 
was ill the general merchandise busiincss for 
nine years in Middlebur\\ Mr. Viall was one 
of Middlebury's most active business men for 
a long period, during a part of this time, 
in addition to the occupations above noted, 
being a representative of the United States 
Life Tn.surance Company, and also of the 
Cleveland Mutual Accident Insurance Com- 
pany. For some years he was secretary and 
trea.surer of the Middlebur\' Clay Company, 
of which he was one of the incorporators. 

On August 24, 1857, Mr. Viall was mar- 
ried (first) to Maria Reepsumer, who died 
Febmarv 17, 1877. Of the three children 




LEWIS MILLER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



331 



born to tihiis union, the one .survivor is Mrs. 
Frank Comstock, residing at Akron. Mr. 
Viall married for liis .second wife, December 
7, 1887, Mrs. Jennie (Thomp.son) Sweeney, 
a daughter of Duncan Thompson. Mrs. Miill 
wa.s born in 1849, at Edinburg, Scotland, 
and was but one year old wlien her parents 
came to America and settled at East Liver- 
pool, Ohio. Nine years later they removed 
to Akron, where she was reared, being edu- 
cated in the old Sixth Ward school. By her 
former maiTiage, j\Irs. Viall had three chil- 
dren : May and George, both residing in 
Chicago, Illinois, and Frank, residing at Lis- 
bon, Ohio, where he is engaged in a general 
mercantile business. Mr. "\^iall reared Ed- 
ward F. Carl, from childhood, and the latter 
is connected with the j\I. O'Ncil Company, 
of Akron. 

Mr. Viall has served in public offices in 
his native city, at different times, having 
ever been interested in public movements 
and ainxious to promote the general welfare. 
For thirty years he has been identified with 
the Odd Fellows, and he belongs also to the 
Knights of Honor. He is a member of the 
Broad Street Church of Christ, which he 
served many years as a deacon, and as chair- 
man of the board of trustees. Advancing 
years have caused him to resign these offices, 
but not to relax his interest in the work of 
the church, or to curtail his liberality toward 
it. Mrs. Viall is an active member of the 
Ladies' Add Society of this church. 

LEWIS MILLER. Few citizens of Akron, 
now passed off the scene of life, have more 
claims to remembrance than the late Lewis 
Miller, the genius who invented the Buckeye 
Mower and Reaper. He was born July 24, 
1829, at Greentown, Stark County, Ohio, and 
his useful life closed February 28, 1899. 

Mr. Miller completed his education in the 
Academy at Plainfield, Will County, Illinois. 
From 1846 until 1851 he taught school dur- 
ing the winter seasons and worked as a plas- 
terer in the summers. All the time he was 
studying out inventions, many of which have 
been since patented and put on the market. 



In 1851 he became a member of the firm of 
Ball, Aultman and Company, manufacturers 
of stoves, plows, threshers, and the old Hussey 
reaper. After the firm removed to Canton, 
Mr. Miller became superintendent of the 
plant. Then followed his invention of the 
Buckeye Mower and Reaper, and in 1865 of 
the Buckeye Table Rake and still later, the 
self-binders. To his inventive genius, Akron 
and other manufacturing cities of Ohio owe 
a large part of their prosperity. In 1864 
works were erected at Akron for the further 
enlargement of the business, under the firm 
name of Aultman, Miller and Company, Mr. 
Miller being the president and superintendent 
of the organizations with which his name 
was connected. His capital became invested 
in numerous other manufacturing plants, par- 
ticularly at Akron and Canton, as well as in 
lianks and other business organizations. He 
was a trustee of Mt. Union College, of Alle- 
gheny College and the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, and at Akron was connected promi- 
nently with educational work. Although a 
good citizen he was never a prominent poli- 
tician, being too busily engaged otherwise, 
but at various times he consented to serve on 
the City Council, and gave generously of hi^ 
time to promote all civic measures of im- 
portance. Thousands each year enjoy the 
benefits of the Chautauqua Association, of 
which he was the originator and founder. 

Mr. Miller was united in marriage, Septem- 
ber 16, 1852, to Mary V. Alexander, a native 
of Macoupin County, Illinois, who was born 
December 6, 1830. They were the parents of 
eleven children, of whom eight, are now liv- 
ing, namely: Ira, who resides in Akron; 
Edward, also of Akron; Robert, postmaster 
of Porto Rico ; Lewis, residing at the family 
home in Akron; Mina, wife of the distin- 
guished inventor, Thomas A. Edison, of 
Llewellyn, New Jersey; Mary, who is single 
and resides at home; Grace, a teacher in a 
select school at Cleveland, and John B., who 
is associated with Mr. Edison in his scientific 
work. Those deceased are: Eva, who died 
just before reaching her sixteenth year; Jen- 
nie, who was the wife of Richard Marvin, who 



332 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



is also deceased; Theodore, who was killed in 
Porto Rico during the Spanish- American war. 

WILLIAM J. EMERY, M. D., a well- 
known member of the medical fraternity at 
Akron, was born in 1860, near Lowell, Sen- 
eca County, Ohio, where he was reared and 
obtained his earlier education. Later he en- 
tered Buchtel College, where he was grad- 
uated Ph. B., in 1885. For two years fol- 
lowing his graduation, Dr. Emery was in the 
office of Ferdinand Schumaker, and he then 
entered upon the study of medicine, subse- 
quently becoming a student at the Western 
Reserve, where he was graduated M. D. in 
1890. He immediately entered upon the 
practice of his profession at Akron, and has ' 
been fortunate in gaining the confidence and 
support of the public through his acknowl- 
edged professional ability, winning an excel- 
lent status both as a physician and surgeon. 
Pie has identified himself with the lending 
medical oi'ganization? — the Summit County, 
the Sixth Councillor District and the Ohio 
State Medical Societies. He has been citv 
physiician, and during 1891-2-3 he was phy- 
sician to the County Infirmary. 

In 1894, Dr. Emery Avas married to Flora 
M. Stein, of Summit County. His busine-ss 
location is at No. 581 South Main Street. 
Fraternally, Dr. Emery is a. Mason, a mem- 
ber of Adoniram Lodge, F. & A. M., and 
also of the Home Guards. He is identified 
religiously with Grace Reformed Church of 
Akron. 

DAVID C. SMITH, a representative citi- 
zen of Clinton, who does an extensive busi- 
ness in hardware, paints, implements, bug- 
gies and harness, was born on the home farm 
east of Clinton, Fra.nklin Township, Suumiit 
County, Ohio, February 27, 1859, and is a 
son of Lewis and Elizabeth (Croft) Smith. 

John Adam Smith, the grandfather of 
David C, was a substantial citizen of liis 
native town in Germany, where he was mayor 
and professor in the Pligh School. He came 
to this country with his three children, of 
whom Lewis, the youngest, was three years 



old, and landed at Baltimore. Mr. Smith 
brought with him $7,000 in gold, which, in 
the few hours at night that were spent on 
the boat at the docks in Baltimore, was stolen 
from him, and he was compelled to begin 
all over again in the new country. Sustain- 
ing his great lo.ss with fortitude, this sturdy 
emigrant settled for a short time in Penn- 
sylvania, whence they came to the vicinity 
of Canton, Ohio, and located for a time on 
a farm. A small place was then purchased 
near Canal Fulton, Ohio, where John Adam 
Smith spent the remainder of his life, his 
death occurring at the age of 89 years. In 
spite of his great pecuniary loss in early life, 
Mr. Smith had become a very successful man, 
and at the time of his death was rated one 
of the substantial men of his community. 
He had three children, Catherine, Elizabeth 
and Lewis. 

Lewis Smith, father of David C, being 
the only son of his parents, was comjielled 
to spend his youth in hard labor on the 
home farms, and his period of schooling was 
limited to about eighteen months. After his 
marrige he lived for several years on a 
rented farm north of Canal Fulton, and 
then purchased eighty-one acres of fine land 
east of Clinton, Franklin Township, Sum- 
mit County, where he resided for about thir- 
ty4hree years. He then bought a farm of 
160 acres west of Clinton, w-here his death oc- 
curred twenty years later, when he was in 
his eighty-first year. Mr. Smith was married 
to Elizabeth Croft, who was born in Stark 
County, Ohio, and who died at the age of 
fifty-seven. Of this union there are living 
five children: Adam, who lives on the home 
place in Franklin Township : William H., 
of Clinton, Ohio; .lacol), who died in 1901; 
David C. and Mary E. Ruck, residing at 
Canal Pulton. After the death of his first 
wife, Lewis Smith was married to Louisa 
Fritz, who died in 1903, there being no chil- 
dren of the second union. 

David C. Smith was reared on the home 
farm, attending the district schools, and when 
about nineteen years of age engaged in a 
thre.'^hiner business with his brothers, which 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



333 



was continued for about ten years, with 
much success. At the end of this time Mr. 
Smith engaged in a hard lumber business 
on a hirge scale, but after conducting it for 
twelve years he sold out hi.s interests therein, 
and on October 22, 1903, he purchased the 
stand of N. N. Housman and Company, and 
since that time has been engaged in the sale 
of hardware, paint-s, implements, buggies and 
harn&ss, of which he carries a full line, his 
sons, Clarence D. and Thurman C. being in- 
terested in the ibusdness with him. With 
much business ability, Mr. Smith also com- 
bines a pleasing manner, which wins both 
business and personal friends. 

On October 11, 1883, Mr. Smith was united 
in marriage with Mary E. Hul)er, who is a 
daughter of Phillip Huber, and tn this union 
there have been born eight children, namely: 
Dora, who married C. AV. McLaughlin, assist- 
ant cashier of the Fulton Bank ; Clarence D., 
Thurman T., Carrie, Ruth, Lewis, Miriam 
and Amelia. 

Mr. Smith is a Republican in his political 
views, but he takes only a good citizen's in- 
terest in public matters. Fraternally he is 
connected mth the Knights of the Maccabees 
and the Junior Order of United American 
Mechanics. With his family lie belongs to 
the Lutheran Church, in which he is deacon. 

K. H. HAYS, secretary of the Akron Cul- 
tivator Company, with which enterprise he 
has been identified since 1890, was born at 
Manchester, Ohio, in 1862, and is a member 
of an old and representative family of tb.at 
section. 

After leaving the Manchester schools, he 
entered the Ohio Northern University, and 
later attended Oberlin College, following 
which he taught school for eight years. He 
then caime to Akron and entered the office 
of the Akron Cultivator Company, of whdoh 
for the past eight years he has been secre- 
tary. He has proved the affirmative in his 
own case of the much discu.^sed question as 
to whether a college man makes a good busi- 
ness man. In 1888. Air. Hays was married 
to Frances Everhard. who died in 1903, leav- 



ing one daughter, Marguerite. He was mar- 
ried (second) in 1906 to Lena AVilson, a 
native of Akron. Mr. Hays is a member of 
the First Church of Christ, and is one of its 
board of elders. Fraternally, he is connected 
with the order of Maccabees. 

HARVEY S. FIRESTONE, president of 
the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, of 
Akron, was the founder of this important 
business organization, and its great success is 
mainly due to his own energy and business 
capacity. He was born in Columbiana 
County, Ohio, in 1868, where he was reared 
and educated. 

Mr. Firestone has been actively identified 
with business since early manhood, fir.st en- 
gaging as a coal merchant at Columbus for 
one year, and then becoming associated with 
the Columbus Buggy Company, at Detroit, 
Michigan. In 1895 he drove a buggv 
equipped with the first rubber tire made by 
the company, and was so impressed with its 
superior qualities that he decided to embark 
in the manufacture of these tires if he could 
create a public demand for them. He turned 
out a fine quality of rubber tires, manufac- 
turing them at Akron, and demonstrated 
their value at Chicago, and the encourage- 
ment thus received determined him to go 
into the business on a large scale. He there- 
fore organized the Firestone Tire and Rub- 
ber Company, which was incorporated with 
a capital stock of $50,000, which has been 
increased to $500,000. The oflricers of the 
company are : H. S. Firestone, president 
and general manager; AVill Christy, vice 
president; L. E. Sisler, treasurer; S. G. Cark- 
huff, .secretary, and F. R. Talbott, assistant 
treasurer, with R. J. Firestone as sales man- 
ager. The business has grown to immense 
proportions, giving employment to 300 work- 
men.. 

In 1895 Mr. Firestone was married to Ida 
Belle Smith, of .Jackson, Michigan, and thev 
have three sons: Harvey S. Jr., Russell 
Allen and Leonard Kimball. Mr. and Mrs. 
Firestone are members of St. Paul's Episco- 
pal Church. Mr. Firestone has a wide busi- 



334 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ness and social acquaintance and belongs to 
the Portage Country Club and to the Chicago 
Athletic Club. 

ALBERT G. MALLISON, who was one 
of the early settlers and first surveyors of 
Summit County, coming here in the capaciity 
of a civil engineer during the construction 
of the Ohio Canal, was born in 1797, at 
Groton, Connecticut, and died at Akron, Feb- 
ruary 26, 1879, aged almost eighty-two years. 
When he was eleven years of age his parents, 
Amos and Clarissa (Newton) Malldson, 
moved to Berkshire County, Massachuisetts, 
and thence, in 1832, to Akron, settling on 
a farm that is now Wooster avenue, one of 
the choice residence districts of Akron. Land 
then acquired by Albert G. Mallison and lii- 
brother, Amos, is still owned by his descend- 
ants. Mr. Mallison was given good educa- 
tional advantages and also learned surveying. 
and his ability in this direction was recog- 
nized by the officials who had in charge th" 
construction of the State line between Massa- 
chusetts and New York, the surveying being 
given to the young sun'eyor. After locating 
in Akron Mr. Malli.son sun-eyed and platted 
a large part of the northern section of the 
city for Dr. Crosby, Mr. King and other-, 
and in many of the old deeds of conveyance 
his name appears. He continued to be a 
prominent and useful citizen for many years, 
and his memory is ke|')t green along with 
that of the other pioneer Imilders of Akron. 

On June 22, 1843, Mr. Malli.=;on married 
Cornelia G. Washburn, of Akron. Their 
family consisted of three children : Eveline, 
who married Horace G. AIduu. residing at 
Akron; Albert. H., who i- vice pre.-ident of 
the Depositors' Savings Bank at Akron ; and 
A-mos, who died in 1883. Mrs. Malli-on. the 
mother, died December 8, 187"). 

PETER M. ERASE, one of Clinton's mast 
substantial citizens, who is treasurer and 
ca.sihier of the Clinton Savings Bank, is well 
known in banking circles throughout Sum- 
mit County. Mr. Erase was Iwrn on his 
father's farm in Chippewa Towrisbi]i, Wayne 



County, Ohio, on the Summit County line, 
July 24, 1859, and is a son of John and 
Ann (Etling) Erase. 

John Erase, the grandfather of Peter M., 
was an emigrant in the early days from 
Pennsylvania to Ohio, and owned the land 
where was opened the first coal mine in that 
.section of Wayne County, the old Chippewa 
mine. His son, John, who was a native of 
Wayne County, remained there all his life, 
engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died in 

1892, at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. 
Erase married Ann Etling, also a native of 
Wayne County, Ohio, who died in 1905, 
aged about seventy -i^ven years. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Erase were born eight children : Noah, 
who resides in Franklin Township, Siunmit 
County ; Catherine, wlio married William 
Deekerhoof; William, Peter Madison, John 
W., Mary, who married Charles Ajiplinger; 
Enmia, who married Henry Slee, of Frank- 
lin Township, and Ida, who married C. Al- 
brecht of Akron. 

Peter M. Erase attended the district schools 
of his native locality, and grew up on his 
father's farm until his marriage, when he 
started to operate hi'j father-in-law's farm, 
where he continued for four years. He then 
came to Clinton, where he opened a general 
store with Henry Serfass, this partnership 
continuing for about eight years. Then Mr. 
Serfass sold his interests to C. S. Spangler, 
who was Mr. Erase's partner initil June, 

1893, when Mr. Era-^e retired from the firm. 
He then began to organize the bank, which 
was established in 1903 with a capital stock 
of $25,000. and the following officers: E. 
R. Hill, of Akron, president; Martin Lim- 
bach, of Clinton, vice president; P. M. Erase, 
treasurer and cashier, and Fred Deutsch, sec- 
retary. Mr. Erase was also one of the or- 
ganizers of the Clinton Bell Telephone Com- 
pany and is a stockholilcr in the Clinton INIill- 
ing Company. 

In November, 1883, Mr. Erase wa< mar- 
ried to Ella A. Serfass, daughter of Law- 
rence and Lydia Serfa.«s, of Franklin Town- 
.ship. Summit County, and four children have 
been born to this union, namelv: Earl B., 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



335 



who married Tura B. Spark: John, Mildred 
and Drummond. 

Mr. Erase is a Democrat in politics, and 
for four years served as township clerk. He 
is a charter member of the Knights of the 
Maccabees of Clinton. Mr. Erase, with his 
family, attends the Lutheran Church. 

H. G. BRANDAU, vice president of the 
Ornamental Iron Work Company, of Akron, 
was born in 1876, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
where he was reared and educated and 
gained his first knowledge along the lines of 
his present business, in boyhood entering an 
iron and w^re factory in his native city. 
Working at his trade, Mr. Brandau visited 
different sections of the country, reaching 
Akron in 1899, where he entered the em- 
ploy of the Burger Iron Company. Here 
he met Frederick Zindel, like tastes and sim- 
ilar employment bringing about a business 
association which re.'^ulted in the organiza- 
tion of the Ornamental Iron Works Com- 
pany in February, 1906. This succe.<.sful 
business enterprise was incorporated with a 
capital stock of $10,000, the officers being 
Fred Zindel, president; H. G. Brandau, vice- 
president, and W. A. Boesche, secretary- and 
treasurer. All the officers are young, enter- 
prising, capable and practical men. The busi- 
ness of the company is the manufacturing of 
all kinds of ornamental iron and wire goods. 
In 1902 Mr. Brandau was married to Pauline 
Zindel. and they have one child. Lillian. 

WILLIAM BARNETT, general contractor, 
senior member of the contracting firm of 
Barnett & O'Marr, has been a resident of 
Akron since 1871. He was born in April, 
1846, at Exeter, England, where he was 
reared, and where he served his apprentice- 
ship to the brick and stone mason's trade. 

Shortly after coming to Akron. Mr. Bar- 
nett began to work on the Schumacher house, 
in the same .summer as-sLsted in the building 
of Buchtel College, and within three years 
after locating in this city, began contracting. 
His first contract was the building he erected 
on the corner of Akron and Chestnut Street-, 



and later he built the Market House, on the 
corner of Howard and Cherry Streets, Mr. 
Whitelaw's Temple of Fashion on Howard 
Street, and many more of the substantial 
buildings which line that busy thoroughfare. 
Mr. Bamett is also a member of the firm 
of Gardiner & Barnett, paving contractors, 
which firm paved Main Street from Buohtcl 
Avenue to Tallmadge Street, Prospect Street 
to Perkins Street, and Union Street from Blutt 
to Buchtel Avenues. Mr. Barnett has also 
done a large amount of paving in neighbor- 
ing towns, and has a reputation for bu.siness 
integrity second to none in this city. 

Mr. Barnett was married in England to 
Lucy Stankum, and they have five children, 
namely; Emma, who mamcd George Con- 
ger, residing at Akron ; Charlotte, who mar- 
ried Frederick Dodge, also a resident at Ak- 
ron ; Alice, who married Carl Colby, resid- 
ing at Passaic, New Jersey; Jeannette, who 
married A. Sadler, and lives in Akron, and 
Louise, who married William Curtin, also 
living in Akron. With his family, Mr. Bar- 
nett belongs to the Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Barnett ls in sympathy with labor or- 
ganizations and helped to organize the first 
brick ^layers' Union at Akron. For eight 
years he was treasurer of this body, and a? 
their delegate voted for the first nine-hour 
system, at their convention. Until eleven 
years ago, when he suffered from partial 
paralysis, he was a noted athlete and he for- 
merly gave instruction in boxing. Since be- 
ing incapacitated he has received $3,000 from 
the disability fund of the order of Macca- 
bees, of which he has long been a member. 
He has twice visited Europe since locating 
at Akron, and is a man whose ideas have 
been broadened through travel and mingling 
with men of all classes. He is recognized as 
one of Akron's best citizens. 

HENRY FREDERICK, whose valuable 
farm of 200 acres, situated in Portage Town- 
.ship, has been in his possession since June, 
1867, has developed this property into its 
present high state of cultivation from a tract 
of native timber. He was born at Doylcs- 



336 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



town, Wayne County, Ohio, Jlarch 20, 1834, 
and is a son of Jacob and jMargaret (Ra^or) 
Frederick. 

Jacob Frederick was born in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, and accompanied 
his fatlier, Thomas Frederick, in boyhood to 
Columbiana County, Ohio. When he was 
fourteen years old, the family made another 
change, removing to Wayne County, Ohio, 
where Thomas Frederick bought a half sec- 
tion of land, which included the present site 
of Doylestown. At that village Jacob Fred- 
erick was married to Margaret Rasor, who 
was a daughter of Christopher Rasor, wlio 
came from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 
to Summit County when Margaret was a 
child, and she was reared at AVadsworth. In 
November, 1842, Jacob Frederick bought a 
farm in Copley Township, on which his son, 
Henry, was reared, and where both the pa- 
rents died. They were good, Chri.stian peo- 
ple, who led a peaceful life and did their 
full duty to their neighbor. 

Henry Frederick, in his boyhood, attended 
the district .schools in Wayne County, and 
later in Copley Township, and assisted his 
father on the home farm until he married, 
in 1858. He then rented in Copley Town- 
ship a farm which was then owned by John 
C. Stearns, and which is now occupied by 
William Waggoner. After residing there for 
three years, he moved to a seventy-eight-acre 
farm north of the White Elephant Church, 
in Copley, renting it for eighteen months 
and then buying it. Mr. Frederick lived on 
that farm for eighteen month? and then 
sold it and moved to Clark's Mills for a resi- 
dence of .?ix months, after which he lived 
for a year on a rented fann of 240 acres. 
About this time Mr. Frederick, together with 
Royal Brockway, bought the place on which 
he now resides, the whole tract containing 
546 acres. This enterprise was entered into 
in May, 1867, and in the following fall," the 
partners divided their land, Mr. Frederick 
keeping 235 acres, with the improvement*. 
Since then he has bought thirty acres of the 
Brockway part on the west side, and seventy- 
one acres of the Sherbondy plat, selling a 



portion of his land in 1904. lie has de- 
voted his attention to general farming and 
dairying. During his first five or six years 
on this land, he was engaged in a lumber 
business to a large extent, but since then has 
paid attention exclusively to raising large 
crops and to operating his first-class dairy, 
keeping twenty-six head of cows. 

On May 20,' 1858, Mr. Frederick was mar- 
ried to Ellen Viers, who was reared in Nor- 
ton Township, Summit County, and who is 
a daughter of James McClintock Viers. Mr. 
and Mrs. Frederick have three children, 
namely: Charlotte, residing at home; James 
McHenry, who is a graduate of Amherst Col- 
lege, and resides at Lakewood, where he is 
superintendent of the schools, and Ulysses 
Grant, who is secretary of the U. G. Fred- 
erick Lumber Company, of which his father 
is president. 

Mr. Frederick has long been prominent in 
township and county affairs. From 1876 
until 1882 he served as a member of the 
County Board of infirmary directors; he has 
frequently been township trustee and a mem- 
Vier of the School Board, and in 1889 he was 
elected county commi.ssioner. He is a mem- 
ber of the First Church of Christ and ha« 
served for years on its Board of Trustees. 

R. E. ARMSTRONG, .secretary imd treas- 
urer of the L. W. Camp Company, manu- 
facturers of all kinds of tile, at Akron, has 
been a resident of this city for the past dec- 
ade. He M-as born at Kent, Portage County. 
Ohio, and is a son of the late William Arm- 
strong. He was reaa'ed and educated in his 
native place,, and after leaving school learned 
the printer's trade. For about seven years 
he was in the employ of the AVerner Com- 
pany, at Akron, and later was with the H. 
B. Camp Company, manufacturers of tile, 
for .scvei'al years. When the I^. W. Camp 
Comjiany in the same line, was organized, in 
1902, he became its .secretary and treasurer, 
and has continued as such ever .=;ince. He 
is also secreta.ry in the Akron Fireproofing 
Company, vice president of the Colonial Sign 
& In.sulator Company, and vice president of 




CAPT. GEORGE BILLOW 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



339 



the Factory Oil Company. He is a man of 
system, having an easy grasp of business, and 
performs the duties attendant upon his re- 
sponsible position with ready efficiency. In 
1900 Mr. Armstrong wa.s married to (Trace 
Camp, daughter of H. B. Camp. He has 
two cliildren : Dorothy and AHce. 

CAPT. GEORGE BILEOW, president of 
the Akron Masonic Temple Company, has 
been established since 1875 in an undertaking 
business at Akron, which is now conducted 
under the firm style of Billow & Sons. He 
was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, 
April 2, 1833, and accompanied his parents 
to the United States in 1844. 

He was reared to the age of sixteen years on 
his father's farm near Fremont, Sandusky 
County, Ohio, and then learned the trade of 
wagon and carriage making, which he fol- 
lowed at Tallmadge and Akron until July, 
1862, when he enlisted for service in the Civil 
war. From a private in the ranks of Com- 
pany I, 107th Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, he was regularly promoted, for effi- 
cient service and soldierly qualiti&=, to the 
captaincy of the company, and did duty as 
brigade and post commissary at Fernandina, 
Florida, and as local provost marshal at Jack- 
sonville, lie received his discharge at 
Charlestown, South Carolina, July 10,'l865, 
and was mustered out of the service at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, July 26th, following. 

After the honorable termination of his mil- 
itary service, Captain Billow returned to Ak- 
ron, where he wns engaged in a grocery busi- 
ness for some two years. Later he took 
charge of another grocery enterprise, subse- 
quently going on the road as traveling sales- 
man for about eighteen months in the inter- 
ests of a .stoneware house. About this time he 
wa= led to make investments in Alabama 
which proved unprofitable. He returned in 
April. 1875, to x^kron, where shortly after- 
ward he engaged in the undertaking busine.-s, 
subsequently admitting his sons to partner- 
ship. In connection with the mortuary de- 
partment, an ambulance and invalid car- 
riage service is also conducted. The firm's 



place of business is located at the corner of 
Mill and Ash Streets. Captain Billow is a 
well-known and very highly regiarded citi- 
zen. 

On September 19, 1854, Captain Billow 
was married to Mary Fink, of Akron, and 
they have had eight children, namely: Anna, 
George W., Charles Fernando, Ida, Albert C, 
■Jacob L., Edwin M., and Claire. The family 
home is located at No. 110 Beck avenue. For 
his services in behalf of Ma.sonry, Captain 
Billow has been honored with the 33d degree 
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. 
He is also an Odd Fellow. 

FRED ZINDEL, president of the Orna- 
mental Iron AVork Company, of Akron, has 
been a resident of this city for eighteen years, 
and during this time has been connected 
with a number of its great manufacturing en- 
terjDriscs. Although a comparatively young 
man, Mr. Zindel has reached a prominent 
position in the city's commercdal life and 
stands high in his special line of work. He 
was born in 1876, in Aastria, and was twelve 
years of age when he came to America and 
located at Akron. 

IMr. Zindel's first industrial connection wa- 
with the Diamond Match Company, with 
which organization he remained for five 
years, during this period heing placed in 
charge' of diff'erent departments succes-sively 
and acquiring an excellent knowledge of the 
business. From the Diamond Match Com- 
pany he went to the Burger Iron Company, 
where he was employed for eleven years. 
Here, even before he had completed his ap- 
prenticeship, he was made foreman anrl con- 
tinued in that responsible position mi til he 
severed his relations with that concern. With 
this much experience behind him, Mr. Zin- 
del decided to go into business for himself, 
and in February. 190S, he organized the Or- 
namental Iron AVork Company at Akron. 
It was incornorated with a capital stock of 
$10,000, with Fred Zindel as president; H. 
G. Brnndau, vice pre=iden1 ; W. A. Boc^che 
as sccretnry find treasurer. Tlie company is 
enffatred in the manufacture of nil kinds of 



340 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ornamentel iron and wire work. The suc- 
cess which has been achieved by these young 
men in their enterprise is proof both of their 
ability and of the fact that the business field 
was open to just such a concern at the time 
they launched it. In 1898 Mr. Zindel was 
married to Lizzie Weirath, of Akron, and 
they have one child, Edna. 

SOLOMON KOPLIN, one of Portage 
Township's best-known and most highly es- 
teemed residents, resides on his valuable farm 
of sixty-nine acres, which is situated on the 
Merriman road, one-half mile northwest of 
Akron. He was born at Wadsworth, Medina 
County, Ohio, March 3, 1828, and is a son 
of Christian and Magdalena (Baughman) 
Koplin. 

Christiajn Koplin accompanied his father, 
Mathias Koplin, from Maryland, and they 
settled on a farm in Chippewa Town.ship, 
Wayne County. The Koplins were very 
early settlers there, and on that farm the 
grandfather died. Christian Koplin re- 
mained there until after his marriage to 
Magdalena Baughman, who was born in 
Pennsylvania, and who was a daughter of 
Lorentz Baughman, an early settler in Me- 
dina County. After his marriage, Christian 
Koplin moved to Wadsworth Township, 
Medina County, where he bought a farm, 
but he died in the following year, when only 
thirty-three years of age. He left his widow 
with three chiMren, namely: Solomon, sub- 
ject of this .sketch; David, who resides in 
Florida, aged seventy-seven years, and Anna 
Maria, who is the widow of Nicholas Edick 
and resides in New Mexico. 

The father's death left the little family 
badly off. They secured but $100 from the 
farm, but Mrs. Koplin purchased five acres 
of land, and she had learned the weaver's 
trade, so her efforts supported the family 
until the sons were able to a.sisist. The little 
log cabin home was never without bread. 
She was a woman of great capacity and well 
deserved the gratitude of her children. 

When he was eighteeai years of age, Solo- 
mon Koplin left home to learn wagon-mak- 



ing, hi^ brother leaving about the same time 
to learn the tanning business. During the 
first year, Solomon received seven dollars a 
month, and he was thus able to relieve his 
mother of his support, purchase good clothes 
and to show a balance of $44 at the end of 
the year. On September 7, 1850, he wa-i 
married to Sarah ISIiller, who is a daughter 
of George Miller, who owned 237 acre-s of 
land in Summit County. The Miller and 
Koplin families came to Portage Township 
together, and together they farmed this large 
tract of land. For two years after marriage 
Mr. Koplin and wife lived at Wadsworth, 
but in 1853 they came to their present farm, 
which was a part of the Miller property. 
George Miller later bought the interest of 
the heirs of his father, Jacob Miller, in the 
farm in Medina County of 114 acres. Solo- 
mon Koplin then moved to Wad<worth and 
lived on that farm for twenty-one years, but 
in 1866, Mr. Koplin returned to the farm 
in Portage Township, and in the year follow- 
ing was elected a jastice of the peace, in 
which office he sei-ved for fourteen years. 
The large residence which fonnerly stood on 
this farm, was destroyed by fire in 1902, and 
was replaced by the present comfortable and 
commodious house. Mr. Koplin is no longer 
active in farm work, having delegated duties 
of that kind to younger hands. He contin- 
ues, however, to be interested in all that goes 
on, and important matters are usually re- 
ferred to his judgment. 

Mr. and Mrs. Koplin have had the follow- 
ing chiildren : Editha, who died aged two 
years and nine months;' Mary, who Avas the 
wife of William Shays, and died at the age 
of thirty-seven years; Charles M.. who mar- 
ried Catherine Wolf, and resided in Akron, is 
the active farmer on the hoimestead, and by 
a former marriage has one child, Claude R., 
residing in Wyoming; George A., who mar- 
ried Hattie Miller, has one daughter, Mrs. 
Beulah -Tohnson, wife of Dr. Robert L. .John- 
son, residing at Wadsworth; Rolland Fon-est, 
residing on the home farm and assisting in 
its management, married Sarah .lackson, and 
has two children, Forrest and Wade; Homer 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



341 



S., residing on Portage Path, niarried Clara 
Bailej'; Walter S., employed in the rubber 
works at Akron, resides at home; and a son 
who died in infancy. Mr. and Mr.s. Koplin 
have one great-grandchild, Charlotte, the 
daughter of Dr. and ]Mrs. Johnson. 

Mr. Koplin is one of the olde.-;t Masons in 
Summit County, and belongs to the first Ala- 
sonic lodge established in Akron. Both he 
and u'ife are valued members of Grace Re- 
formed Church. They have a wide circle 
of friends to whom they delight to offer the 
hospitality of their home. 

WILLIAM P. McFARLAND, ftorist, who.-e 
greenhouses are at No. 491 Wooster Avenue, 
^Vkron, is a thoroughh' experienced man in 
this business, having devoted his attention to 
it since he wa.s a boy of nineteen years. He 
was born in Greene County, Ohio, in 1880, 
and when a lad of thirteen set out from 
home to make his way unaided in the world. 
During his boyhood he had few educational 
opportunities, but he made the most of tho.-e 
he had, and worked for his own support. He 
had a natural taste for floriculture, and at 
nineteen years of age he entered the florist's 
establishment of C. A. Reeser, of Spring- 
field, with whom he remained for nine years. 
Thence he went to a florist at Youngstown, 
with whom he remained for several years, 
and he later worked at the business at Erie. 
Pennsylvania, for one year. In 1806 Mr. 
McFarland came to Akron, and after work- 
ing for some time with two different florists 
here, he embarked in the business for him- 
self, securing his present location at No. 401 
Wooster Avenue. Here he has a finely- 
equipped plant, with about 7,000 square feet 
under gla<w. He does a very large business 
in cut flowers, and in his cooling depart- 
ment keeps on hand rare blooms at all sea- 
•sons, to .supply festive occasions or funeral 
demands. 

In 1899 Mr. McFarland wa> married to 
Mrs. G. B. Kendall, of Akron. Lewis C. Mc- 
Farland, son of Mr. McFarland, was bom 
October Ifi, 1887, has been educated in the 
business \\nth his father and e.xpects to suc- 



ceed him. Politically, he is a Republican, 
and always takes an active interest in local 
matters. For five years he has been a mem- 
ber of the precinct election board. Frater- 
nally he is a Mason, a Woodman, a Macca- 
bee and a Knight of Pythias, in the latter 
organization being a member of the board 
of directors. He is also a member of the 
Protected Home Circle. 

W. A. BOESCHE, secretary and treasurer 
of the Ornamental Iron Work Company, of 
Akron, has been a resident of this city since 
he was nineteen years of age. He was born 
in 1883, at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was 
educated and had his first practical business 
experience. 

After leaving school Mr. Boesche became 
identified with newspaper work and for sev- 
eral years was connected in a reportorial ca- 
pacity with the Cincinnati Enquirer. He 
then came to Akron, seeking a wider field 
of effort, and became connected with the B. 
F. Goodrich Company, with which he con- 
tinued for three years. In February, 1906, 
when the Ornamental Iron Work Company 
was organized and incorporated at Akron, 
lie became interested therein and was offered 
and accepted the pasition of secretary and 
treasurer of the company. The enterprise 
has proved very successful, and its prospects 
indicate that in the near future its facilities 
will have to be enlarged to keep up with the 
increasing demand for the company's prod- 
uct. The president and vice president of this 
company, Frederick Zindel and H. G. Bran- 
dau, are both practical and experienced men 
in the iron business. The output of the 
works include all kinds of ornamental iron- 
and wire-work. Mr. Boesche is a Knight 
Templar Mason and he belongs to the Ma- 
sonic Club. 

WILLIAM H. SMITH, a leading con- 
tractor and lumber dealer of Clinton, and 
one of the substantial business men of the 
locality, was born at the home farm east of 
Clinton, Franklin Town.«hip, Summit County, 



342 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Oliio, March 17, 1854, and is a son of Lewis 
and Elizabeth (Croft) Smith. 

John Adam Smith, the grandfather of 
William H., was a substantial citizen of his 
native town in Germany, where he was mayor 
and also professor in the High School. He 
came to this comitry ATOth his three children, 
of whom Le'iA'is, the youngest, was thre« 
years old, landing at Baltimore. Mr. Smith 
brought with him $7,000 in gold, which, in 
the few hours at night that were spent on 
the boat at the docks in Baltimore, was stolen 
from him, and he was compelled to begin all 
over again, in the new countrj'. SiLstaining 
this misfortune with a brave heart, this sturdy 
emiigi'anit settled for a short time in Penn- 
sylvania, whence he came to the vicinity of 
Canton, Ohio, and located for a. time on a 
farm. A small place was then purchased 
near Canal Fulton, Ohio, where he s]ient the 
remainder of his life, his death occumng at 
the age of eighty-nine years. In spite of his 
great lo.5S in early life, Mr. Smith had lic- 
come a very .successful man, and at the time 
of his death was rated one of the substan- 
tial men of his community. He had three 
children : Caitherine, Elizabeth and I^ewis. 

Le^A-is Smith, father of William H., being 
the only son of hLs parents, was compelled to 
spend his youth in hard labor on the home 
farms, a.nd his schooling was vei'y limited, 
la.sting in all about eighteen months. After 
his [marriage he lived for several years on a 
rented farm north of Canal Fulton. He then 
purcha.sed eighty-one acres of fine land cast 
of Clinton, Franklin Township, Summit 
County, where he resided for about thirty- 
three years. His next and last purchase was 
a farm of 160 acres west of Clinton, where 
his death occurred after twenty years, when 
he was in his eighty-first year. His wife, 
Elizabeth Croft Smith, was born in Stark 
County, Ohio, and died at the age of fifty- 
seven years. To them were born eight chil- 
dren : Adam, who lives on the home place 
in Franklin ToT\-n?hip; AYilliam H., whosi' 
name begins this sketch: .Tacob, who died in 
1901 ; David C, of CHnton. Ohio, and four 
who died in infancv. After the death of 



his first wife, Lewis Smith was married to 
Loui.sa Fritz, who died in 1903 ; there were 
no children of tliis second miion. 

William H. Smith secured his education 
in dLstiiot school No. 8, in his native town- 
ship, and was reared on his father's farm, 
Avhere he remained until his marriage, in 
1881. In that year he removed to Clinton, 
and for a number of year.s was engaged in 
the hardwood lumber business with his 
brother, David C. In 1889 they opened a 
planing-^mill, which Mr. Smith has operated 
ever since, having purcha.sed his brother's in- 
terests therein about six months after enter- 
ing into busine.ss. He also engage^ in all 
kinds of contracting and building, and has 
various other business interests which include 
a directorship in the Clinton Savings Bank 
and the Franklin Industrial Company of 
Warwdck. Mr. Smith's fine home, a frame 
residence of fourteen rooms, was erected bv 
him in 1901. 

On November 31, 1881, Mr. Smith was 
married to Annie Mueller, who' is a daugh- 
ter of Peter and Mary Mueller, and three 
children have been born to this union, 
namely: Elsie, Jessie, who married Archie 
Dunmead, and resides at Barbcrton, Ohio, 
and Effie. 

In political matters ilr. Smith is a Re- 
publican, and he has always taken an interest 
in the succe.s.s of his party, although he has 
never cared for public office. He belongs 
fraternally to the Knights of the Maccabees. 
He attends the Lutheran Church, in which 
he is an elder, and to which hi? family also 
belongs. 

C. C. WARNER, a member of the Board 
of Public Safety, at- Akron, is one of the 
city's prominent men, who has been identi- 
fied with itvS business, political and social in- 
terests for a long course of years. Mr. War- 
ner was born in 1860, in Germany, and is 
a son of the late FredcTick Warner. 

C. C. Warner was about ten years of age 
when he caime to Akron, and here he was 
reared and educated. He left school to enter 
the employ of the E. H. Merrill Company, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



343 



with whom he remained for twenty-three 
yeans, going then to the Robinson Clay 
Product Company, where he stayed four 
years. Since then Mr. Warner has been con- 
nected with the Akron Gas Company. He 
owns a considerable amount of real estate, 
and a large part of his time is taken up in 
looking after these intereists. For many 
years he has been more or less prominent in 
Democratic politics and has sen-ed a num- 
l>cr of times as a member of the City Comi- 
cil, showing the careful interest in civic af- 
faii-s that betokens the good citizen. He 
served two years also as a trustee of Portage 
Townsiiip, and three years as a member of 
the Board of Public Safety, and is the Demo- 
cratic nominee for the Board of Public 
Service. 

In 1890 Mr. AVarner was married i<> 
Louise Knapp, of Massillon, Ohio. His home 
is a beautiful residence at No. 373 Wooster 
Avenue. Mr. Warner is a member of the 
Akron lodge of Odd Fellows, of which he 
has been treasurer for eight years, and he 
belongs also to several of the leading Ger- 
man benevolent societies. 

G. F. KASCH, president of The Portage 
Park Land Company, of Akron, was born in 
1867, in Germany, but accompanied his 
father, "\A"illiam Kasch, and his mother, 
Ernestine Kasch, to this city in childhood, 
where he was reared and educated. With 
his father, he learned the tinner's trade, and 
was only eighteen years of age when he went 
into the roofing l>usiness on his own account 
In 1S90, when the subject of this sketch was 
twenty-two years of age, the firm of Ka*ch 
Brothers (Roofers) was organized, its mem- 
bers being F. C. Kasch and G. F. Kasch, 
and the latter remained a member until 1893, 
when he disposed of his interest and went 
into real estate. This firm was afterward or- 
ganized as The Kasch Roofing Company, 
and so continues until the present time. 

lentil 1900 Mr. Kasch operated independ- 
ently, handling only his own property, buy- 
ing land, and platting and improving the 
same. During this period he platted two 



allotments in the Cobb farm on West Hill — 
one on West Market Street at the intersec- 
tion of Portage Path Road, and Kasoh's 
Glenwood Allotment on the north side of the 
citv. 

in 1900, with Will Christy and J. R. Niitt, 
two prominent local capitalists, he organized 
the West Hill Land Company, which was 
incorporated for $75,000. They received 
from the ccwnmissi oners of Summit County 
fifty-five acres of land of the Summit County 
Infirmary farm, on West Hill (which land 
lays between West Market and West Ex- 
change Streets), in exchange for 122^ acres 
of other land lying west of the present 
County Infirmary and immediately adjoin- 
ing the County Farm. The fifty-five acres 
obtained by The AA'est Hill Land Company 
was all the land the county owned lying be- 
tween the Infirmary and the city, the greater 
portion of it lay within the city limits. In 
1900 and in 1902 the remaining portion was 
annexed to the city. 

The West Hill Land Company h;^ opened 
up this fine pro]ierty, making it the choicest 
residence section of the city, providing it 
with every city improvement. A number of 
the avenues in this allotment were named 
for some of Akron's most distinguished citi- 
zens, among them being Senator Charles 
Dick (Dick Avenue) , former Congressman 
David R. Paige (Paige Avenue), former 
Mayor Richard P. Marvin (Marvin Avenue), 
and H. C. Corson, philanthropist, (Corson 
Avenue) . The removal of this beautiful al- 
lotment far from Akron's industriai plants, 
for which this city is world famous, insures 
the absence of all smoke in that section, and 
the phrase, "West-of-the-Smoke," which Mr. 
Kasch originated, tells the story of its 
greatest advantage for home purposes. 

Mr. Kasch and his a.s,sociates have shown 
great public spirit and deserve the thanks of 
all Akron for the gift of three beautiful 
parks, namely: Christy Park, Portage Park 
(consisting of three and one-half acres), and 
Watershed Park. The latter is situated on 
the watershed of Ohio from which the water 
is deflected to Lake Brie and the Gulf of 



344 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Mexico. The company has spent a large 
amount in beautifying these parks, entirely 
free of any expense to the city. 

While prominently connected with The 
West Hill Land Company, Mr. Kasch has 
been busy in other realty enterprises. He 
opened up the Rubber Works Allotment at 
the corner of East Exchange and Fountain 
Streets, located midway between the great 
rubber manufacturing plants of the city. He 
is also at the present time opening The 
KaschA^iall Allotment at the intersection of 
Beaver and Gage Streets, near the indu.<trial 
section of the city. 

In September, 1906, Mr. Christy, Mr. 
Nutt and Mr. Kasch divided their interest in 
the West Hill Land Company, Mr. Kasch 
taking over one-half of the West Hill prop- 
erty. He then incorporated the Portage Park 
Land Company, taking its name from the 
Allotment, "Portage Park," with a capital 
stock of $50,000. The following are the of- 
ficers; G. F. Kasch, jiresident and trea.surer; 
Charles F. Wallraff, vice president, and W. 
H. Kasch, secretary. On this property val- 
uable improvement.s have recently been 
made, including the paving and introduction 
of sewer and water pipe's and concrete side- 
walks the entire length of IMai-vin Avenue. 
This avenue has the unique distinction of ly- 
ing right along "The Watershed" ridge of 
Ohio, with a mean elevation of 1,130 feet 
above sea-level. The view of the surrounding 
country from this avenue is superb, as from 
the roofs of the residences located thereon, 
every township in Summit County, except 
Green, is visible to the naked eye. The lots 
here offered for .«ale have all city improve- 
ment, and at a price that has formerly been 
asked for lots without any improvements. 
The advantage.s for acquiring a comfortable 
home in i)k'!isanl surnuniding- at such ])ricc's 
has never been before equalled and there are 
manj- satisfied hou.seholders who are under 
many obligations to Mr. Kasch and his asso- 
ciates for their enter]) rise. 

He has devoted the last fourteen years to 
this line of business and has done much to 
develop and improve the west end of the city. 



His time has been entirely taken up with his 
own projects and he has never engaged in 
real estate brokerage. The Indian monument 
standing on West Market Street was erected 
by liim on July 4, 1905, to commemorate the 
spot where the old Indian trail cios.sed the 
watershed, in the days when the Connecticut 
Yankees first came into The Western Resei-ve. 
The above date is exactly a century since the 
LTnited States commissioners met the repre- 
sentatives of all the Indian tribes tben living 
between the Portage Path and the Ml si.ss'ppi 
River, at Toledo, and purchased from them 
for $20,000 their rights in this immense tract 
of land. The title of the United States to 
this vast domain then became perfect, and 
purchasers of land at Portage Park, west of 
the Portage Path, have the assurance that 
they not only have a good legal title to their 
land, but a perfect moral title as well. This 
cannot be said of the land lying east of The 
Portage Path, as the Indians were driven 
west by the settlers, and they made their last 
stand at the line formed by The Cuyahoga 
River, the Portage Path and The Tuscarawas 
River. 

In 1895 Mr. Kasch was married to Mis-> 
Augusta Wallraff, a lady who was formerly a 
teacher in the public schools of Akron. They 
have one son, Allan Wallraff Ka.sch. 

ilr. Kasch is a member of the Arlington 
Street, or "Old Forge" Congregational 
Church, and for sixteen years ha? been iden- 
tified with its Sunday School, duriuQ- the mo t 
of this time being the superintendent. He 
is a man of great energy and remarkable 
business foresight, and these qualities, com- 
bined with the virtues of honesty and per- 
sonal integrity, have contributed to his busi- 
ne.ss success. He is one of Akron's first advo- 
cates of political independence in local affairs, 
and does not hesitate to urge the election of 
men for office whom he believes best fitted for 
the positions, regardless of his personal feel- 
ings or party lines. 

CHARLES H. LAHK, auditor of the 
Northern Ohio Traction and Light Comiiany, 
Akron, has been identified with the railroad 




J1AK\EY BALD\\J:S 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



347 



interests of thi^ city throughout ahnost the 
entire period of his business career. He was 
born at Norton Center, Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1873, and is a son of William li. Lahr. 

William H. Lahr was born at Norton Cen- 
ter in 1850 and for a number of years was a 
leading farmer of Norton township, where he 
now lives retired. His father, John Lahr, 
was one of the early settlers of the township 
and the family has always been one of more 
or less prominence in this section. 

Charles H. Lahr was reared on his father's 
farm and after completing the High School 
course at Norton Center, came to Akron, en- 
tering the office of the J. F. Seiberling Com- 
pany, where he remained a short time. He 
then entered the employ of the Akron Street 
Railroad .Company, from 1892 until Janu- 
ary 1, 1907, serving as cashier of that cor- 
poration. At the date last mentioned he be- 
came auditor of the Northern Ohio Traction 
and Light Company, in which he is a stock- 
holder. 

In April, 1900, Mr. Lahr was married to 
Elizabeth May Seeger, who is a daughter of 
Jacob Seeger, of Akron. They are members 
of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Lahr is affili- 
ated fraternally with the Elks. 

HARVEY BALDWIN, president of the 
Buckeye Sewer Pipe Company at Akron, for 
many years was one of the city's most active 
business men, and is identified still with a 
number of its leading enterprises, although he 
ha-s been retired from active participation in 
business life for fully twenty-five years. Mr. 
Baldwin was born August 29, 1822, at Gosh- 
en, Connecticut, and is a member of a family 
which has been one of importance there since 
the time of the early settlements. He is a son 
of Erastus and Lucretia (Austin) Baldwin. 

In 1844 Mr. Baldwin came to Ohio, locat- 
ing first at Hudson, and in 1857 at Middle- 
bury, where he engaged in the match business 
and the manufacture of stonewai'c. He later 
entered into the sewer pijie industry, with 
which he has been identified ever since. He is 
a director in the Permanent Savings and Loan 
Association, of wliich his brother, the late 



Joseph A. Baldwin, was president, and is also 
on the directing board of the Central Sav- 
ings and Trust Company. 

In 1855 Mr. Baldwin was married (first) 
to Cordelia Mather, who died .soon after. In 
1859 he was married (second) to Margaret L. 
Hawn. By the first marriage he had one 
daughter, Delia Louisa, who is the wife of 
George W. Ruckel, of Akron. Mr. Baldwin 
resides in a handsome mansion at No. 797 
East Market Street. 

Under appointment from Governor David 
Tod, Mr. Baldwin served for .seven years 
as a justice of the peace, and he was also for 
some time clerk of the Board of Infirmary 
Directors. He has been a resident of Akron 
since 1857, and is one of its best known and 
most highly respected citizens. An ample 
fortune and plenty of leisure have served to 
broaden his life, and he has taken advan- 
tage of many opportunities to advance the 
moral and material interests of the city. He 
has been affiliated with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows for more than a half cen- 
tury. 

JOHN F. MILLER, a general farmer, re- 
siding on his valuable farm of forty-eight 
acres in Portage Township, was born at 
Wadsw'orth, Medina County, Ohio, July 29, 
1844, and is a .son of George and Rebecca 
(Baughman) ^liller. 

Jacob Miller, the grandfather of John F., 
was one of the earliest settlers in Medina 
County, locating at AVadsworth in 181(5, and 
purchasing a farm one mile east of the vil- 
lage. In journeying from Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Miller and family pa&sed through. Middle- 
bury, then the infant Akron. They stayed 
for one year at Oanfield, MaJioning County, 
before pursuing their journey farther west. 
Jacob Miller, anxious to secure good land, ex- 
amined its quality in .several .sections before 
purchasing. He was offered a farm for $3 
per acre, which is now in the very heart of 
Akron, on the site of the Perkins public 
school. He was not satisfied, however, and 
went on to Medina County, where he invested 
his money. The maternal grandfather of 



348 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



John F. Miller came also from Pennsylvania. 
locating between Wadsworth and Doyles- 
town. 

George Miller was born in Pennsylvania, 
and was a boy when his parents came to Ohio. 
His older brother, John Miller, went into 
partnership with John Pardee, in a morcan- 
tile business at Wadsworth, which was one 
of the earliest enterprises there, and when 
the brother died, George assumed his inter- 
ests and continued in partnership with Mr. 
Pardee for some time. A few years later he 
bought a fai-m on Silver Creek, near Wad-;- 
worth, on which he lived for a few year.-, 
selling it at a later date. In 1853 he bought 
240 acres, and on a part of this property Jolm 
F. Miller now lives. George Miller carried on 
farming and .stockraising on this land quite 
extensively. In 1856 he built the substan- 
tial stone house which is still standing. He 
was a very just man, and divided his land so 
that all his children were provided for. He 
made three farms of the 240 acres he owned 
in Portage Township, and the old Miller 
homestead in AVadsworth Township he left 
to the heirs of his davighter, ]\Irs. Springer. 
There he died, four days after his 80th birth- 
day.- George Miller married Rebecca Rauarh- 
man and they had four children: Sarah, 
Paul, Martha and John F. Sarah, residing 
in Portage Township, married Solomon Kop- 
lin, Paul has lieon a resident of California 
since 1860. Martha, now deceased, was mar- 
ried, first to Dr. F. F. Falk, wlio died at 
Western Star, aged twenty-eight years. She 
married, second. Frank Springer. The 
mother of the subject of this sketch died in 
1868 on the home farm. 

John F. Miller wa^ eight vears old when 
his parents came to Portage Township, and, 
althouah he ha.s .spent some time away from 
here, on various occasions, thi-^ has always rc- 
niained his home residence. For two years 
in early manhood he followed railroading and 
mountain teaming alona; the Pacific coast, 
but for many years he has been enoiaged in 
agricultural pursuits on his fine propeiiv 
here. This land is well improved, and its 
value mav be estimated from the fact t'-at 



Mr. Miller recently sold twelve acres of it, for 
which he received $1,000 per acre, the pur- 
chaser being W. B. Miller, of Akron. Mr. 
Miller also owns another farm of sixty-four 
acres in Medina County, Ohio. 

In October,- 1868, Mr. Miller w<is married 
(fir.st) to Charitv Brouse, who died in Febru- 
ary, 1892. They had four children: Ellon 
Harry, Paul and Laura, of whom Laura died 
when aged fourteen montlis. Elton Miller, 
who resided on the farm in Wadsworth town- 
.ship, wliich is owned by his father and sons, 
was accidentally killed there September 13, 
1900, by an accidental explosion of the steam 
pipes in a saw mill. He married Nellie 
Blackford. Harry Miller is foreman of the 
ship]iing department of the Quaker Oat- 
mills at Akron ; Paul Miller assi.sts on the 
home farm. On October 20, 1897, Mr. Mil- 
ler married (second) Mrs. Chri.steen (Mohn) 
Palmer. 

For twenty-five years Mr. Miller was identi- 
fied with the Prohibition party, and then 
united with the Democratic party. For four 
years he served as tnistee of Portage Town- 
ship. He has long been a prominent mem- 
ber of the AVest Congregational Church at 
Akron. In 1904 he and his wife took a trip 
to California, where he revisited .scenes made 
familiar to him in his first trip. On the way 
they visited the exposition then in progress 
at St.. Louis. 

HIRAM and HAYES AVHEELER 
BREAVSTER, uncle and nephew, residing on 
the old Brew.'ter evstate, which extends throneh 
(both Coventry and Springfield Townships, 
and 'was settled in 1811, are representatives 
of one of the old, prominent and wealthy 
families of Summit County. 

Hiram Brewster, who lives retired from 
business activity, was formerly an extensive 
farmer, coal producer and active business man. 
He comes of New England ancestry, but wa-< 
born on his present farm, June 8, 1835, and 
is -a .'^on of James G. Brewster, and a grand'^on 
of Stephen Brewster, who was the founder 
of the family in Ohio. 

Stephen Brewster wa.^ born nl Grot'Hi, Con- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



349 



nectdcut, and jirobably could trace his ances- 
try back to the landing of the Mayflower 
colonists. He mai'ried Lydia Bellows, also 
of Groton, who had been a childhood play- 
mate and school mate, and they had the fol- 
lowing children born to them : James G. ; 
]\Irs. Lucinda ilurray; Hannah, who married 
David Dunbar; Charlotte, who married Mar- 
tin Howell; Alexander, and Hiram. The lat- 
ter died in 1813 and his grave is marked by 
a stone still .standing on the farm. 

Stephen Brew.siter was a carpenter and mill- 
wright and he probably followed his trade at 
Groton initil short after the birth of his 
elder children, when he moved to the State 
of New York, doubtless with the idea, of secur- 
ing a permanent home in an agricultural re- 
gion, Ijut not finding what he desired there, 
in 1811. he came to Ohio, securing 160 acres 
in Sunnnit County, nt a very low rate, from 
the Connecticut Land Company. The Brew- 
sters came as early jiioneers to this section. 
making the long journey in covered wagons, 
as at that time no railroads had been built 
or canal.i constnicted. Their way often led 
over different roads, through unbridged 
streams and dense forests, but at last they 
reached their destination. At that date there 
had been not a single house erected between 
their wild farm and Akron, which was then 
but a village, with no appearance of ever be- 
coming the home of more than 42,000 souls, 
and all their surroundings were of the M-ild- 
est description. A little log cabin was .=oon 
constructed in the mid.^^t of the forest, And the 
appearance of human beings in the.se dense 
woods caused the deer to run in herds, like 
flocks of .sheep, at the sound of the ax on the 
heavy timber. Game was .so plentiful and so 
easily obtained that the family never wa.s in 
danger of .starvation until they were able to 
raise grain in the rich land which quickly 
responded to their efforts of cultivation, Viut 
they went through many of the inevitable 
hardships which belonged to pioneer life. On 
this farm both Stephen Brewster and ^-ife 
died, he at the age of eighty-eight, and she 
aged seventy vears. 

James G. Brew-ter. father of Hirarn. was 



born in 1797, at Groton, Connecticut, and was 
yet young when the family came to Summit 
County. He had few educational advantages 
and his early life was completely filled with 
the hard work of clearing the farm and put- 
ting it under cultivation, the fact of his be- 
ing the eldest son placing heavy responsibili- 
ties on him. These circumstances probably 
assisted in developing a strong and sturdy 
character, for Mr. Brewster was known far 
and wide for his integrity, foresight and 
soimd business judgment. His active years 
were given to farming and improving the 
■ part of his father's estate which he had in- 
herited, and to which he added until he 
owned 320 acres, situated on both sides of the 
public highway. He died in June, 1842. He 
was married in Columbiana County, Ohio, to 
Martha Has.*en, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania and accompanied her parents to Colum- 
biana County, where the family was a promi- 
nent one among the pioneer .settlers. They 
had five children : Stephen, who married 
Charlotte Meeeh (both deceased) ; Jonathan 
H. and James G., twins, both now deceased, 
the latter of whom married Mary Davey; 
Hiram ; and George, who married Maria L. 
Kent, and died May 25, 1907. 

Hiram Brewster, who is the only sur\-ivor 
of the above -mentioned family, was reared 
on his present farm, and, with the exception 
of a period of three months, which he spent 
with his brother .Jonathan, in Florida, during 
lOOfi, he has never resided elsewhere. He 
went to school in a frame building which 
had .succeeded the old log one, remains of 
which still stood, and others of its kind can 
.«till be found through this section. There 
he secured a good, common-school education, 
which has served him well through years of 
active business life, Mr. Brewster has a well- 
improved place, and he assisted in building all 
the houses and barns which are necessary here 
for the carrying on of the work on 750 acres, 
which, with his nephew, Hayes Wheeler 
Brcw.ster, he operates. Although no longer 
active in extending its interests. Mr. Brewster 
is a member of the firm of tlie Buckeye Sewer 
Pipe Company, and is al*o a stockholder in 



350 



HISTORY OF Sl'.MMIT COUNTY 



the Summit Sewer Pipe Company. Mr. 
Brewster has been interested more or less for 
years in the developing of coal lands. He has 
never taken any very lively interest in poli- 
tics, absolutely refusing to hold local offices, 
and has contented himself with merely per- 
forming those duties which appeal to him as 
a good citizen. Hiram Brewster never mar- 
ried. 

Hayes Wheeler Brewster, who is associated 
with his uncle, Hii-am Brewster, in the luan- 
agement and operation of about the largest 
farm in Summit County, is one of the bes't- 
known agriculturists of Coventry and Spring- 
field Townships. Mr. Brewster was born on 
the farm on which lie has spent his whole 
life, the old Brew.-^ter homestead, June 25, 
1876, and is a son of Stephen, a grandson of 
Jaimes G. and a great-grandson of Stephen 
Brewster, who settled on this land in 1811. 

Stephen Brewster, son of James G., mar- 
ried Charlotte i\Iceeh and they had four chil- 
dren, namely: Ephraim, who is e.staHished 
in the far West; Hayes; Stephen, who is also 
in the West; and John. The father of Mr. 
Brewster died in January, 1887, but the 
mother survived until December, 1903. 

Hayes Wheeler Brewster was married in 
October, 1899, to Susan Dodd, who is a daugh- 
ter of Daniel and Catherine (Griffith) Dodd, 
well-known residents of Summit County. 
They have two children, a son and daughter, 
Hiram and Charlotte, 

]\Ir. Breiw.ster, in the management of the 
large family estate, displays the judgment and 
capacity for business which has marked the 
Brewster family, and which has made them 
so long prominent factors in all that concerns 
this section. He takes an active interest in 
public matters that concern the general wel- 
fare, but, like his uncle, has always had a 
dista.ste for public office. His interests al- 
■ways having centered here, he stands a« one 
of the section's truly representative men. 

LOUIS SKYBOLD, treasurer and manager 
of the Akron Germania Company, with of- 
fices at No. 148 South Howard Street, Akron, 
has been a resident of this city for the past 



thirty-two years, coming here from his home 
in Bavaria, Germanv, where he was born in 
1856. 

Mr. Seybold was educated in the excellent 
schools of his native land, and at the age of 
eighteen years he crassed the Atlantic Ocean, 
hoping to find more favorable opportunities 
for advancement here than in Germany. 
Shortly afterward he came to Akron and se- 
cured employment in the rubber works, and 
later engaged as clerk in a grocery store. 
This was all preliminary to his real work, for 
Mr. Seybold's abilities were recognized as soon 
as he became acquainted with men of promi- 
nence in the community, who were seeking 
intelligent and reliable p.ssistance. He short- 
ly became a member and then a director of 
the old German Harmonie Society, at the 
same time interesting himself in politics to 
some degree, and was also engaged to write 
a few editorials for the German newspaper 
published by Mr. Werner. An acquaintance 
thus established led to his further continuance 
with the paper, of which he subsequently be- 
came editor and proprietor. With the excep- 
tion of a few years, when otherwise employed, 
Mr. Seybold has since continued ni his edi- 
torial pasition, and also owns the controlling 
interest in the Germania Company. He 
wields a facile pen and has devoted close study 
to public questions and is a wise adviser to 
his army of readers. 

In 1879, Mr. Seybold was married to 
Louisa Doppstaedter, who was born at Ash- 
land, Ohio. They have eight children, 
namely: Clara, who is secretary of the Ak- 
ron Germania Company; Carl, who is adver- 
tising manager of the same company; Louis, 
who lives in the city of Chicago; Elsie. Edith, 
Paul and Margaret, all of whom rc.-iili' witli 
their parents. 

Mr. Seybold is a man of musical talent and 
social tastes, and is a popular meml)er of the 
■Odd Fellows, the Elks, the German club, the 
Liebertafel, Turn Verein, the German Rifle 
club, the Pilsener club, and the Akron San- 
gerbund, and an honorary member of the 
German Militarv Socictv. 




HON. GEORGE W. GROUSE 



AND RErRESENTATl\'E CITIZENS 



353 



HON. GEOKtJE W. CROUSE, a ])roini- 
iient resident of Akron, whose i)ortrait ac- 
companies this article, is now enjoying a life 
of ease, after having been one of the city's 
most effective business men for many years. 
He is identified with such great industries 
as the Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works, 
the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Coni- 
panv. The B. F. Goodrich Company, (Akron 
Rnliljcr Works), The Thomas Phillips Com- 
pany Paper Mills, the Akron Iron Company, 
the Woolen & Felt Companj', the Diamond 
Match Works, the Stove Works, the Sclle 
Gear Works and many other succe.ssfiil con- 
cerns. 

]\Ir. Crouse is a native of Summit County, 
born at Tallmadge, Novendier 23. 1832, and 
is a son of George and Margaret H. (Robin- 
son) Crouse. He is of German and Irish 
ancestry. His grandfather fell in battle in 
the War for Independence. The family ap- 
peared in Ohio at a very early day, and it was 
in Summit County, on a farm he had de- 
veloped from the forest, that George Crouse 
reared his family of ten children. 

George W. Crouse assisted in the clearing 
and cultivation of the above mentioned farm 
until he was seventeen years of age, 
while securing a fair connnon-school educa- 
tion. He continued to spend the summers in 
farm work, but was occupied in teaching 
through the winters for the next five years, in 
the meantime making so good an impre.ssion 
on his fellow-citizens that in 1855 he was. 
profi'ered the position of deputy county treas- 
urer, with office at Akron, and until 1858 
he also performed the duties of deputy county 
auditor. He was then elected county auditor, 
and was re-elected in 1860, but before his 
second term expired he was called upon to 
fill out the term of county treasurer. All 
the important interests connected witli these 
offices were placed mider his control while 
he was still a young man, and the manner 
in which his every duty was performed but 
added to the esteem in which he was already 
held. 

Mr. Crouse, who was one of the county of- 
ficials at the outbreak of the Civil war. in 



his official capacity and as a private citizen 
did all that lay in his power in support of 
the Union cause. He was very active in se- 
curing recruits, and saw that they were well 
provided for by obtaining favorable action 
from the Board of County Commissioners. 
Finally, he himself enlisted, entering Com- 
pany F, 164th Reg., Ohio Volunteer Infan- 
try, for the 100-days'' service; he received his 
honorable discharge in 1864. After the war, 
upon the organization of the Commandery of 
Ohio, Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States, he became a Third De- 
gree member, and today is the only member 
of the Commandery of this degree. Natu- 
rally he takes pleasure in wearing the tri-color 
button. The Soldiers' Memorial Chapel at 
Akron, one of the most beautiful structures 
in the city, was secured mainly through his 
f'fforts. 

In 1863 Mr. Crouse was made .secretary of 
the Akron Board of Trade, and subsequently 
became very active in encouraging -the loca- 
tion of manufacturing industries in this city. 
He became in the same year financial mana- 
ger for C. Aultman & Company, of Canton, 
in the erection of a branch factory here, and 
later was the financial manager of what is 
named as the initial manufacturing plant of 
what is now one of the greatest manufactur- 
ing centers of the State — the great Buckeye 
Mower & Reaper Works. When a stock com- 
pany was formed in 1865, Mr. Crouse was first 
secretary and treasurer and later its very able 
president. There can scarcely be named any 
important business enterprise at Akron, of 
substantial standing, that has not in some 
way benefitted by his assistance or advice. In 
1870 ho helped to form the Bank of Akron, 
and was a director and officer of that bank 
until 1890, when he became president of the 
Citv National Bank, and served as such until 
1893. For a period he was proprietor of the 
Akron Beacon. 

Politically, Mr. Crouse is closely affiliated 
with the Republican party, and his efficiency 
has been recognized by his succes.sive elections 
(o important stations. In 1872 he ^va."^ elected 
count v commis.«ioner. in 1885 he was elected 



354 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



to the State senate, and in 188(5 he was elected 
to Congre.ss, from the Akron district, in all 
these honorable positions bearing himself with 
dignity and showing himself thoroughly 
capable. In civic affairs Mr. Grouse has also 
always "taken a deep interest, and has served 
as a member of the City Council, and as 
president of the Board of Education. He is 
one of the trustees of Buchtel College, to 
which institution the Crouse Gymnasmm was 
one of his gifts. 

Mr. Crouse was married October 18, 1859, 
to Martha K. Parsons, a daughter of Edward 
and Clementine (Lingsley) Parsons, and they 
have four daughters — Martha P., Julia M., 
Mary R. and Nellie J. — and one son, George 
W., Jr., who is a prominent manufacturer 
of Akron. The family home i.? located at 
No. 263 Ea.st Mill street. 

JOHN FRANKLIN WEYGANDT, a suc- 
cessful farmer and substantial citizen of Port- 
age Township, owns a residence adjoining 
the grounds of the Akron Country Club, on 
the old Portage path, which was the boundary 
line in early days, between the United States 
and the Indian Nations. Mr. Weygandt was 
born in Ashland County, Ohio, September 24. 
1840, and is a son of Jonathan and Miriam 
(Baughman) Weygandt. 

Jonathan Weygandt in boyhood accom- 
panied his father, Henry AVeygandt. from 
Washington County, Pennsylvania, to Wayne 
County, Ohio, who bought a farm in Chip- 
pewa Township, which he cleared up, being 
of the earliest settlers. In later years, he 
would often tell of how he used to make the 
trip from Chippewa Township to Akron, to 
the old stone mill, with an ox-team, being two 
days on the road. He removed to Ashland 
County, Ohio, after his marriage, and lived 
on a farm that his father owned, and which, 
with his brother Eli, he cleared and developed 
into a good piece of agricultural property. 
He resided there from 1838 until 1853 and 
then moved to Copley Township, Summit 
County, where he purchased sixty-nine acres ; 
but one year later he moved to Portage Town- 
ship and bought a farm of 136 acres. On 



this the family lived until 1864, when Mr. 
Weygandt sold out to Joseph E. Wesener and 
moved to Illinois, where he bought 200 acres 
of land. Both Jonathan Weygandt and his 
wife died in Illinois. 

In April, 1895, John F. Weygandt sold his 
farm of eighty-five acres, in Illinois, and re- 
turned to Summit County, where he was 
subsequently married, after which he settled 
in Macon County, Illinois, and lived there for 
thirty-one years. In 1895 he came back to 
Summit County and purchased his present 
place, erecting a fine residence and substantial 
farm buildings. 

December 31st, 1864, Mr. Weygandt w;is 
married to Elizabeth Garman, who is a 
daughter of Benjamin Garman, and they 
have one son, Emory Marion. The latter 
married Jennie Baughman, who died in Illi- 
nois. He resides with his parents. The 
family belong to Grace Reformed Church. 

J. E. PFLUEGER, vice-president and su- 
perintendent of the Enterprise Manufactur- 
ing Company, leaders in the saddlery in- 
dustry at Akron and commanding a trade 
that covers the whole United States, is one of 
the city's most active and enterprising men of 
affairs. Mr. Pflueger has scarcely reached 
middle age, having been born September 18, 
1864, and is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. 
He is a son of the late E. F. Pflueger, who was 
the foimder of the present business. 

E. F. Pflueger was born at Baden, Ger- 
many, in Febi-uary, 1843, and after a most 
useful life, passed away at Akron; Novem- 
"ber 18,1900. An enduring monument to his 
memory is the prosperous industry to which 
he devoted many years of his life, and which 
had its inception in his inventive brain. He 
was brought to America in early childhood, 
being then an orjihan, and by the time he was 
six years old had made himself of use to his 
protectors, by carrying water from the old 
town pump, in Buffalo, for use in a bakery. 
From the age of eight years to that of four- 
teen he was chore boy in a stove foundry. He 
then entered upon his apprenticeship to the 
molder's trade, which he followed until 1868, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



355 



when he came to Akron. For u number of 
j'ears he was connected with the Erie Stove 
Company, a Pennsylvania organization. As 
an example of his industry and business fore- 
sight, it is related that when the foundry was 
closed during July and Augast, he was ac- 
customed to go through the country and buy 
up apples and produce, which he would ship 
to the city markets, making a good profit. It 
was in connection with this industry which 
he opened up for himself, that Mr. Piiueger 
came to Akron and with capital supplied by 
Mr. Miller, a wholesale grocer of Buffalo, 
New York, who had become interested in 
his operations, embarked in a groceiy busi- 
ness on Howard street, which he continued 
with great success, until 1880. Then the in- 
ventions which for a number of years he 
had been engaged in perfecting demanded 
factory facilities, and a business organization 
for their manufacture and sale. 

Mr. Pflueger's first successful inventions 
were a horse head light and a harness rosette, 
and when these were put on the market, the 
inventor went out on the road and sold them 
himself, thus in great degree accumulating 
the capital with which the Enterprise Man- 
ufacturing Company was started. He sub- 
sequently continued his inventions until he 
had fifty patents granted him, of which 
the following is a partial list: Hinge-tug as 
applied to fishing spoons and baits, fish scalers, 
coil spring fastener for fishing float, sweat- 
pad spring for attaching sweat-pads to horses' 
collars, medicated sweat-pads, riveting loops 
to backs and mountings, luminous head-light 
and rosette, wire rosette. Jockey Club rosette: 
detachable rubber horse shoe, fist bait with 
flitter, weed protector as applied to fishing 
tackle, luminous paint as applied to fishing 
tackle, paper or pulp fishing float, fish bait 
decoy, swivel for fishing bait, wooden Trolling 
Peek, soldering machine, and a luminous pa- 
per weight, these being but some of the inven- 
tions which seemed to spring almost spontane- 
ously from Mr. Pflueger's active mind. He 
continued active to the time of his death, and 
died just as he would doubtless have wished, 
still in harness. 



J. E. Pflueger was placed as superintendent 
of the Enterprise Manufacturing works while 
still young, following out his father's in- 
structions, and gradually assuming more and 
more responsibility. After the death of the 
elder Pflueger, the business was reorganized 
and J. E. Pflueger became vice-president, 
George A. Pflueger succeeding his father as 
president of the business. J. E. Pflueger also 
has made many practical inventions which 
are manufactured by the company. Among 
them may be mentioned, the cyclone spinner, 
metal rosette fastener, a hard rubber side 
plate with metal center reinforcement for 
fishing reels, a leather thumb brake for fish- 
ing reels, and a reinforced flange washer for 
fishing reels; he has also many others pend- 
ing. His inventions, like those of his father, 
are all practical and add greatly to the value 
of the articles to which they are applied. 

The Enterprise Manufacturing Company, 
organized in 1880, was incorporated in 
1886, and was reorganized in 1901. The 
present home of the company is a four-story 
brick building, which has supplanted smaller 
quarters. This plant is equipped with all 
kinds of modern machinery, with original 
appliances made by the Pfluegers, and their 
products include many other articles in ad- 
dition to their rosettes, ornaments, spots, sad- 
dle-mails, fronts and houseing plates, which 
have been leaders in regard to popular de- 
mand. 

In 1891, J. E. Pflueger was married to 
Lovina Ulm, of Brimfeld, Portage County, 
Ohio, and they have two children. Erne arid 
Edna. Fi-aternally, Mr. Pflueger is a Knight 
Templar and belongs to all of the Masonic 
branches at Akron; he is also an Odd Fel- 
low and a Knight of Pythias. He is cor- 
responding secretary of the Avansas Pass Tar- 
pon club, of Tarpon, Texas; and of the Tuna 
club, of Catalina Islands, California. 

AUSTIN J. TRIPLETT, a representative 
citizen of Coventry Township, and the owner 
of a well-cultivated farm of thirty acres, was 
born in an old log house on his present farm 
in Kenmore. Coventry Township, Summit 



356 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



County, Ohio, and is a son of John and Laura 
(Bellows) Triplett. 

William Triplett, the grandfather of Aus- 
tin J., was probably born in Virginia, from 
whence he moved to East Liberty, Logan 
County, Ohio, and there purchased a farm, 
which he cleared from the woods. Some 
years later he sold this property and bought 
a farm in Coventry Township, now a part of 
the Brewster brother's estate, which he culti- 
vated until within ten years of his death, 
when he retired, the rest of his life being spent 
with his children. His death occurred at the 
home of his son, Joshua Triplett, when he was 
over 70 years old, his wife having passed 
away some years before. William Triplett 
was twice married, his second wife being 
Saviera Viers, and had eight cliildren, three 
of whom were sons and five daughters. 

John Triplett, the father of Austin J., was 
born March 4, 1809, and was the first white 
child born in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and the eldest of his parents' 
children. He was reared to agricultural pur- 
suits and experienced all the hardshijis of 
pioneer life, clearing a home from the dense 
wilderness. Shortly after his marriage he 
located on what is now the farm of Austin 
J. Triplett, and cleared a small space in the 
center, on which he built a small log house, 
this being the family home until his son Aus- 
tin was four years old. At this time a house 
was built on the Manchester road, and in 1841 
was built a frame house, in which Mr. and 
Mrs. Triplett spent the rest of their lives, the 
former's death occurring in August, 1888, and 
that of his wife in August, 1875. He was 
a Democrat in politics and served one term as 
town.ship trustee, although ho never cared for 
jaiblic life. 

John Triplett married Laura Bellows, who 
was born in Coventry Township, a daughter 
of Ithemer Bellows, of Connecticut. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Triplett there were born three chil- 
dren, namely: Amelia, who married John 
Haines, of Lockwood Corners ; Austin James, 
whose name begins this article; and Marietta, 
who was the wife of George W. Foust, of 



Coventrv Township, and who died May 3, 
1905. 

Austin J. Triplett was reared on the home 
farm, and his education was largely secured 
at home, as in his early youth there was lit- 
tle or no public money in the township, and 
as a result what educational institutions there 
were at that time were supported by what 
each family could afford to subscribe. Teach- 
ers were advertised for and bids for the posi- 
tions accepted, and school sessions were held 
in a double log-house, a family living in one 
.side while the school was held in the other. 
Mr. Triplett's father was in poor health, and 
as soon as the son became old enough he took 
charge of the home farm, which he later re- 
ceived from his father's estate. About twenty 
acres of this land he sold for building-lots 
in Kenmore, and the remainder he has used 
for agricultural purposes. His home, which 
is located at the corner of the two roads, was 
erected by him in 1902 and its beautiful lo- 
cation and surroundings attract the attention 
of every visitor to this section. Mr. Triplett 
is a Prohibitionist in politics, and for many 
years has .served efficiently as a member of the 
school board. 

On September 19, 1858, Mr. Triplett was 
married to Mary Cartmill, who was liorn at 
Mogadore, Sunnnit County, Ohio. There 
were three children born of this union, name- 
ly: William, a carpenter, residing near his 
father, who married Nellie Lodge and has 
three children, Claude, Lydia and Hattie 
(Mrs. Lloyd Stein) ; Charles, also residing 
near his father's home, who married Nancy 
Norris and has two children, Flossie and Les- 
ter; and Jesse, a machinist living at Akron, 
who married Bertha Daily, and has three 
children, Elsie, Dorothy and Earl. Mr. 
Triplett, with his wife and family, belongs to 
the Evangelical Church, which he has served 
as trustee. 

JOHN SOWERS, county recorder of Sum- 
mit County, now serving in his second term, 
is a veteran of the Civil War. He was born 
in Wavne Countv, Ohio, in 1845, where in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



357 



hi.-j boyhood he attended school and assisted 
on the home farm. 

Mr. Sowers was not quite seventeen years 
of age when he enlisted for service in the war 
for the preser\'ation of the Union, in 1861 be- 
coming a member of the Sixth Battery in 
Sherman's brigade. The command to which 
he was attached left Mansfield for Louisville, 
and for a time it was employed guarding the 
Columbia River, near Shiloh. It later took 
part in the siege of that city, j^articipated in 
the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga, [Missionary Ridge, and through all 
the skirmishes and long marches of the At- 
lanta campaign, going from Atlanta to Jones- 
boro, then back to Tenne.ssee, where were 
fought the battles of Franklin and Nashville. 
The command wav-; then ordered to East Ten- 
nessee, and from there to Texas, and then to 
Cairo, Illinois, from which point it went by 
water to New Orleans. The end of the war 
closed Mr. Sowers' long military .service and 
he was honorably discharged at Camp Chase, 
Ohio, September 1, 1865. 

Having suffered no serious injury in spite 
of the many fields of danger on which he 
had been, Mr. Sowers returned safely to 
Wayne County and set about completing his 
education. After a year at school he learned 
the plasterer's trade and in 1868 began work 
at it in Greensburg, where he subsequently fol- 
lowed it for some thirty years. He then pur- 
chased a meat market which he conducted 
until 1897, when he sold out and came to 
Akron, which city has been his home since. 
He has always been active in politics and while 
residing at Greensburg, was township asses- 
sor for eleven years and school director for 
three years, later .serving three years as con- 
.stable. Mr. Sowers was first elected' county 
recorder in the fall of 1902 and assumed the 
duties of the office in September, 1903, per- 
forming them so satisfactorily that he was 
easily re-elected in the fall of 1905. 

In 1870, Mr. Sowers was married to Kate 
Garman, of Summit County, and they have 
eight children, namely: Blanche, who is the 
wife of AVilliam Brady, residing at Massillon ; 
Grace, who is her father's assistant in the 



recorder's office; Floyd, residmg in Pennsyl- 
vania; William, chief deputy in the recorder's 
office ; Leroy, residing at Akron ; Maud, who 
is the wife of Joseph Funk, residing at Akron ; 
and Paul and Fay, both residing at Akron. 
Mr. Sowers is a valued comrade in Bucklev 
Post, G. A. R. 

U. G. FREDERICK, secretary, treasurer 
and general manager of the U. G. Frederick 
Lumber Company, was born in Summit 
County, Ohio, and during the whole of his 
business life has resided in Akron. He is a 
son of Henry Frederick, who was one of the 
early settlers of this county, where he became 
a successful farmer. 

U. G. Frederick after completing the com- 
mon-school course in his native county was a 
student for awhile at Hiram College. Later 
he took a business course in Eastman's Com- 
mercial College, at Poughkeepsie, New Yoi-k. 
Prior to going east, Mr. Frederick had been 
with the B. F. Goodrich Company, for a short 
time, and after his return he entered the em- 
ploy of the Thomas Lumber Company. In 
1901, he bought the Thomas interests and in 
1905 he incorporated The U. G. Frederick 
Lumber Company, at Akron, with a capital 
sto*k of $25,000. The officers of the com- 
pany are: Henry Frederick, president; L. A. 
Frederick, vice-president; and U. G. Fred- 
erick, secretary, treasurer and manager. The 
company does a general lumber and contract- 
ing business and its commercial standing is 
of high rating. In 1887, Mr. Frederick was 
married to Lulu Walterman, who w-as born in 
New York, and they have one child, Ethel. 
With his famil}' he belongs to the Disciples 
Church. Fraternally Mr. Frederick is a 
Knight Templar and an Elk, and he belongs 
to the Masonic Club and the Portage Countrj' 
Club. 

J. A. MAHAFFEY. Among the self-made 
men of Akron, whose business success has 
been the direct result of his own personal ef- 
fort, is J. A. Mahaffey, proprietor of the larg- 
est furniture and house-furnishmg store in 
this city. He was born in 1858, at Freeport, 



358 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, and was 
taken to Pittsburg when ten years of age, 
where he was educated, attending the public 
schools for a few years. 

Mr. Mahaffey has displayed remarkable 
business faculty and he began to be self-sup- 
porting when only twelve years of age, work- 
ing first as a newsboy and later as a messenger 
in a telegraph office. He then became office 
boy for a civil engineer, and all the time, 
while performing the duties of the position 
for which he was paid, he was learning busi- 
ness methods and using his spare time to 
qualify as a bookkeeper. When seventeen 
years old he became assistant bookkeeper in 
a mercantile house and later bookkeeper in a 
Pittsburg wholesale house, where he continued 
for fourteen years. In 1890 Mr. Mahaffey 
went to Canton, Ohio, where he established a 
housefurnishing store, and later, in the same 
year, opened a branch store at Akron. He 
conducted both these enterprises until his Ak- 
ron business became so large as to be of more 
importance than the original enterprise at 
Canton, when he sold the Canton store, and 
has since devoted his attention exclusively to 
that in Akron. His commodious quarters 
give him 30,000 square feet of floor space and 
he carries a complete stock of all goods in his 
line. 

In 1879, Mr. Mahaffey was married to 
Emma Foust, of Pittsburg, and they have 
three children : Edna Blanche, who married 
D. M. Krug, of Canton; and J. Earl and A. 
Roy, both of whom are associated with their 
father in the business. Fraternally, Mr. Ma- 
haffey is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk, a 
Knight of Pythias, and an Eagle, and be- 
longs also to other beneficial orders. He still 
retains membership with the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Canton. 

D. R. HANAWALT, superintendent of the 
Hower Building, at Akron, and a director of 
the Lombard & Replogle Engineering Com- 
pany, of this city, was bom in Mifflin County, 
Pennsylvania, April 12, 1861. He remained 
in his home neighborhood until eighteen years 
of age, and completed his education at Ju- 



niata College, having previously taught school 
for three years in central Pennsylvania. In 
1883 he went to Philadelphia, where he was 
bookkeeper for five years with a wholesale 
grocery house and for nine years a traveling 
representative of a photographic supply house. 
Following this he became interested in the 
manufacture of stoves at Royersford, Pennsyl- 
vania, in which he continued for seven years, 
after which he came to Akron and became in- 
terested in the business life of this city, as 
above noted. In making Akron his home, 
he has connected himself with local institu- 
tions, and has made friends among the peo- 
ple, to his and their mutual benefit. He is 
a member of the German Baptist Church. On 
July 11, 1900, Mr. Hanawalt was married to 
Matilda Augusta Preston, of Newark, New 
Jersey, and they have three children : George 
Preston, Joseph Donald and Virginia Brands. 

GEORGE D. BATES, formerly mayor of 
Akron and founder and jirasident of the Sec- 
ond National Bank of this city, was born No- 
vember 11, 1811, at Brandon, Vermont, and 
died at Akron, July 25, 1887, at the age of 
seventy-six years. In 1828 Mr. Bates came 
to Ohio and worked for a time on a farm in 
the vicinity of Solon, but in 1836 he opened 
a general store at Franklin Mills, which he 
conducted for about ten years. In 1848 he 
formed a partnership with Charles - Webber 
and James B. Taplin, under the firm name of 
G. D. Bates & Company^ establishing the 
Globe Foundry, which business still survives 
under the name of the Webster, Camp & Lane 
Machine Works. Several years later Mr. 
Bates sold his foundry niterests, and engaged 
in railroad building, in partnership with J. 
H. Pendleton, in which business he continued 
to be interested for some years. In 1855, in 
association with the late Gen. Philo Chamber- 
lin, he embarked in a private banking busi- 
ness, under the firm name of G. D. Bates & 
Company, several years later buying the stand 
of the old Akron Bank. In 1863 he organized 
the Second National Bank of Akron, and to 
the interests of this financial institution he 
devoted the greater part of his time for the 




HON. J. I'ARK ALEXANDER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



3G1 



lest of his life. His public services to Akron 
included a performance of all the duties per- 
taining to the mayoralty, to which he wtis 
elected in 18(34 and 1865, and to advancing 
the commercial importance of the city in 
every way possible to a good citizen. 

Mr. Bates was married (first) to Anna Maria 
Warner, who died December 4, 1841. He 
was married (second) June 22, 1845, to Alice 
Maria Baker, who was born at Olean, New 
York, and who died September 19, 1853. 
Three children were born of that marriage. 
On April 4, 1856, Mr. Bates married his 
third wife, Mary Ann Mathews, who was 
born at Mclndoe Falls, Vermont, and who 
died August 12, 1885, leaving two children, 
Jennie and George D. The latter is cashier 
of the Second National Bank of Akron and 
a member of the board of directors. His resi- 
dence is at No. 152 Adolph avenue. 

HON. J. PARK ALEXANDER, who, after 
many years of prominence in business and 
public life, is now serving as a member of 
the Board of Commissioners in relation to the 
building of the magnificent new Court House, 
of Summit County, is one of Akron's dis- 
tinguished and honored citizens. For a pro- 
tracted period he was prominent in political 
life, representing this community first in the 
State Legislature, in 1882 and 1883, and the 
counties of Summit, Portage, Geauga, Lake 
and Ashtabula, in the State Senate, from 1888 
until 1892, and again, from 1896 to 1898; 
and throughout his life up to the present 
time, he has been identified with matters of 
public concern. 

Mr. Alexander was born August 7, 1834, 
at Bath, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son 
of John and Mary (Scott) Alexander. Dur- 
ing his boyhood and early youth, he attended 
Richfield Academy and the Marlboro Normal 
School, at the latter institution taking a course 
in civil engineering. He then began to teach 
school, and from April, 1855, until July, 
1857, he was principal of the Akron Gram- 
mar School, many of the present residents of 
this city having been students under him at 
that time. In 1866 he went into business, 



jnu-chasing the site of the present Diamond 
Fire Brick Works, where he began the manu- 
facture of silica fire brick, upon which he 
held a patent, also the manufacture of stone- 
ware, contracting for the output of some 
fifteen other potteries, and establishing 
warehouses at Akron, Detroit and Chi- 
cago. In 1887 he still further enlarged his 
business, and from 1872 until 1877, he op- 
erated in addition two oil refineries. He 
continued to be actively interested in illumi- 
nating and lubricating oils until 1891, since 
which time he has turned his attention in 
other directions. 

On September 4, 1860, Mr. Alexander was 
married to Martha D. Wright, and into their 
household have been born eight children, 
namely: Clara W., who married Prof. 
Charles B. Wright, residing at Middlebury, 
Vermont; Helen B., who married Henry B. 
Sperry and resides in Akron, Ohio; George 
Bates, who is now deceased; Grace F., "wife of 
C. N. Belden, president of the Taplin, Rice 
Company, and residing in Akron ; Martha D., 
who married Charles H. Little of Cleveland; 
Bessie H., who married Stephen H. Pitkin, 
residing at Akron, where he is general mana- 
ger for the Wellman Seaver Company ; John 
Park, who is deceased; and Alice S., who mar- 
ried Frank E. Hulett, who with his father 
is the patentee of the hoisting machinery 
known as the Hulett Unloader, residing at 
Cleveland. 

During the greater part of his mature life, 
Mr. Alexander has been active in politics, 
and his fellow-citizens have recognized his 
claims to public confidence. Among many 
other causes which he has successfully cham- 
pioned, are the colonization of the imbeciles 
and feeble-minded youths of the State, and 
through his eft'orls an appropriation of $150,- 
000 was secured for that purpose, and an 
institution was established after he had worked 
ten years for its success. During the several 
years following he served on the board that 
regulated its affairs. While the needs oT his 
whole State have always appealed to him, 
Mr. Alexander has been particularly anxious 
at all times to promote the interests of Akron 



362 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and Summit County. For some fifteen years 
he occupied a seat in the City Council, ior 
almost the whole of that time being president 
of the board. In 1858 he was made secretary 
of the Summit County Agricultural Society, 
and for fourteen years following, was its sec- 
retary and president. In 1872 he was elected 
treasurer of the State Board of Agriculture. 
In fraternal life Mr. Alexander has been 
an Odd Fellow for many years, oelonging to 
the various divisions of that order. 

OTIS REED THOMPSON, proprietor of 
the Crystal Creek Celery Farm, a tract of 
171 acres, situated in Stow Township, has 
been a prominent citizen of this section for 
a numbet of vears. Mr. Thompson was born 
September 12', 1849, at Hartville, Lake Town- 
ship, Stark County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Benjamin F. and Susanne (Werner) Thomp- 
son. 

Benjamin F. Thompson, was born January 
13, 1820, in the same house and on the same 
farm in which his son Otis R. was born, his 
father John Thompson, having been a very 
early settler in Stark County. All through 
his active life he has been engaged extensive- 
ly in farming, has bought and sold cattle on 
a large scale and raised many sheep. In 
politics he is a Republican, but he has paid 
less attention to office-holding than many oth- 
ers whose business interests were not so large. 
He has been twice married and he and his 
first and second wife have been consistent and 
active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Benjamin F. Thompson was married (first) 
to Susanne Werner, who died in 1863. She 
was a daughter of John Werner, of Stark 
County, Ohio, and she became the mother of 
eight children, six of whom reached maturity, 
as follows: John L., residing at Cuyahoga 
Falls; Henry, residing in Cuyahoga Falls 
Township; Emily, who married Travella Wil- 
cox, and resides in Cleveland; Mary, wife of 
Cyrus Yerrick, and residing in Akron; Otis 
Reed; and Loretta, who married William 
Lane. Emily and Loretta are deceased. Mr. 
Thompson was married (second) to Martha 



Linn, of New Berlin, Ohio, and they have hud 
one son, Harvev, who resides at Cuvahoga 
Falls. 

Oti.s Reed Thompson was reared in a home 
where all material comforts were abundant, 
but his educational advantages were very lim- 
ited. He was only fifteen years of age when 
he enlisted as a drummer boy in Company A, 
19th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
under Col. Charles F. Manderson, and he re- 
mained in the service a little over two years. 
The first battle in which his mettle was tried, 
was at Ringold Station, below Chattanooga. 
He later took part in the Atlanta campaign, 
was engaged in battle of Franklin, Tennes- 
see, later on participated in the second battle 
of Nashville, after which he went with his 
regiment to Texas. After his honorable dis- 
charge from the army in which he had dis- 
played the enthusiasm of youth and the brav- 
ery of manhood, Mr. Thompson returned to 
Lake Township and remained at home with 
his father whom he greatly assisted. Some 
two years later he accompanied his father and 
step-mother, the latter of whom was a kind, 
motherly woman, to Stow Townshiji, where 
they settled on a farnr on which the Test Sta- 
tion now stands. His parents subsequently 
moved to Cuyahoga Falls, but Otis Reed re- 
mained on that fai-m for fourteen years. 

From the age of fourteen Mr. Thompson 
was trusted by his father with business affairs, 
having shown rare good judgment, even in 
childhood, concerning the handling of stock. 
During most of his subsequent life, Mr. 
Thompson has given special attention to this 
line of industry, for many years being a noted 
breeder of stock and fine horses; and even 
now, when his main attention is directed to 
another industry, he still breeds Shetland 
ponies and at the i)resent writing (1907) has 
twenty-four head of these beautiful little 
animals. On the above farm, Mr. Thonij)Son 
also ran a dairy, raising many cows at that 
time and there started his horse-breeding in- 
dustry which later assumed such large pro- 
portions. In 1888 he bought his present 
farm of 171 acres, naming it appropriately 
the Crystal Creek Stock Farm., for the breed- 



AND KEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



363 



ing of trotting and draft hordes from regi.s- 
tered stock. Mr. Thompson improved hi.s 
farm with the idea of developing speed, along 
with other good qualities in the horses he 
bred, to this end building a half mile track, 
where matinee races were held as long a.s he 
devoted his attention to that industry. lie 
raised many notable horses, among them b;'- 
ing Fariny Wilki's, who ea.sily made a record 
of 2.26 1-4, and that wa.s not the limit of her 
speed. She was used mainly as a brood mare. 
Mr. Thompson also bred the noted horse 
Jessie Wilkes, who made a record of 28 1-4 
and a trial mile of 2.11. Mr. Thompson was 
offered $7,000 for her, but she died on his 
hands. Mr. Thompson has since bred Car- 
dinal Wilkes, and Noble Wilkes, who made a 
mark of 29 1-4. 

Mr. Thompson continued in the horse busi- 
ness on his place until within the past twelve 
years, and he is still interested in the breed- 
ing of "draft horse.s, being president of the 
Springdale Horse Company, which imported 
the Belgian stallion, Toto to improve the 
breed of local draft horses. This noble ani- 
mal was imported July 27, 1903, at a cost of 
$3,000. He was approved by the Belgian 
government to stand for public service in Bel- 
gium, and was also approved by the French 
government to stand for public service in 
France. It is generally conceded that the 
Belgian is the coming breed of draft horses. 
During all the time that Mr. Thompson was 
engaged in the horse business, he also ran a 
large dairy, having a milk route at Cuyahoga 
Falls and supplying milk to Fair Oaks ^'illa 
for many years. 

About the time that Mr. Thompson retired 
from the breeding of horses, he turned his at- 
tention to another profitable industry, the 
growing of celery, his celery tract covering 
about twenty-five acres, on which he raises 
something like $5,000 worth of the succulent 
vegetable a year, with the work of eight em- 
ployes. He raises also corn, wheat and oats, 
and, as mentioned above, gives attention to 
his Shetland ponies. It will be seen that Mr. 
Thompson is a man of great business capacity 
and occupies a very prominent place in the 



attention of his fellow citizens. He has had 
the foresight to enable him to see favorable 
business opportunities, and has had the cour- 
age to push forward and make every enter- 
prise to which he has given direct attention, 
a success. 

When nineteen years of age Mr-. Thomj).<on 
was married to Isabella Machmer, who is a 
daughter of John Machmer, of Lake Town- 
ship, Stark County. They have three chil- 
dren, namely: Pinetta, who married Fred- 
erick Hibbard, residing in Stow Township; 
Lillian, who married ^\\ C. Keenan, residing 
at Akron; and Roy Otis. In 1906, Mr. 
Thompson erected what is probably the finest 
rural residence in this county. It is modern 
in every particular, equipped with hot and 
cold water, with a sewerage sy.stem that carries 
the waste to a distant creek running through 
the farm. The house is placed on an emi- 
nence which gives a beautiful view of the 
surrounding country, with a handsomely 
shaded lawn sloping from the front to the 
highway. He luis three other dwellings on 
the farm which are occupied by his employes. 
Other substantial improvements made by Mr. 
Thompson, include the fine bank barn which 
was built in 1895, its dimensions being 40 by 
60 feet, with 18-foot posts. Prior to this, in 
1887, he built the horse barn which is 70 by 
26 feet in dimensions, with 1 6-foot po.sts. For 
fourteen years he has been a director of the 
Summit County Agricultural Society and he 
has served as expert judge of hoKes and cattle 
at county fairs all over the State. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, but he has never 
sought political ofiice. Since its organization, 
he has been a member of Eddy Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic at Cuyahoga Falls. 
He is termed the "celery king" on account of 
his success in growing celery and to the fact 
that he is the largest grower in this part of 
Ohio. Personally, Mr. Thompson is a man 
who impresses one with his vigor and enter- 
prise. 

COL. STEWART MILLER, a well known 
and highly respected citizen of Akron, resid- 
ing in his comfortable and attractive home 



304 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTS 



at No. 183 EUwood Street, is a worthy veteran 
of the great Civil War, throughout which he 
served with honorable distinction. He was 
born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 
February 7, 1834, and comes of the sturdy 
Scotch and German stock with which that 
section of the United States is largely settled. 
When Colonel Miller was a child of ten 
years his parents moved to Harrisburg, where 
he spent three years of his early life, at the 
end of that period accompanying them to 
Lancaster County, in the same State, where 
they settled on a farm. This furnished him 
with plenty of healthful occupation until he 
was eighteen years old. He then began an 
apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade, at 
which he continued for three j^ears, during 
this period receiving wages amounting to but 
$25 a year. After becoming proficient at his 
trade, and being confident of securing em- 
ployment almost anywhere, in order to see 
something of his native country, he left home 
in 1860, journeying as far west as Mansfield, 
Ohio, where in August of that year, he began 
work in the blacksmith shop of the Mansfield 
Machine Works. Here he might have re- 
mained indefinitely, but for the breaking out 
of the Civil War. But the rebel attack on 
Fort Sumpter changed for the time being the 
even cv;rrent of his life. He had a good posi- 
tion with an excellent concern, but to him 
his country's call was imperative. Putting 
aside all thoughts of self-interest, with loyal 
determination he stepped promptly forward 
to join the ranks of the Nation's defenders. 

On April 13, 1861, Mr. Miller enlisted for 
a service of three months in Company I, First 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was 
mustered in at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, April 
18th, being sent directly to Philadelphia. 
Ten days later the regiment went to Wash- 
ington City, camping for drill along the 
Orange Run Railroad. From that point it 
was sent soon after to Vienna, Fairfax County, 
Virginia, where it had its first engagement 
with the enemy, sustaining a loss of ten men 
wounded. Its second w-as at Bull Run, July 
21, 1861, and this closed Mr. Miller's first 
term of enlistment, which had been fairly 



strenuous. His second enlistment was on 
October 14, 1861, in the Sixth Ohio Inde- 
pendent Battery, and his third, for three years 
more, on December 12, 1863, his final dis- 
charge being effected September 1, 1865, at 
Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. 

During this long period of almost constant 
military activity Colonel Miller participated 
in the following engagements, being pro- 
moted from the ranks to one official position 
after another. As noted, his first two engage- 
ments were at Vienna and Bull Run respect- 
ively, after which he was on duty at Wash- 
ington, D. C, until his discharge, August 3, 
1861. 

The Si.xth Ohio Battery in which Mr. Mil- 
ler re-enlisted in the following October, was 
organized at Camp Buckingham, Mansfield, 
Ohio. On November 10, 1861, Mr. Miller was 
made a sergeant of his company. On De- 
cember 15, 1861, the battery was sent to 
Louisville, Kentucky and assigned to the 
Eleventh Brigade, Department of the Ohio. 
It remained at Camp (Tilbert until January 
12, 1862, when it transferred to the Cumber- 
land River. March 18, it journeyed to Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, by steamer, marched with 
the Artillery Reserve, Army of the Ohio, to 
Savannah, arriving at Pittsburg Landing on 
the morning of the second day of the battle 
of that name, otherwise known as the battle 
of Shiloh. The siege of Corinth under Hal- 
leck, April 30, to May 30, followed, the bri- 
gade being under the immediate command of 
General James A. Garfield. On the evacua- 
tion of Corinth by the Confederates the bri- 
gade went into camp at Stevenson, Alabama, 
where it remained from June 18 to August 21. 
It then took part in the pursuit of Bragg to 
Louisville, Kentucky, imtil September 25. 

As a part of the Artillery Brigade. Sixth 
Division, Second Corps, the Sixth Battery en- 
gaged in the pursuit of Bragg to Crab Orch- 
ard, October 1 to 15, subsequent movements 
being to Perryville, October 8, Harrodsburg, 
October 11, Stanford, October 14: thence to 
Na.shville, Tennessee. 

The Sixth Battery was then made a part 
of the Artillerv Brigade First Division Re- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



365 



serves of the Fourteenth Army Corps of the 
Army of the Cumberland, and as such saw 
active service at Lavergne, December 26-27 ; 
Stewart's Creek, December 28; Stone River, 
December 28-31; January 1-3, 1863, Colonel 
Miller being wounded January 2d. The next 
service of the battery was at TuUahoma, June 
24-30; Hoover's Gap, July 2-4-25; Lee and 
Gordon's Mill, September 11 ; Leet's Tan- 
yard, September 12-13; Chickaniauga, Sep- 
tember 18-21 ; Siege of Chattanooga, Septem- 
ber 24-October 26; then in garrison at Fort 
Wood, where Colonel Miller veteranized. 

Colonel Miller took part in all the engage- 
ments of importance in which his command 
participated in the Atlanta campaign, includ- 
ing the following: Tunnel Hill, May 7; 
Buzzard's Roost Gap, May 8; Rocky Face 
Ridge, May 8-11 ; Resaca, Mav 13-16 ; Adairs- 
ville, May 17-18; Dallas, Mky 25-June.24; 
Pickett's Mill, May 27; Kenesaw Mountain, 
June 17- July 2; Pine Mountain, June 14; 
Lost Mountain, June 15-17 ; Pine Knob, June 
19 ; Gulp's House, June 22 ; Assault on Kene- 
saw, Jmie 27; Smyrna Camp Ground, July 
3-4 : Chattahoochee River, July 6-17 ; Peach 
Tree Creek, July 19-20 ; Siege of Atlanta, July 
21-Au,gust 25; Ezra Chapel, July 28; Utoy 
Creek, August 5-6 ; Jonesboro, August 31- 
September 1 ; Lovejoy Station, September 2- 
6; Pursuit of Hood in Nashville Campaign. 
November to December; Columbia, Duck 
River, November 24-28 ; Spring Hill, Novem- 
ber 29; Franklin, November 30; Nashville, 
December 15-16; Pursuit of Hood to the Ten- 
nessee River, and Huntsville, Alabama. 

Colonel Miller was on duty in the Depart- 
ment of Louisiana from July 3 to August 23. 
1865, and was mustered out September 1, as 
before mentioned. During this long period 
of almost constant danger Colonel Miller was 
twice wounded — once seriously, through the 
arm at Stone River, and once slightly, in the 
abdomen, his life Being saved on this latter 
occasion by his having a notebook with family 
letters in his pocket. His wounds kept him 
in the hospital for over two months. The 
life-preserving book and papers he still keeps, 
naturally regarding them with tender senti- 



ments. They will descend to those who come 
after him as precious relics of the day when, 
but for their opportune presence, a brave sol- 
dier's life would have been sacrificed. 

At the close of the war Colonel Miller re- 
turned to Mansfield, where he resided until 
1882. He then came to Akron, entering the 
rolling mills of the Akron Iron Company, in 
which he continued to work at his trade for 
thirteen years, after which he retired from 
active industrial life. 

On December 15, 1864, Colonel Miller was 
married to Lizzie McCoy, a daughter of John 
and Jane McCoy. He and his wife are the 
parents of three children, namely: Mary S., 
wife of A. J. Wills, who has charge of the tire 
department of the B. F. Goodrich Company; 
Charles J., who is a traveling representative 
of Leggett and Company, of New York City, 
the largest wholesale grocery house in the 
world; and Harry C, who is a salesman for 
the B. F. Goodrich Company. Both Mr. 
Miller's sons are very able business men. 

A man of firm political convictions. Colonel 
Miller has taken an active part in civic mat- 
ters. He has held local offices at various 
times and for six years was assessor for the 
Second Ward at Akron. Army affairs, too, 
have always remained interesting to him, and 
the old veteran organizations have claimed 
much of his time and attention. He was the 
main organizer of the Union Veteran Union 
of Ohio, from which organization -his title of 
colonel was received. For the last thirty-two 
years he has been a member of the order 
known as the Knights of Honor, belonging 
to Acme Lodge, No. 35, Akron, Ohio. 

PHILO B. UPSON, who is now one of the 
most influential citizens of Sedgwick County, 
Colorado, where he has a valuable homestead 
of 160 acres, belongs to one of Ohio's old and 
honorable families, whose ancestors were 
identified not only with the early settlement 
of the Western Reserve, but also the establish- 
ing of civilization in the New England col- 
onies. He was born June 14, 1844, in Me- 
dina County, Ohio, and is a son of Reuben 
A. and Jane (Furber) Upson. 



366 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Reuben Upson, the grandfather of Philo 
B., was born at Waterbury, Connecticut, Au- 
gust 14, 1771, and in 1798 he married Han- 
nah Richardson, who was born at Water- 
bury, October 18, 1780. In 1808, he came to 
Ohio with his brother Stephen and family, 
cutting a path tlirough the forest to Portage 
County, where the brothers bought land of 
the Connecticut Land Company. Later Reu- 
ben Upson moved to Tallmadge Township, 
Summit County, where lie bought a farm, on 
which he lived until 1818, when he removed 
to another part of the same township, pur- 
chasing 800 acres. Not being able to secure 
a clear title to this land he later accepted the 
same amount in still another part of the same 
town.ship. He died in 1848, aged seventy- 
four years. His children were: Phebe, 
Emma, Reuben, Polly, Chloe. Hannah. .I\il- 
ius A. and George C. 

Reuben Upson (second), son of Reuben 
and Hannah Upson, was born near Water- 
bury, Connecticut, in 1808, and accompanied 
his parents to Ohio, growing to manhood in 
Summit County. He then returned to Con- 
necticut and worked one year for Seth 
Thomas, the famous clock maker, after which 
he returned to Ohio and settled on a farm. 
In 1836 he made a trip to Iowa, going down 
the Ohio River and up the Mississippi, and 
after reaching that then far distant State, he 
■'homesleaded" a farm ; but not finding the 
prospect satisfactory, he returned to Ohio in 
1837, walking the distance from Rock Island, 
Illinois to Chicago, then a "little village in 
the mud," where he took a steamer to Cleve- 
land and settled in Medina County. In 18(j7 
he traded his farm for a hotel in the town of 
Cuyahoga Falls, where he remained until 
1871, when he removed to Henry County, 
Illinois and resided there until his death, 
which occurred m February, 1884. 

Before moving to Iowa, Reuben Upson 
(second) was married to Jane Furber, who 
was born in England, August 26, 1810, and 
who died in Illinois in 1901. She was a 
daughter of Frances and Elizabeth Furber, 
who settled in Summit County w'hen she wa.-; 
nine years old. Her parents lie buried at 



Kent. Of the nine children comprising the 
family of Reuben and Jane Upson, three sur- 
vive, namely: Philo B. ; Benjamin L., resid- 
ing in Henry County, Illinois, engaged in 
farming; and Mary L., who is now the wife 
of Joseph U. Barnes, residing at Minneapolis, 
Minnesota. 

Philo B. Upson was reared and mainly edu- 
cated in Northampton Township, Summit 
County, and was engaged in farming there at 
the outbreak of the Civil War. In July, 
1862, he entered the Union army, enlisting 
as a member of Company G, 115th Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was ordered to 
the front. For one year the regiment was 
engaged in provost duty at Cincinnati, and at 
Covington, Kentucky, going thence to Mur- 
freesboro, and during the winter of 1863-4 
it did picket duty. In the following summer, 
Mr. Upson was one of the body of thirty men 
detailed to man a blockhouse on the Nashville 
and Chattanooga Railroad, near Lavergne, 
and on the 5th of December the men were 
surrounded by a party from General Forest's 
army, and all were captured. When en route 
for Andersonville Prison, twenty days later, 
Mr. Upson was fortunate enough to escape, 
whtle his poor comrades, after enduring the 
horrors of that terrible prison pen, were pa- 
roled and placed on board the ill-fated steamer 
"Sultana"' which was destroyed by an explo- 
sion, near Memphis, in which disaster, many 
of tlie members of Mr. Up?on's coni]ianv were 
killed. 

After his escape from the Confederates, Mr. 
U{ison returned to Murfeesboro and rejoined 
his regiment and a few days later was detailed 
for duty at the very point where he had been 
captured, the blockhouse having been de- 
stroyed at that time. Mr. Upson was a good 
soldier and he remained on duty at this point 
until he was recalled in order to receive his 
discharge, which took place at Murfreesboro, 
Tennessee, in July, 1865. He was paid off 
at Cleveland and then was at liberty to return 
to his home, reaching there safely, with the 
consciousness that he had performed his 
whole duty as a patriotic and loyal citizen. 
]'{v has ahvavs since then enjoyed his meet- 




HON. LEONID AS S. EBRIGHT, M. D. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



369 



ings with old comrades, taking much interest 
in matters pei'taining to the Grand Army of 
the Republic and at present is past connnan- 
der of Julesburg Post, No. 21, Department of 
Colorado and Wyommg. 

Mr. Up.son remained in Sununit County 
until 1867, when he went to Illinois and for 
two yeans he worked as a farm hand in Henry 
County, and then rented a farm which he car- 
ried on for two years, after which he bought a 
place five miles from Geneseo, which he culti- 
vated for the following thirteen years. 

It was in 1885 that Mr. Upson made a great 
change m his life by removing to Colorado, 
and arriving there, having the foresight to 
take up a homestead, being the first man to set- 
tle in Sedgwick Township. His farm lies with- 
in two miles of Sedgwick, and its value has 
increa.sed many times over since he saw its 
po.ssibilities in the spring of 1885. For some 
years he was extensively engaged in the cattle 
business, but in 1892 he turned his attention 
to other lines of industry, his son being old 
enough by this time, to take charge of the 
farm. Mr. Upson went to Wadena, Min- 
nesota, where he became manager of a farm 
loan agency, and vice-president of the Wa- 
dena State Bank. One year later he went to 
Minneapolis, where he w-as connected with the 
Minneapolis Title and Trust Company as col- 
lector, remaining in that city until August, 
1895. He then severed hLs connection with 
the corajjany and returned to Colorado, once 
more resuming the care of his cattle business. 

AVhen Sedgwick County was cut off from 
Logan, in 1889, Mr. Upson was .selected by 
Governor Cooper as one of the first county 
commissioners, and in the following fall he 
was formally elected to fill a term of three 
years, being the only member of the first board 
who was returned to office. In the summer 
of 1802, he was chosen as an alternate dele- 
gate to the National Republican Convention 
which convened at Minneapoli.-, and which 
nominated Benjamin Harrison for the Presi- 
dencv of the United States. 

On March 12, 1868, Mr. Upson, while liv- 
ing in Henry County, Illinois, was married 
to Sarah A. Richardson, who is a daughter of 



Stephen Richardson, a farmer of that sec- 
tion. She w-as born at Pleasant \^alley, 
Illinois, where she enjoyed fair educational 
advantages. To Mr. and Mrs. Upson a family 
of eleven children have been born, and what 
is remarkable is that all but one survive. 
William G., the eldest, is engaged in farming 
and stock-raising in Logan County. Clara L. 
is the wife of E. C. Smith, a stockman of Sedg- 
wick County. Charles B. is cashier and pay- 
ing teller of the Minneapolis Title, Insurance 
and Trust Company, of Minneapolis. Joseph 
Clinton is a business man also of that city. 
John E. is a member of Company B, Thir- 
teenth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer In- 
fantry, now- at Manila, having left the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota in order to enter the 
army: Chloe Etta is a teacher in the public 
schools of Sedgwick. Jennie E., Ray R., 
Daniel D. and Bes.sie R., reside at home. 
Mrs. Upson died July 5, 1904. Mr. Upson 
and family belong to the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. 

HON. LEONIDAS S. EBRIGHT, M. D., 

postmaster at Akron and formerly a memlier 
of the Ohio State Legislature, representing 
Summit County, was born near Royalton, 
Fairfield County, Ohio, September 25, 1844, 
and is a son of George and Rachel (Hatha- 
way) Eliright. 

Dr. Ebright is of German-Scotch ancestry. 
His father, who for many years wa.'i a minis- 
ter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, died 
in 1864, at the age of fifty-three, leaving a 
widow and nine children. 

From the public schools of Fairfield Coun- 
ty, Leonidas S. Ebright entered the Union 
Army a-^ a soldier, enlisting May 7, 1862. 
for three months' service in Company K, 85th 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably 
discharged in the following September. He 
re-enli.sted in April, 1864. in the Eighty- 
seventh Regiment Ohio ^'ohmteer Infantry. 
Later he was transfen-ed to Company G, 88th 
Infantry, and served on detached duty until 
July 3," 1865, when he was mustered out by 
special order at Camp Chase. 

During the interval bctwi-en hi-; terms of 



370 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



army service, he taught school. In February, 
186'8, he came to Akron, after serving as a 
clerk in a drug store at Wooster, for six 
months, and entered upon his medical stud- 
ies in the office of Drs. Bowen and Ebright. 
Subsequently he entered the Charity Hospital 
Medical College, at Cleveland, where he \vi\s 
graduated m February, 1869. He then re- 
sumed his residence in Akron, engaging in 
practice until 1871, when he took a post- 
graduate course in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, at New York City. In the fall 
of 1872 Dr. Ebright went to Europe and 
spent ten months m special study in some of 
the most famed hospitals and laboratories 
there. After an absence which covered tliirtccn 
months, he returned to Akron, in which city 
he became an eminent practitioner. He was 
the first secretary of the Northeastern Medi- 
cal Society and later was its president. For 
a protracted period he was the city health of- 
ficer, and for a number of years also w;is 
physician to the Children's Home, and a 
member of the board of physicians of the 
Akron City Hospital. 

For nearly a quarter of a century Dr. 
Ebright has been one of the active and influ- 
ential Republicans of this section of Ohio, 
serving on the various important county and 
State committees. In 1879 he was elected a 
representative from Summit County, to the 
State Legislature, and demonstrated during 
his term at Columbus that he might be 
trusted to look after the people's interests. 
In campaign work throughout the country. 
Dr. Ebright has been a tower of strength to 
his party, and has been associated, on one or 
another oca.sion, with almost all of its lead- 
ing orators. His equal command of the Ger- 
man tongue with the English, often proved 
advantageous to Republican interests. Dur- 
ing 1898, Dr. Ebright, as a political speaker, 
vi.sited the States of Illinois, Michigan, Ken- 
tucky and a large part of Ohio. July "27, 
1897, he was appointed postmaster at Akron 
by the late President McKinley, who was liis 
personal as well as political friend. In that 
year the Akron office had sixteen carriers, 
one of whom .still serves as .such, having been 



identified with the office ever since its estab- 
lishment, and the receipts amounted to $400,- 
000. In comparison, in 1907, Postmaster 
Ebright has twenty-three clerks and thirty- 
six carriers, handling in all the respectable 
sum of $1,000,000. 

On November 15, 1883, Dr. Ebright was 
married to Julia A. Bissell, who was born at 
Sharon, Medina County, Ohio, and they have 
two children, Ruth B. and Mary R. The fam- 
ily residence is situated at No. 678 Ea.st Mar- 
ket street. 

Dr. Ebright has been prominent also for 
many years in fraternal circles, having filled 
some of the highest offices in R. A. bodies as 
well as with the Knights of Honor. For four 
years he served as surgeon-general, with the 
rank of brigadier-general, on the staff of Gov- 
ernor McKinley ; for five years was surgeon of 
Battery B, Ohio National Guards, and for 
five years of the German Guards. In 1890 
he was honored by being made president of 
the Decennial Real Estate Board of Equaliza- 
tion, of Akron. At various times he has been 
more or less interested in business enterprises. 
He served as president of the Akron Sewer 
Pipe Company, and was one of the directors 
until it was merged with the American Sewer 
Pipe Company. His busy life has brought 
him into close contact with men and aft'airs, 
and he numbers friends and admirers in every 
class both in Akron and elsewhere. 

MAURICE G. SNYDER, manager of the 
Oliio Mining & Railway Company, at Akron, 
who has been a resident of this . city since 
1871, was born at New Baltimore, Stark 
County, Ohio, in 1860. His father, John 
C. Snyder, was in the mercantile business at 
New Baltimore, for a number of years, and 
was a veteran of the Civil War. 

Maurice G. Snyder was nine years old 
when his parents moved to Akron, and he se- 
cured his education in this city, later going to 
Wadsworth, Ohio, where he worked in a 
printing office for one year. He then came 
back to Akron, where he entered the offices 
of the Aultman-Miller Company, and he re- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



371 



mained with that house for twenty-one years 
subsequently. He was then elected a member 
of the Board of Public Service, at Akron, 
and after serving one term embarked in a coal 
business. In April, 1907, Mr. Snyder ac- 
cepted the management of the Ohio Mining 
and Railway Company, a position which car- 
ries with it a large amount of responsibility. 
He is one of the stockholders and is chairman 
of the board of directors of the Ohio & Penn- 
sylvania League of professional base ball play- 
ers and has all the ordinary American's en- 
thusiasm for the sport. 

In 1888, Mr. Snyder was married to Eliza 
Wigley, who was born in England. They 
have three sons, Maurice H. and Paul and 
Park, twins, ilr. and Mrs. Snyder are mem- 
bers of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He be- 
longs to the fraternal order of Odd Fellows 
and the social organization, the Kirkwond 
Club. 

N. C. STONE, president of the National 
City Bank, of Akron, was born in this city in 
1854. He is a son of Nelson B. Stone, who 
was formerly a prominent citizen here, and 
a sketch of whom may be found on another 
page of this volume. Mr. Stone was reared 
in Akron, and after graduating from the pub- 
lic schools, became a member of the class of 
1876 of Ohio Wesleyan University, at Dela- 
ware. Ohio. He then spent one year in Eu- 
ropean travel, at the end of which time, re- 
turning to Akron, he entered business life, 
becoming connected with the Weary-Snyder- 
Wilcox Manufacturing Co., manufacturers 
of and dealers in lumber. With this concern 
he remained for about seven year.<. He was 
then connected for a short time with the Sci- 
berling Milling Company. His next move 
was to Kansas City, but after a short stay 
there his business interests called him to New 
York City, where he was located for about two 
years. In 1887 he returned to Akron and 
entered the employ of the Selle Gear Com- 
pany, with whom he remained until the 
spring of 1888. In this year he entered upon 
an entirely different sphere of busmess activi- 
ty, becoming cashier of the City National 
Bank. On the expiration of the bank's char- 



ter in 1903, by limitation, a new organiza- 
tion became necessary, and the National City 
Bank was acordingly organized in May of 
that year, Mr. Stone becoming president, 
which office he has since retained. Mr. Stone 
is also interested in a number of manufactur- 
ing enterprises in Akron. He is a man of 
sound and extensive information in regard to 
the business and financial conditions, both of 
Akron and the surrounding district, and while 
enterprising and fully abreast of the times, 
exercises a conservative judgment in all busi- 
ness matters which come before him for his 
decision. In politics he is a Republican. He 
is affiliated with the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church, which he is now serving on the board 
of trustees. Mr. Stone was married in 1879, 
to Miss Margaret J. Oburn, of Chicago, Illi- 
nois. 

C. H. BORST, president and manager of 
The Borst Stone & Brick Company, of Akron, 
has been identified with the business life of 
this city for the past decade. He was born 
in 1856, at Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio, 
and is a son of the late J. A. Borst. 

The father of Mr. Borst resided at Wads- 
worth until the latter was sixteen years of 
age, where he was engaged in raising fruit 
with great success, and then moved to Green- 
town and for some time carried on a coal busi- 
ness. Subsequently he became interested in 
the growing of celery, and his investigations 
and experiments resulted in his becoming one 
of the first notable celery growers in this part 
of Ohio. Subsequently he became one of the 
most extensive growers in the State, and also 
jiroduced the best varieties, of which he had 
100 acres at the time of his death, in 1894. 
He has made a complete sucess of the indus- 
try. 

C. H. Borst attended the High Schools of 
both Wadsworth and Greentown. His first 
work was in the line of civil engineering, and 
for two years he was connected with the Wash- 
ington, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad line, 
in Virginia. In 1878 he "went on the road," 
traveling between Cleveland and Canton, for 
two vcars, after which his field of work lay 



372 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and New and 
Old Mexico. He spent nine years west of Mis- 
souri. He then came back to Ohio and for 
about seven years was connected with the city 
engineer's office at Akron, resigning that posi- 
tion in order to look after personal business 
interests. In the spring of 1903, The Borst 
Stone & Brick Company was incorporated, 
with a cajnlal stock of $10,000, with Mr. 
Borst as president and general manager. The 
business of this concern is the manufacturing 
of all kinds of cement blocks, plain and orna- 
mental, and they do a general cement block 
contract work in all kinds of building. The 
firm stands at the head in this line of indu.'^- 
try. Mr. Borst is a man of extensive experi- 
ence and thorough business integrity. 

In 1895 Mr. Borst was married to Belle 
Tait, of Akron, and they have two children : 
Helen E. and Frank A. As a good citizen, 
Mr. Borst is interested in the perpetuation of 
hone.st city govcTmnciit. Fraternally he is an 
Odd Fellow. ■ 

I'lIILlP WAGONER, a retired citizen of 
Akron, an ex-county commissioner of Sum- 
mit County, and a. man long identified with 
its lending- interests, was born m Franklin 
Townshiii, Summit County, when it was still 
a part of Stark County, Ohio, April 3, 1829. 
He is a son of George Wagoner, an early set- 
tler. 

George Wagoner was born in Cumberland 
County, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in 
1812, locating' in Jackson Township, Stark 
County, where he remained until 1821. He 
then .s^old his farm and entered 160 acres of 
Government land in what is now Franklin 
Township, Sunuiiit County, and there he re- 
mained engaged in farming and stockraising 
until the clo.se of his active career. He died 
April 23, 1873. He married Rebecca Sowers, 
who was born in Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and died in 188(J. They reared six of 
their family of ten children, the survivors at 
this writing being the following; Henry L., 
postmaster at Krumroy, Springfield Town- 
ship; Philip, residing in Akron; John J., re- 
siding at Akron : Harriet, widow of Michael 



Hariisler, also residing at Akron; Amanda, 
widow of John Spangler, residing in Franklin 
Township, and Aaron of Akron. 

Philip Wagoner was reared and educated 
in Franklin Township. For nine years he 
followed the carpenter's trade. He then turned 
his attention to farming and this occupation 
he successfully followed until he retired from 
active life in 1900. He has been an active 
participant in public matters in Franklin 
Township, voting first with the Whig party 
and later with the Republicans, having sup- 
ported every Republican presidential candi- 
date. On many occasions he has been elected 
to office, serving four years as township treas- 
urer of Franklin township, one year as 
assessor, in 1890 as census enumerator, and 
in September, 1900, assuming the duties of 
county commissioner, in which office he served 
for two terms or six years. 

In 1850 Mr. Wagoner was married to Han- 
nah Henney, who died in August, 1900. Mr. 
and Mrs. Wagoner had twelve children born 
to them, the five living being the following: 
Amanda C, who married Henry Taylor, of 
Akron; Irvin S., residing in Colorado, where 
he is interested in gold mines; Emma, who 
married C. F. Reinhold, of Ma.ssillon, Ohio; 
Mary, who married ^Maurice Monegan, of 
West Richfield, Summit County; and Harvey 
Philip, residing at Akron. Since he was 
seventeen years of age, Mr. Wagoner has been 
a member of the Lutheran Church. He is 
one of Summit County's honored citizens. 

LOREN WAY, one of the sub-tautial 
farmers of Summit County, living on his 
valuable farm of ninety-two acres in Coventry 
Township, was born January 22, 1850, on his 
father's farm, which was situated on the pres- 
ent site of Barberton, Coventry Township, this 
county, and is a son of Joseph and Jane 
(McCracken) Way. 

Ezra Way, the grandfather of Loren, was 
a native of Connecticut, whence he came to 
Ohio in 1817, settling on the present site of 
Barberton. Here he bought a tract of tim- 
berland extending from Wolf Creek to the 
Tuscarawas river. Lake Anna being in the 








GEORGE SACKETT 



AND REPRESENTATn'E CITIZENS 



375 



center of this property. He purchased this 
land for $3.00 per acre, and his only neigh- 
bors were a half-breed Indian and his squaw, 
who lived at the present site of Straw Board 
and hunted for a living. Mr. Way began 
to clear his 280-acre tract and built a log 
cabin in the woods, deer at this time being 
so plentiful that they had to be driven away 
from the wheat fields. Mr. Way's stock con- 
.sisted of one horse, two oxen, one cow and 
one hog, which they brought with them from 
Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Way both 
spent the remainder of their lives here. Their 
four children were: Anna, Levi, Franklin 
and .Joseph. 

Joseph AVay, who was born in 1801, came 
to Ohio wlien sixteen years of age, and lent 
his hand towards developmg the farm in the 
new country, although in his native State he 
had learned the trade of carpentering. The 
family's nearest white neighbor at this time 
came five yeai's later than the Ways, Sylvester 
A'an Hinning settling about three miles away. 
Joseph Way continued to make this property 
liis home all the rest of his life, and died 
there in 1873. At one time Mr. Way and 
Abel Irish were the only two to vote the Dem- 
ocratic ticket in Norton township, which now 
has a large Democratic majority. 

Joseph AVay was married three times, first to 
Miss Stellman, by whom he had four chil- 
dren : Abigail, Henry, Martha and Charles. 
He had one child by his second marriage, — 
Joseph, — and after the death of his second 
wife he was married to Jane McCracken, who 
came from Pennsylvania during the early 
days. Of this last union there were born 
five children : Loren ; Caroline, the widow 
of David Eby; Mary, who married Noah Ea- 
ton ; Anna and John. The mother of these 
children died at the age of eighty-six years. 

Loren Way attended the district schools 
and lived on the home farm until his mar- 
riage, the heirs selling about three years be- 
fore 0. C. Barber located there. After his 
marriage Mr. Way built a house on the home 
farm and lived there for seven years, after 
which he purchased forty and one half acres 
of land from Henrv Sours, in Coventrv Town- 



ship, where he spent four years. This proper- 
ty, which is now used as a clay pit, was sub- 
sequently sold by Mr. Way, and in 1891 he 
bought his present farm from the J. Kepler 
heirs, where he has since carried on general 
farming with much success. His machinery 
is modern and his methods practical, and his 
property as a consequence yields abundantly 
every year. In politics Mr. Way ls a Demo- 
crat, but he has neither held nor cared to 
hold public office. 

In 1879 Mr. Way was united in marriage 
with Ella Berlien, who is a daughter of John 
Berlien. Of this union there is one child, 
Marvin Wilber, now an agriculturist of Cov- 
entry Township, who married Bessie Gerst 
and has three children : Ralph, Ethel and 
Ruth. 

(lEORGE SACKETT, for sixty years a 
jirominent resident of Cuyahoga Falfs, who 
was closely identified with its manufacturing 
industries, and many other of its upbuilding 
agencies, was V)orn at Warren, Litchfield 
('ounty, Connecticut, January 6, 1821, and 
died at Cuyahoga Falls, Sunnnit County, 
Ohio, July 12, 1907. He was a sou of Aaron 
and Hulda C. (Tanner) Sackett. 

The Sackett family became established in 
Sunnnit County in 1838, through the settle- 
ment here of Aaron Sackett and his house- 
hold. Both he and his wife were born in 
Connecticut, and the maternal grandfather of 
(loorge Sackett, sei-ved in the Revolutionary 
War as an officer inider General Anthony 
Wayne. In 1836 .Varon Sackett moved to 
Caiiandaigua, New York, that his children 
might enjoy the educational advantages of 
that place. In 1838 the Sackett family re- 
sumed their western journey and permanently 
settled on a tract of land in Tallraadge Town- 
ship, where Aaron Sackett resided until his 
retirement from active life in 1868. He died 
at the home of his son, William Sackett. in 
Copley Township, at the age of eighty-four 
years. His sterling traits of character were 
reflected in his children, who were ten in 
number, George being the third in order of 
birth. 



376 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Mr. Sackett • attended two sessions of the 
Tallniadge Academy, and then his school 
days were ended. Up to the time he attained 
his majority he performed faithfully the ar- 
duous part that fell to the lot of the eldest 
son in a large family living under pioneer 
conditions. 

When twenty-one years old Mr. Sackett be- 
gan farming on his own account. His cai)ilal 
was $100. He leased a tract of land from 
the "Chuckery" Company, located in that sec- 
tion of the city of Akron now known as 
North Hill. Thanks to untiring industry, 
and the exercise of his unfailing good .sense, 
these farming operations prospered greatly. 
Special attention was given to the production 
of wool and wheat raising. His farm at one 
time embraced the handsome total of 1,400 
acres of excellent land. 

Mr. Sackett was also interested in manufac- 
turing enterprises, and was for a number -of 
years the president of the Cuyahoga Paper 
Company. He was a man of superior busi- 
ness ability and accumulated an ample for- 
tune. He engaged in coal mining, railroad 
building, and the general development of the 
country at Laredo, Texas, in partnership with 
GoA'. A. C. Hunt of Colorado. At one time 
he had large holdings of real estate and min- 
ing properties in Colorado. 

Mr. Sackett was from the very formation 
of the Republican Party its stanch and un- 
deviating supporter. He was the president 
of the first Republican Club in Cuyahoga 
Falls. In 1867 he was elected County Com- 
missioner by the Republican party and served 
three years. In 1879 be was appointed a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Equalization, rep- 
resenting Summit and Portage Counties, and 
he also sei-ved in lesser offices. Ilis superior 
judgment was exercised in the performance 
of public tasks with the same fidelity as in 
the pursuance of his private business. He 
was a man of honor in all transactions. 

In 1848 Mr. Sackett was married to Helen 
Williams of Auburn, New York, who died in 
I8/1I. Mr. Sackett was married a second time, 
February 9. 1854, at Tallniadge, Ohio, to 
Frances V. Grant, a daughter of William and 



Esther (Treat) Grant, of Orange, New Haven 
County, Connecticut, who, with one daugh- 
ter, Mrs. A. F. Smith, of Cleveland, survives 
him. 

In 1847 Mr. Sackett purchased a valuable 
farm of 200 acres on -which he resided until 
1867, when he purchased the property on 
Second street, where he lived until he com- 
. pleted the building of a fine residence in 1902 
on Broad street, Cuyahoga Falls. This beau- 
tiful home remains the place of residence of 
his widow. In 1902 Mr. Sackett completed 
the sale of the city lots into which he had 
divided his farm, making the Sackett addi- 
dition to Cuyahoga Falls now one of the most 
attractive parts of the city. For many years 
Mr. Sackett was an active, consistent. Chris- 
tian, a member of the Congregational Church, 
to which he gave generous support both of 
money and time. Until within a year of his 
death, Mr. Sackett enjoyed as good health as 
usually falls to the lot of men of his years, 
while hi^ mind remained clear, and his in- 
terest in his family and immediate circle of 
friends never ceased. He was the last of his 
family save one, Mrs. H. C. Grant, of this 
city. George Sackett's wa^ a pre-eminently 
successful career. In it all there was nothing 
to conceal. He was from first to last honest, 
upright, industrious, a good citizen, neighbor 
and friend. 

F. W. ROCKWELL, a successful and rep- 
resentative business man of Akron, has been 
a resident of this city for over thirty-six years. 
He was born in 1851 in Kent, Ohio, then 
known as Franklin Mills. In 1859 he ac- 
companied his parents to the northwestern 
part of Missouri, where he resided for five 
years. They then returned to Ohio, taking 
up their residence at Andover, where they 
remained for about a year. A year was then 
spent at Windfall, Indiana, from which place 
they removed to Linesville, Pennsylvania for 
a residence of five years. During these early 
years the subject of this sketch attended the 
common schools, supplementing the education 
therein obtained by a year's attendance at 
Allegheny College. In 1871, at the age of 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



twenty, he came to Akron, accepting a position 
:i.-5 bookkeeper with the Akron Sewer Pipe 
Company, with whom he remained thirteen 
years. Beginning at the foot of the ladder 
he worked liis way up until he became sec- 
retary of the company. 

Mr. Rockwell then went into business for 
himself as a manufacturer of stoneware, 
under the firm name of Johnson-Rockwell 
& Company. Afterwards purchasing Mr. 
Johnson's interest he continued the business 
under the style of F. W. Rockwell & Co., 
until 1890, when he sold out his interest.? 
to A. J. Weeks. He had previously made 
arrangements to go to Huntingdon, Pennsyl- 
vania, to establish a sewer-pipe company, and 
accordingly he now established with others 
the Pennsylvania Sewer Pipe Co., Limited. 
His interests in this concern he sold out in 
1892, returning to Akron, where for a j^ear he 
was in the office of the Columbia Sew'er Pipe 
Co. The concern was then merged with the 
Union Sewer Pipe Comjiany, Mr. Rockwell re- 
maining with them until 1896, when the con- 
solidated concern went out of business. He 
had previously — about 1893 — become inter- 
ested in a grocery business, and he now gave 
his personal attention to it until 1899. He 
then became connected with the Robinson 
Clay Product Company, continuing to con- 
duct his grocery business, however, until 1903, 
when he sold out. For four years j\Ir. Rock- 
well had charge of the sale department of 
the Robinson Clay Product Company, but 
since then has had charge of real estate titles, 
insurance, and claims of customers. 

Mr. Rockw-ell takes an active interest in 
politics. He was chairman of the Republi- 
can County Committee in 1887-1888; he also 
served on Akron's school board from 1881 
to 1889; in 1883 he was elected president of 
the board ; in 1887 he was elected its treasurer, 
and he was again elected president in 1888. 
In 1902 he was again elected, and has served 
continuously from that time up to the pres- 
ent. He served as president of the board in 
1905 and 1906. During his service on fhe 
board the following buildings were con- 
structed: The Kent. Howe. Henrv. Fraun- 



felter, Samuel Findley, High School, and the 
Annex to the high school. Mr. Rockwell be- 
longs to the Independent Order of Odd Fal- 
lows, and to the Royal Arcanum, being a 
member of the local lodges of these societies. 
He was married in 1875 to Miss Mary ^V. 
Johnson, a daughter of Thomas Johnson, a 
pioneer hardware manufacturer of Akron. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell have five children 
living, namelj': George W., who is in the 
employ of the Lehigh Portland Cement Co., 
of Mitchell, Indiana; Frank J., an attorney, 
who is a member of the prominent law firm 
of Rodgers. Rowley & Rockwell, of Akron ; 
Thomas, who is assistant purchasing agent 
for the Robinson Clay Product Co. ; and Mary 
and Ida, who reside at home with their par- 
ents. 

WILLIAM CLOYD JACOBS, M. D., who 
at the time of death was, in point of service, 
the oldest medical practitioner at Akron, was 
also one of the most eminent. He was born 
February 26, 1840, at Lima, Allen County, 
Ohio, and was a son of Thomas K. and Ann 
(Elder) Jacobs. 

Dr. Jacobs was of Welsh extraction and his 
great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary War. William Jacobs, his grand- 
father, was a native of Pennsylvania, where 
he lived until late in life and then joined his 
son at Lima, Ohio, where he died in 1848. 

Hon. Thomas K. Jacobs, father of the late 
Dr. Jacobs, was born January 30, 1812, in 
Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in 1835. In 
1836 he settled at Lima, where he worked at 
his trade of tailor, and took an active interest 
in politics. In 1840 he was elected treasurer 
of Allen County, serving six terms in that 
office, and in 1859 was elected to the State 
Legislature, serving three years. He acquired 
a large amount of real estate and dealt largely 
in the same. He died November 12, 1884. 
He married Ann Elder, who was a daughter 
of Noah and Ann (Alexander) Elder, and 
they had nine children, four of whom grew^ 
to maturity, as follows : William C. ; Matilda, 
who married Henry A. Moore; Clara, who 
married John Brotherton; and Thomas K., 



378 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of Lima, now retired from the medical pro- 
fession and engaged in large real estate opera- 
tions. 

At the age of sixteen years, the late Dr. 
William C. Jacobs obtained the coveted ap- 
pointment of cadet in the United States Naval 
Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, but find- 
ing nautical training was not to his taste he 
resigned two years Utter, in 1859, and re- 
turned home with the intention of studying 
medicine, and later entered the Ohio Medical 
College at Cincinnati, where he was grad- 
uated March 3, 1862. On April 1, 1862, he 
was commissioned acting assistant surgeon 
in the United States Army and was imme- 
diately sent South and entrusted with various 
medical and surgical tasks. On account of an 
accident in the .succeeding October, he was 
given a leave of absence and during this pe- 
riod he received his commission as surgeon, 
being then under twenty-three years of age. 
He joined the Eighty-first Regiment, Oliio 
Vol. Inf., January 9, 1863, and served with 
it at Corinth, in the campaign against Atlanta, 
in the "March to the Sea," and in all the 
operations of the army from Savannah, Geor- 
gia to Raleigh, North Carolina. He was mus- 
tered out of the service at Camp Dennison, 
Ohio, July 21, 1865, young in years but old 
in medical and surgical experience. 

Dr. Jacobs settled at Akron in October, 
1865, and until his demise took an active 
interest in all that concerned this city. In 
politics he was always an adherent of the 
Republican party, but never accepted any 
office except membership on the Board of 
Education, to which he was thrice elected. 

Dr. Jacobs was married (first) September 
10, 1863, to Huldah M. Hill, of Piqua, Ohio. 
Dr. Jacobs was married (second), March 0, 
1895, to Mrs. Mary H. Wheeler, a daughter of 
Sheldon and Harriet (Speers) Brown, of 
Akron. Mrs. Jacobs survives and resides at 
No. 641 East Buchtel avenue. 

Dr. Jacobs is also survived by one son, 
Harold H., born February 10, 1866, who was 
associated with his father in medical practice 
and is now his .successor. Dr. Harold H. 
Jacobs graduated from Amherst College in 



1888 and from the Ohio Medical College in 
1891. As a medical practitioner he holds 
a high rank in the profession in this section. 
His office is in the Hamilton Block. Septem- 
ber 2, 1891, Dr. Jacobs was united in mar- 
riage to Elizabeth Griffin, daughter of H. G. 
Griffin (deceased) of this county. Dr. and 
Mrs. Jacobs have three children: Hulda G., 
Harriet T. and Mary Elizabeth. 

The late Dr. AV. "C. Jacobs was a Thirty- 
second Degree Mason and was widely known 
in the fraternity. He belonged also to the 
Knights of Pythias and to the Military Order 
of the Loyal Legion of the United States and 
to the Grand Army of the Republic. 

A. T. WOODS, M. D., one of the expe- 
rienced and valued medical practitioners re- 
siding at Loyal Oak, where he has been lo- 
cated for the past twentyeight years, Avas 
born at Union town, Stark County. Ohio, 
April 6, 1856, and is a son of .John B. and 
Susan (Wiillis) Woods. 

The father of Dr. Woods was engaged in 
a general mercantile bu-siness at Union trnvn 
until liLs son was about 5 j'ears of age, when 
he moved to Akron in the fall of 1860, where 
he entered into a banking business and for 
many years was president of the City Bank. 
Later he organized the City National Bank 
and was its first president. Many sections 
of the city were ddentified with the Woods 
family, the father of Dr. Woods owning a 
large amount of real estate. He built the 
Woods Block in the year of 1862 on the cor- 
ner of Market and ilain Street.-:. The old 
AVoods homesitead, on the corner of Union 
and Market Streets, is now the Renner home, 
but for many years it was the place where the 
AA'oods family found privacy, peace and con- 
tentment and ako where their friends were 
ho.spitaibly entertained. Both parents of Dr. 
AVoods died at Akron. Father on August 
14, 1896; mother, .lune 26, 1897. 

Dr. AVoods was reared from the age of five 
years at Akron and enjoyed the advantages 
offered by the graded city schools and later 
the High School. In preparation for his med- 
ical college course, he read with Dr. H. M. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



379 



Fitfher for tlireo years and then entered the 
Western Reserve University at Clevelajid, 
where he was graduated in 1879. A few days 
later found him established at his present lo- 
cation, ready for Ijusiness, and through all the 
succeeding years ho has never failed to an- 
swer a call for medical help. Dr. Woods is 
held in the liighest esteem, both personally 
and profe.s,sionally. 

In ISSl Dr. Woods was married to Ella 
Harrier, who is a daughter of Dain'el Harrier, 
and they have one daughter, Lily Blanche, 
\\ilio married Dr. Bert A. Shriber, a dental 
.surgeon of Akron. 

Dr. Woods has practically retired from 
practice, but consents occasionally to serve in 
consultation or to visit in an old family, 
whose physician and friend he has been for 
a quarter of a century. He has never identi- 
fied himself with secret organizations, his only 
fraternal connection being with the bene- 
ficiary order of Pathfinders. 

EDWARD B. MILLER, manager of the 
People's Improvement Company, at Akron, 
ha« been a resident of this city since child- 
hood, and has been identified with many of 
the city's important industries. He was born 
February 15, 1859, at Canton, Ohio, and is 
a son of Lewis Miller, who was the originator 
and founder of the Chautauqua As.sociation. 

He was scarcely more than five yeai-s old 
when his parents moved to Akron, where he 
attended school. He later entered the Ohio 
We.sleyan Univei"sity, remaining three years. 
In the meantime he evinced a natural lean- 
ing toward mechanics, and this led him to en- 
ter Stevens' School of Technology, at Ho- 
boken, New .Tersey, where he took a course 
in mechanical engineering. Mr. Miller then 
went for a tour of Europe, and on his return 
he entered the foundry department of his 
father's concern, the Aultman-Miller Com- 
pany, with the determination of learning 
every detail of the business. This plan he 
carried out and became assistant superintend- 
ent of the .shops, remaining for eight years 
with that company. Later he was superin- 
tendent of the Akron Iron Company for eight 



years. During all this period he had been 
quietly investing in land in and around Ak- 
ron, which since then he has been platting 
and building thereon comfortable homes for 
the public. His foresight has proven him a 
man of business faculty of high degree. His 
land is well improved, and, while materially 
benefitting him.self, he has added much to the 
general attractiveness of his city. Since 
childhood he has been united with the Firat 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Akron. 

JOHN H. DELLENBERGER, who.se bu.si- 
ne.ss connection with the Akron Lumber Com- 
pany, with plant located at No. 575 South 
Main Street, Akron, dates froan 1890, has 
been a rasident of this city for the past forty- 
one years. He was born in Portage County, 
Ohio, in 1844, and was reared on his fath- 
er's farm in Suffield Township. 

Mr. Dellenberger is one of the surviving 
veterans of the Civil War. When twenty 
years of age he enlisted for service in Com- 
pany H, 184th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and his period of service covered about 
nine Tiionths, during which tiane he was sta- 
tioned mainly in Tennessee and Alabama. 
He survived all the dangers and disasters of 
war, and returned safely to his home in Por- 
tage County. He was then engaged in car- 
penter work until the fall of 1866, when he 
came to Akron and began contracting, in 
which occupation he continued until 1870. 
when he went into the lumber business and 
was a.ssociated twelve yeai's with Sianon 
Hankey. The Hankey Lumber Company was 
then organized, of which Mr. Dellenberger 
was a member for five years. Since then he 
has been identified with the Akron Lumber 
Company, which handles all kinds of build- 
ing materials and manufactures sa^h, door, 
and Winds and deals in all kinds of lumber. 

In 1868 Mr. Dellenberger was married to 
Elizabeth J. Acker. He has three son? : Al- 
bertus J., Harry A. and John H., Jr., all of 
whom are connected vnth the Akron Lum- 
ber Company. In addition, John H., Jr., is a 
veterinarian, a graduate of the Ontario Veter- 
inarv College. Mr. Dellenberger is a member 



380 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of the Main Street Methodist Episcopal 
Chureh. lie belongs to Buckley Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic. He has never taken 
aiiy very active part in politics, but is num- 
bered with the quiet, solid representative men 
of his city, ever ready to do his part in pro- 
moting matters of public welfare, but seeking 
no personal emolument therefrom. 

ROBERT TURNER, residing on his val- 
uable farm in Portage- Township, lying just 
outside of the limits of the city of Akron, 
came to this locality from the city where he 
was engaged for many years in a manufac- 
turing business. 

Mr. Turner was born in Norfolk, England. 
January 5, 1833, and is a son of James and 
Mary (AValker) Turner. He was reared in 
England and remained in his native land un- 
til 1852. After he left school he began work 
in a flour mill and served an apprenticeship 
of five ye-ars to the millers' trade. AVlien he 
left England, his objective point was Akron, 
which city he reached on July 8, 1852, and 
on the following day he went to work at the 
old Center mill, operated by the Allen-Per- 
kins Company. Here he remained for ten 
years and three months, for eight years of 
which time he was head miller. On Jvily 1. 
1862, Mr. Turner bought a steam flour-mill 
of George Ayliff, which he operated until 
1872, when he sold it and Ijnught the woolen 
factorj' on Cherry Street. This he converted 
into ain oatmeal mill, having from 1864 made 
oatmeal in the steam mill. He continued 
the manufacture of oatmeal until 1881, when 
he sold out to J. H. Hower & Sons. Mr. 
Turner had been living up to this time in a 
comfortable home on North Summit Street, 
which he now traded for a farm of ninety 
acres, known as the old Judge Pitkin farm. 
This land, on account of its location, is each 
year becoming more valuable, and Mr. Tur- 
ner is selling town lots from it, and the time 
is not far distant when this will be one of 
the finest, residential parts of Akron. 

In 1858 Air. Turner was married to -Tane 
Cooper, who died in February, 1892. The 
children of this marriage were: Robert., who 



died young; Addie, residing in Akron; Nel- 
lie M., 'who married George W. Carpenter, re- 
siding in Akron; and Robert, residing al-^'O 
iu Akron. Mr. Turner was married (second) 
to Emma E. (jibbons, who is a daughter of 
Edward Gibbons. Mrs. Turner was born and 
reared in England and accompanied her 
l^rother to America when she was twenty-five 
years of age. She learned stenography and 
secured a position, first with William Tay- 
lor Son & Company, and later was with the 
William Bingham Company and the Stand- 
ard Lighting Company, where she continued 
until her marriage in 1893 to Mr. Turner. 

Since becoming an American citizen, Mr. 
Turner has been a loyal supporter of the 
Government, sei'ving during the Civil War 
as a member of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry, which was stationed for the 
100-day term at Akron. He has since served 
acceptably in various offices of responsibility, 
to which his fellow citizens elected him. For 
ten years he was a director of the old Portage 
Township school and for years was a member 
of the Summit County Agricultural Society, 
being its treasurer for a part of the time. Fra- 
ternally he is a Ma^on, belonging to Akron 
Lodge,' No. 83, A. F. & A. M.,'and the Royal 
Arch Chapter, also of Akron. 

CHARLES E. AKERS, proprietor of the 
large hardware busin&ss, located at No. 984 
S. Main Street, Akron, has been a continuous 
resident of this city for the past thirty-three 
years. Mr. Akers was born in England about 
100 miles distant from the great city of Lon- 
don, and in hh native land attended school 
through boyhod and learned the tinner's 
trade. 

Thus, when the young man arrived in Ak- 
ron, he WHS ready to go to work and his serv- 
ices were accepted by Cramer & May, but 
within .six months he realized that there was 
a good opening in his line of biisiness for an- 
other first-cla.'ss establishment, and, according- 
ly, in as.sociation with his brother, he formed 
the firm of Akers Brothers. This firm con- 
tinued for twelve years, doing a general hard- 
ware, roofing and tinning business. Charles 




JACOB KOCH 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



383 



E. Akers is now sole proprietor of the large 
business, dealing in all kinds of hardware, 
tinning, roofing and spouting, besides doing 
general job work. Mr. Akers enjoys a large 
patronage and is numbered with the leading 
business men in his line of industry in 
Akron. 

In 1880 Mr. Akers was married to Anna 
White, and they have four children, namely; 
Edith, who married Frederick Stornan, re- 
siding at Akron, and Eva, Alfred and Ruth. 
Mr. Akers and family belong to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

Politically Mr. Akers is a Republican. He 
is a member of several insurance societies and 
has ser\'ed on some civic boards, but he is 
in no way a politician. Quite recently he has 
enjoyed a visit to Europe, spending six weeks 
in viewdng the various placas of interest in 
London, Livei-pool, Paris and other famous 
Old World cities. 

JACOB KOCH, a prominent citizen of 
Akron for many years, but now living re- 
tired from business activity, was born at Baer- 
stadt, Bavaria, Germany, May 29, 1840, and 
is a son of Henry and Mary Koch. His par- 
ents were natives of Germany who emigrated 
to America in 1841, finding a home in the 
city of Philadelphia. The father lost his life 
through the foundering at sea of a sailing 
vessel on which he was a passenger, in 1845, 
between Philadelphia and Savannah, Geor- 
gia, and in 1846 . Jacob accompanied his 
mother to Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated 
in the schools of that city. In 1854 he came 
to Akron, where his uncle was the senior 
member of the clothing firm of Koch and 
Levi, and secured a clerkship with them. 
During the next ten years he devoted him.self 
so closely and thoroughly to the business that 
in 1864, when his uncle retired, he was able 
to take his place. In 1878 Mr. Levi was suc- 
ceeded by Louis Loeb, and the firm name then 
assumed was J. Koch and Company. The 
basiness was removed to commodious quar- 
ters on South Howard Street, subsequently 
removal being made to the corner of Mill and 
Main Streets. Mr. Koch continued at the 



head of the firm and in time built up the 
largest establishment in Akron dealing in 
gents' furnishing goods and boys' and men's 
clothing. In January, 1907, he disposed of 
his interest in the business, and since then has 
been enjoying a quiet life of ease and leisure. 
Since his retirement the business has been 
changed to a stock company, composed of 
clerks who had served under, and were 
trained in business methods by, Mr. Koch, 
Louis Loeb being manager. 

On March 12, 1878, Mr. Koch was married 
to Leah Hexter, of New York, who died in 
that city September 3, 1878. Febiuary 8, 
1893, Mr. Koch married (second) Miss Ella 
Dessauer, of Montrose, Pennsylvania. Of this 
imion there is one child, Marion Blanche, 
born March 15, 1895. 

Mr.. Koch takes a good citizen's interest in 
]niblic matters, and has frequently demon- 
.-;trated his patriotism and public spirit. He 
responded to the call of Governor Brough, in 
1862, for troops for State defenders, and in 
1864, as a member of the 164th Regiment of 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served 100 days in 
front of Washington. He has been connected 
with a number of civic bodies, and served 
for a time on the Board of Trustees of the De 
Rod Hospital fund. He has a beautiful home 
at No. 38 Adolph Avenue. 

J. A. SWINEHART, pr&sident and man- 
ager of the Swinehart Clincher Tire and Rub- 
ber Company, a large business enterprise of 
Akron, has resdded in this city for the past 
thirty-one years. He was born in 1851, at 
Suffield, Portage County, Ohio, where for 
some itime he attended school, completing 
his education at Smithville. 

Mr. Swinehart was nineteen years of age 
when he came to Akron and he spent seven 
years teaching school in the surrounding dis- 
tricts. He having a natural tasite for wood- 
working, he finally left the educational field 
and learned the millwrights' trade, subse- 
quently developing into a contractor. For 
some sixteen years he engaged in contract- 
ing, building many of the largest mills, be- 
sides nvnnerous other buildings, at .\kron and 



384 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



throughout Summit County. When the Fire- 
stone Rubber Company was organized he 
became interested in it as a business enter- 
prise, and accepted the position of vice-presi- 
dent, which he retained for three years. He 
then went to Europe, where he was engaged 
for a niimbr of years in selling patents on 
has side-wire tire. Mr. Swinehart m«de six 
trips abroad in the interests of the above 
named business, but in the meanwhile he was 
studying out other inventions, which resulted 
in the production of the clincher tire, and, in 
1904, of the organization of the Swinehart 
Clincher Tire and Rubber Company. This 
became an inc.oi"porat«J body. Its present 
capital stock is $200,000.00, with J. A. S^\•ine- 
hart as president and general manager; B. C. 
Swinehart as vice-president; Fred A. Boron, as 
treasurer, and C. 0. Baughman, as secretary. 
The manufacture of the Swinehart Clincher 
Tires is the company's main industry. Mr. 
Swimehiart is linterested also in other con- 
cerns and is one of Akron's stirring and prom- 
inent business citizens. From 1(S93 to 1895 
he served as a member of the Akron school 
board. 

In 1880 Mr. Swinehart was married to Cal- 
lie C. Coldren, of Springfield Township, Sum- 
mit County. They have three children, 
namely: B. C. Swinehart, who is vice-presi- 
dent of the Swinehart Clincher Tire Com- 
pany, and a resident of Akron, and Ada and 
E.?ther, who reside at home with their parents. 
Mr. Swinehart- and family belong to the Grace 
Reformed Church of Akron, which he is serv- 
ing as a member of the official board. 

NATHANIEL LOMBARD, .superintend- 
ent and chief engineer of the Lombard & 
Replogle Engineering Company, at Akron, 
with quarters in the Hon'er Building on West 
Market Street, is of New England ancestry 
and was born at Springfield, Maine, in 1865. 

Mr. Lombard received hi? educational 
training in his native state, and when nine- 
teen years of age lie went to Boston Massa- 
chusetts, and found employment with the 
American Arms Company of that city, with 
whom he continued for four vears. Here he 



had an opportunity of working out some ideas 
of his own and his experiments resulted in 
the invention of a practical machine for cov- 
ering electrical wires. Its value was imme- 
diately recognized and he sold it without 
difficulty to the Eastern Electrical- Cable Com- 
pany, entering their works to build a few 
of the machines. His busy brain kept at 
work and he soon produced a lasting machine 
for lasting shoes, which he sold to the Mc- 
Kay Shoe Machinery Company, of Boston. 
-Vbout the same time he sold his hydraulic 
car brake to the city of New York, where a 
number of cable cars Avere equipped with this 
life-saving appliance. Other important in- 
ventions of recognized utility are his water- 
wheel governors, the Lombard water-wheel 
governor, which is controlled by the Lombard 
AVater Wheel Governor Company, of Bo.ston, 
and his other invention, the improved water- 
wheel governor, which is being built by the 
Holyoke Machine Company, of Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

In 1905 Mr. Lombard came to Akron and, 
after inventing and perfecting the Lombard 
& Replogle mechanical water-wheel governor, 
he formed the Lombard & Replogle Engineer- 
ing Comjianv, which was incorporated with a 
capital stock of $100,000. The officers of 
this company are: M. Otis Hower, president; 
H. Y. Hower, vice-president ; M. A. Replogle, 
secretary, and Nathaniel Lombard, superin- 
tendent and chief engineer. Mr. Lombard 
retains a one-third interest in the Improved 
Water-Wheel Governor Company, of "\Vorces- 
ter, Massachusetts: is a stockliolder in the 
Lombard Water-Wheel Governor Company, 
also of that city, and is interested in a number 
of smaller concerns. He has been eqxiipped 
by natm'c with inventive gifts, which he ha.s 
developed to great advantage, and in his spe- 
cial field, he ha? no superior. 

In 1899 Mr. Lombard was married to May- 
etta Harddy, of Boston, IVIassachusetts, and 
they have one daughter, Sybil. 

NORMAN FREDERICK R D E N- 
BAUGH. M. D., physician and .«urgeon, at 
Barberton, stands very high in his profession, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



385 



all through Sunuiiit County, where his fam- 
ily is an old and honored one. Dr. Roden- 
baugh was bom in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, September 15, 1865, 
and i5 a son of Abraliam and Rebecca (Hart) 
Rodenbaugh. The Rodenbaugh family is of 
German extraction, l>ut has been American 
for a number of generations. The founder 
of the family in Ohio was John Roden- 
baugh. the grandfather of Dr. Rodenbaugh, 
who came from Northumberland County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1840. and settled on a farm 
in Springfield Township, Summit County, 
clofie to the line of Green Township. 

Abraham Rodenbaugh. father of Dr' 
Rodenbaugh, was born in Northumberland 
County, Pennsylvania, December 18, 1818, 
and accompanied his parents to Ohio when 
aboTit twenty-two years of age; he was a 
soldier drilled for the Mexican War, under 
Colonel Buckley, and was on his way to the 
front when the order was countermanded. 
He was married to Rebecca Hart in 1846. She 
was born in Springfield Town.ship, and was 
a daughter of John Hart, Jr.. and a grand- 
daughter of the John Hart, formerly from 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, whose name is 
signed to that immortal document, the Dec- 
laration of Independence. The grandfather, 
to uphold his pledge, enlisted and fought 
seven years through the Revolutionary' War, 
under General Lafayette. John Hart, Jr., 
was a soldier imder General Jackson in the 
war of 1812, and w.as with Old Hickory 
against England in the famous battle of New 
Orleans. The children of Abraham and Re- 
becca (Hart) Rodenbaugh were seven in 
number, and five of these still survive. 

The boyhood days of Dr. Rodenbaugh yvas 
spent on his father's farm, where his train- 
ing was that of the u.«ual country boy, 
including attendance in the local schools. 
Later he entered the Union town High School, 
and attended Buchtel College, and subsequent- 
Iv taught school for six terms, in the mean- 
time doing considerable preliminary medical 
reading, after which he entered the Ohio Med- 
ical University, which is now connected with 
Stariing Medical Colleee. In 1899 ho ad- 



mitted to partnership Dr. George A. Br&wn, 
Senecaville, Guernsey County, Ohio, for six 
years, who was superseded by his nephew in 
1905, Dr. Herbert Rodenbaugh, both being 
graduates of Ohio Medical University at Co- 
lumbus. 

In 1897 Dr. Rodenbaugh was married to 
Minnie Kepler, who is a daughter of Samuel 
Kepler, a highly re.«pected resident of Akron. 
They have two children, Josephine and Hugo. 

Dr. Rodenbaugh has always associated with 
the Methodi.?t Episcopal Church. His fra- 
ternal conuections include the Elks, the Odd 
Fellows, the Foresters, and tlie Maccabees. 

Few men were more prominent in the early 
development of Springfield Township than 
Abraham Rodenbaugh, father of Dr. Roden- 
baugh. He was a man of progressive ideas. 
In the early days he, with John R. Buchtel. 
founder of Buchtel College, were boj-s from 
the same neighborhood, grubbed and cleared 
the timberland on several farms in the south- 
ern part of Coventrs- and Springfield Trwn- 
ships and purchased and ran one of the first 
separators for thra.shing wheat in that part of 
the county. Abraham Rodenbaugh survived 
until 1897, aged seventj'-nine years, his wife 
having died in June, 1891. They were wide- 
ly known for their many worthy character- 
istics and for the generous hospitality that 
prevailed in their home. 

A. WINKLER, vice-president of the Pettitt 
Brothers Hardware Company, a leading house 
in its line of business at Akron, has been a 
resident of this city almost all his life, al- 
though his birth took place in Germany. He 
was three years of age when his parents came 
to Akron in 1876. His boyhood was passed 
in attending to home duties. He wa* taught 
to be frugal and careful, from necessity, and 
he attended school imtil he was old enough 
to begin to learn a trade. He chose to be a 
tinner and worked under William Ka.sch, at 
Akron, for three years and then became a.sso- 
ciated with the firm of Mav & Fieberger. with 
whom he continued for eleven years, becom- 
ing well and favorably known, both to the 
trade and the general public. Since 1903 he 



386 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



has been a member of Pettitt Brothers Hard- 
ware Company, and one of its leading officers 
since its incorporation. 

In 1897 Mr. Winkler was married to Anna 
Trommer, who was born at Millersburg, Ohio, 
and they have one daughter, Beatrice. Mr. 
Winkler'.s only fraternal connection is with 
the order of Maccabees. He is a man of prac- 
tical ideas and of thorough kncnvledge of his 
line ^f busine.s.s, and finds time, in the course 
of his busy life, to lend his influence to fur- 
ther the city's welfare, and when the repre- 
sentative men of Akron are mentioned, bis 
name is included in the honorable list. 

• JOSEPH A. BALDWIN. The death of 
Joseph A. Bald^\dn, w^hioh took place at his 
home. No. 805 East Market Street, Akron, 
removed from this section a man who was 
formerly one of the most important factors 
in its business life. Mr. Baldwin was born 
at Goshen, Connecticut, December 6, 1820, 
and was a son of Erastus and Lucretia (Aus- 
tin) Baldwin, and a grandson of Daniel Bald- 
win. 

Mr. Baldwin became a resident of Copley 
Township, Summit County, when seventeen 
years of age. Four years later he secured em- 
ployment as a clerk with Kent, MclNIillen & 
Company, merchants, subsequently entering 
into partnership with Roswell Kent, under the 
firm name of J. A. Baldwin & Company, for 
the manufacture of woolen machinery. The 
firm style subsequently became McMillen, 
Irish & Company, and later Kent, Baldwin 
& Company. Mr. Baldwin was a man of keen 
bu-siness perceptions and was active in promot- 
ing and furthering many of the city's most 
important industries. In 1872 he became 
secretarv^ and general manager of the Buck- 
eye Sewer Pipe Company and was identified 
with it until the close of his life. He was 
also president of the Summit Sewer Pipe 
Company and of the Permanent Savings and 
Loan Association, and a director in the Cen- 
tral Savings and Tni.?t Company. He was 
looked upon as the pioneer in the clay indus- 
try in this section. 

In 1853 Mr. Baldwin was married to Marv 



A. Kent, a daughter of Alson Kent, who was 
a well-known citizen of what was fonnerly 
known as Middlebury. Two children were 
the fruit of this marriage: Alson, born in 
1856, who died at the age of eleven years, and 
Eleanor L., born in 1859. The latter, in 1888, 
married Harry H. Gibbs, a prominent busi- 
ness man of Akron, who is treasurer of both 
the Buckeye and the Summit Sewer Pipe 
Companies. Mr. Baldwin is also sun'ived by 
a Ijrother, Harvey Baldwin, of Akron. 

During the Avhole course of his life, Mr. 
Baldwin was interested in public affairs, and 
especially active in advancing the cause of 
education. In early yeare he ser\'ed on the 
Council of Middlebury and in later life on 
the Akron City Council, as a citizen ever 
being true to the r&sponsibilities he accepted. 
In his political views he was a Republican. 
He was actively interested in c^hurch work 
and for many years he had been a member 
and a trustee of the Firet Congregational 
Church at Akron. He was laiown in different 
parts of the country, it having been his cus- 
tom for the past twelve years to spend the 
winter months in the South. In all places of 
sojourn he impressed those who were admitted 
to his acquaintance as a man of business 
ability and high personal honor. 

CHARLES BRADLEY, one of Stow 
Township's highly esteemed citizens, who is 
now retired from active pursuits, was for 
many years engaged in farming. Mr. Brad- 
ley was born April 29, 1838, at Streetsboro, 
Portage County, Ohio, and is a son of George 
and Nancy Paulina (Peck) Bradley. 

Stephen Bradley, the grandfather of 
Charles, was a native of Lee, IMassachusetts, 
where he was engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. He and his wife Lydia were the parents 
of a large family. George Bradley, one of 
this family, was born at Lee, Massachusetts, 
and as a young man came to Streetsboro, 
Ohio, where he purchased a farm of seventy- 
one acres. Lie was married May 17, 1837, to 
Nancy Paulina Peck, who was bom July 20, 
1809, in Connecticut, and who was a daughter 
of Rufus Peck, of Litchfield, that state, who 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



381 



came to Ohio in 1835. Mrs. Bradley died 
June 9, 1874, and her husband survived her 
until 1894, wheu he passed away, aged 
eighty-five years. They were the pai'ents of 
seven children, five of whom grew to ma- 
turity, namely: Emily (deceased), Avho was 
the wife of George Nighman ; Charles, whose 
name begins this sketch; Clara, who is the 
wife of Samuel Foster, of Richland, Michi- 
gan; William, a twin with Clara, and Susan, 
who married James E. Oliu, of Ravenna, 
Ohio. 

Charles Bradley was reared in Streetsboro. 
(^hio, and remained on the home farm un- 
til attaining his maturity. In the fall of 1863 
he came to Stow Township and purchased a 
farm of forty-one acres, which he increased 
from time to time by purchase, until it ag- 
gregated 100 acres. Mr. Bradley has always 
engaged in general farming and dair}'ing, 
and his herd of from twenty-five to thirty 
head of cattle include some of the finest to 
be found in the township. His milk finds 
a readj^ sale at Cleveland. His farm build- 
ings are all large and substantial, and include 
a circular silo, 14x28^2 feet. 

Mr. Bradley married Henrietta Le Moine. 
who was a daughter of Noah Le Moine, of 
Stow Township. They had three children : 
Ora D., who is engaged in cultivating the 
home farm; "W. Earl and Clara M., who re- 
side at home, ili-s. Bradley died Septem- 
ber 27, 1899, in the faith of the Bisciplas 
Church. In politics Mr. Bradley is a Demo- 
crat. He is an active member of the local 
Grange, in which he has held official posi- 
tion. 

ARTHUR J. WEEKS, proprietor of the 
extensive chemical pottery manufacturing 
plant situated at No. 926 East ]\Iarket Street, 
Akron, iias been a resident of this city for 
a quarter of a century. He was born in Cop- 
ley Township, Summit County. Ohio, in 1847, 
and is a son of Darius Weeks, and a grandson 
on the paternal side of Leavitt Weeks, who 
came to Summit County \^'ith his two brothers 
as early as 181."). Settling on a farm in Copley 
Town.ship. Darius Weeks resided there all his 



life, with the exception of a few years, which 
he spent in mercantile business. He married 
Elizabeth Wilcox, daughter of ilajor John R. 
Wilcox, a graduate of West Point, who was 
stationed at Fort Edwards, Warsaw, Illinois, 
where Mrs. AVceks was born. Her grand- 
father Pliny Wilcox settled on the farm on 
which the Raymond House is now located, 
just across the road from the old home of 
-lohn Brown in Akron. Darius Weeks had 
three sons and two daughters, namely: Ar- 
thur J., whose name begins this sketch : Vir- 
ginia, wife of William H. AVhitmore, of Ak- 
ron ; Celestia A., wife of 0. E. Robinson, of 
St. Louis, Mis,souri ; Frederick H., who is en- 
gaged in the lumber and potterj^ business in 
Akron, and Charles D., also engaged in the 
pottery business, and a resident of Akron. 

Arthur J. Weeks was reared mainly on his 
father's farm in Copley Township. After 
completing the disitrict school cotirse, he spent 
two years in Willoughby College, and then 
became a student at Bethany College, in West 
Virginia, where he took a course in civil en- 
gineering. Here he became a member of the 
Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Subsequently he 
was connected with the construction of the 
Wheeling & Lorain Railroad, and of the Val- 
ley Railroad, on the latter of whieh he was 
a diA^sion engineer. He then went to Evans- 
ville, Indiana, where he was engaged for seven 
years in a wholesale business. Returning at 
the end of this period to his native county, he 
embarked in the potterv^ business in Akron 
in partnership with his brother, F. H. Weeks, 
aTid Jo.seph Cook. After three years the 
Weeks brothers bought !Mr. Cook's interest, 
and three years later Arthur J. Weeks sold 
his interest in the concern to F. H. Weeks 
and purcha^d the F. W. Rockwell plant, 
which he has been since engaged in operating. 
Here he manufactures all kinds of pottery, 
but makes a specialty of chemical potter^'. 
His business, carried on along careful and 
con.servative lines, gives employment to from 
thirty to forty men, and is now ranked among 
the important industries of the city. Mr. 
Weeks has always been actively interested in 
the public affairs of Akron, and on numerous 



388 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



occasion has been elected to civic office, always 
proving ihimself equal to the demands made 
upon him in sucli official capacity. Ilis fra- 
ternal connections include the Odd Fellows 
and the beneficiary order of the Royal Arca- 
num. 

In 1874 Mr. Weeks was united in marriage 
with Lovina Humbert, who bore her husband 
three children : Edmund A., Lulu L., and 
Arthur J. (deceased). Edmund A. Weeks, 
who was a student of Buchtel College and a 
graduate of the Western Reserve Medical Col- 
lege, is a physician residing in Akron. Lulu, 
w-ho al,so attended Buchtel College, is the wife 
of M. A. Knight, son of Dr. Knight of Buch- 
tel College, and also, like the subject of this 
sketch, is engaged in the potterv bu.Siine.«s. 
Mrs. Weeks died July 31, 1907. 

WILLIAM .AIcFARLIN was one of Ak- 
ron's prominent business men for a long pe- 
riod, during which he was either at the head 
or officially connected with many of the most 
important interests of this section. For some 
years prior to his death he was president of 
the First National Bank of Akron, and was 
also treasurer of the National Sewer Pipe Com- 
pany, of Barberton, Ohio. 

Mr. McFarlin was born January 16, 1843, 
at Bath, Ohio, and was one of the family of 
four children of Moses and Elnora (Wood- 
ruff) McFarlin. He was educated at the 
Brooklyn Normal School and the Akron 
High School, after w'hich he was en- 
gaged in teaching until April, 1863. He 
then entered the Union army as chief clerk 
for Colonel Crane, who had charge of the 
military railroads in the Department of the 
Army of the Cumberland. He served in this 
capacity until October, 1865. In the follow- 
ing spring he accepted the position of teller 
in D. P. Eberman and Company's Bank at 
Akron. In 1867 he became teller and as- 
sistant cashier of the First National Bank 
of Akron, being made cashier in January, 
1878. From 1871 until August 1, 1891, Mr. 
McFarlin was secretary and treasurer of the 
Akron Gas Company. On the organization 
of the Portage Strawboard Company, in 1882, 



he became its secretary and treasurer, and 
served as such until its merger with the Amer- 
ican Strawboard Company in 1889. Other 
large corporations in which he was a promi- 
nent factor were: the National Sewer Pipe 
Company, at Barberton ; the Creedmoor Cart- 
ridge Company, at Barberton ; and the Akron 
Woolen and Felt Company. In all these 
organizations he proved himself a man of the 
quickest business perceptions, and was cred- 
ited with sound judgment and broad views of 
the business field. 

On December 31, 1872, Mr. McFarlin was 
married to Julia Ford Henry, who was one 
of a family of seven children born to her 
parents, Milton W. and Abigail (Weeks) 
Henry, of Akron. Her father was a native 
of Massachusetts, but subsequently engaged in 
a mercantile business in this citv, where he 
died March 16, 1886. Mr. McFariin died 
November 8, 1894. His widow survives and 
resides at No. '61 Fir street, Akron. They 
had three daughters— Anna, Bessie, wife of 
E. H. Fitch, manager of the Diamond Rub- 
ber Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
and Laura. 

J. GRANT HYDE, a leading business citi- 
zen of Clinton, Ohio, who is manager of the 
Clinton Milling Company, was born in Bris- 
tol Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 6, 1872, and is a son of Charles P. 
and Clara M. (Hunter) Hyde. 

Charles P. Hyde was also born in Bristol 
township, and there he has resided all of his 
life, being engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
and owning an excellent property. He was 
married to Clara M. Hunter, who was born at 
Niles, Ohio, and to them four children were 
born: Joseph Grant; John, of Trumbull 
County; Mary E., who married S. T. McBrier; 
and Clara E., who is single. 

J. Grant Hyde was reared on his father's 
farm, and after graduating from the public 
schools of Bristol township at the age of 
eighteen years, he began teaching school, at 
which occupation he continued for eleven 
years, during which time he attended Mount 
Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, for four 




MINER JE8.se ALLEN 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



391 



years. Mr. Hyde then engaged in the mill- 
ing business at Niles, having a half interest 
in the George F. Sager and Company mills 
for about one year and one-half. In April, 
1903, with Mr. Sager he came to Clinton^ 
where they purcha.^ed property and estab- 
lished the present mill. They conducted this 
business together until September, 1905, when 
it was incorporated into a stock company, 
George F. Sager being elected the first presi- 
dent and Mr. Hyde manager, a position which 
he has held to the present time. Thomas 
McBrier is the present president. The capac- 
ity of tlie mills is 100 barrels of flour and 
twenty tons of feed daily, and among their 
best known products are the "Clinton Best" 
flour and the "Fancy Blended." A branch 
office is situated at No. 63 West Market street, 
which is in charge of S. T. McBrier. 

In October, 1905, Mr. Hyde was married 
to Maude H. Mahan, who was born at Bris- 
tol, Trumbull County, Ohio, and is a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Mahan, a son of one of Trum- 
bull County's early pioneers. Mr. Hyde is 
a Republican in politics, and. fraternally is 
connected with Western Star Lodge No. 21, 
of Youngstown, and the Knights Templar of 
Warren. With his family, he belongs to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a direc- 
tor in the Clinton Savings Bank and presi- 
dent and director of the Clinton Bell Tele- 
phone Company. 

MINER JESSE ALLEN, prominently 
identified with the American Cereal Com- 
pany, is one of Akron's substantial citizens 
whose large interests make him a notable 
factor in its Vmsiness life. Mr. Allen was 
born November 11, 1829, in Coventry Town- 
ship, Sunnnit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Levi and Phebe (Spicer) Allen. 

Jesse Allen, the paternal grandfather of 
Miner J., was born in 1770, in Litchfield 
County, Connecticut, and came to Ohio in 
1811, purchasing a large tract of wild land 
in Coventry Township, Summit County. He 
reared a family of ten children. The maternal 
grandfather, Major Miner Spicer, was also a 
native of Litchfield Countv, Connecticut, and 



came on horseback to Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1810, buying 260 acres' of land in what is 
now Portage To\vnship., He settled here with 
his family in 1811. During the War of 1812 
he served as a major of militia. Major Spicer 
married Cynthia Allyn, who traced her an- 
cestry back to Lieutenant Governor Jones, 
who was the first governor of the New Haven 
Colony. 

Levi Allen was born February 10, 1799, in 
Tompkins County, New York, and was the 
second child of his parents. He was twelve 
years of age when he walked from there to 
Coventry Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
driving the cattle and sheep with which his 
father proposed to stock the new farm. He 
assisted in clearing and developing the land 
imtil his majority, when he purchased land 
for himself on which he resided until 1868. 
He then retired to Akron, where he died May 
11, 1887. On December 10, 1823, he was 
married to Phebe Spicer, who was a daughter 
of Major Miner and Cynthia (Allyn) Spicer, 
and they had the following children: Levi, 
Miner S., Albert, Miner J., Walter S. and 
Cynthia. Mrs. Levi Allen died January 10, 
1879. 

Miner J. Allen, the direct subject of this 
sketch, was engaged in farming in Coventry 
Township, where he was reared and educated, 
until 1867, Avhen he came to Akron to as- 
sume the duties of local, and also traveling, 
grain buyer for the firm of Commins & Al- 
len. In 1884 he invested in a one-fifth inter- 
est in the Akron Milling Company, which 
was merged two years later into the F. Schu- 
macher Milling Company. Later this organ- 
ization was merged into the American Cereal 
Company, and Mr. Allen is still connected 
with this great corporation, being one of its 
directors. 

Mr. Allen was married June 1, 1876, to 
Frances C. De Wolf, a daughter of Samuel 
and Margaret (King) De Wolf, of Trumbull 
County, Ohio. Mrs. Allen's grandparent-^ 
were Joseph and Sarah (Gibbons) De Wolf, 
the former of whom was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier. Mrs. Allen can trace a clear anc&stral 
line to early colonial days, members of her 



392 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



family residing at Wethersfield, Connecticut, 
as early as 1664. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have 
five children, namely: Albert Mark, Miner 
W., Margaret P., Christine C, and Frances 
De Wolf. The family home is at No. 30 
Hovvery Street. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are mem- 
bers of the First Disciples' Church at Akron. 
They have always evinced a deep interest in 
educational matters, and Mrs. Allen was one 
of the first two ladies to be elected a member 
of the Akron Board of Education. In earlier 
years Mr. Allen Wcos interested in politics, 
but since taking up his residence at Akron he 
has been too closely engaged in business to 
give much time to political affairs. His pub- 
lic spirit, however, has often been proved and 
he stands high in the estimation of his fel- 
low citizens. 

GEORGE PHILIP SCHNABEL, who has 
operated a fruit farm at Cuyahoga Falls, since 
1892, is a well known citizen and belongs 
to a highly respected old family of this place. 
He was born at Liverpool, Medina County, 
Ohio, December 5, 1852, and is a son of 
John George and Johanna Christina (Kurtz) 
Schnabel. 

The parents of Mr. Schnabel were both 
born in C4ermany, in the town of Weims- 
burg, the father on April 1, 1829, and the 
mother in 1818. The former died in Jan- 
uary, 1900 ; the mother sui-vived her husband 
six years, dying in 1906. They came to 
America in 1846, settling first at Liverpool, 
Ohio, where -John George Schnabel followed 
his trade of shoemaking for seven years. In 
1854 tie came to Cuyahoga Falls, where he 
continued to work as a shoemaker for the 
rest of his life. Of his eight children, the 
following six grew to maturity: Katherine, 
who married Frederick Eberly, residing at 
Akron; John, who died in the army, during 
the Civil War, having served three years in 
the Sixth Ohio Battery; Eliza, who married 
George Brewster, residing at Findlay, Ohio; 
Elizabeth, who married Elmer R. Brewster 
and resides in Akron ; Christina, who married 
William A. Williston, residing at Cuyahoga 
Falls; and George Philip. John George 



Schnabel and wife were quiet, worthy, indus- 
trious people, kind and neighborly in- their 
relations with others, and consistent mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

George P. Schnabel was educated in the 
schools of Cuyahoga Falls. After he had com- 
pleted the High School course, he learned 
the trade of shoemaking under his father 
and Sanuiel Wills, and continuing with the 
latter until he went out of business, after 
which Mr. Schnabel went into business for 
himself with his father. After they retired 
from this business, George P. Schnabel op- 
erated a store for Bowman & McNeil of Ak- 
ron, for eighteen months, when he purchased 
it. After conducting it for himself for three 
years, he sold out to George Hanson. In 
1892, Mr. Schnabel started his fruit farm, 
acquiring five acres on Portage street, which 
he has put into a fine state of cultivation. 
Under his intelligent care all kinds of fruit 
adapted to the climate flourish, but he has 
made specialties of grapes, strawberries and 
German prunes, devoting about one acre to 
strawberries. He raises about eight tons of 
grapes and disposes of all his products at 
Akron, receiving the highest market price 
on account of their superior quality. Under 
his way of conducting it the business has 
proved very profitable. In 1904 he erected 
his comfortable home — an eight-room, two- 
story residence, conveniently located on the 
farm. 

Mr. Schnabel married Martha C. Harris, 
who is a daughter of Henry C. Harris, of 
Orrville, Ohio, and they have four children, 
namely : A. Garfield, a practicing physician, 
residing at Tucson, Arizona; AA'alter H., a 
stockholder in and secretary of the Nute Foun- 
dry Company at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and 
Harriet F. and May B., both residing at 
home. The family is a representative one of 
the city. 

WILLIAM J. O'NEIL, president of the 
Akron Pneumatic Tire Company, which has 
found a productive business field in this city, 
is a native of Akron, where he was born Au- 
gust 16, 1862. He is a son of the late Owen 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



393 



O'Neil, who came to Akron about 1845, and 
engaged here in the oil business for a number 
of years, subsequently selling out to the Stand- 
ard Oil Company. 

After leaving school, Mr. O'Neil became 
cashier and bookkeeper for Cyrus Miller, a 
grocer, later becoming associated in an official 
position with the Akron Wholesale CTrocery 
Company. He then entered the employ of 
the B. F. CTOodrich Company, which he served 
six years as bookkeeper and nine as cashier. 
Mr. O'Neil then severed his connection with 
that company in order to assist in the organ- 
ization of the Akron Pneumatic Tire Com- 
pany, incorporated for $25,000, which manu- 
factures pneumatic tires, the Greenwald Ex- 
tensible Tread Tire and the Internal Protector 
Reinforced Tube-Non-skid Tread. It coiltrols 
also the manufacture of the Non-Puncturable 
Tire, one of the greatest inventions known in 
the automobile trade. Mr. O'Neil is a mem- 
ber of St. Vincent's Church at .\.kron. 

A. ADAMSON, who is proprietor of one 
of the largest machine-shops and foundries 
at Akron, has been prominent in this indus- 
try here for the past twentj^-one years. ITe 
was born in Scotland, in November, 1861, 
and was brought' to America by his father, 
when he was nine years of age. 

Mr. Adaimson resided in Western Pennsyl- 
vania until he was seventeen years of age 
and then moved to Portage County, Ohio, 
where he was employed as an engineer in 
mines until 1885. He then came to Akron, 
where he served an apprenticeship as a ma- 
chinist with the firm of Webster, Camp and 
Lane, remaining six years with that com- 
pany. Then, in partnership with J. W. Den- 
mead he started a machine-shop of his own 
on the present site of the Doyle Block. This 
partnership continued for eight months, when 
Mr. Adamson bought out Mr. Denmead's in- 
terest, and continued the business at the same 
place for five years. He then built a brick 
block on West Exchange street, with dimen- 
sions of 50 by 100 feet, utilizing it exclu- 
sively as a machine-shop. Since then he has 
added to the original building, it being now 



two stories in height and 100 feet square. 
He has also built a foundry plant with dimen- 
sions of 60 by 100 feet and has equipped it 
with the best foundry machinery in this sec- 
tion of the State. The products of these works 
are all kinds of rubber machines and molds, 
this being the largest mold manufacturing 
plant in the world. Employment is given to 
eighty workmen and the distribution of wage 
money is very large. 

In 1881 Mr. Adamson was married to Flora 

E. Burnett, and they have two children, C. 

F. and Vera L. C. F. Adamson is consult- 
ing engineer, with offices in the Hamilton 
Building. Vera L. has recently completed 
her third year at the University of Michigan, 
Ann Arbor. Mr. Adamson has been particu- 
larly blessed in his children, both possessing 
talents of a superior order. He is an elder 
in the First Disciples Church at Akron. 
Fraternally he is a Mason. 

GEORGE HELMSTEDTER, a promi- 
nent citizen and one of the largest landowners 
in Coventry Township, resides on his well-im- 
proved farm of 100 acres, owning about 366 
acres in all, with property in Franklin town- 
ship and four residences in Barberton. He 
was born June 18, 1849, in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Germany, and is a son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Baduna) Helmstedter. 

The parents of Mr. Helmstedter were both 
natives of Hesse-Darmstadt, where there were 
farming people. The father died when his 
son George was six months old. The mother 
sur\'ived until ;863, dying about six months 
before George rfelmstedter left Germany for 
America. Her first marriage had been to a 
Mr. Jones, who left her with two children, 
Adam and Elizabeth. Two were born of her 
second marriage, Catherme and George. 

George Helmstedter grew up on the home 
farm and attended school until he was thir- 
teen Years of age. He then apprenticed him- 
self to a blacksmith, paying the sum of $45 
as a premium, and worked for two and one- 
half years learning the business, but receiv- 
ing nothing in return but his board. Two 
of his companions, Peter Frederick and Peter 



394 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Flariet, determined to emigrate to America 
and join an uncle who was then living in 
Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, and 
it was easy to persuade the orphan boy, who 
had just lost his mother, to join them. George 
was then but sixteen years old, and his friends 
were each seventeen, and together they crossed 
the Atlantic ocean and made their way fo 
Massillon, Ohio. Peter Flariet was of a more 
adventurous disposition than the other boys 
and he soon left them and drifted west and 
was entirely lost sight of. Peter Frederick, 
however, became a well-to-do farmer, and 
George Helmstedter accepted the offer of the 
uncle on the Stark County farm, who offered 
him work for six months and wages of $6 
a month. This looked like affluence to him 
and he accepted the offer, and faithfully 
earned his money. 

After completing his contract with his em- 
ployer, Mr. Helmstedter went to Millersburg 
in Holmes County, where he worked during 
the winter for Peter Myers, who paid him 
$7 per month. In the spring he started 
to work at his trade at Richville, near Mas- 
sillon, where he remained for six months. He 
then entered the employ of John Frank, at 
Berlin, and afterwards worked for the Frank 
Brothers for four years. He carefully saved 
his money and although he received but a 
comparatively small wage at any place, in 
the aggregate, it amounted to a considerable 
sum. About this time he married and for 
four years he worked his father-in-law's 
farm on shares, a farm located in Manches- 
ter, which Mr. Helmstedter now owns. In 
1876 he bought ninety-six acres of his pres- 
ent farm and later added the rest, buying 
ninety-seven acres from the Carmenter estate 
in Coventry township. That is a fine place 
well improved, with large house and barns 
and he obtains a good rental for it as he does 
for the well-improved farm near Manchester. 
All his property is well improved and kept in 
good repair. He has achieved a gratifying 
success and has acquired all his property hon- 
estly, and in a way that is open to any other 
quiet, industrious, saving young man. 

On October 24, 1 872, Mr. Helmstedter was 



married to Lavina Row, who is a dauglfter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth (Harton) Row. They 
have had seven children, namely : Rose Jane, 
who died aged two and one-half years; Arty 
Arvilla, who married Dustin Weaver and has 
four children — Homer, Charlotte, Nellie and 
Leo; Anice, who married George Painter, and 
has three children — Jennie, Clarence and lea; 
and Frank, Wesley, Levi and Lena Viola. 
Mrs. Helmstedter was born in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and her 
parents were among the early pioneers of that 
section. Her father died in February, 1892, 
aged eighty-one years, and her mother in 
1898, aged eighty-two years. They had eleven 
children, namely: Leah, Polly, and Susan, 
all deceased; Sarah, who married Fred Wey- 
rick; Jacob; Elizabeth, who married George 
Carmenter; Rebecca, who married H. Clack- 
ner; Lavina, Amanda, Levi, and an infant, 
all deceased. 

Mr. Helmstedter and his family belong to 
the Evangelical Church. In politics he is a 
Republican. When he landed on the shores 
of America his money capital consisted of 
$15 in gold, a coin worth $10 and five one 
dollar gold pieces. This money he kept for 
a number of years, and used the larger coin 
at a time when just that amount was lacking 
to pay on a farm he was buying. He still 
has several of the smaller coins which he 
brought from Germany. His life has been 
a busy and interesting one. In spite of all 
disadvantages he has acquired more than in- 
dependence, and has gained the friendship 
and regard of a wide circle of acquaintances. 
He has helped develop the resources of his 
section and lived to enjoy the results. 

JACOB ABLER, president of the Ameri- 
can Scrap Iron Company, the largest concern 
of its kind in this section of the comitry, 
is also the proprietor of the Akron Brass & 
Bronze Company, another important concern 
in the commercial life of Akron, and is also 
interested in many things which make this 
city a place of note. Mr. Adler was born in 
far off Russia, where he lived until he was 
nine years of age. 




AARON TEEPLE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



391 



From the age of nine to that of fourteen, 
he resided in Sharon, Pennsylvania, during 
which time he learned the English language. 
In 1891, when he had reached his fourteenth 
year, he came to Akron, and for two years 
wa.s employed here in the Diamond match 
factory. He then entered mto his present 
business, and finding it remunerative, in 1903 
assisted in the organization of the American 
Scrap Iron Company. It was incorporated 
with a capital .«tock'^of $50,000, with Jacob 
Adler as president ; Max Holub as vice presi- 
dent and Robert Chalmers as secretarj'. The 
business is of more importance and of greater 
extent than the average citizen has any con- 
ception of, and includes a trade in second- 
liand machinery. Their yard is situated at 
No. 30 North State street, Akron. The Ak- 
ron Brass it Bronze Company, of which Mr. 
Adler is at the head, gives employment to a 
goodly number of workers. 

On January 25, 1898, Mr. Adler was mar- 
ried at Akron, to Ray Rosenbloom. He and 
his wife are the parents of three children — 
Bernard, Sylvia and Selma. Mr. Adler takes 
an interest in politics, to the extent of being 
concerned that good men get into office. He 
belongs to the order of Maccabees and to the 
Sons of Peace, and is liberal in the support 
of various religious organizations. As a citi- 
zen and business man he enjoys the respect 
and esteem of those with whom he comes into 
contact and is a worthy representative of a 
country which has sent many good citizens 
to America. 

AARON TEEPLE, a well known and high- 
ly respected Akron citizen, who for a number 
of years has been closely identified with the 
agricultural and horticultural interests of the 
county, and whose residence is at No. 24 
South Portage Path, was born in Franklin 
Township, in 1841, and is a son of John and 
Dorothy (Miller) Teeple. His father, a native 
of Newark, New Jersey, came to Summit 
County before its organization, purchasing a 
tract of 160 acres in the wilderness, on which 
he built the indi.spensable log cabin. After 
long and arduous labor he cleared his land 



and developed it into a good farm, on which 
he and his wife spent the rest of their days. 
He died in September, 1864, and was followed 
to the grave by his -nafe a year later. They 
reared a worthy family of six sons and one 
daughter. Three of the sons, including the 
subject of this sketch, fought for the preser\a- 
tion of the Union in the Civil War, one of 
them — Isaac — losing his life in the caase, be- 
ing killed on the skirmish line in the battle of 
Champion Hill, in the rear of Vicksburg, 
May 16, 1863. George Teeple, the other 
brother, who was a member of the Fifty- 
Eighth Illinois Regiment, died near Spring- 
field, Missouri, after the war. The daugh- 
ter, Catharine, became the wife of Henry 
Brunkhart, who died in Missouri. She now 
resides in Akron. Her daughter Mary grad- 
uated from the State Normal School at War- 
rensburg, Missouri, and is now a teacher in 
the Akron Public Schools. John Teeple, the 
father, took a pride in giving his children a 
good education. All of them, except David, 
taught in the public schools. 

Aaron Teeple, with whose history we are 
more directly concerned, passed his boyhood 
and youth amid the healthful surroundings 
of the farm. He was educated in Franklin 
Township and at the Western Reserve Eclec- 
tic College, at Hiram, Ohio, the principal of 
which was at that time James A. Garfield, 
afterwards president of the United States. On 
the breaking out of the Civil War, he, with a 
number of students, enlisted, in September, 
1861, in Company A, Forty-Second Regi- 
ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which 
Principal Garfield was Colonel. His military 
record includes the winter campaign of 1861 
and 1862 in the Big Sandy Valley, in East- 
ern Kentucky, in which the rebels under 
General Humphrey Marshall were driven 
from the valley; the taking of Cumberland 
Gap in the summer of 1862, with the frequent 
skirmishing and fighting, and its evacuation 
in the fall of the same year, followed by a 
march of eighteen days among the moun- 
tains of Eastern Kentucky without rations, 
harrassed by the enemy under General 
Kirby Smith and John Morgan until they 



898 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



reached the Ohio River at Greenupsburg ; the 
campaign up the Kanawha Valley in West- 
esn Virginia and return to Point Pleasant; 
the embarkation on fleet of transports to 
Memphis and Vicksburg; the first attack on 
Vicksburg by way of the Yazoo at Chickasaw 
Bluffs; the assault on Fort liindman or Ar- 
kansas Post, January 10, 1863, in which his 
regiment was in the advance line of the 
charge, resulting in the capture of the entire 
garrison; the campaign against Vicksburg, 
including all the engagements in the rear of 
the city, the siege and the surrender of Gen- 
eral Pemberton's entire army; the campaign 
after General Joe Johnston at Jackson, Mis- 
sissippi, and engagements incident thereto; 
the return to ^'icksburg and transfer to the 
Department of the Gulf; an expedition by 
land against Galveston, Texas, going as far as 
Opelousas and returning to the Mississippi 
River at Plaquemine, where a large fort Avas 
built; the patrolling of the Mississippi River 
by transports and gunboat fleet, and finally 
by aiding and covering the retreat of General 
Banks in his Red River campaign, in May, 
1864. His service covered a period of over 
three years, during W'hich his regiment trav- 
eled more than 5,000 miles. He took part 
with the regiment in all of its engagements, 
excepting that at Black River, Mississippi. 
He remained behind on that occasion to bury 
his brother, who had been killed on the bat- 
tle field on the day previous. About three 
weeks before his term of service expired he 
was taken sick, and was sent to the United 
States Barracks Hospital at New Orleans, 
where he was lying at the expiration of his 
term of service. By hi.? comrades he was 
brought to the hospital at Columbus, Ohio, 
where he was met by his mother and younger 
brother, who brought him home. For two 
years after his return he remained an invalid. 
After his army service he attended school for 
a time at Baldwin University, Berea, Cuya- 
hoga County, Ohio. Then it became neces- 
sary for him to be earning something, and he 
bought a farm of 140 acres, well timbered, 
near Akron, and engaged in the manufacture 
of lumber, clearini;: in lliis wav about fiftv 



acres, and paying for the farm from the sales. 
The land thus cleared he turned into farming 
land. He lived on this farm for about six- 
teen years, at the end of which time he bought 
a few acres of land near the corporation line 
of Akron, and built for himself and family a 
home. The extension of the city limits now 
includes his place. 

A man of refined and intellectual tastes, 
Mr. Tceple has for many years taken a great 
interest in the fascinating science of horti- 
culture, on which subject he is a well recog- 
nized authority. An article on horticulture 
from his pen may be found in this work. 
He has also furnished many similar contribu- 
tions at different times to agricultural and 
horticultural journals, his communications 
being eagerly sought and welcomed by all 
lovers of fruits and those interested in floral 
culture. In politics he is a Republican. He 
has held various offices in Portage Township. 
For thirty years he has been a member of 
Buckley Post, G. A. R., of Akron, being a 
past commander of the same. Religiously he 
is affiliated with the Christian or Disciple 
Church. 

Mr. Teeple was married in the fall of 1865 
to Miss Rachel Heiser. This vmion has been 
blessed with two children : J. Frank, a former 
student of Buchtel College and now a busi- 
ness man of Akron ; and Nellie, a graduate of 
the public schools of Akron, who resides at 
home with her parents. 
\r 

HON. AVILLIAM BUCHTEL, the founder 
and formerly president of the Akron Savings 
Bank, and largely interested in many of Ak- 
ron's most important business enterprises, for 
years has also been prominent in affairs of 
public import in county and State. Mr. 
Buchtel was born in Green township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, December 23, 1822, and 
is a son of John and Catherine (Richards) 
Buchtel, and a grandson of that hardy old 
pioneer, Peter Buchtel. 

Wiliam Buchtel obtained his education in 
the district schools and has led a busy, useful 
life since reaching the years of discretion. He 
was twenty-two years of age when he pur- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



399 



c'ha.secl his father's farm of 106 acres which 
lie continued to operate for twelve years, being 
mainly engaged in the cultivation of wheat. 
He then became interested in milling, and 
after renting his farm removed to Springfield 
Township, where he operated both grist and 
saw mills. He was so engaged when troops 
were called for to strengthen the defences 
around Washington, and he quickly re- 
.sponded, enlisting in the 164th Regiment 
Ohio National Guard, and remaining until 
honorablv discharged from the .service, in 
1866. 

Upon his return to Summit County, Mr. 
Buchtel became interested in the lumber busi- 
ness, first as a member of the firm of Jackson, 
Buchtel and Company, which later became 
William Buchtel and Sons. He estimates that 
during his many years of activity in this 
line, his firms had the handling of more than 
20,000 acres of Government and State pine 
lands. Mr. Buchtel also turned his attention 
to banking interests at Akron, organizing, in 
company with W. B. Raymond, the Citizens' 
Savings Bank, of which E. Steinbacher was 
president, William Buchtel, vice-president, 
and W. B. Raymond, cashier. This later be- 
came the Citizens' National Bank. Mr. 
Buchtel then became vice-president of the City 
National Bank of Akron, a position he re- 
signed in 1888, when he organized the Akron 
Savings Bank, of which he remained the head 
for a number of years. He served also as 
president of the Thomas Lumber and Build- 
ing Company, and as treasurer of the Akron 
Building and Loan Association. Mr. Buchtel 
was interested for some years in building op- 
erations. Many of the stately residences at 
Akron are testimonials to his enterprise and 
ability, as also are some of the city's finest 
business structures, among them the Akron 
Savings Bank and the Buchtel Hotel, the lar- 
ter being still his property. 

Mr. Buchtel was married March 7, 1842, 
to Martha Hendei-son, of Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County. She died December 
17, 1884, having been the mother of four 
children, namely : Catherine Jane, James H. 



(deceased), John D. and William M. Mr. 
Buchtel married for his second wife, Decem- 
ber 3, 1885, Mrs. Nora Sackett Wilcox. 

As a citizen, devoted to public duty, Mr. 
Buchtel has always shown his interest in civic 
affairs, and frequently even when the holding 
of office, interfered considerably with his pri- 
vate business, he consented to serve when con- 
vinced that it was for the public welfare. 
Thus he served on the board of city commis- 
sioners, several terms as its chairman ; was a 
member of the Decennial Board of Equaliza- 
tion in 1890, and held other important posi- 
tions in which he safe-guarded the interests 
of the public. In November, 1901, he was 
elected a member of the Seventy-fifth Gen- 
eral Assembly and during his first term at 
Columbus, served on the standing committees 
on Geology, Mines and Mining, Municipal 
Affairs and Prisons and Prison Reforms. In 
1903 Mr. Buchtel was returned to the Legis- 
lature and during his term in the Seventy- 
sixth General Assembly, he served as chair- 
man of the committee on Prisons and Prison 
Reforms and wa^ a member of the standing 
committees on Banks and Banking, Villages 
and Taxation. 

Mr. Buchtel is a member of the Elks and 
of the Hoo-hoos, a very extensive organization 
composed wholly of men connected with the 
lumber industry. He belongs to Buckley Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic. For two years 
after his return from military service in the 
Civil War, he remained connected with the 
same batallion of National Guards. 

MAX HOLUB, vice president of the 
American Scrap Iron Company, was born in 
Rassia, in September, 1857, and came to this 
country in 1882. Settling immediately in 
Akron, he began working for the Wilkoff 
Brothers Scrap Iron Company, at $1.00 per 
day. From this humble beginning he has 
by industry and intelligence risen to the posi- 
tion of vice-president of one of the largest 
scrap-iron firms in the State. He was mar- 
ried in October, 1889, to Mary Rosenfeld, and 
has two children — Harry and Dave — both of 
whom are attending the Akron Public Schools. 



400 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Mr. Holub has attained a gratifying success 
in the business world, but has sustained a 
severely felt loss in the death of his wife, 
which occurred in July, 1904. 

PETER BIENZ, farmer and cheese manu- 
facturer of Stow town.ship, where he owns a 
good farm of fifty-four acres, was born in 
Switzerland, in the Canton of Berne, Decem- 
ber 31, 1851, and is a son of Frederick and 
Barbara (Schweetzer) Bienz. 

The making of Swiss cheese has been an 
industry which the Bienz family has followed 
for generations. Johannes Bienz, the grand- 
father, kept a dairy in the Alps, it being 
situated at the little mountain hamlet of 
Ammenthal, where no other industry could 
be carried on with profit, the seasons being 
too short for farming. Even the feed for the 
cows had to be brought from the valleys and 
the wood used for the curing of the cheese 
had to be carried several miles up the moun- 
tains on the backs of the dwellers on these 
heights. Frederick Bienz, father of Peter, 
also manufactured Swiss cheese, and as he set- 
tled in the village of Kirchdoef, near Berne, 
he was able to engage also in farming. He 
became a man of prominence there and was 
elected a member of the Gemeindonath. He 
married a daughter of Johannes Schweetzer 
and they had twelve children. Frederick 
Bienz and all of his family except two sons, 
remained in Switzerland, where he died in 
1882, age sixty-four years. 

The first member of the Bienz family to 
come to America, was Christian Bienz, who 
arrived in 1866 and settled in Nebraska. He 
was followed by the younger brother, Peter, 
in the spring of 1875. In his own land, Peter 
Bienz went to school and assisted his father 
in the farming and cheese-making. Later, 
in order to be thoroughly qualified as a cheese- 
maker, he worked in a cheese factory for two 
years. After coming to Ohio he worked in 
Tuscarawas County and spent one season in a 
cheese factory at New Berlin, and in the fall 
of 1878, he came to Stow Township. Here 
he entered the employ of Hiram Reed, with 
whom he remained until 1888, when he pur- 



chased Mr. Reed's factory and a part of his 
farm. He carries on general farming on 
thirty acres of his property, raising hay and 
grain, and keeps nine head of cattle. His 
dairy has proved a great success. He makes 
350 pounds of American cheese a day, using 
4,000 pounds of milk, and this choice product 
he sells in New York and Philadelphia. He 
also makes fine butter, averaging from fifteen 
to twenty tons annually. His dairy is modern 
and first-class in every way, being equipped 
with all kinds of machinery used in butter 
and cheese-making. Mr. Bienz hires a man 
to operate the farm, while he, with the as- 
sistance of his sons, carries on the dairy. 

Mr. Bienz married Ellen H. Reed of Stow 
Township, and they have two sons: Frank 
C, who was born December 11, 1881 ; and 
Frederick Hiram, who was born October 6, 
1893. Mrs. Bienz is a member of the Episco- 
pal Church at Hudson. 

Hiram Reed, father of Mrs. Bienz, was 
born in Columbiana Countv, Ohio, January 
13, 1825, and died September 21, 1894. He 
was one of twelve children born to John and 
Rebecca Reed. John Reed was a weaver by 
trade but when Hiram was about six years old 
he moved to Portage County and engaged in 
farming. Hiram Reed learned the carpen- 
ter's trade and followed it for a number of 
years, for several years after his marriage liv- 
ing with his father-in-law. His wife sub- 
sequently received twenty acres of land from 
her father, which Mr. Reed increased to 
eighty-three acres, in the meanwhile continu- 
ing to work at carpentering. In 1866 he sold 
this property and purchased the old Wolcott 
farm of 127 acres, near Munroe Falls, to 
which he subsequently added, selling it in 
1871, when he moved to Hudson. He bought 
a farm there and resided on it for two years, 
and then sold and bought 300 acres, one-half 
of which was situated in Stow Township and 
the other half in Hudson Township. In 
1877 Mr. Reed erected a factory for the man- 
ufacture of American cheese, which he car- 
ried on until 1878, when he turned his atten- 
tion to manufacturing Swiss cheese, in which 
he met with great success. He subsequently 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



401 



sold his interest to his son-in-hiw, Peter Bienz. 
In 1851 Hiram Reed married Phoebe Sad- 
dler and they had the following children: 
Angeline, Elizabeth H., Ellen, Harriet, Ar- 
thur and one that died in infancy. The 
mother died February 7, 1871. Mr. Reed 
was married (second) March 20, 1873, to 
Mrs. Sophia Galloway, who was the widow 
of Henry Galloway and a daughter of Broady 
McKenzie. 

Mr. Bienz conducts his business under the 
trade name of the Darrowville Creamery, man- 
ufacturers of American full cream cheese, 
cottage cheese and fancy creamery butter. In 
1891 he erected his present comfortable eight- 
room house on Payne Road. In politics, Mr. 
Bienz has always remained an independent 
voter. He is a Mason, belonging to Hudson 
Lodge, No. 510, F. & A. M. 

JOHN A. MOORE, a prominent business 
man of Akron, conducting a men's outfitting 
establishment at No. 32(3 South Main street, 
was born in 1865, at Akron, Ohio, and is a 
son of J. B. Moore, one of Akron's honored 
retired citizens. Born in Pennsylvania he 
came to Summit County in his boyhood. He 
was reared in Springfield township and worked 
on his father's farm until he came to Akron. 
where he assisted in building the plant of 
the Buckeye Mower and Reaper. He was 
associated industrially with the Buckeye 
Mower and Reaper Works for twenty-seven 
years, severing his connection with the same 
in 1892. He has now reached the age of 
seventy-one years and has been a witness of 
the city's wonderful development. 

J. A. Moore was reared and educated iii 
Akron, completing a business course in Ham- 
mel's College, where he was a bright student. 
He entered business life and was one of the 
first to take stalls in the old Market House on 
South Main street, where he held stalls Nos. 
6 and 7, for two years and a half. After 
selling out his interest he traveled through 
the "West, including the States of Michigan 
and Indiana. In the winter of 1888-9 he 
returned to Akron and in 1890 he established 
his present business. Like other successful 



enterprises of this city, it was started in a 
.small way and built up into a large busines? 
through the energy and capacity of its owner. 
Mr. Moore started with but $70 in cash and 
put in a stock worth $800. In nine months 
time he w^as out of debt, and he has steadily 
. advanced until now his business is one of tlic 
leading ones of its kind in the city. He 
carries a complete line of gent's furnishing 
goods, including hats, and as a side line he 
keeps on hand a stock of cigars and high 
grade tobaccos. He has other business inter- 
ests also, and is a member of the finance com- 
mittee of the Depositor's Savings Bank. 

In 1891 Mr. Moore was married to Ora 
•Johnson, who was born at Kent, Ohio, and 
who died February 11, 1906. She is sur- 
vived by three children — Raymond C, Bessie 
L. and Eva L. Mr. Moore is an active mem- 
ber of Grace Reformed Church. His frater- 
nal connections include membership in the 
Protected Home Circle and the Pathfinders. 

Since 1901 Mr. Moore has done a consider- 
able amount of building. In the. spring of 
that year he purchased a desirable lot, where 
his business is now located, with a twenty-two 
foot front and a depth of 165 feet, on which 
he erected the fine two-story brick building, 
which is one of the finest store buildings in 
the city. He also erected his beautiful mod- 
ern residence at No. 816 West Cedar street. 

NELSON B. STONE, who passed from this 
hfe at his home in Akron, November 9, 1893, 
after a well spent life of seventy-seven years, 
was born September 18, 1816, as his parents, 
Milo and Sarah (Beardsley) Stone, were rest- 
ing at the hamlet of Canfield, Mahoning 
County, Ohio, on their way from Connecti- 
cut, by ox-team, to Tallmadgc Township, 
Summit County. 

When the mother and babe could travel, 
the father of Mr. Stone continued on his way 
with his family to Tallmadge Township, set- 
tling in the woods and subsequently clearing 
up a good farm there. On this farm. Nelson 
B. Stone was reared, attending the district 
school through boyhood and later the Tall- 
madge Academy, and still later Allegheny 



402 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He be- 
gan industrial life as a clerk, filling positions 
successively at West Bloomfield, iSlew York, 
and at Ravenna and Chardon, Ohio. In 
December, 1840, he came to Akron, which 
place was to be his future home. Shortly 
after locating here he was offered and ac- 
cepted a position in the county clerk's office, 
under Clerk Lucius S. Peck, and served until 
the fall of 1851, when he was elected clerk 
of Summit County, being the first incumbent 
of the office under the new constitution. For 
a short time he served also as deputy clerk 
in Cuyahoga County, but still maintained 
his residence at Akron. He was subsequently 
connected, for a short tnne, with the firm of 
Aultman, Miller and Company, but in 18135 
he became secretary and treasurer of the 
Weary, Snyder and Wilcox Manufacturing 
Company, a position he filled during the re- 
mainder of his active life. 

Mr. Stone was married (first) to Mary H. 
Clarke, of Akron, who died April 6, 1853, 
leaving one son. Nelson C, who is now presi- 
dent of the National City Bank, and one of 
Akron's most prominent business men. Mr. 
Stone married for his second wife, Elizabeth 
H. Beardsley, of Akron, and they had two 
sons, of whom the one survivor, Dwight M., 
resides in Akron. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Stone was a 
stanch Republican, and was sent as a dele- 
gate to the first Republican State convention 
held in Ohio, at which time the late Hon. 
Salmon P. Chase was nominated for gov- 
ernor. 

During the whole extent of his long and 
useful life, Mr. Stone was actively interested 
in the First Methodist Episcopal Church. For 
fifty-two consecutive years he served as secre- 
tary of the Sunday-school of that church, and 
he preserved his interest in the work until the 
peaceful close of his life. He was a practical 
Christian, one who believed thoroughly in 
supplementing thoughts and w'ords with ac- 
tion, hence his mourners did not come entirely 
from the higher walks of life. The poor, 
the lowly, the needy and afflicted had so often 



partaken of his kindness and practical sym- 
pathy, that they crowded to the bier, at his 
funeral, to pay the only token of affection 
they could give. In religious, political, so- 
cial, benevolent and business circles, the esti- 
mate of his character was the same, and as his 
remains were borne away to be laid in the 
quietude of Glendale cemetery, each recog- 
nized that a good man had passed from their 
midst. 

G. F. BURKHARDT, treasurer and mana- 
ger of the Burkhardt Brewery Company, at 
Akron, was born in this city, in 1874, and 
is a son of William and ]\Iargaret Burkhardt, 
the latter of whom is president of the above 
company. William Burkhardt died in 1882. 

The business of the Burkhardt Brewery 
Company was established at Akron in 1870, 
and after the old brewery burned in 1879, 
the family bought the land and erected the 
fine plant which is located at Nos. 513-523 
Grant street. It is finely equipped with the 
most modern appliances pertaining to the busi- 
ness, and its output, which finds ready sale, 
is about 40,000 barrels. On November 24, 
1902, the Burkhardt Brewery Company was 
incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000, 
and with the following officers: Margaret 
Burkhardt, president; William F. Burkhardt, 
vice-president and sui^erintendent ; G. F. 
liJvirkhardt, treasurer and manager; and E. 
C. Dietz, secretary. 

G. F. Burkhardt was reared and educated 
at Akron and when seventeen years of age 
started to learn the brewing business, com- 
mencing at the bottom. In order to perfect 
himself he entered the American Brewing 
Academy of Chicago, where he was graduated 
in 1899. The benefit of his thorough knowl- 
edge has been given to the business, and its 
results are apparent. He has also other busi- 
ness interests. 

Mr. Burkhardt is connected with a number 
of fraternal orders and social organizations, 
among them, the Elks and the Odd Fellows, 
the German, the Akron and the Turkeyfoot 
Lake clubs, and several German societies. 




COL. JOHN C. JiLOO.MFlELD 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



405 



COL. JOHN C. BLOOxAIFlELD, one of 

Akron's leading citizens, has been identified 
with many prominent local interests during 
his fifteen years' residence in the city, and 
has taken an active and useful part in their 
promotion. He was born March 4, 1842, in 
New York city, coming from an old New 
Jersey family which could boast of its Revo- 
lutionary patriots. 

In the great metropolis in which he was 
born. Colonel Bloomfield was reared and edu- 
cated, and early in life displayed many of 
the qualities which later contributed to his 
successful military career. In 1859, when 
but seventeen years of age, he joined the 
Seventh New York Regiment, which was the 
first regiment of State troops to be sworn into 
the service of the United States in 1861. 
Shortly afterward, Mr. Bloomfield was made 
captain of Company F, Sixth New York Regi- 
ment of Volunteer Infantry, and for the next 
two j-ears served under Generals Hunter and 
Butler, in the Department of the Gulf. He 
was then transferred to the Trans-Mississippi 
Department, and was assigned to the haz- 
ardous special duty of looking after and 
breaking up the numerous guerrilla bands 
that infested that section, work that could only 
be performed by men of the highest courage 
and daring. In the conflicts incident to this 
dangerous service. Colonel Bloomfield was 
wounded several times, and even now, after 
an interval of over forty years, feels the ef- 
fects of a wound received at Escambia, Flori- 
da. 

After the close of the war, Colonel Bloom- 
field located at St. Louis, Missouri, where he 
was engaged for some time in the wholesale 
hardware business under the firm name of 
Menzie-Rashcoe and Company. In 1871 he 
became interested in the insurance business. 
He had not long been a resident of St. Louis 
before he became connected with military 
affairs. Associating himself with the Mis- 
souri National Guards, he was made lieuten- 
ant colonel of the Seventh Missouri Regiment, 
and was in command of that organization 
when it took part in the ceremonies at the 
inauguration of General Grant, in 1873. Colo- 



nel Bloomfield's knowledge and experience 
of military matters, as well as his soldierly 
bearing, have made him a useful and almost 
indispensable man at many public functions. 
He is a Knight Templar and Past Grand Com- 
mander, and organized the military parade 
of the first conclave of Knight Templars of 
America held in St. Louis, in 1868, and 
served as chief of staff of the grand com- 
mander. He has held all the commanding 
offices in all the bodies of the Masonic order 
up to the Knights Templar degree. He was 
also commander of the Missouri National 
Guards. 

On May 30, 1892, Colonel Bloomfield came 
to Akron and opened an insurance business, 
in the Hamilton building, in which he has 
since retained his office. He represents such 
reliable companies as the Penn Mutual Life, 
the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New 
York and the Eagle Fire Insurance Company 
of New York, besides a number of others. 

Colonel Bloomfield was married June 3, 
1889, at Akron, to Fannie C. (Cobb) Wager, 
a daughter of Charles B. Cobb, who was one 
of the pioneers of Summit County. 

PUTTERILL BROTHERS, a successful 
firm engaged in the double occupation of 
farming in Stow Township and manufactur- 
ing cement blocks at Akron, is made up of 
Thomas and Edward Putterill, brothers, who 
came from England to America in 1872. The 
parents of the Putterill Brothers were Francis 
and Annie (Morris) Putterill, natives of Lin- 
colnshire, England, where the father carried 
on farming. He was the owner of a piece of 
landed property. 

Thomas Putterill was born in Lincolnshire, 
England, October 7, 1839. He has never mar- 
ried. Edward Putterill was born in Lincoln- 
.shire, England, May 1, 1848. He married 
Tabitha Corn, who is a daughter of Joseph 
Corn, of Akron, and they have had five chil- 
dren, tlie three survivors being: Annie Nina, 
who married Henry Mitchell, of Akron; 
George Fletcher and Thomas Edward. 

Thomas and Edward Putterill came to Ak- 
ron after landing in America, having friends 



406 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



already settled in that city, and they soon 
found work in the various industries. In 
1877 they pui'chased an omnibus line which 
they operated for three years, and then sold 
it and bought their present farm, which orig- 
inally contained 141 acres. It was known as 
the \"ictor farm, and it was densely wooded 
at that time, with few improvements. The 
two brothers have done an almost superhu- 
man work in the improvement of this place, 
in the comparatively short period of time. 
They have sold a part of their land, retaining 
ninety acres, seventy-five of which they have 
cleared. What is known as Wahoga Lake, 
a beautiful sheet of water, was formerly a part 
of this farm. Some eighteen years ago 
the present fine ten-room residence was 
built, which is one of the most comfortable 
in Stow township, and ten years ago the 
brothers put up the barn, the dimensions 
of which are 40 by 42 feet, with 18-foot 
posts. For many years the brothers en- 
gaged extensively in agriculture, and they 
now grow hay, corn and oats and devote 
from ten to fourteen acres to wheat and 
several acres to celery. They ship their 
milk to Cleveland. In addition to their farm- 
ing and dairying operations, they have a suc- 
cessful enterprise in the manufacture of ce- 
ment building blocks, at Akron, doing the 
work themselves. In all their enterprises, the 
brothers have been united, their aims and 
objects being identical, their lives presenting 
an agreeable picture of fraternal affection, as 
well as practical business sense. They are 
men of high standing in their community. 
In politics they are Republicans and both 
have served as supervisors of Stow Township. 

JOSEPH S. BENNER, a well known capi- 
talist and business man of Akron, who is iden- 
tified with a number of the city's most sub- 
stantial financial institutions, was born at 
Akron, January 3, 1872. He is a son of 
John AV. Benner, who came here in 1868, and 
who still continues in business in this city. 

Graduated from the public schools of Ak- 
ron at the age of sixteen years, the subject 
of this sketch found his first regular em- 



ployment in the office of J. E. Seiberling & 
Company, where he remained until 1890. He 
then became bookkeei^er and assistant cash- 
ier for the newly organized People's Savings 
Bank Company, which position he held until 
1897. Then with J. R. Nutt and Will Christy, 
he organized the Central Savings Bank Com- 
pany, taking the position of cashier in this 
concern, which he held until 1904, when the 
Central Savings Bank Company, mainly 
through Mr. Benner's efforts, effected a con- 
solidation with the Akron Trust Company, 
after having first taken over the Guardian 
Savings Bank. The result of this merger 
was the Central Savings and Trust Company, 
of which institution Mr. Benner has been 
secretary ever since. Other successful busi- 
ness concerns with which Mr. Benner is iden- 
tified are: The Firestone Tire and Rubber 
Company; The Akron People's Telephone 
Company, of which he is secretary; the Ak- 
ron Coal Company, of which he is treasurer; 
the Globe Sign and Poster Company, of 
which also he is treasurer; and the Hower 
Building Company, of which he is secretary 
He is also a director in the Permanent Sav- 
ings and Loan Company, and the Bannock 
Coal Company, and is treasurer of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. His large busi- 
ness interests are held with a firm hand, and 
his affairs are directed with the sound judg- 
ment and wise conservatism which ensure 
success. 

Mr. Benner was married in 1894 to Nillie 
E. Stuver, a daughter of Jonas F. Stuver, of 
Akron. Of this imion there is one child, Mary 
Joyce. Mr. Benner takes considerable inter- 
est in civic matters and is a member of the 
Portage County Club. With his wife he be- 
longs to the Lutheran Church. 

CORNELIUS A. BROUSE, of the firm of 
Brouse and Hollinger, general insurance 
agents and prominent dealers in real estate, 
loans, investments and abstracts, with offices 
in the Doyle Block, Akron, is also secretary 
of the Permanent Savings and Loan Com- 
pany, and stands as one of the city's influ- 
ential business men. He was born at Chip- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



401 



pewa, Wayne County, Ohio, July 3, 1837, and 
is a son of -William and Rebecca (Baughman) 
Brouse. 

In 1842, the parents of Mr. Brouse removed 
from Wayne County to Wadsvvorth, Medina 
County, where he had the advantage of ex- 
cellent schools and later he was a student at 
the AVestern Star Academy and at Berea. At 
home he worked on the farm, and beginning 
when he was but fourteen years of age, he 
acted for five years as engineer in his father's 
sawmill. In 1859 he came to Akron, first in 
the capacity of a clerk for J. E. Wesener & 
Company, becoming a partner in this firm 
four j'ears later, when the style was changed 
to Wesener, Brouse & Company. This asso- 
ciation continued for five yeai"s, and after the 
dissolution of the firm, Mr. Brouse became 
connected in partnership with David L. Wall, 
and the firm of Brouse & Wall continued for 
six years. At the end of that period, Mr. 
Brouse associated himself with his brother, 
Myron D. Brouse, and the new firm of Brouse 
and Company became a prominent factor in 
the dry-goods business in Akron. Mr. Brouse 
was connected with the dry-goods business 
in all for forty-two years. 

The Permanent Savings and Loan Com- 
pany, of Akron, of which Mr. Brouse is secre- 
tary, is one of the leading financial insti- 
tutions of this section of Ohio. Its board of 
directors is made up of men of the highest 
commercial and personal standing and its 
officers represent a large amount of wealth 
and social influence. The officers are : Joseph 
A. Baldwin, president; R. B. Walker, first 
vice-president; Harvey M. Hollinger, second 
vice-president and treasurer; C. A. Brouse, 
secretary. Its executive committee consists of 
C. A. Brouse, F. H. Holton and Harvey M. 
Hollinger. The company is in an excellent 
financial condition, its assets amounting, in 
1907. to $854,334.86, with a surplus of 
$25,676.64. 

On October 14, 1862, Mr. Brouse was mar- 
ried to Kate We.=!ener of Akron. They are the 
parents of four children, viz. : Adelaide L., 
Cornelia A., Edwin W., and Miriam M. The 
family belong to the First Congregational 



Church, at Akron, of which Mr. Brouse is one 
of the deacons. In politics, he is an ardent 
Republican. He belongs to the Grand Army 
of the Republic, having been a member dur- 
ing the Civil War of Company F, 164th Regi- 
ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He has a 
handsome residence at No. 481 Market street, 
Akron. 

J. MARTIN BECK, president and a direct- 
or of the Home Building and Loan Company 
of Akron, and one of the founder,* and vice- 
president and treasurer of the Akron A'arnish 
Company, is identified with numerous other 
successful enterprises of this section, and is 
a very important factor in the city's com- 
mercial life. He was born October 14, 1843, 
at Selb, Bavaria, Germany, and came to 
America in 1862. He is a son of Adani and 
Christina ( Hoef er) Beck^ the former of whom 
died in 1890. 

Mr. Beck was trained to business in a 
wholesale grocery and drug house, in his na- 
tive land, and after an apprenticeship of four 
years, satisfactorily passed a difficult examin- 
ation. As his half-brother, John Wolf, was 
a partner in the firm of M. W. Henry and 
Company at Akron, Mr. Beck came to this 
city and entered the employ of that firm, with 
which he remained for six years, and then 
was with the house of E. I. Baldwin, of 
Cleveland, for one year. In the spring of 
1869 he visited Europe, returning to Akron 
in the fall, much improved in health. Soon 
after he entered into partnership with John 
Wolf and H. J. Church, under the firm name 
of Wolf, Church and Beck. In 1878 Mr. 
Beck sold his interest in the firm and formed 
a partnership with E. G. Kubler, in the estab- 
lishment of the Akron Varnish Works, a con- 
corn which is the oldest of its kind in Summit 
County and one of the largest in the country. 
The busine.«s of the Akron Varnish Company 
is the making of varnishes and japans, and 
its plants are located at 254 South Main and 
Canal Streets, Akron. Tlie industry Ls a lead- 
ing one in this city and the products of this 
concern have a world-wade sale. The officers 
of the company are: E. G. Kubler. presi- 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dent; J. M. Beck, vice-president and treas- 
urer; E. M. Beck, secretary; F. M. Whitner, 
assistant treasurer, and F. A. Fauver, super- 
intendent. 

Mr. Beck was married January 12, 1871, 
to Kate J. Buchtel, who is a daughter of Wil- 
liam Buchtel, of Akron. They have four 
children, namely: William B., Edward M., 
who is secretary of the Akron Varnish Com- 
pany, Martha Louise, and Carl ¥. Frater- 
nally Mr. Beck is an Odd Fellow and an Elk. 
The family residence is at No. 640 West Mar- 
ket Street. 

ARTHUR M. AELEN, residing on his fine 
farm of 235 acres, situated in Stow Township, 
where he carries on general farming and 
dairying, is one of the substantial and lead- 
ing citizens of this section. He was born at 
Cuyahoga Falls, October 18, 1875, and is a 
son of Robert H. and Mary R. (Cochrane) 
Allen. 

George Allen, the grandfather of Arthur 
M., was born in County Antrim, Ireland. He 
married Elizabeth Harper, and with his wife 
and three children, came to America and set- 
tled at Lee, Massachusetts, removing later to 
Cuyahoga Falls. He followed the trade of 
paper-making to within a few years of his 
death, when he moved on a farm near the 
Falls, TV'hich is now largely built over. Both 
he and his wife were members of the Episco- 
pal Church. 

Robert H. Allen was born at Lee, Massa- 
chusetts, December 25, 1832, and was still an 
infant when his 'parents came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he was reared. During boyhood 
he W'Orked in the paper mills. He subse- 
quently learned the trade of wagon-maker, 
and in partnership with his brother, W. A. A. 
Allen, was engaged for many years in the 
manufacturing busine.ss under the firm name 
of R. H. Allen & Company. About 1887, he 
bought 640 acres of land in Stow Township, 
and settled on a part of it, where he engaged 
in extensive farming, cattle-raising and dairy- 
ing. He had large business dealings with his 
fellow-citizens, and enjoyed their confidence 
and esteem. Though he was no politician. 



he took an intelligent interest in good local 
government. For a number of years he was 
a member of Star Lodge, No. 187, F. & A. 
M., Cuyahoga Falls. 

In early manhood Robert H. Allen married 
Mary R. Cochrane, who is a daughter of John 
M. Cochrane, of Cuyahoga Falls. She was 
born July 18, 1837, and still survives, resid- 
ing with her son, Arthur M. Her parents 
were John M. and Jane (Sample) Cochrane, 
the former of whom came to Cuyahoga Falls 
from Calcutta, Columbiana County, Ohio, and 
conducted a blacksmith- business. Mr. and 
Mrs. Robert H. Allen had four children, three 
of whom survive, namely: Andrew Harper, 
residing at Cuyahoga Falls: William A., resid- 
ing in Stow Township; and Arthur M. 
Robert II. Allen died May 14, 1902. 

Arthur M. Allen was reared on the home 
farm and was educated in the public schools 
of Cuyahoga Falls and at Hudson Academy. 
At the time of his father's death, he received 
235 acres, 150 of which he has under culti- 
vation. He continues the dairying interests 
in which his father was engaged, keeping 
about forty head of cattle, and ships his milk 
to Cleveland. He raises his own hay and feed, 
and he is also interested in threshing and 
baling hay, doing a large amount of work 
of this kind throughout the county, keeping 
three men constantly employed. He is a 
member of the board of directors of the 
Springdale Horse Company, the syndicate 
that owns the $3,000 Belgian stallion, Toto. 
Mr. Allen is intimately concerned with all 
agricultural interests in his locality and is 
looked on as a man of business enterprise and 
sound judgment. Mr. Allen was married to 
Mertie Best, who was born in Northampton 
Township, Summit County, and is a daughter 
of Henry Best. They have one daughter, 
Mildred E. Politically Mr. Allen is a Repub- 
lican. 

FRANK C. REED, M. D., of Akron, was 
born at Austinburg, Ashtabula County, Ohio, 
in 1851, and is a son of the late Simon Reed, 
who was one of the pioneer settlers and later 
one of the leading manufacturers of that sec- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



409 



tioii. Reared in his native place, he obtained 
his literary training at Grand River Institute, 
and in 1876 was graduated from the old 
Wooster Medical University at Cleveland. He 
at once located for practice at Akron, with 
which city he has been honorably identified 
ever since. He is a member of the Sixth Dis- 
trict Medical Society, of which he was presi- 
dent in 1906, and belongs also to the Summit 
County, and the Ohio State Medical Societies. 
Aside from his profession he has some busi- 
ness interests, being a director of the Robin- 
son Clay Product Company and a stockholder 
in the American Clay Product Company. For 
six years Dr. Reed served as a member of the 
Akron Board of Education, and he has ever 
shown a laudable desire to further public 
movements looking toward the welfare of his 
city. He has unselfishly given his profession- 
al services in times of public peril. 

In 1881 Dr. Reed was married to Ellen M. 
Robinson, who was a daughter of the late 
Thomas Robinson, one of the early business 
men of this city. Mrs. Reed died May 11, 
1907, leaving one daughter, Josephine R., 
who is a bright student in her classes at Buch- 
tel College. Dr. Reed is an elder in the 
Presbyterian Church. 

FRED T. ELLSWORTH, proprietor of 
the Spnngdale Stock Farm, a tract of 200 
acres, situated in Stow Township, was born 
in Summit County, Ohio, October 8, 1867, 
and is a son of Edward and Emma (Thomp- 
son) Ellsworth. 

Mr. Ellsworth was reared on his Grandfath- 
er Thompson's farm. The Thompson family 
came to Ohio from Connecticut in the person 
of Dr. Moses Thompson, Mr. Ellsworth's 
great-grandfather on the maternal side, who 
was born at Goshen. When seventeen years 
of age, Moses Thompson was permitted by 
his father to leave home and he started out 
in the world to seek his fortune, practically 
without any assistance. In 1800 he turned 
his course toward Ohio, and tramped the long 
di.stance, through unbroken forests and un- 
bridged streams, until he reached Hudson. He 
was commissioned to buv 600 acres of land 



for Connecticut investors, and he purchased 
160 acres for himself. He began to clear his 
land and subsequently returned to Goshen, 
where he married Elizabeth Mills, bringing his 
bride to the pioneer home. He became one 
of the pioneer physicians of this section. 

^'irgil Thompson, the maternal grandfath- 
er of Mr. Ellsworth, was born in Hudson 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 14, 
1810, and, in 1830, purchased the farm now 
owned by his grandson, Mr.' Ellsworth. He 
was one of a family of thirteen children. In 
1836 he married IMaria Smith, who died two 
years later, and in May, 1842, he married An- 
toinette Turner. They had three daughters: 
Celia M. (deceased), who married H. H. 
Chamberlain; Mary A., who was the second 
wife of H. H. Chamberlain ; and Emma, who 
married Edward Ellsworth. Mr. Ellsworth 
has one sister, Mary. 

Fred T. Ellsworth, when twenty years 
of age, went to Cleveland, and for five years 
was employed in W. Bingham's hardware 
store. He then went to Chicago, where he was 
in a livery business for five j^ears. In 1893, 
when his grandfather Thompson died, he re- 
turned to the farm to take charge of it. He 
cultivates 100 acres, raising thirty acres of 
hay, twenty of oats, and twenty of wheat. 
The Spnngdale Stock Farm has an excellent 
reputation through Summit County. Mr. 
Ellsworth deals more or lass in horses, of 
which he breeds some, and winters twenty- 
three head for Akron parties. He is a mem- 
ber of the board of directors of the Springdale 
Horse Company, which is composed of twelve 
local horsemen, who imported the $3,000 
Belgian stallion, Tofo, for the purpose of im- 
proving the breed of local draft horses. In 
1901 Mr." Ellsworth built what is one of the 
finest barns in Summit CountJ^ Its dimen- 
sions are 36 by 100 feet, with 20-foot posts, 
and with the Shawver patent truss frame. 
There are twenty fine box stalls and the horses 
are carefully attended to and kept clean and 
sanitary by- a competent employe. 

Mr. Ellsworth married Elizabeth Harring- 
ton, who was born in London, England, and 
who came to America in 1889 with her moth- 



410 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



er. The latter is still living, and is now fifty- 
eight yeai's of*age. Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth 
have one daughter, Lucy,. born October 12, 
1898. Mrs. Ellsworth is a member of the 
Catholic Church. In politics, Mr. Ellsworth 
is a Republican. As a good citizen he is ac- 
tive in promoting the welfare of the commu- 
nity, in which he is very popular, but he seeks 
no political preferment. 

B. R. BARDER, president of the Biggs 
Boiler Works Company, at Akron, was born 
in Akron, Ohio, in 1878. He is a son of 
the late John P. Barder, whose death occurred 
in 1893, and who for many years was identi- 
fied with the business interests of this city. 

B. R. Barder was reared and educated in 
Akron, and began industrial life in the em- 
ploy of the Biggs Boiler Company, in a hum- 
ble capacity, in order to learn the business 
thoroughly. He continued with this com- 
pany, rising step by step, and when the busi- 
ness was incorporated in 1900, Mr. Barder 
was prepared both by training and natural 
ability, to take the position of secretary and 
treasurer. Upon the death of Mr. Biggs, Mr. 
Barder was made president and treasurer, 
and continues at the head of this large indus- 
try, effectively directing its policy and enlarg- 
ing its scope. 

In 1903 Mr. Barder was married to Sarah 
I. Groff, of Akron, and they have one child, 
Louise E. As becomes a public-spirited citi- 
zen, Mr. Barder takes an interest in civic af- 
fairs and on various occasions he has con- 
sented to serve a.? a member of the City Coun- 
cil. His fraternal connections are with the 
Masons and the Knights of Honor. 

M. O'NEIL, president and treasiyer of The 
M. O'Neil & Co., which operates the largest 
mercantile store at Akron, has resided in this 
city for more than thirty years and during a 
large part of that period has been an active 
business man. He was born in Ireland, De- 
cember 12, 1850, and in the following year 
was brought to America by his parents, who 
were natives of that country. 

His father, James O'Neil, was reared to ag- 



ricultural pursuits in the "old country," where 
in early manhood he married Catherine 
Walsh. In 1850 he came to the United 
States with his wife and family and settled in 
New York City, where he found profitable 
employment. 

The boyhood of the subject of this sketch 
was spent in the city of New York where he 
finished school attendance at the age of six- 
teen years and then became a messenger in 
a broker's office. In 1868 he entered a large 
wholesale dry goods house as bookkeeper, re- 
maining until 1873, at which time he re- 
moved to Lancaster, Ohio, where he embarked 
in a retail dry goods business. In 1876 Mr. 
O'Neil came to Akron and entered into partr 
nership with Isaac J. Dyas, under the firm 
name of O'Neil & Dyas, and they began a 
wholesale and retail dry goods business at 
No. 114 East Market Street. Their business 
soon expanding to such an extent as to neces- 
sitate larger quarters, they erected a four- 
story, stone-front store on South Main Street, 
which they filled with a complete stock of 
goods, taking possession in February, 1889. 
On October 28, 1889, their building and im- 
mense stock were destroyed by fire. Their loss 
was large and was not half covered by insur- 
ance. The firm then returned to the former 
place of business on East Market Street, 
where they remained until they had com- 
pleted the erection of the magnificent build- 
ing, on the burned site, now occupied by the 
M. O'Neil & Co. Isaac J. Dyas died in 1890. 
Mr. O'Neil subsequently took in as partners 
three of his clerks — John J. Feudner, William 
T. Tobin and F. B. Goodman — who took 
stock in the incorporated company and be- 
came officials, Mr. Feudner becoming vice- 
president, Mr. Tobin, secretary, and Mr. Good- 
man, manager, while Mr. O'Neil assumed the 
positions of president and treasurer. The 
members of the company are men of high 
commercial standing and large experience. 
The company's store is the only department 
store in the city, and is headquarters for dry 
goods, carpets, wall paper, furniture, house 
furnishings, books, shoes, cloaks, furs, cloth- 
ing and millinery. A large force of clerks, 




JOHN II. IIOWEK 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



413 



numbering about 300, is kept busy in attend- 
ing to the wants of the store's many patrons. 
Mr. O'Neil is interested in other business en- 
terprises in .Vkron and is numbered with the 
leading men of the city. 

On July 16, 1884, Mr. O'Neil was married 
to Patience J. Mahar, of Cleveland. He and 
his wife have seven children: William F., 
Augustine, Patience, Thomas, Annette, Cy- 
ril and Marj". The family are members of 
the Catholic Church, and Mr. O'Neil is a 
member of the Knights of Columbus. The 
beautiful family home is situated at No. 370 
West Market Street. 

JOHN H. HOWER, until recent years one 
of Akron's most notable captains of industry, 
formerly president* of the Hower Oatmeal 
Mills, owing to his early and close identifi- 
cation with the industrial growth of the city 
has been often called the father of its manu- 
facturing interests. He was born at New Ber- 
lin, Stark County, Ohio. February 22, 1822, 
but was reared in Summit County. He is one 
of a family of five children born to his par- 
ents, who were Jesse and Catherine (Kryder) 
Hower. Jesse Hower, who was a wheelwright 
by trade, died in 1829, when this section was 
still a wilderness. He was a son of Jacob 
Hower, who was of German parentage. 

John H. Hower had comparatively few 
educational advantages in his boyhood, ow- 
ing to the poor schools existing. When he 
was seven years old his father died, and he 
subsequently found it necessary to become 
self-supporting at an earlier age than is cus- 
tomary with more favored youths. Learn- 
ing the trade of painter, he followed it after 
he was eighteen years of age, in Summit 
County during the summers, teaching school, 
both English and German, during the win- 
ters. When about thirty years old he em- 
barked in a mercantile business at Doyles- 
lown. Wayne County, Ohio, where he re- 
mained for some years. In 1861, he organ- 
ized the Excelsior Mower and Reaper Com- 
pany, in Doylestown, Ohio, to manufacture 
the invention of J. F. Seiberling, the inventor 
of the dropper, etc., on the reapers, for whom 



Mr. Hower procured the patents for a good 
remunerative interest. The great demand for 
the machines soon outgrew the capacity of 
the plant. The Excelsior factoi"ies, established 
here through Mr. Hower's influence and by 
means of his personal exertions, formed a 
sort of industrial nucleus around which gath- 
ered other new and varied industries. The 
large royalties which they received from other 
manufacturing concerns, both in this and 
other states, amounting to nearly $500,000 
were reinvested here, and helped largely to 
give that strong impulse in the direction of 
manufacturing activity which found its logi- 
cal outcome in the widespread and substantial 
business prosperity which we behold here at 
the present time. As Mr. Hower was one of 
the first to build a manufacturing plant in 
Akron of the kind above mentioned, the title 
of "father of the industry," so frequently ap- 
plied to him, seems peculiarly appropriate. 
Some of the largest works of this kind in the 
city were built by his influence and for a long 
period, during his ripest years of business ac- 
tivity, he was closely associated with the ini- 
tiation and subsequent progress of many of 
Akron's most successful industrial enter- 
prises, and finest of homes. In 1865 he as- 
sisted in the organization of the J. F. Seiber- 
ling Company, of Akron, of which he became 
vice president. 

In 1879 Mr. Hower bought an interest in 
the Turner Oatmeal Mill, and in 1881 he be- 
came the owner of the plant. Then, with his 
sons, Harvey Y., M. Otis, and Charles H., he 
organized the firm of Hower & Company, 
which was incorporated in Januarj'-, 1888, as 
the Hower Company, this being merged in 
June, 1891, with the American Cereal Com- 
pany. On the incorporation of the Hower 
Company the board was made up as follows: 
.Tohn PI. Hower. president; Harvey Y. Hower. 
vice-president; M. Otis Hower. secretary'; and 
Charles H. Hower. treasurer. Mr. Hower was 
also one of the incorporators of the Akron 
Reed nnd Rattan Company, of which he was 
elected president. 

In 1852 Mr. Hower was married (first) to 
Susan Youngker, who was born near Pitts- 



414 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



burgh, Pennsylvania, and who died at Akron 
in 1895. Their family consisted of the three 
sons mentioned above, who, besides being as- 
sociated with their father, have been prom- 
inent in many other lines of business enter- 
prise. 

In 1900 John H. Hower married, for his 
second wife, Rebecca Ralston, a daughter of 
William Ralston, of Massillon. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hower reside in a beautiful home at No. 356 
Buchtel Avenue. Mr. Hower is a charter 
member of Trinity Lutheran Church, and 
served as a member and trustee from its organ- 
ization in 1870 to 1879. In politics he was 
in his earlier years a Democrat, but has been 
identified with the Republican party since its 
organization. 

Harvey Y. Hower, eldest son of John H. 
and Susan (Youngker) Hower, was born Oc- 
tober 16, 1855, at Doylestown, Wayne 
County, Ohio. He was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Doylestown and Akron, and at 
Smithville Normal Academy, and then en- 
tered the employ of J. F. Seiberling & Com- 
panj^ first in their shops and later as a trav- 
eling representative. This was followed by 
a two years' bu.siness connection with Ault- 
man. Miller & Company. In the spring of 
1879 he became interested with his father in 
the manufacture of oatmeal and cereals, and 
became a partner in 1881, when the business 
of Robert Turner & Company passed into the 
hands of the Howers. He wa« connected with 
his father and brothers in the organization of 
the firm of Hower & Company, whose business 
location was the corner of Canal and Cherry 
Streets, Akron. On November 29, 1877, Har- 
vey Y. Hower was married to Helen M. Stone, 
who was born at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. 
June 25, 1865. They have four children — 
John Frederick, Harvey Burt, Lloyd Ken- 
neth and Lewis Stone. 

]M. Otis Hower, second son of Mr. How- 
er, was born in Doylestown, Wayne County, 
Ohio, on November 25, 1859. He received 
his education in the Akron schools and at 
Buchtel College, after which he joined his 
father in the cereal milling business until the 
transfer to the Cereal Milling Company. He 



remained with that company in the different 
capacities of general manager, director, etc., 
until 1901, when he embarked in various suc- 
cesful enterprises. 

Charles H. Hower, third son of John H. 
and Susan (Youngker) Hower, one of the 
incoqjorators of the Hower Company, and 
since June, 1891, a stockholder in the Ameri- 
can Cereal Company, is also one of the incor- 
porators and a stockholder in the Akron Reed 
and Rattan Company. He was born August 
31, 1866, at Akron, Ohio, and completed his 
education at Oberlin College. AVhen seven- 
teen years of age he became a traveling repre- 
sentative of the oatmeal firm of Hower & Com- 
pany, and meeting with success, remained so 
engaged until the incorporation of the com- 
pany as above detailed. On September 27, 
1887, he married Nellie E. Long, who was 
'born at Copley, Summit County, Ohio, De- 
cember 6, 1868. He and his wife are the 
parents of one child — Helen M. 

JAMES ALONZO DOX, formerly a high- 
ly respected citizen of Stow Township, was 
born at Geneva, New York, August 26, 1832, 
and died in Stow Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, July 18, 1906. His parents, Tunis 
and Clarissa (Dimick) Dox, were also natives 
of New York. For many years his father was 
engaged in the manufacture of brick at Ge- 
neva, and during boyhood and youth, James 
Alonzo assisted in the work. Later he began 
railroading, with which work he was con- 
nected for forty years, thirty of which he 
passed at Cleveland. A few years prior to his 
death, he retired to Stow Township and settled 
on the old Martin Sadler place, on which Mrs. 
Dox was born and on which she still resides. 
Mr. Dox was a member of Bigelow Lodge, No. 
243. F. & A. M., of Cleveland, and of the 
Commandery at Akron. 

On November 11, 1858, .James Alonzo Dox 
wa': married to Rebecca Sadler, who is a 
daughter of Martin and Susan (Steele) Sad- 
ler. Martin Sadler was born in Ireland and 
came to America when eighteen years of age, 
accompanying his parents to Stow Township, 
where he followed his trade of shoemaker. 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



415 



which he had learned in liis native land. He 
lived with his parents on the homestead farm 
and assisted in clearing it and in building 
the first log house. His wife, Susan, was a 
daughter of Adam Steele, of Stow Township, 
and six of their seven children reached matur- 
ity; namely: Jackson, Thomas, Adam, Gib- 
son, Phoebe Ann and Rebecca, Mrs. Dox be- 
ing the only survivor. Her parents were 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Mai-tin Sadler died in 1877. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Dox were born seven chil- 
dren, four of whom reached maturity, namely : 
Susan Charlotte, who was married (first) to 
George Shattuck, of Cleveland, and (second) 
to Samuel Frank, of Akron ; Phoebe Ann, 
who married Charles Ellsworth Saffell, of 
Stow Township; William, deceased; and Clin- 
ton Andrew. 

Clinton Andrew Dox was born November 
27,1865, in Whitley County, Indiana, and 
was educated in the public schools of Cleve- 
land. Before accompanying his parents to 
Stow township he was engaged in railroad 
work, and also kept a store. He cultivates 
the home farm which contains sixty acres of 
excellent land, and devotes considerable at- 
tention to dairying, keeping twelve cows and 
shipping milk to Cleveland. He raises his 
own feed and has a silo 12 by 24 feet in di- 
mensions. In politics he is a Republican, 
but, like his late father, is no politician. 

WILLIAM H. HAVER, a well-known cit- 
izen of Coventry Township, who owns a val- 
uable tract of twenty-five acres, which is sit- 
uated near Barberton, has been identified 
more or less with the development of this 
section of Summit County, for a number of 
years. He was born at Doylestown, Wayne 
County, Ohio, January 11, 1856, and is a 
sou of Robert and Elizabeth (Frederick) 
Haver. 

The father of Mr. Haver died when he was 
a babe. His mother was a daughter of Sam- 
uel Galehouse, one of the early settlers of 
Wayne County. After the death of her hus- 
band she was married^ to Stephen Latham, a 
well known and old-time resident of Summit 



County. He was accidentally killed on the 
railroad, December 21, 1906. Mrs. Latham 
died October 16, 1905, aged seventy-three 
years. • 

William H. Haver was reared on his step- 
father's farm and in young manhood, worked 
for twelve years in the coal mines. Later, in 
association with J. C. Russ, Captain Morrison 
and S. N. Wilson, he acquired the ownership 
of Long Lake Park. A stock company was 
subsequently formed, and Mr. Haver sold his 
interest to S. N. Wilson, five years later. He 
removed from his old home near the park, 
about this time, to Barberton, where he erected 
several houses, and after selling them, he 
bought the Snyder farm, which adjoins his 
own property. Sutisequently he sold that to 
the Barberton Real Estate Company, and the 
land is now covered with dwellings. In Octo- 
ber, 1904, Mr. Haver bought the old Daniel 
Harter home place, and in 1907 he erected 
a handsome new residence on a desirable cor- 
ner to take the place of the old eight-room 
house still standing. 

Mr. Haver was married January 11, 1880, 
to Elizabeth Hutchinson, who died in Janu- 
ary, 1898, leaving four children, namely: 
Dorothy Joanna, who married Albert Heim- 
baugh ; Lottie May, who married John How- 
ard, and has two children, Helen and James; 
Carrie, who married Wallace Knecht; and 
William Julian. Mr. Haver was married 
(second) October 30, 1900, to Cora B. Har- 
ter, who is a daughter of Daniel and Mary 
Harter. 

Daniel Hai'ter was born in Franklin Town- 
ship, .June 4, 1820, and has spent the greater 
part of his life in Summit County. He was 
married, October 26, 1844, to Mary Grove, 
and their family numbered eleven children, 
four of whom are now living, namely: Eliza 
J., residing in Copley Township; Lavina A., 
of Congress Town.'^hip. Wayne County; Jos- 
eph J., of Akron, and Cora B.. wife of the 
subject of this sketch. 

Mr. Haver has retired from farming and 
leads a rather leisurely life, having the means 
to enjoy himself along congenial lines. He 
is fond of the water and has spent one delight- 



416 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ful winter in a house-boat, mainly on the 
Mississippi River. Another trip of 200 miles 
was made on the Kusa River from Rome, 
Georgia, to Gladstone, Alabama. He has 
spent twenty winters in fishing and trapping, 
in various pai'ts of the South. His excursions 
have opened up a wide field of adventiu-e and 
enjoyment for him, a recital of which would 
make an interesting volume. Politically Mr. 
Haver is identified with the Repul)lican party. 
He Ls a member of the Disciples Cluu-ch. 

WILLIAM ROWLEY, formerly a well 
known business man of Akron, was Ixiru in 
England in 1838, and died in Akron, in No- 
vember, 1891, at the age of fifty-three years. 
He was a son of Enoch and Eliza Rowley, 
who settled here in 1848. 

Enoch Rowley, Avho established the first 
pottery at Akron, was. until middle life, a 
resident of Sf«ke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 
England. He then came to America and es- 
tablished him.self at Akron. He was a pot- 
ter by ivude and built up a large pottery busi- 
ness, which he carried on for many years, 
partly with his son, the late William Rowley. 
He was one of the sterling men of Akron 
in has day. For eight years he sen'ed in the 
City Council from the Sixth Ward. In Poli- 
tics he was identified Avith the Republican 
party. He was a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

William Rowley was one of a family of 
twelve children. He was educated in the 
Akron public schools, and as soon as he was 
old enough entered his father's pottery to 
learn the business. Later he entered into 
partnership with his father, whose interest 
in the business he aftenvards purchased. In 
1886 he retired from activity, but continued 
to be interested in the public affairs at Akron 
as long as he lived. He was a zealous Re- 
publican and for six years served on the 
Board of Equalization. Fraternally he was 
an Odd Fellow. 

Mr. Rowley married Mary .1. Wills, of 
Cuyalioga Fails, and they had four children, 
namely: Florence, who died in infancy; Ar- 
thur James, who is a prominent member of 



the Summit County bar; Maude L., wife of 
George H. Stubbs, of Akron, and Zelle I., 
wife of Jonathan Taylor, of Akron. Mrs. 
Rowley lives at No. 824 East Market Street, 
Akron. 

JOHN T. MERTZ, chief of Akron's fire 
department, which responsible position he 
assumed August 1, 1901, has been regularly 
identified with this branch of the city's pub- 
lic service for the past twenty-four years. 
Chief Mertz was born in March, 1864, at 
Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended school 
to the age of fifteen years. From Cleveland 
Mr. Mertz went to Blyria, Ohio, where he 
worked in a factory for two years and then 
came to Akron, and for one year was em- 
ployed in the grocery store of Cyrus Miller. 
His next position M^as in the ^Etna Mills, 
wheire, after six months of work, he was made 
assistant engineer, and he remained in the em- 
ploy of the mill company until the plant was 
destroyed by fii-c, in December, 1884. Soon 
after that event he secured a po.sition as en- 
gineer for the Ohio Stoneware Company, in 
the 'meantiime taking a gread deal of interest 
in the work of the fire department, and occa- 
sionally working on the force as a substitute. 
In the fall of 1886, he accepted a position as 
driver for the department, and eighteen 
months later was promoted to the position 
of pipeman, serving as .such until July 1, 
1897, when he was still further promoted, 
being made captain. Under the administra- 
tion of Hon. W. B. Doyle, he was made chief 
of the department, in August, 1901. Chief 
Mertz is well qualified in every way to fill 
the office he holds, and it is a satisfaction 
to the citizens of Akron to know that their 
homes and other property are under the pro- 
tection of so efficient a fire chief. 

In January, 1885, Mr. Mertz was married 
to Susan Thiese, of Akron, and they have 
two sons, namely: Arthur B. and Raymond 
A. The former is bookkeeper for the Cleve- 
land Twist Drill Company, of Cleveland, and 
was educated in Akron. The latter attends 
the public schools. 

Chief Mertz was reared in the German Lu- 




ALANSOX WOUK 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



419 



theran Church. Fraternally, he belongs to 
the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council of the 
Masons, and to the Odd Fellows and the 
Elks. Socially he is a member of the Ger- 
man-American Club and the Liebertafel So- 
ciety, of Akron. The family home is sit- 
uated at No. 328 Buchtel Avenue, Akron. 

ALANSON WORK, formerly vice-presi- 
dent of the Akron Rubber Works, and for 
many years well known in this city as an en- 
ergetic and successful business man, was born 
at Quincy, Illinois, March 1, 1842. His fa- 
ther, Alanson Work, Sr., was a native of Con- 
necticut, from which State he moved to Illi- 
nois. One of the early Abolitionists, he was 
imprisoned in 1841 for helping slaves to es- 
cape, the sentence being for twelve years; he 
was, however, pardoned out after three years. 

When the subject of this sketch was three 
years old, his parents moved to Middletown, 
Connecticut, and thence to Hartford, that 
State, where he attended the public schools 
until he was seventeen, spending one year 
also in Trinity College. At the age of nine- 
teen he entered the employ of A. T. Stewart, 
later of the Metropolitan Bank of New York, 
and so continued for seven years. In 1869 he 
moved to "\'ineland, New Jersey, and one year 
later to Cincinnati, and, as a partner in the 
firm of Chamberlain, Gibbs & Company, was 
engaged for two years in building railroad 
bridges and railroads. He then went to 
Rhode Island and took a contract to rebuild 
the bridges on the Providence & Wooster Rail- 
road, putting up fourteen double tract bridges 
in about one year. He was superintendent 
of the Allen Fire Department Supply Com- 
pany at Providence, Rhode Island, for five 
years, and during that time took out several 
patents on fire engine supplies, one now- 
adopted by the United States, being Work's 
Patent Coupling. On January 1, 1875, Mr. 
Work moved to Akron as superintendent of 
the Akron Rubber Works, and in 1880, when 
the corporation was organized, he became vice- 
president of the B. F. Goodrich Company. 

He was married, in 1865, to Miss Henrietta 
Lane, of Brooklyn, Long Island. Of this 



marriage there were seven children, as fol- 
lows: Alice, wife of Prof. Walter Wilcox, of 
Cornell University; Bertram G., president of 
the B. F. Goodrich Company; Dorothv W., 
Effie A., Fred W., and Gerald S., all of whom 
are residing at home; Clarence, who was ac- 
cidentally drowned at the age of thirteen 
years. 

Mr. Alanson Work died at his home in 
Akron, October 29, 1881. His portrait may 
be seen on a neighboring page of this vol- 
ume. 

THE BREWSTER FAMILY. Prominent 
among the families which have been identi- 
fied with the development and progress of 
Summit County, from the early days of its 
settlement, is the Brewster family, which ha^ 
numerous worthy representatives in Coventry 
Towmship. It is of New England ancestry 
and' its immediate progenitors came from 
Groton, Connecticut. Earlier records, if pre- 
served, could prove that this sturdy, vigorou.? 
family was a leading factor in events preced- 
ing the American Revolution by many years. 

The year 1811 marks the entrance of this 
family into Ohio. Stephen Brewster was 
born at Groton, Connecticut, probably there 
had good educational advantages, and at any 
rate he learned to be a good carpenter and 
capable millwright. Following his marriage 
at Groton, he removed to the State of New 
York, and in 1811 came to what is known 
as the Brewster estate, situated in Coventry 
Township, Summit County, Ohio. The long 
journey was made in wagons, through a 
rough and almost unsettled region for the 
larger part of the way. there being no rail- 
roads or other means of transport-ation hither 
at^ that time. Not a single house had yeit. been 
built between Coventry Township and Akron. 

Stephen Brewster purchased 160 acres of 
land at a very low price, from the Connecticut 
Land Company, and the home was .started in 
the midst of the virgin fore.~t. A log cabin 
wa5 built on a little clearing, in which were 
placed the possessions brought from tlie old 
Connecticut home, and here the duties and 
burdens of life were assumed as in more civil- 



420 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ized coniimunities, but attended by many 
hardships. The family lived on the wild 
game that abounded, until they could raise 
grain, the deer at that time being so numer- 
ous that they ran through the woods like a 
flock of sheep. Stephen Brewster and wife 
never left their pioneer home for any other, 
and here he died at the age of eighty-eight 
years, and she survived to be seventj'. Their 
descendants tell of the deep affection exist- 
ing between them, which continued through 
childhood, youth and mature life. 

Stephen Brewster married Lydia Bellows, 
who was born at Groton, of another promi- 
nent old New England family. This was 
probably about 1796. They had the follow- 
ing children : James G., Lucinda, who mar- 
ried a Mr. Mus.say; Hannah, who married 
(first) William Clark, (second) David Dun- 
bar; Charlotte, who married Martin Housel ; 
Alexander, and Hiram, who died about 1813, 
shortly after the family came to the farm, 
and was buried in the orchard, where a stone 
still marks the spot. 

James G. Brewster, the eldest son of Ste- 
phen and Lydia Brewster, was born at Gro- 
ton, Connecticut, in 1797. When he was a 
boy the family came to Ohio, where, as the 
eldest, he was called on to do almost a man's 
work in clearing up the w'Hd farm. His 
educational chances were few, there being no 
settled .system of schools at that early day, 
but his parents were well informed, and his 
own mind was active enough to enable him 
to at first quickly absorb primary teaching 
and later to apply common sense and good 
judgment to the actualities and demands of 
life. He died in June, 1842. From his 
fatlier he inherited a part of the homestead, 
and to thi.s land he added until he owned 320 
acres, lying on both ?ides of the road. 

Jamos G. Brewster was married in Colum- 
biana County, Ohio, to Martha ITa'^scn, who 
was born in Pennsylvania and was brought 
to the above county in childhood, where her 
people -were prominent pioneers. Her death 
occurred in November, 1881. at the age of 
seventy-five years. They had the following 
children: Stephen (deceased), who married 



Charlotte Meech (also deceased) ; Jonathan 
H. and James G. (both deceased), twins, the 
latter of whom married Mary Davies ; Hiram, 
a very prominent retired citizen of Coventry 
Township, and George, who died May 25, 
1907. 

Probably there is no better known family 
in Summit County than the one now repre- 
sented as its head by Hiram Brewster, who 
was born on the family estate in Coventry 
Townshij). June 8, 1835. He was reared 
here, and three months has been the longest 
period that he has ever been absent from the 
old place to which he is so closely attached 
through long as.sociation. His education was 
secured in the old district school near his 
home, which building was of frame construc- 
tion, although many in the township were 
built of logs. His summers in boyhood were 
spent in farm work, but during three winter 
months, each comfortable old farm-house gave 
up its quota of pupils. Mr. Brewster never 
married but remained with his parents and 
assisted in the building of all the houses, 
barns and other structure on the estate, which 
now aggregates 750 acres, lying jointly in 
Coventry and Springfield township-. The 
residence is one of the large ones and it con- 
veniently accommodates Mr. Brewster and his 
nephew, Hayes Brewster, who is a son of 
the late Stephen Brewster. 

Hiram Brewster now lives retired from ac- 
tive work of any kind, to the extent of taking 
no responsibility, but as long as he lives he 
will probably feel an interest in all that goes 
on on the old home place. His tastes never 
led him into politics to the extent of accept- 
ing office, hut his influence has always been 
turned in the direction of progress and im- 
provement. For many years he has been in- 
teresited in several of Summit County's most 
prosperous business enterprises, and is a mem- 
ber of the firm controlling the Buckeye Sewer 
Pipe Company, and a stockholder in the Sum- 
mit Coimty Sewer Pipe Company. 

Hayes Brewster, in the fourth generation 
from the pioneer of the family in Ohio, is 
a well-known and valued citizen of Coventry 
Township, where he was born, June 25, 1876. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



421 



His parents were Stephen and Charlotte 
(Meech) Brewster. Hy father died in Jan- 
uary, 1887, and his mother passed away in 
December, 1903. He was the second born 
in bis parents' family, the others being: 
Ephraim, residing in the far West; Stephen, 
also residing in tJie West, and -lohn. In 
1899, Hayes Brewster was married to Susan 
Dodd, who is a daughter of Daniel and Cath- 
erine (Griffith) Dodd, and they have two 
children, Hiram and Charlotte. Mr. Brew- 
ster is interested in the Buckeye Sewer Pipe 
Company. 

Other descendants of the pioneer Brewster 
settler are found in the daughter and grand- 
daughter of the late George Brewster, who was 
born March 21, 1837, and died May 25, 1907. 
He was a lifelong resident of Coventry 
Town.ship and wa« one of the most success- 
ful business men in this section of Summit 
County. He was largely interested in coal 
for many years and, with a brother, operated 
what is known as the Brewster mill, for a 
long period. He shared in po-.se.-sion of the 
large Brewster estate, which passed into the 
hands of his widow at the time of his death. 
He was identified with the Re]niVjlican party 
and with the Ma.sonic fraternity. On October 
19. 1876, he married Maria Kent, who was 
born in SufFleld Township, Portage County. 
Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Brewster had four chil- 
dren : Georgia, who married Perry A. 
Kriisher and has one daughter, Dorothy ; 
Wallace, who died at the age of two and one- 
half years: Artlmr, who died at the age of 
fifteen, and Bessie, who died a2;ed twenty 



DAVID A. METZLER, assistant .superin- 
tendent of the Alkali Rubber Company, Ak- 
ron, is one of this city's young and enter- 
prL^ing bu.siness men. He was born here in 
1881. and is a .son of William Metzler, who 
is prominently connected with the Diamond 
Rubl)er Comjiany. He was educated in the 
Akron public schools, and at the Cathedral 
College. Trenton, New -Jersey. Upon his re- 
turn to Akron he entered the employ of the 
Diamond Rubber Company, serving first in 



the laboratory and later becoming assi-stant 
superintendent. He remained with the concern 
for five years. In 1904, when the Alkali 
Rubl)er Company was made a di.«tinct plant, 
Mr. Metzler was selected for the position of 
assistant superintendent, in which he has 
since served very etficiently. He has other 
business interests, being concerned in the 
promotion and success of the Ohio Rubber 
Culture Company, which is operating planta- 
tions in Mexico, where rubber trees are now 
being cultivated. 

On October 25, 1904, Mr. :Mctzler was mar- 
ried to Abbie Lawton, a daughter of E. A. 
Lawton, who is .superintendent of the Akron 
Water Works. Mr. Metzler is a member of 
St. Vincent's Catholic Church. He belongs 
to the Knights of Columbus and to various 
organizations of a social nature. 

HON. JOHN McNAMARA. Sometimes 
tnith reads as strangely as fiction and the 
record of the life of John McNamara, from 
the condition of an orphan bound-boy tr) 
the honorable .station of leading citizen in a 
prosperous community, in another land than 
that of his birth, contains matter for serious 
consideration. He was born in County 
Clare, Ireland, probably on February 12. 
1833, and certainlj^ was baptized by the lar- 
ish priest on February 15th. of that year. 
His parents were Martin and Mary (Mcln- 
ery) McNamara. 

There can be little provision made for the 
future by the small tenant farmer of Ireland, 
and when John McNamara's parents died, 
the mother when he was nine years old and 
the father three years later, the little lad of 
eleven years found himself entirely depend- 
ent upon his own abilities. The kind-hearted 
farmers in the neighborhood were all poor, 
but they gave the child a chance to work, 
and with a prudence that was remarkable, 
he saved the pittances he earned until he had 
accunnilated enough capital to take him to 
England, where he bound him.«elf out to learn 
the pla.sterer's trade. His emplover, taki"g 
advantage of his youth and ignorance, kept 
him for two vears at labor without giving 



422 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



him any chance to learn the trade, and the 
boy stood it no longer, but ran away. He 
then became a coal miner and worked in a 
coal bank until 1854, when he came to Amer- 
ica, landing at Philadelphia. He first sought 
farm work in the agricultural districts, and 
was employed for two years in Delaware 
County. Then coming to Ohio, he contin- 
ued to work as a farmer in Geauga County, 
until 1863, when he came to Barberton, or 
to New Portage as it was then. He saw a 
good business opportunity in the opening of 
a general store, and in this enterprise met 
with success, conducting a first-class mercan- 
tile establishment here for many years. He 
was made the first postma.ster and served in 
that capacity for eighteen years. In the 
meantime, through his industry and legiti- 
mate business methods, he had acquired 
property and had promoted the growth and 
development of the town in many ways. In 
1900 his fellow-citizens honored him by elect- 
ing him their mayor, and he served as sueh 
until 1903. During his administration Bar- 
berton took many forward strides. Mr. Mc- 
Namara is now largel}' interested in tlie real 
estate business. 

In 1864 Mr. McNamara was married to 
Hannah Woods, who i.s a daughter of Jertv 
miah Woods. They have had seven chil- 
dren, four of w'hom survive, namely: Mary, 
James, who has succeeded his father as mayflr 
of Barberton; Stephen, and Myrtle, who is 
the wife of Thomas Davis. Mr. McNamara, 
with his family, belongs to the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

W. A. INWOOD, .superintendent of the 
Alkali Rubber Company of Akron, came to 
this city in 1899, since which time he has 
been connected with some of Akron's largest 
business enterprises. Mr. Linwood was born 
in 1877. in Connecticut, and when six years 
of age accompanied his parents to Califor- 
nia, where he was reared and educated, en- 
joying some unusual advantages of travel in 
his youth, as he cro.ssed the continent three 
times before he was eight years old. Mr. 
Inwood's first business experience was with 



the Hercules Powder Works, of California, 
with which he remained connected for seven 
years. Coming then to Akron he entered the 
employ of the Diamond Rubber Company. 
After serving four years as foreman, he was 
transferred to its branch establishment, the 
Alkali Rubber Company, of which he was 
made superintendent, this promotion being 
due to his superior knowledge of the busine&s 
and his tact and ability in managing men. 
On April 4, 1906, Mr. Inwood was mar- 
ried to Genevieve Williams, who was born at 
San Francisco, California. Mr. Inwood is a 
Free Mason and an Odd Fellow, being affil- 
iated with local lodges of these orders. 

FERDINAND SCHUMACHER, formerly 
president of the American Cereal Company, 
but now retired, has long been identified with 
great manufacturing enterprises which have 
brought wealth and fame to the city of Ak- 
ron. Mr. Schumacher was born March 30, 
1822, at Celle, Hanover, Germany, and is a 
son of F. C. and Louise Schumacher. Until 
he was fifteen years of age he attended school, 
then became clerk in a grocery, and later an 
employ in a sugar refinery. In 18.50 he emi- 
grated to America, settling first on a farm 
near Cleveland. His previous training, how- 
ever, had not been in the line of agriculture, 
so in 1851 he is found at Akron engaged in 
a fancy goods business. In the year 1856 
he embarked in the business, which through 
his enterprise developed into one of the great 
world industries, and which has brought him 
the title of "Cereal King." Under his own 
name he continued in the manufacture of 
oatmeal, pearl barley and other cereal prod- 
ucts, until later he con.solidatcd with the firm 
of Co-mmins and Allen, under the style of 
The F. Schumacher Milling Company. He 
thus largely increased the capacity of the 
mills and immediately repaired his great loss 
in the fire of 1886, which destroyed mills 
and elevators at the depot. About 1801 he 
consented to a further combination of in- 
terests under the great corporation known as 
the American Cereal Company, and was 
elected as its president. He continued with 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITI2JENS 



4^3 



H. P. Crowell and Robert Stuart as executive 
committee of this great concern until 1899, 
when he failed to 'be re-elected, and gladly 
accepted retirement from the busy life he 
had led for so many years, finding rest and 
quiet in his beautiful home at No. 258 East 
Market Street, Akron. The American Cereal 
Company's head office is now located at Chi- 
cago, that city being a great center, but the 
Akron Mills are its most important prop- 
erty. 

On October 7, 1851, Mr. Schumacher was 
married at Cleveland to Hermine Schu- 
macher, who was born at Bevern, Brunswick, 
Germany, and died June 1, 1893. They had 
seven cliildren, two of whom survive, namely: 
Louis, a resident of Akron, who was vice 
president of the F. Schumacher Milling 
Company, and F. Adolph, who was secretary 
of the same company, and is now engaged 
in business at Riverside, Iowa. Mr. Schu- 
macher married for his second wife, August 
1, 1S99, Mary Zipperlen, wlio is a daughter 
of Dr. A. Zipperlen, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Mr. Schumacher has always been a valued 
citizen, not because he lias busied himself in 
regard to local political affairs, but because 
he ha= been a man of broad views and gen- 
erous inclinations, which have resulted in 
public-.~pirited enterprises, and in liberal a-^- 
sistance given to education, religion and 
charity. It was mainly through his benefac- 
tions that a number of the religious edifices 
of the city were completed, this notably be- 
ing the ca^e in regard to the Universalir-t 
Church. By example and years of protest 
against the liquor evil, Mr Schumacher has 
become known as one of the leading temper- 
ance advocate.^ of Ohio. Time ha« touched 
him liglitly. and notwithstanding his many 
years of intense devotion t.o business, with 
the care- tbat harass even tlie most success- 
ful, he has retained remarkable vigor. 

AUGUSTUS F. STUHLDREHER, a 

member of the important real e-tatc, loan 
and in.surance firm of Stuhldreher Brothers, 
which commands a large business at Barber- 
ton and h.Ts offices on the Stuhldreher Block, 



on the corner of Second and Tuscarawas Ave- 
nue, has been located in this city since 1891. 
He was reared on his father's Stark County 
farm and attended the district schools in his 
neighborhood, completing his education by 
a course in the Massillon Business College. 
He then took a position with the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad as station agent at Barberton, 
and served also as agent for the Baltimore 
and Ohio Road, his railroad connection cov- 
ering ten years. He then embarked in the 
real estate business with his brother, Edward 
J. Stuhldreher, who left the railroad service 
at the same time. They control an immense 
amount of business in their line, a large part 
of it being buying and selling on commis- 
sion. In 1902 Mr. Stuhldreher built the 
fine business block knowm as the Stuhldreher 
Block, a three-story brick structure with di 
mansions of 50 by 100 feet, in which is lo- 
cated the Barberton postoffice and the Bar- 
berton Opera House, the latter seating SOO 
people. Another large house having quar- 
ters here is the Union Furniture Company. 
The upper floors are admirably fitted up for 
offices. 

Mr. Stuhldreher takes a somewhat active 
interest in politics and served as city clerk 
from 1896 to 1900. He and brother repre- 
.sent the most progressive and enterprising 
business element in the city. 

REV. T. F. MAHAR. D. D., pastor of 

St. Vincent de Paul's Church, at Akron, is 
a well-'beloved and valued member of the 
Catholic clergy in this city. PTe was born 
September 28, 1851, at vScranton, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is a son of Thomas and Ann 
(Hart) Mahar, both of whom were of Ameri- 
can birth. 

Father Mahar entered St. Mary's Collcoe. 
.at Cleveland. Ohio, where he devoted four 
years to .study, prior to becoming a pupil at 
St. Lois College, at Louisville. Stark County, 
which he entered in 1866 for a term of three 
years. In 1869 he went to Rome, Italy, 
where, amid churchly .surroundings, he pur- 
sued his ecclesiastical studies for six veal's, 
under eminent iastructors, subsequently be- 



424 



HISTORY OF SUIVIMIT COUNTY 



iiig awarded the degrees of Doctor of Pliilos- 
ophy and Doctor of Divinity. 

In 1875 Father Mahar came to Cleveland, 
having been ordained May 30, 1874, and wa~ 
made assistant pastor of St. John's Cathe- 
dral. In this capacity he served for five 
years. On Angnst 1, 1880, Bishop Gilmour 
appointed him pa.stor of St. Vincent de Paul's 
Church at Akron, which Ls one of the largest 
and most influential Catholic churches in 
the city, having a inenibership of 500 fam- 
ilies. His work in connection with this 
charge has been eminently successful. 

A history of churches, as of individuals, 
is vastly interesting and instmctive, when it 
tells a story of obstacles bravely overcome 
and difficulties surmounted in a righteous 
Clause, and a short account of the growth of 
St. Vincent de Paul, from the early nucleus 
of little pioneer fire-side gatherings, visited 
by an over-worked priest, when it was pos- 
sible for him to make his way through the 
then un.settled regions, to the stately struc- 
ture now standing, which fitly represents the 
faith, endurance and piety of both priests and 
people, must arrest general attention. The 
fir.st records tell of Father Henni, afterward 
Archbishop of Milwaukee, coming to Akron 
in 1835, riding on horse-back from Cincin- 
nati, and holding services and saying mass 
in the cabin of the late James McAllister. 
From 1837 to 1842 the village was visited 
by Rev. J. B. Purcell, later Archbishop of 
Cincinnati; Rev. Louis Goesbriand, Father 
McLaughlin, Father Basil Shorb and others. 
In 1843 a small frame house was commenced 
on Green Street by Father M. Howard, who 
retained charge of the congregation until 
1844. From 1845 to 1848 Father Cornelius 
Daly had charge, and during his pastorate, 
he being the first regularly appointed, the 
hou.se on Green Street was enlarged and com- 
pleted. Following Father Daly came a long 
list of able and faithful priests as follows: 
Rev. Ca.siimir ^louret, from October, 1848, to 
June, 1850; Father Goodwin, June to De- 
cember, 1850; Rev. Francis McGann, De- 
cember, 1850, to August, 1855; Rev. L. Mo- 
lon, January, 185(3; Rev. Thomas AValsh and 



Rev. W. O'Connor, to 1859; Rev. M. A. 
Scanlon, from July, 1859, to November, 
1873; Rev. Timothy Mahoney, from Novem- 
l>er, 1873, to August 1, 1880, when Rev. T. 
F. Maliar assumed charge. 

The present imposing stone edifice on the 
corner of West Market and Maple Streets, 
was begun on St. Patrick's Day, 1864, and 
continual imju'ovements have been going ou 
ever since. The architecture is of the Roman 
order, with twelve large, stained-gla.ss, em- 
blematical windows. The tower contains a 
fine bell and a first-class clock. An elegant 
brick parsonage has also been erected, and 
the church owns seven acres of land fronting 
on West Market Street, which is dedicated 
to cemetery purposes. Father Mahar has 
many ideas as to future improvements. 

SOLOMON E. SHOOK, who fills the im- 
portant position of head miller in the Walsh 
Milling Company's mills at Cuyahoga Falls, 
was born in Jackson Township, Stark County, 
Ohio, November 22, 1860, and is a son of 
Philip and Margaret (Everhard) Shook. 

The great-grandfather of Solomon E. 
Shook was John Shook, who was born in 
Germany and came to America in 1752, 
landing at what w-as then called Port of York 
but is now the city of Philadelphia. He lived 
there for a time and then went into the farm- 
ing regions of the State, purchasing 400 acres 
of land in Nortlnnnberland County, which 
are still owned by his descendants. He mar- 
ried a Miss Ohl," and he died in 1799. His 
son, David Shook was born on the land above 
referred to, and died Octoljer 24, 1868, aged 
.«eventy-nine years. He Avas a carpenter by 
trade and also a farmer. In 1810 he came 
to Ohio, settling at New Berlin, Stark 
County, and from there went out as a soldier 
in the War of 1812, in which he sensed as 
captain. He married Sarah Mark, who was 
born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and 
died in Ohio, in 1861. Both grandparents 
of Solomon E. Shook lie buried at New Ber- 
lin, in the old Zion church-yard. 

Philip Shook was born at New Berlin, 
Stark County, Ohio, in 1840, and died at 




FRANK G. STIPE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



427 



"Wadsworth, Ohio, aged sixty -three years. He 
comhined farming with carpenter's work and 
contracting. He reared a family of twelve 
children, Solomon E. being the youngest son 
and tenth child. 

When Solomon E. Shook was three years 
old, his parents moved to Wadswotth Town- 
ship, Medina County, where he was educated 
in the district schools. In 1877 he went into 
the grist mill of his eldest brother, David 
Shook, where, during his eighteen months' 
stay, he learned the elementary principles of 
inilling, and from there he went to Millport 
and worked for James McLean as second mil- 
ler. He remained with him for two years, 
and then went to Toledo as head miller for 
Potter & Company, t\\"0 and a half year.'* later 
coming to Akron to become second mil- 
ler for Seiberling Milling Company. For 
four years Mr. Shook -was foreman for the 
Seiberling people. In 1889 he went to New 
Brighton, . Pennsylvania, where for threo 
years lie was head miller in the City Mills. 
Then returning to Akron he took charge of 
the Clinton Milling Company's plant, which 
was owned Ijy A. L. Clause ifc C(ini])any. In 
1895 Mr. Shook took a pleasure trip to River- 
side, California, which covered two years. 
After his return to Akron he accepted his 
present position. He has two millers in his 
employ and turns out 200 barrels of flour 
per day. His equipments are ample for the 
grinding of all kinds of feed. Mr. Shook is 
not only an expert miller, but an inventor. 
He is the author of an appliance intended to 
take the place of the usual babbitt metal, 
wliich is easily adjusted and which he ha- 
been using in his mill for the last five years. 
It has proved to be of the utmost utility and 
is an invention that well deserves to be pat- 
ented. 

FRANK G. STIPE, president of the Board 
of Education of Akron, has been identified 
with the interests of this city since 1866, and 
is well known in business circles here as a 
general contractor. Of German-Irish descent, 
he was born, in 1846, in Greentown, Stark 
County, Ohio, and is a nephew of Colonel 



Robert Nugen, who was a member of Con- 
gress from Tuscarawas County in 1861-63. 

When nine years old he removed with his 
parents to a farm near Greensburg, Summit 
County. He attended the district schools and 
Gteensburg Seminary, teaching during the 
winter near his home until he was eighteen 
years of age. He then enlisted in Company 
II, 164th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
a part of the National Guard belonging to 
the Fifty-Fourth Battalion. Company H was 
sent from Fort Taylor directly to the forts 
around Washington, where it took part in 
the defense of the city. At the end of 115 
(lays' service it was discharged, the soldiers, 
as Mr. Stipe well remembers, being addressed 
Ijy President Lincoln. 

In the spring of 1866 Mr. Stipe came to 
Akron and worked six months for Rockwell 
& Danforth, in the contracting business. Sub- 
sequently he entered the painting department 
(if Aultman, Miller & Company, where he con- 
tinued for five years. His health becoming 
somewhat impaired, owing to his close appli- 
cition to his trade, in 1871 he went to Spring- 
field Township, where he worked on a farm 
for three years, teaching during the winters. 
Upon his return to Akron he entered into 
business for him.self as a contractor, executing 
in a most satisfactory manner some of the 
city's largest contracts for painting and dec- 
orating. Appointed city commissioner, he as- 
simied the (iuties of that office in April. 1895, 
and served three years on the board. He then 
became an organizer for the Pathfinders' so- 
ciety, being one of the first deputies in the 
field in the interests of this organization, with 
which he remained connected for about a 
year. At the end of that time he resumed 
business as a contractor. 

In 1888 Mr. Stipe was elected a member 
of the Board of Education, from the old 
Fourth Ward, by a majority of forty votes, 
overcoming a normal Democratic majority of 
.300. In 1890 he was appointed decennial ap- 
praiser of the city, and was re-elected to the 
school board for a term of three years, being 
made its president on organization in Janu- 
arv, 1907. This honor, which was totallv un- 



428 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



solicited, reflects the opinion of his fellow citi- 
zens concerning his ability, and his fidelity 
to the best interests of the city. By virtue of 
his office as president of the Board, Mr. Stipe 
is also chairman of the depositary commis- 
sion of the Board's funds. 

In 18(35 Mr. Stipe was married to Soviah 
C. Koons, who was born in Summit County. 
They are the parents of four children, name- 
ly: Nora E., wife of George Barker, an iron 
worker, of Cuyahoga FalL?; Harry J., who is 
cashier at the Akron office of the Electric 
Package Company; Mabel L., who is the wife 
of Arthur L. Foster, a manufacturer of New 
York; and Martha M., wife of Alonzo Jack- 
son, a resident of Akron, who holds an official 
position in a railroad office. 

Mr. Stipe has other business interests not 
mentioned above, and is one of Akron's busy, 
callable, and public-spirited citizens. He be- 
longs to Nemo Lodge of Odd Fellows, and to 
Buckley Post, G. A. R. A member of the 
First ]\Icthodist Episcopal Church, he is serv- 
ing that organization on the Board of Trus- 
tees. 

ARTHUR JAMES SAALFIELD, pub- 
lisher, was born in Leeds, England, in 1863. 
His father, Albert Saalfield, Esq., was a man- 
ufacturer of woolens. With the other mem- 
bers of his family, a large one, he came to 
the United States while still a small boy. 
Mr. Saalfield tells with amusement, of the 
wonder and comment excited by himself and 
brottiers when they arrived in New Y'ork, 
on account of the Highland costumes they 
wore, then the fashion for small boys in 
England. 

The family lived for a time in New York 
City, where the father shortly died. Here 
young Arthur attended the public schools. In 
1872, at the age of nine years, his business 
career began. The Saalfield family had re- 
moved to Chicago. Refusing longer to be 
dependent, the embryonic publisher com- 
menced to make his own way in the world. 
His first engagement was with Messrs. W. B. 
Keene, Cook & Company, then the leading 
book-sellers in the West. With them he re- 



mained for four years. He then returned to 
New York and spent the following year at 
Steven's Academy, Hoboken. In 1877, then 
fourteen years of age, A. J. Saalfield became 
an employee of Charles T. Dillingham, the 
well-known book jobber. Here he remained 
for fifteen years, beginning at the bottom, 
and gradually working his way to the top 
of the business. Long before he left Dilling- 
ham's he was a salesman of exceptional abil- 
ity, widely known and well liked by the 
trade. 

Mr. Saalfield started a book jobbing and 
publishing business of his own in 1892, and 
continued in its management until 1898, 
when he removed to Akron, Ohio, to take 
charge of the book publishing department of 
The Werner Company. He had not been in 
successful occupancy of this responsible po- 
sition very long when the opportunity of buy- 
ing the business was presented. With his 
usual business acumen, he recognized the pos- 
sibilities thus placed within his reach and at 
once concluded the purchase. At that time 
The Saalfield Publishing Company, A. J. 
Saalfield, proprietor, came into existence. 
From the first, the new concern prospered. 
Its growth and development has been such 
OS to di.scredit the opinion, long held, that 
the natural and only habitat of the success- 
ful publisher is the Enstern seaboard. Un- 
der A. J. Saalfield's able guidance, hi^ con- 
cern shortly outgrew its original quarters. 
Thereupon he purchased new and larger 
premises, but they, too, soon becaine too 
small to accommodate the demands of has in- 
creasing business, as is best evidenced by the 
large additions that have been constnicted. 
Today The Saalfield Publishing Company is 
well and favorably known wherever books in 
the Engli.sh 'language are read. While their 
greatest market is, of course, at home, a large 
and growing demand is found in Canada, 
England. Australia, New Zealand, South Af- 
rica, The Argentine, The Hawaiian Islands 
and the far Philippines. 

The books of The Saalfield Publi'^hing 
Company are widely various, ranging from 
monumental and expensive sets to tiny ju- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



429- 



venileg. The long experience of the proprie- 
tor, coupled with rare good taste and a talent 
for planning and selecting material that the 
public wants, amounting almost to a sixth 
sense, is accountable for an almost unhroken 
series of successful publishing undertakings, 
and promises in the not-distant future to 
make his company one of the leading pub- 
lishing houses of the country. 

In 1885 A. J. Saalfield was married to 
Adah Louise Sutton, the accomplished and 
talented daughter of the Rev. George Sut- 
ton. Mrs. Saalfield is widely and favorably 
known to the reading public by her maiden 
(pen) name. She .shares with her husband 
the enviable responsibility for the success of 
The Saalfield Publishing Company, for her 
books, both prose and verse, have been among 
the most lucrative of the Saalfield enterprises. 
Of late, this gifted authoress is turning her 
attention more particularly to writing ju- 
veniles. 

There are five children in the Saalfield 
family: Albert G., Arthur J. Jr., Edith M., 
Robert S. and Alice C. No expense is spared 
in their liberal education. The advantages 
of the best schools and travel are freely 
theirs. 

The commodious and beautiful home of 
the Saalfield family is located at 24 North 
Prospect Street, where tlie latch .string is ever 
on the outside for the friends of every mem- 
ber of the family, and where a generous and 
cordial hospitality is always charmingly dis- 
pensed. Both Mr. and ]\Irs. Saalfield are 
prominently identified with movements for 
the public welfare, church work, charities and 
society. 

H. A. HINE, .secretary and treasurer of 
the Star Drilling Machine Company, at Ak- 
ron, has been a resident of this city since 
February, 1890, and is identified officially 
with a number of other large busine-s en- 
terprises in this .section. Mr. Hine wa.s born 
at Shalersville, Portage County, Ohio, in 
1865. He was educated in the schools of 
Shalersville. West Farmington and Au.stin- 
burg. and afterwards spent four years teach- 



ing school. He then entered the law office 
of R. W. Sadler, but after a few months of 
law study in Akron, he became connected 
with the Star Drilling Company of this city, 
with which he has been identified in one ca- 
pacity or another for the past seventeen years. 
He began his services with this organization 
as bookkeeper, but for the past eight years 
has been treasurer and secretary of the com- 
pany. He is also secretary and treasurer of 
the Star Rubber Company, and occupies the 
position of president in a number of smaller 
enterprises. 

November 14. 1905, Mr. Hine married 
Jane Hall, who was born in Akron and is a 
daughter of John Hall, a well-known citi- 
zen. Mr. Hine has a number of fraternal 
connections, belonging to the various Ma- 
.sonic bodies, the Knights of Pythias, the 
Modern Woodmen of the World and the 
Pat.hfindejs. 

JAMES ALBERT FISHER, a business 
citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, dealing in hay 
and straw, was born in Franklin County, 
Penn.sylvania, May 26, 1863, and is a son 
of Cornelius and Catherine (Martin) Fisher. 

Cornelius Fisher, now living retired on his 
farm in Northampton Township, Summit 
County, was born July 16, 1840, in Hesse- 
Cassel, Germany, and came to America in 
that year, in company with a sister and his 
widowed mother. For ten years Mrs. Fisher 
lived with her children at Chamber.?burg, 
Penn.sylvania, and then moved to Greenca.«tle, 
where Cornelias engaged in farming. In 
1869 he came to Summit County and was 
engaged in farming at different points in 
Northampton Township until 1903, when he 
purchased a small farm which be devotes 
mainly to fruit-growing. He served one vear 
in the Civil War. enlisting in 1863 in Coini- 
pany D, 158th Regiment. Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and was honorably discharged in 
1864. He has never been an active politi- 
cian, but he always exerts his right of citi- 
zen.«hip and casts his vote for the candidates 
of the Republican party. 

Cornelius Fisher marriid Catherine Mar- 



430 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tin, a daughter of James Martin, all being 
natives of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. 
They had ten children, namely: Ida, James, 
George B., Elizabeth, Netta, Annie Virginia, 
John, Gertrude, Arthur and Myrtle. The 
mother of the above familv was born April 
5, 1840, and died September 5, 1903. Slie 
■was a valued member of the Disciples Church 
at Cuyahoga Falls. Cornelius Fisher was 
reared in the faith of the German Reformed 
Church, by has parents, George and Eliza'beth 
Fisher. George Fisher wa.s killed in a coal 
mine. His wife later united with the Meth- 
odi.st Epi.scopal Church, and died at Cuya- 
hoga Falls in April, 1904, aged eighty-eight 
years. 

James Albert Fisher was educated in the 
common schools of Northampton Township 
and followed farming in that section until 
1887, when he emharked in his pres<'iit busi- 
ness at Cuyahoga Falls. He handles hay and 
straw and does a very large busines-;, his 
sales to the Robinson Clay Product Com- 
pany at Akron alone amounting to more 
than 1,000 tons yearly. He is a careful busi- 
ness man and bears a very high reputation 
as such with the large dealers and eonsmners 
at Akron, among Vhorn his trade mainlv 
lies. 

Mr. Fisher was married to Aiigusta Weber, 
of Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the 
Episcopal Church. Politically, Mr. Fisher is 
a Republican and has held local offices. 

JAMES CHRISTY, formerly one of the 
most public-spirited ajid successful bu.«iness 
men of Akron, was the head of the firm of 
James Christy & Sons, manufacturers of 
leather, and dealers in leather, hides, furs 
and findings, was born in Springfield Town- 
sihip, Summit County, Ohio, and died in Oo 
tober. 1904. He was educated in the district 
schools and worked on his father's farm until 
sixteen years old. Then for three years he 
enjoyed the advantages offered by a privat:' 
school at Middlebury. He afterwards taught 
two terms of school, but gave up teaching in 
1841 to enter into business with his brother- 
in-law, James Sawver, establishiing a tannery 



on North Howard Street, which was operated 
under the firm name of Christy & Sawyer. 
They later added a shoe manufactory and a 
store, and continued in busine.ss until 1851. 
In the following year Mr. Christy entered into 
a partnership with his brother, .John H. 
Christy, which continued until 1879, when 
Mr. Christy took his two sons, James Jr. and 
Will, into partnership. The style of the firm 
then became James ChrLsty & Sons. Their 
specialty was the manufacture of harness 
leather. 

In 1850 Mr. Christy, like many of his 
neighbors, made the overland journey to 
California, returning by way of the Lsthmus 
of Panama. Forty years later, when seventy 
years of age, he again visited the Pacific 
coast, and made a leisurely return journey 
through many of the far western States, not- 
ing with interest the wonderful changes 
which this space of time had brought about. 
In politics he was identified with the Repub- 
lican party, but never accepted office outside 
his city. He .served for five years as a mem- 
]yeT of the Akron city council. 

In October, 1849, Mr. Cbri-sty wa* mar- 
ried to Janet Warner, of Akron, who died 
in March, 190:5. Of their si.x children the 
following survive: Alice, who is the wife of 
John E. Metlin ; James and Will, wh i are 
prominent business men of Akron, and Net- 
tie, who re.«iides at the family home. No. 160 
Fir Street. 

James Christy, Jr., is proprietor of the 
wholesale and retail leather, saddlery and 
hardware companv, which is established at 
No. 142 South Howard Street, Akron. Will 
Christy is president of the West Hill Land 
Company, the Akron People's Telephone 
Company, the Hamilton Building Company 
and the Central Savings and Tnist Company, 
the largest savins? bank in Akron, and vice- 
president of the Northern Ohio Traction and 
Light Company, and the Firestone Tire and 
Rubber Company. 

PHILIP R. SCHNABEL, a partner in the 
Western Reserve Robe and Tannins Com- 
pany, of Cuyahoga Falls, wa.s born at Munroe 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



431 



Falls, Summit County, Ohio, May 10, 1876, 
son of Charles W. and Jennie E. (Clayton) 
Schnabel. His paternal grandfather was 
Philip Schnabel, who was born in Hessen, 
Germany, in 1825. Emigrating to America 
in early manhood Philip settled at Cuyahoga 
Falls, residing on the thoroughfare now 
known as Fourth Street. His wife, in mnid- 
enhood Martha E. Lapp, was born in Ger- 
many, May 10, 1820. 

Charles \V. Schnabel, father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and son of the Philip 
above mentioned, attended school in the Big 
Springs school house at Cuyahoga Falls and 
later continued his studies at Munroe Falls. 
He remained on the old homestead until his 
marriage, at which time he purchased a prop- 
erty at Munroe Falls, where he lived for 
eleven years, being employed there in a paper 
mdll. He 'married Jennie E. Clayton, who 
was a native of Tallmadge, Summit County, 
Ohio, and a daughter of Richard Clayton. 
Mr. Clayton, who was born in Wales, wa« a 
coal miner by occupation and resided at Tall- 
madge, where his widow now lives. Mr. and 
Mrs. Charles "\V. Schnabel have been the par-" 
ents of three children, namely: Philip R., 
whose name begins this sketch; Harrj- C. 
who died at the age of eighteen months, and 
Milo Clayton, residing with his parents, who 
is a graduate of the Cuvahoga Falls High 
School, Cla-s.-. of 1907. 

Philip R. Schnabel was reared and edu- 
cated in his native city, graduating from the 
Cuyahoga. Falls high school in 1893. After 
assisting his father on the home farm for .sev- 
eral years, he was appointed mail carrier, be- 
ing one of the first_ rural carriers in the State. 
He remained at this occupation for eighteen 
months, and then became assistant postmas- 
ter at Cuyahoga Falls, which position he filled 
up to 1908, a period of six years. For sev- 
eral years suljseauently he was associated 
with his father in the live-stock business, 
breeding and selling cattle. He then entered 
the employ of the company in which he i< 
now a partner, as a taxidermist. Possessing 
a strong taste for this kind of work, he had. 
even in his boyhood, acquired considerable 



skill as a taxidermist, and entered into it be- 
cause it was congenial. He holds a permit 
from the State Fish and Game Commission, 
which is dated 1903. The Western Ra=erve 
Robe & Tanning Company was astablished in 
the fall of 1904 by Hon.\j. C. Jones of To- 
ledo, and Charles J. Appleby, the latter a 
tanner of twenty-five years' experience. The 
company's plant at Cuyahoga Falls was es- 
tablished for the inanufacture of fur gar- 
ments, including fur robes, coats, gloves and 
mittens, the company tanning their own skins 
and making a specialty of taxidermy. Mr. 
Schnabel purcha.'^ed Mr. Jones's interest in 
the firm on March 1, 1907. The factory is 
located in a convenient section of the town — 
on North Front Street — and each year its 
importance grows. and its output increa.ses. 

Mr. Schnabel married Edna Whittlesey, a 
daughter of J. H. AVhittlesey, of Stow. Mr. 
Schnabel was reared in the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. His wife is a Catholic. 

A. WESLEY HAWKINS, proprietor of 
the Akron Lumber Company, who is lo- 
cated at No. 569 South Main Street, Akron, 
is one of the city's successful men of affairs. 
He was born in Portage Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, in 1854, and is a son of Nel- 
son C, and a grandson of John Hawkins, 
who was one of the very first settlers in Por- 
tage Town.ship. 

Nelson C. Hawkins was born on his father's 
pioneer farm in Portage township. Summit 
County, in 1824, and died iti 1891. He as- 
sisted his father in developing the land from 
its native wdlderness, but did not devote his 
entire life to agricultural pursuits. For 
twenty-five years prior to his death, he was 
employed by the firm of Aultman, Miller & 
Company. In political .sentiment he was a 
Rqjublican, and during .some years he ser\'ed 
as a tnistee of Portage Township. 

A. Wesley Hawkins was reared and edu- 
cated in Portage Township, and worked for 
about one year for the mercantile firm of 
Hall Brothers, at Akron, following which he 
was in the county recorder's office for a short 
time. He then took a complete commercial 



432 



• HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



four^e ill 0. S. ^^'al•nel■'^ Business College. 
During the succeeding year he kept books 
for the firm of Oviatt & Warner, dealers in 
agricultural implements, when Mr. Oviatt 
organized a company for the manufacture of 
threshing machines 'and farm wagons, of 
which Mr. Hawkins becaime secretary, serv- 
ing eleven inonths a^ such at Hudson. He 
then returned to Akron and went to work for 
the firm of Aultman, Miller & Company, for 
a short time, subsequently serving two years 
as bookkeeper for Jahant & Grey. After- 
wards he became bookkeeper for the Akron 
Lumber Company, which was operated by 
the Diamond Match Company. After eight 
years' connection with this company, Mr. 
Hawkins, in association with J. H. Dellen- 
berger, in 1891, bought the plant, since 
which time, the firm has done a large whole- 
sale and retail lumber busine.ss, operating a 
planing mdll and manufacturing sa.«h, doors 
and blinds. 

In 1876 Mr. Hawkins was married to 
Clara A. Smetts, a daughter of the lute 
George W. Smetts, who was a postal railway 
clerk, residing at Akron. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hawkins have two sons, George W. and 
Charles W., the former of whom is book- 
keeper for the firm of Rohrbacher & Allen, ai 
Akron, the latter being employed in the of- 
fice of the Akron Lumber Company. Mr. 
Hawkins and family belong to the Congrega- 
tional Church. 

Mr. Hawkins is a Thirty-second Degree 
Mason, belongs to all branches of the Odd 
Fellows and lis also a Knight of Pythias. 
While not particularly active in politics, he 
has always shown his inlerest in public af- 
fairs and has served as a member of the City 
Council. 

CHARLES HERBERICH, secretary and 
trea.surer of the Depositors' Savings Bank 
Company, at Akron, has spent the greater 
part of his life in this city, but is a native 
of Germany. Early in life he was brought 
to America and was reared and educated in 
Akron. 

After completing his education. Mr. Her- 



bericli entered the employ of the American 
Hard Rubber Company, and was connected 
with the shipping department for seven 
years. He then became a member of the 
firm of D. Ilerberich & Company, dealers in 
general insurance and real estate, of which 
he is at present the secretary. He is a stock- 
holder in a number of corporations and has 
been secretary and treasurer of the Deposit- 
ors' Savings Bank since its organization. The 
other officers of this financial institution are: 
Carl Dietz, president, and A. H. Mallisfni, 
vice president. The bank was open for busi- 
ness April 15, 1907, with a capital stock of 
$50,000, and it has been successful from the 
start,. its officers inspiring general confideiic ■. 
In 1902 Mr. Herberich was married to Ve- 
ronica Storz, who is a daughter of Georgj 
Storz, now deceased, but formerly a substan- 
tial citizen of Akron. They have two chil- 
dren, Grace and Richard. Mr. Herberich is 
a member of the First German Reformed 
Church, which he served on the board of 
trustees for four years. He l)elongs to the 
beneficiary order of the Royal Arcanum and 
to the Liebertafel Club." 

CLYDE K. FOWLER, local agent for the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and 
for the United States Express Company, at 
Cuyahoga Falls, has been a resident of this 
place for the past seven years, coming here 
first as a telegrapher. He was born at Char- 
don, Lawrence County, Ohio, July 23, 1875, 
and is a son of Seymour S. and Celia J. 
(Clark) Fowler. 

Seymour S. Fov\4er, father of Clyde K., 
was born in Ma.ssachusetts, and when about 
seventeen years of age, went to Michigan, 
where he was engaged in a lumber business 
for some years. He then moved to Sheridan, 
Ohio, where he was occupied as an auctioneer 
and insurance agent, going thence to Ravenna 
and later to Akron, where he was connected 
with the Akron Machine Company for 
eleven years. For the past six years he has 
been in the piano business at Mas.'sillon. Ohio. 
His wife, Celia, died October IB. 1902, aged 
fiftv-six vears. She was a consistent member 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



435 



of the Metibodist Episcopal Church, to which 
religious body Mr. Fowler also belongs. Of 
their six children, four grew to maturity, 
namely: Clark B., residing in Pennsylva- 
nia; Caroline, who married Charle.s W. Can- 
field, and resides at Chardon; Nellie, who 
married Wilbur F. Bliss, residing at San 
Diego-, California, and Clyde K. 

Clyde K. Fowler attended the public 
schools at Chardon, and at the age of seven- 
teen years learned telegraphy at Ravenna, 
where his parents were then residing. He 
has been employed solely in railroad work, 
for the first five years being with the C. & P. 
Railroad, and since then with the Baltimore 
& Ohio Company. He has been located in 
different sections of the State, and because 
of liis expert manipulation of the keys, 'has 
been many times placed in responsible posi- 
tions. 

Mr. Fowler was married in 1896 to Eliza- 
beth E. MacLaughlin, a daughter of George 
and Rachael MacLaughlin, of Alliance, Ohio. 
They have two children, Ruth E. and Harold 
G. Mrs. Fowler is a member of the Congre- 
gational Oiurch. Politically, he is a Repub- 
lican. He belongs to Pavonia Lodge, No. 
301, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Fowler has 
recently purchased a comfortable home, at 
Cuyahoga Falls. Although he has been phy- 
sically handicapped since the age of fourteen 
years, when the accidental discharge of a ,gini 
shattered his right hand, he has overcome 
all disadvantage resulting therefrom, and in 
his line of work has been successful. 

MILTON H. AA^ARNER, owner of the 
Hillside Fruit and Dairy Farm, which con- 
sists of sixty-five acres of some of the most pro- 
ductive land in Coventry Township and is 
favorably located within one-half mile of the 
corporation limits of Akron, is one of the 
prominent and substantial men of this sec- 
tion. Mr. Warner was born on his father's 
farm in Coventry Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, August 1, 1859, and is a son of Solo- 
mon and Matilda E. (Ritter) Warner. 

Mr. AVarner's grandparents were Henry 
and Elizabeth (Kepler) AVarner, who were 



born in Pennsylvania. In 1835 they came to 
Ohio, settling first at Canton, but later they 
came to the farm in Coventry Township, 
Summit County, which is now owned by AA'il- 
ham Ferris. AVhen they came to this neigh- 
Ijorhood as pioneers, the whole region was a 
wilderness, and before they could build their 
first log house, a clearing had to be made in 
the forest. After Henry AVarner had pro- 
vided a comfortable home in Ohio, he was 
joined by his aged father, Adam AA^irner, who 
survived until almo.st the age of ninety-nine 
years. Henry AA'arner died aged seventj'-six 
years and his widow when three years older. 
They reared a sturdy family of eight chil- 
dren, six of whom are still living. They were 
John, Adam, Jacob, AA^illiam, Samuel, Abra- 
ham, Solomon and Daniel. Jacob AVarner, 
of this family, served as a 100-day soldier in 
the Civil AVar, and AA^illiam AA'^arner served 
three years, both receiving an honorable dis- 
charge at the close of their terms of service. 

Solomon Warner, father of Milton H., was 
born in Coventry Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, June 22, 1837, and still survives, re- 
siding with his .son, Milton H., his only child. 
He was married May 27, 1858, to Matilda E. 
Ritter, who was born in Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, October 28, 
1837, and died April 24, 1888. For many 
years, Solomon AA^arner followed the thresh- 
ing business. 

Milton H. AA^arner, their only child, was 
reared on the old home place. He attended 
the district schools and later spent a sliort 
time in the Smithville High School. AA'^hen 
about seventeen years of age he began to work 
in the mill of Brewster Brothers, at Pleasant 
A''al]ey, where he remained for twelve years, 
when he went to East Akron and worked for 
eighteen months in the Seiberling mill, re- 
taining his home, however, at Pleasant A^'alley 
until 1897. He then moved to his present 
farm, which he had bought from the Austin 
Spicer heirs, in 1895. This land has always 
been considered fertile and has been made ex- 
ceptionally productive under Mr. AA'arner's 
excellent methods. He makes a specialty of 
dairying, keeping sixteen licad of cattle and 



436 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



five head of horses, and of fruit-growing, es- 
pecially berries. He finds a ready market 
for all his produce at Akron. The improve- 
ments on the farm, including the commodi- 
ous fourteen-room residence, and substantial 
barn and other buildings, have all been made 
by Mr. Warner. Mr. Warner is also con- 
nected ivith the Norton Mutual Fire and Cy- 
clone Insurance Company ajid has written 
some of the largest policies in this locality. 

Mr. Warner was married December 18, 
1884, to Ida C. Grotz, who is a daughter of 
John and Almira (Martin) Grotz. Tlie ma- 
ternal grandmother of Mrs. Warner, Rebecca 
Way, was the first white child born in Suf- 
field Township, and the family is an old and 
prominent one of this section. Mr. and Mrs. 
Warner have two sons, Harry J., residing at 
home, assisting his father, and Edgar S., who 
is connected with the Goodrich Rubber Com- 
pany. Mr. Warner and family belong to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. In the spring 
of 1907, Mr. Warner wa^ elected a member 
of the Summit County Agricultural Society. 
Fraternally he belongs to Summit Lodge, No. 
50, of the order of Odd Fellows, and is also 
a member of the Encampment. His portrait 
is pre-eiited on an adjoining page. 

ALBERT H. MALLISON, one of Akron's 
leading citizens now retired from active busi- 
ness life, is a member of a prominent pioneer 
family, and a son of the late Albert G. Malli- 
son, who came to Akron in 1832. 

Mr. Mallison's father came to Summit 
County in the capacity of a civil engineer, 
and was a.ssociated with Captain Howe in the 
surveying and laying out of about 300 acres 
of land which is now in the central part of 
Akron. He did a large amount of surveying 
in this section, and many of the old recorded 
papers of conveyance, have his name at- 
tached. He was a native of Connecticut, 
born in 1797, and he died at Akron, in 1879. 

In 1843 he was married to Cornelia G. 
Washburn, who was born in Ohio, and died 
in 1875. Of their family of three children 
there are two sur\'ivors — Eveline, who mar- 



ried H. G. Moon, a retired citizen of Akron, 
and Albert H. 

Albert H. Mallison attended school in Ak- 
ron when the present busy city was a village 
and he has seen all of its wonderful develop- 
ment. Until 1890 he was engaged in farm- 
ing, and still retains farming interests. At 
that date he platted his farm, which has been 
largely sold in town lots, and is one of the 
most desirable residence portions of the city. 
Mr. Mallison is identified with the banking 
interests of Summit County. In addition to 
being vice president of the Depositors' Sav- 
ings Bank, he is a stockholder in the Second 
National Bank of Akron and also in the 
Cuyahoga Falls Bank of Cuyahoga Falls. 
His beautiful home, at 513 Wooster Avenue, 
is situated within half a dozen rods of the 
spot where he was born. 

On March 16, 1875, Mr. Mallison was mar- 
ried to Alice M. Miner, and they have four 
children, namely: Edith M., who married 
Joseph H. James, a profea-^or in the Carnegie 
Institute, at Pitt.'^burg; Celia R., wife of W. 
E. Hardy, who is connected with the Dia- 
mond Rubber Company, of .^kron;. Blanche 
J., who was a member of the graduating 
cla.ss at Buchtel College in 1907, and Albert 
G., who is a third-year student at the West- 
ern Reserve University. Mrs. Mallison is a 
member of the Universalist Church. 

Mr. Mallison has ever taken a good citi- 
zen's interest in public matters. Politically 
a Republican, he has served on numerous 
occasions in office, both in the city of Akron 
and in the county. He was a trustee for 
three terms of Portage Township, assessor for 
two terms, and for tiiree years served as a 
member of the Akron School Board. He is 
liberal in his donations to charity and in his 
support of benevolent institutions. 

FRANK T. MOLONEY, cashier and treas- 
urer of the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank, 
treasurer of the Walsh Paper Company and 
also of the Cuyahoga Falls Board of Trade, 
occupies a prominent position in the business 
life of this city. Mr. Moloney wa« born at 
Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 1873, and is 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



437 



a son of John J. ;ind Mary A. (Smith) Mo- 
loney. 

John J. Moloney was born in Ireland and 
after the death of his father, accompanied 
his mother to America, about 1843. He was 
seventeen years of age when he enlisted for 
sendee in the Civil War, entering the Nine- 
teenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
in which he served for three years, during 
which time he was twice wounded and other- 
wise injured. He and wife have spent the 
most of their lives in Chicago, where he has 
followed carpenter work. He is a member of 
the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Frank T. Moloney has been identified with 
the banking business ever since he completed 
the High School course in his native city. 
He was in the employ of the Commercial 
National Bank of Chicago for eleven years, 
beginning as a messenger boy, and he 
was gradually advanced until 1903, when he 
became connected with Euclid Park National 
Bank of Cleveland, as general bookkeeper. 
He remained there until 1905, when he came 
to the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank, He is 
one of the executive committee of the Cuya- 
hoga Savings Society. 

Mr. Moloney married May Belle Vim 
Hart, of Cincinnati, and has one child, a 
daughter, Adella, Mr. and Mrs. Moloney 
are members of the Congregational Church. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Moloney is a 
Republican. He is prominent in Masonic 
circles, belonging to Union Park Lodge, No. 
610, A. F. & A.' M,, of Chicago; York Chap- 
ter, R. A. M., No. 148, and AI Sirat Grotto, 
of Cleveland, 

GEORGE H. WORRON. president of the 
Star Planing Mill and Lumber Company, 
with plant at No. 55 Cherry Street, Akron, 
has been a resident of this city for a quar- 
ter of a century and has a wide circle of 
bu.sine,ss as well as personal friends. He was 
born in County Kent, England, in 1854. In 
1856 the parents of Mr. Worron came to 
America and settled at Utica, New York, The 
subjec-t of this sketch was reared in that sec- 
tion of the covmtrv, and after he had com- 



pleted his schooling, at the age of fourteen 
years, he learned the carpenter's trade. In 
1882 he came to Akron and entered the em- 
,ploy of the D.' W, Thomas Company, con- 
tractors and builders, and tecoming foreman, 
remained with that firm for about fifteen 
years. He then organized The Star Plan- 
ing Mill Company, with a capital stock of 
$25,000, and a finely-equipped plant. The 
business is the manufacturing of sash, doors, 
blinds and general interior finishings, and in 
connection the company conducts a lumber 
yard, and also do a general contracting bu-i- 
II ess. 

In 1882 Mr. AVorron was married to Alice 
S. Hunsicker, who is a daughter of Peter 
Hunsicker of Johnson's Corners. He is a 
member of the English Lutheran Church. 
His fraternal connections are with the Odd 
Fellows and the Maccabees. 

HARRISON THEODORE ROETHIG, a 

successful business man at Cuyahoga Falls, 
proprietor of a meat market on Front Street, 
was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Summit County, 
Ohio, September 19, 1869, and is a son of 
Ferdinand Julius and Sarah J, (Faze) Roe- 
thig. 

Ferdinand Julius Roethig was born at 
Krakow, Au.strian Hungary, February 24, 
1825, and when he was five years old his 
father died and his mother took him to Ger- 
many. She pas.sessed means and he was edu- 
cated at Leipsic, where he later learned the 
trade of tinner and copper.-^mith. He was 
one of the young men who rallied under the 
banner of the Plungarian patriot, Louis Kos- 
suth, whose fortunes he followed for three 
years. After the defeat of their .great leader, 
at Temesvar, on August 9, 1849, the mem- 
bers of the regiment to which Mr. Roethig be- 
longed, including himself, escaped to the 
United States, and here he fell back on his 
trade as a means of support. For a year he 
worked at New Orleans, and then ascended 
the Mississippi to St, Paul, From that city 
he went to Chicago, and worked there at his 
trade for one year, and then coming to Cuya- 
hoga Falls. Here he followed his trade for 



438 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



many years, a part of the time for himself 
and partly in the shops- of L. W. Loomis and 
Parks & Gillette. After coming to Ohio he 
enlisted for service in" the Civil War, but was 
stricken with illness at Massillon, which 
caused his discharge. He died April 17, 
1886, eight years before his old commnnder. 

On August 30, 1852, Ferdinand Julius 
Roethig was married to' Sarah J. Faze, who 
sun'ives him and resides at Cuyahoga Falls. 
She was born at Manchester, Carroll County, 
Maryland, February 24, 1832, and accom- 
panied her parents to Cuyahoga Falls, wJieu 
!?he was five years of age. Her family came 
in M-agons and were three weeks making the 
trip. Her father, Peter Faze, was born in 
Gennany and came to America with his par- 
ents when five years of age. He was a 
paper-.ma.ker and was accidentally killed in 
a paper mill in April, 1852, when aged fifty- 
nine years. There Avere nine children born 
■to Ferdinand J. Roethig and wife, namely: 
Ferdinand J., deceased; Julia Sarah, who 
married C. W. Moon, both being now de- 
ceased; Oharle.s B., residing at Syracuse, New 
York; William Washington, residing at 
Cuyahoga Falls, and Edward Loon, Lillian, 
Alfred Herman and Harrison T., all resi- 
dents of Cuyahoga Falls. All of the above 
family was reared in the German Lutheran 
faith." 

Harrison Theodore Roethig was educated 
in the common and High Schools at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, and then learned the butchering 
business with Smith Tifft, with whom he re- 
mained for ten years. He then went to work 
for his brothers, "\A^illiam and Edward Roe- 
thig, who were doing business under the firm 
name of Roethig Bros., remaining with them 
for another ten years. In Febniary, 1901, 
he opened his own market. He has a clean, 
sanitary place, puts up his own ice and does 
a large part of his own butchering. He deals 
only in first-class meat, carrying all the .sta- 
ple delicacies in his line. Lie is essentially 
a man of business, and although he votes 
with" the Republican partv, he takes no active 
part in political affairs, devoting his time ex- 
clusively to looking after his constantly in- 



creasing interests. Mr. Roethig married 
Bertha L. Holden, who is a daughter of 
James Holden, of Kent, and they have one 
son, Lowell H. 

W. G. WISE, secretary and manager o! 
the Wise Furnace Company, which operates 
large works at Akron, was born at Green- 
town, Stark County, Ohio. He was educated 
in the district schools and at Mt. Union and 
subsequently taught school for two years. 
Coming to Akron in search of a satisfactory 
business field, Mr. Wise entered the office of 
J. F. Seiberldng, where he remained for six 
years. He then went to Catskill. New York, 
where he was engaged in a brick industry 
for two years, after which he retu^-ned to 
Akron. Here he was associateid for a time with 
the Werner Company, and later mih the 
Twentieth Century Heating Company, re- 
maining with the latter house for four years. 

In January, 1904, Mr. Wi.se organized the 
Wise Furnace Company, which Avas incorpo- 
rated Avith a capital stock of $50,000. Avith 
J. W. Myers, presidemt; George Carmichael, 
vice-prasident, and AV. G. Wise, secretary and 
manager. This company manufactures fur- 
naces of the WLse pattern, and the National 
Gas Hot Water Heaters, and their large fac- 
torj' gives employment to seventy-five men. 
The business has been a pro.sperous one from 
the beginning, and the jirogress of the com- 
pany has ben the most rapid known in the 
furnace business. 

In 1893 Mr. AVise was married to Emma 
Filbey, of Shreve, AVayne County, Ohio, and 
they have one child, Atlee. Mr. aTid Mrs. 
AVise belong to the AA^oodland Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. He is a member of the U. 
C. T. 

GEORGE J. RENNER, president of the 
George J. Renner BrewerA' Company, of Ak- 
ron, and a resident of this city for nineteen 
A^ears, is a native of G6rmanA^ where he \^as 
ijorn in 1835. 

In 1849 Mr. Renner came to America and 
lived at Covington and Cincinnati, Ohio, un- 
til 1882. He then removed to Wooster, 




ELUE 0. FRITCH 



AND PvI']PRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



441 



where he was in a brewing business for three 
or four years, and was afterwards in the snnie 
business in Mansfield up to 1888, when lie 
came to Akron. Purchasing an old brewery 
plant here he added to it until he now owns 
one of the finest equipped breweries in the 
country. He still owns a brewery at Mans- 
field, and has also other business interests, 
having been concerned in oil production for 
some years. The Akron brewery operates an 
ice plant having a capacity of fifty tons daily. 
The sales of the brewery aiuount to about 
28,000 barrels annually, but could be ad- 
vanced, with the present equijiments, to from 
30,000 to 50,000. 

In 1853 Mr. Renner married a native of 
(Tcrmany, and they have a pleasant family 
and a fine home in Akron, where Mr. Rmi- 
ner is numbered with the leading citizens. 

ELUE 0. FRITCH, secretary and manager 
of the Faultless Broom Manufacturing Com- 
pany, of Akron, a prosperous enterprise which 
is capitalized at .$25,000, is a native of Ohio 
and was born in Stark Countv, June 13, 
1883. 

Mr. Fritch was fifteen years of age when 
he came to Akron, and his education had been 
secured in the schools of Stark County and at 
a commerical correspondence school in 
Rochester, New York. His first position was 
with the National Drill and Manufacturing 
Company at Barberton, where he had entire 
charge of the cost and time pay-roll depart- 
ment. After three months he took charge of 
the controler department of the Alden Rubber 
Company and had charge of the warehouse 
until the works were closed. Mr. Fritch then 
went to Cleveland and took charge of the 
books of the University club for one year and 
later was assistant manager of the Chamber of 
Commerce club, for two years. He subse- 
quently returned to Akron and as.sisted in the 
organization of the Faultless Broom Manu- 
facturing company, which was incorporated 
March 1, 1907, with John A. Boughton as 
president; E. 0. Fritch. as secretary and man- 
ager ; J. W. Harter as vice-president and T. F. 
Waters as treasurer and sales manager. This 



industry has bright prospects, and judging 
from the character of the men who have put 
their capital in the venture, there is little 
doubt that it will soon be numbered with the 
city's most important enterprises. The plant 
is located at No. 15 West Center Street. Mr. 
Fritch is a member of St. Paul's Evangelical 
Lutheran Church. He lielongs fraternally to 
the Royal Arcanum. 

ERNEST C. DEIBEL, general manager 
of the Renner Brewing Company and a resi- 
dent of Akron for the past sixteen years, was 
born at Youngstown in 1862. After com- 
I)leting has education in his native city, he 
l)ecame connected with the brewing interests, 
and later took a course in the Brewing Acad- 
emy, at Chicago. In 1892 he came to Akron 
and assumed the position of general mana- 
ger of the Renner Brewing Company. He is 
also the 'manager of the Renner-Deibel Gas 
Company, operating sixty-two wells in Co- 
lumbiana County, Ohio. He married Eliza- 
beth Renner, who is a daughter of George J. 
Renner, and they have one child, Helen Dei- 
l)el. Mr. Deibel is a member of the Eagle 
and Elk fraternities. He belongs to St. Ber- 
nard's Catholic Church at Alcron. 

ROBERT RUSSELL PEEBLES, superin- 
tendent of the Turner, Vaughn and Taylor 
Company, at Cuyahoga Falls, is a practical 
and experienced machinist, having devoted 
all of hds mature life to this line of work. 
He was born at IMillersburg, June 24, 1869, 
and is a son of James W. and Isabella (Pat- 
terson) Peebles. 

Mr. Peebles' parents came to Cuyahoga 
Falls when he was about two years of age. 
The father was engaged in railroad work, 
and was a conductor on the C. A. & C. Rail- 
road for a number of years. Later he was a 
liartner of the Falls Rivet and Machine 
Company, but is now in the employ of the 
Turner, Vaughn and Taylor Company. He 
married Isabella Patterson and they have 
two children, Robert Russell and Evalena, 
the latter of whom is a teacher in the Cuya- 
hoga Falls High School. Mr. James W. 



442 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Peebles is a -member of Star Lodge, No. 187, 
F. & A. M., and of Washington Chapter, "R. 
A. M., at Akron, Ohio. 

Robert R. Peebles married Clara Belle Mc- 
Oracken, who is a daughter of William Mc- 
Cracken, of Natick, Massachusetts. 

In political sentiment Mr. Peebles is a Re- 
publican. He served two years as a member 
of the board of public affairs, has been on the 
City Council, and has been president, and 
at present is vice-president of the Cuyahoga 
Falls Board of Trade. He is prominent in 
Masonry, having served two vears as worship- 
ful master of Star Lodge, No. 187, F. & A. 
M. ; he is a 'member also of Washington Chap- 
ter and of the Council at Akron. 

JOHN C. WEBER, a retired business citi- 
zen of Akron, formerly president of the Ak- 
ron Foundry Company, and for a number of 
years a leading factor in the city's commercial 
life, was born August 20, 1S44, at Monroe- 
ville, Huron County, Ohio. 

AVhen he was three months old his parents 
moved to Akron. He attended the public and 
parochial schools connected with the Cath- 
olic Church until prepared for St. John's Col- 
lege at Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent two 
yeai-s. Then he was a student in the Chris- 
tian Brothers' College at Dayton for one year. 
In 1860 he became a clerk in the general 
store of P. D. Hall at Akron, where he re- 
mained until October, 1861. He then enlisted 
in the Si.xth Ohio Independent Light Battery, 
which became a part of General Sherman's 
brigade, and saw his first active service at the 
battle of Shiloh. His battery wa.« sent all 
through Mi.s.sissippi, Alabama and Kentucky 
and its next serious engagement was at Perry- 
ville in the latter state. Mr. Weber participat- 
ed in the battle of Stone River, and in the fol- 
lowing .June started with his comrades on the 
Chattanooga campaign, in which they took 
part in the battles of Hoover's Gap, Chicka- 
mauga and Missionary Ridge. Thence they 
went to East Tennessee to take part in the At^ 
lanta campaign. The Sixth battery partici- 
pated in all the hard battles of this mem- 
orable period, Rocky Face Hill, Buzzards' 



Roost, Dalton, Resaca, Adamsville, Calhoun, 
Pumpkinvine Creek, New Hope Church, Pick- 
ett's Mills, Lost Mountain, Pine Top, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chatahoochee River, Vining Sta- 
tion, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station. 
From Atlanta his command was attached to 
the army under General Thomas at Gales- 
ville, Alabama, where Mr. Weber's term of 
enlistment expired. During the Atlanta cam- 
paign he had served as an orderly for the 
chief of artillery on the staff of General Wood. 

After a visit home, Mr. Weber returned to 
Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained un- 
til the close of the war. He wa« then engaged 
for two years in a grocery business at Akron, 
after which he went to California by way of 
the Isthmus of Panama. He spent some three 
years visiting the different states of the West, 
before returning to Akron. He tiaen became 
iis.sociated as traveling salesman with the 
wholesale drug house of G«orge Weimer, with 
which he remained connected for three years. 
In 1875 he superintended the erection of the 
Weber Block on Howard Street, Akron, a 
fine two-story business structure 60 by 1 00 feet 
in dimensions. In 1876 Mr. AVeber went to 
Cleveland, where he became associated with 
the C. E. Gehring Brewery Company, where 
he continued in bu.sine.ss until 1885, then re- 
turning to Akron. He purchased the inter- 
est of William Gray in the tinware and house 
furnishing goods firm of Jahant & Gray, and 
for fourteen years confined a large part of his 
attention to this enterprise. He also built the 
plant of the Akron Foundry Company, of 
which he was president, but disposed of his 
interest in 1899. 

In 1874 Mr. Weber was married to 
Emeline Oberholtz, and they liave five chil- 
dren, namely: Eva, who is the wife of E. W. 
Donahue, residing at Akron: C. Irene, Susie 
M. and Bertha T., residing at home; aiid 
Florenz, who is a.ssistant superintendent of 
the Columbia Gas and Electric Light Com- 
pany, of Cincinnati. Mr. Weber and familv 
belong to St. Bernard's Catholic Church. He 
is a Knight of St. -lohn, a Knight of Colum- 
bus, a member of the Catholic Knights of 
Ohio, and of the Catholic Knights of America. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



443 



He belongs to Buckley Post, G. A. R., and 
is a member of the Lincoln Farm Associa- 
tion. He is also connected with the Commer- 
cial Travelers' Association, of Cleveland. 

Mr. Weber has always enjoyed the recrea- 
tion of travel and has seen almost all sections 
of his native land. Several years since, after 
retiring from the environments of business, he 
took a tour through Europe, accompanied by 
his son. He has never taken any active part 
in politics and would never consider any of- 
fice of a political nature, but he accepted a 
position on the Humane Association when 
proffered him by the Humane Society of 
Akron. 

FRANK A. SEIBERLING, president and 
general manager of the Goodyear Tire and 
Rubber Company, at Akron, is a business 
man of this city who has been identified with 
many of its important enterprises. He was 
born on Jiis father's farm near Western Star, 
Summit County, Ohio. October 6, 1859, and 
is a son of John F. and Catherine L. (Miller) 
Seil>erling. In 1861 John F. Seiberling re- 
moved with his family to Doylestown, and 
in 1865 to Akron. Of his eleven children 
nine are .still living. 

Frank A. received his first school training 
in the building then used for school purposes 
which stands adjacent to the Congregational 
Church on the .south. After he had com- 
pleted the first year's course in the Higli 
School, he entered Heidelberg College at Tif- 
fin. He remained there two years, retiring 
at the end of his junior year in order to be of 
assistance to his father, who had just started 
the manufacture of the Empire harvester. 
The young man's collegiate training proved 
useful in the official 'bu-siness which grew out 
of this industrs', and in 1884, when the Sei- 
berling Company was organized, Frank A. 
became secretary and treasurer. Other large 
industries, companies and corporations with 
which he has been identified, either as stock- 
holder or as official, are the Akron Twine 
and Cordage Company, the AVerner Printing 
and Lithographing Company, Superior Min- 
ing Company, Canton Street Railway Com- 



pany, Zanesville Street Railway Company, 
Akron Street Railway Company, Manufactur- 
ers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association, the 
Thomas Philips Company, and the National 
City Bank. His main attention is now given 
to the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 
of which he is president and general man- 
ager, the other officers being: L. C. Miles, 
vice-president; G. M. Stadleman. secretary; 
C. W. Seiberling, treasurer ; and P. W. Litch- 
field, superintendent. The Goodyear Tire 
and Rubber Company, with which Mr. Seiber- 
ling has ben identified since 1898, was or- 
ganized in that year. They are engaged in 
the manufacture of rubber goods, their spe- 
cialties being solid and pneumatic carriage 
and automobile tires, bicycle tires, rubber 
horse shoes, rubber tiling, golf 'balls, moulded 
rubber and rubber specialties. There is no 
portion of the civilized world where the.se 
goods do not find ready sale. 

On October 12. 1887, Mr. Seiberling was 
married to Gertrude F. Penfield, of Willougb- 
by. Lake County, Ohio. He and his wife are 
the parents of five children: John Frederick, 
Irene Henrietta, Willard Penfield. James Pen- 
field and Gertrude Virginia. 

HARRY S. DAVIDSON, M. D., a promi- 
nent physician and .surgeon at Barberton, and 
coroner of Summit County, has been a resi- 
dent of this village since August, 1899. He 
was lx)rn at East Springfield, Jefferson Coun- 
ty, Ohio, April 7, 1871, and is a son of C. 
L. and Mary A. (O'Connell) David.son. 

Dr. Davidson is of Scotch-Irish descent, his 
paternal grandparents having been lioni in 
Scotland, and his maternal grandparents, in 
Ireland. The families were both agricultuml 
ones. Young Davidson was reared on his 
father's farm and remained at home until he 
was twenty years of age. In the meantime he 
attended the country schools and improved 
his oportunities to such an extent that, with- 
out difficulty, he passe-d the necessary exami- 
nation for teachers. Except a"! a substitute, 
however, Dr. David.son never taught school 
He spent two years in a drug store at Mingo 
Junction, with his uncle. Dr. W. J. O'Con- 



444 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ncll, a well-known physician and druggist, 
and then entered the Scioto School of Phar- 
macy, graduating therefrom after an attend- 
ance of two years. Immediately following, he 
entered the Ohio Medical University at Co- 
lumbus, where he was graduated in April, 
1897. He practiced his profession for one 
years at Somerdale, Tuscarawa.s County, ai<d 
then came to Barberton, where he has not 
only built up a fine practice, but has become 
one of the leading citizens. 

In 1898 Dr. Davidson was married to Mag- 
gie Johnson, who was born in England, and 
who came with her parents to America when 
she was six months old. She was reared and 
educated in "\\'adsworth, Ohio, and after ma- 
turity went to Tuscarawas with her parents, 
teaching in Somerdale for seven years. Dr. 
and Mrs. David.son have been the parents 
of three children: Harold (deceased), Dor- 
othy and Jane. 

Politically, Dr. Davidson is a Republican 
and in November, 1906, he was elected county 
coroner, in which office he ha.s proved him- 
self a careful, discreet and efficient official. 
He is a member of the Barberton school 
board, serving in his second term, and prov- 
ing a valuable as.sistant to the other members 
of the board. lie belongs to the Summit 
Cotmty and the Ohio State Medical Socie- 
ties. Fraternally he is a Mason, a Knight of 
Pythias and an Elk. His well-equipped of- 
fices are located in the Barberton Savings 
Bank Building. 

BYRON P. WISE, secretary of the Camp 
Conduit C-ompany, at Akron, has been identi- 
fied with electrical Avork almost throngho\it 
his bu.siness career. He was born in Green 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of William Wise, a native of that town- 
ship. 

The family to which he belongs came from 
Pennsylvania to Ohio at an early day, David 
Wise, the grandfather of Byron P., settling 
in Green Town.ship, Summit County. Mr. 
Wise's ance.stors in general have been agricul- 
turists, and his ifather is a retired favmer liv- 
ing at Greentown. 



Mr. Wise was educated primarily in the Un- 
iont(nvn public schools, and later took a busi- 
ness couree in the Hammel's Commercial Col- 
lege at Akron. He then associated him.^elf with 
business bouses where he could closely study 
electricity, in which he was deeply interested. 
For a time he was in the employ of the Erie 
Railroad, then was connected with the Camps 
for six years, and since the organization of 
the Camp Conduit Company, has been the 
secretars' of this concern. 

In 1900 Mr. Wise was married to Lela 
Smith, of Summit County, who is a daugh- 
ter of D. J. Smith. He has two .sons : Royale 
C. and John Clarke. ^Ir. Wise and family 
belong to Grace Reformed Clnuvh. 

ALFRED G. LUSK, who is largely inter- 
ested in the estate and insurance basiness 
throughout Summit County, has convenient 
offices in the Liisk Block, on Tuscarawas iV ve- 
nue, Barberton, in which place he ranks 
among the leading bu.sin&ss citizens. He was 
born in Orange County, New York, Jan. 9, 
1843, and ^is a son of Cyrus and SusJtn (Wil- 
liams) Lusk. In 1853, when he was ten 
years old, his parents moved to Coldwatcr, 
Michigan, where the father entered the real 
estate business, taking over the purchase and 
sale of much property. It was in that local- 
ity that Mr. Lusk was mainly reared. When 
fourteen years of age he began railroad work 
as a section man, and by the time he was 
twenty-one years of age he had been mode 
a section foreman. In the meanwhile his edu- 
cation had not been neglected, and on March 
10, 1866, he was graduated from the East- 
man National Business College at Chicago. He 
continued railroad work, fir^t being given 
charge of a work train and later being made 
trainmaster's a.ssistant on the Lake Shore Rail- 
road. He spent twenty years as assistant to 
roadmaster .John Stewart, one of the stalwart 
old officials of tbe Lake Shore. From there 
he went to the AVest SJiore Railroad as road- 
master, with headquarters at Cana.'^ota, New 
York, where he remained f«r two years and 
then returned to Coldwater, where he contin- 
ued one year, and then, with Charles Pain, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



445 



formerh' with the West Shore, came to the 
Erie Raih-oad, then the N.Y. P. & 0. Railroad, 
the former in the capacity of general man- 
ager and Mr. Lusk as roadmaster. Headquar- 
ters were established in 1885 at Akron, and 
he remained with the Erie Railroad for fifteen 
years. In 1900 he came to Barberton and em- 
barked in his present business, subsequently 
building the two adjoining Lusk Blocks, on 
Tuscarawas Avenue, the ground floor of one 
being occupied by M, C. Frank, a leading bo: it 
and shoe merchant, and the other by F. A. 
Fobes, who has a fine stock of drj- goods and 
millinery. 

ilr. Lusk married Ennna Hcmrod and 
they have one child, Carrie, who is now the 
wife of Dr. Morehouse Blackman, of Cold- 
water, Michigan. For the past forty-two years 
Mr. Lu.~k has been a Mason, and in point of 
service i.s. the oldest member of the frater- 
nity at Barberton. 

G. CARL DIETZ, secretary of the Burk- 
hardt Brewing Company, and president of the 
Depositore' Savings Bank, of Akron, was 
born in this city in March, 1875, and is a 
son of Henry and Caroline (Rupp) Dietz. 

His parents were both born in Germany 
and came to Akron almost a half century 
ago. The father, an iron worker, died when 
G. Carl was still a youth, leaving his wife 
with a family of six small children to rear. 
Thus the subject of this sketch at an unusual- 
ly early age was obliged to relieve his mother 
of a part of her heavy burden, and responsi- 
bilities fell on his shoulders before he was 
hardly old enough to assume them. He gave 
all the assistance he could in the rearing of 
the family, and guided his younger brothers 
and sisters to careers of usefulness. Laboring 
through the day time and attending school 
at night, Mr. Dietz acquired a good business 
I'ducation, and finally obtained a position in 
the People's Savings Bank, where he remained 
for ten years. He later Ijecame ca.shier of the 
Security Savings Bank, having previously 
been a clerk in a clothing store for some 
three years. Still later Mr. Dietz retired from 
the Securitv instilutiDU. after serving five 



years, and became secretary of the M. Burk- 
hardt Brewing Company. The banking busi- 
ness, however, continuing to have attractions 
for him, he became one of the organizers of 
the Depositors' Savings Bank, which was 
opened for business April 15, 1907, and of 
which he was made president. He also fill.- 
the position of secretary and treasurer of the 
Burkhardt Realty Company, 

On November 17, 1902, Mr. Dietz was mar- 
ried to Ida Burkhardt, who is a daughter of 
the late W. Burkhardt. He and his wife are 
members of the German Reformed Church. 
He has the esteem and confidence of his fel- 
low-citizens, many of whom have traced his 
successful business career from boyhood. 

SYLVESTER T. CUNNINGHAM, fu- 
neral director and expert embalmer, with bus- 
iness location on the corner of Mill and 
High Streets. Akron, is the senior member of 
the fij-m of S. T. Cunningham & Company. 
Mr. Cunningham was born at Detroit, Michi- 
gan, December 18, 1868. 

When a school boy of twelve years Sylves- 
ter T. Cunningham started to learn the un- 
dertaking biisiness in his native city, and 
.<erved a long and strict apprenticeship, which 
resulted in his thorough mastery of every 
detail and his acquisition of the highest skill 
in the technical branch of the busine-s. He 
has .spent eighteen years in its practice in 
Akron, and has fullv earned the high repu- 
tation he enjoys. 

For seventeen years he was the embalnur 
and funeral director for George Billow, un- 
dertaker. In .June, 1906, he established the 
firm 'of S. T. Cunningham & Company, which 
already occupies a leading place among the 
sub.stantial business houses at Akron. His 
undertaking rooms are centrally located, and 
his business equipments are modem in char- 
acter, while his charges are no higher than 
are neces.sary to insure the best .service. 

In 1889 Mr. Cunningham was married to 
•Julia Kehoe. of Detroit, Michigan, who has 
proved a very capable assistant to her husband 
in the bn.«iness. They have one son. W. 11 
Cunningham, who was educated in the .\kron 



446 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



schools and is now connected with his father 
in the business. 

WILLIAM J. RATTLE, B. S. M. E., resides 
on the farm on which he was born, in Stow 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, Septem- 
ber 6, 1852. His parents were William and 
Elizabeth Goodwin (Gaylord) Rattle. His 
land aggregates 350 acres, the most extensive 
farming tract in Stow Township, and is one 
of the best managed, finely improved and val- 
uable estates in Summit County. 

The Rattle family is of English ancestry 
and Quaker faith. James Rattle, the jiater- 
nal grandfather, canne to America from Bath, 
England, accompanied by his children, who 
were named respectively: Samuel, AVilliam, 
Henry, Frank, Mary a.nd Celia. Until 1880 
he resided with his family at Skaneateles, 
New York, and then moved to Cuyahoga 
Falls. He died in 1870, aged ninety years. 

William Rattles, father of William J., was 
born at Bath, England, June 12, 1808, and 
was a mere boy when he accompanied his 
parents to the United States. After the d"ath 
of his mother, the family removed from 
Skaneateles, New York, to Ohio, but prior t') 
this AVilliam had learned and followed the 
trade of tanner. After reaching Cuyahoga 
Falls he embarked in the shoe business and 
soon became interested in other lines of ac- 
tivity, becoming owner of a grain elexator. 
and for a long period being a large handler 
of wheat. He built the business block now o.'- 
cupied by the Loomis Hardware Comjtany 
and erected many other structures in the citv. 
In 1854 he niovcd to Cleveland, but remainrd 
in that city but a short time, his attention 
having been turned to the lumber business, in 
which he was engaged at Saginaw. Michigan, 
until 1858. He then returned to Cleveland, 
in which citv he lived retired until the close 
of his life. He was a member of Star Lodge, 
No. 187, F. & A. :M., at Cuyahoga Falls. In 
politics he was a Republican. Religiously he 
was a member of the Societv of Friends. He 
married a daughter of the late Tliomas Gay- 
lord, of Stow Town.ship, of a family of great 
prominence. She was born in June, 1824, 



and died i\pril 10, 1905. She was a devoted 
member of the Episcopal Church. 

William J. Rattle was an only child. He 
began his schooling in Stow Town.ship, con- 
tinued it in Cleveland and was graduated in 
1874, from the Shefiield Scientific School of 
Yale Univei"sity, with the degree of B. S. Im- 
mediately afterward he opened an office at 
Cleveland, as a mining enginer and 
analytical chemist, and his work in this direc- 
tion now takes him to all parts of the coun- 
try. In 1902, his son, William Rattle, be- 
came his partner and the firm name is W. J. 
Rattle & Son. 

The magnificent farm in Stow Township 's 
operated as a grain and stock farm. (>,i it 
are raised about sixty acres of wheat, wliich 
Mr. Rattle markets, and fifty tons of hay be- 
yond what is used on the farm, and all the 
corn and oats for feeding. Formerly Mr. 
Rattle raised many sheep, but when the price 
declined, he, like other .slieep-growcrs in the 
township, turned his attention to otlier lines 
of indu.stry. He rais&s many Berkshire hogs, 
keeps thiiij' head of highgrade catt'e of 
various breeds, has .six full-blood Guernsey 
cows and a Guernsey bull. Moon Arch, a 
noble and valuable animal. This farm is con- 
spicuous, not only on account of its size and 
fertility, but becau.se of the care which has 
developed it into a place so full of beauty as 
well as Titility. Mr. Rattle keeps six men 
employed and has provided every kind of im- 
proved machinery, and all modern con- 
veniences, so that all his plan* can be suc- 
cessfully carried out. His beautiful home is 
but one of the fine buildinp« which make the 
whole estate one of note. There are two fine 
residences on the place, one of which was 
once the home of his grandfather, Thomas 
Gaylord, who, with other member- of the 
family, owned large estates in Summit 
County. 

Mr. Rattle was married in 1877 to .Julia 
Gary, who is a daughter of .John E. Cary, and 
they have tliree children. AA^illiam, Mary and 
Elizaheth. AA'illiam Rattle was born .Tune 27, 
1878, and has grown up in the business in 
which he is engaged. After completing the 




SHERMAN B. STOTLER 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



449 



public school course, he received scientific 
training at the Case School of Applied Science 
at Cleveland, later at Kenyon College and 
with his father in the latter's office, and is 
thoroughly qualified to further the firm's in- 
terests in every way. In April, 1907, he was 
married to Susie Dewitt, of Cleveland. Mary 
married Harvey Mansfield; they have one 
daughter, Mary, and reside in Cleveland, 
Ohio. Elizabeth was born at Stow, Ohio, 
July, 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Rattle belong to 
St. John's Episcopal Church at Cuyahoga 
Falls, as also do all their children. 

Mr. Rattle is prominent in Masonry, be- 
longing to Star Lodge, No. 187, F. & A. M., 
at Cuyalioga Falls; Akron Chapter, R. A. M. ; 
Akron Commandery, K. T. ; Cleveland Con- 
sistory and Alkoran Temple at Cleveland. 
In political faith he is a Republican. He is 
a member of the Summit County Horticul- 
tural Society, and of the American Institute 
of Mining Engineers. 

SHERMAN B. STOTLER, superintendent 
of the Summit County Infimiary, holds a 
very responsible position, the duties of which 
have been faithfully and efficiently performed 
since he assumed them. Mr. Stotler was born 
Decemljer 25, 1856, in Doylestown, Wayne 
County, Ohio. His parents, Emanual and 
Eliza (Franks) Stotler, were well-known 
farming people of Wayne County, and the fa- 
ther was also a skilled mechanic. His death 
occurred in 1889. There were seven children 
in the Stotler familv. Mrs. Stotler died Julv 
1st, 1901. 

Sherman B. Stotler was reared on a farm 
and was educated in the local schools. For 
many years after attaining manhood, he was 
employed by the late J. F. Seiberling, as an 
expert machine man. 

In 1887 Mr. Stotler was appointed super- 
intendent of the Summit County Infirmary, 
which shelters, at the latest report, 178 in- 
mates. His duties include, besides the care 
and management of this large number of un- 
fortunates, the cultivation of the infirmary 
farm of 345 acres. Only a man possessed of 
tact, good judgment and excellent business 



capacity could satisfactorily fill so important 
an office. 
• On December 20, 1882, Mr. Stotler married 
Delia Shafl'er, who is a daughter of David and 
Harriet (Cornelius) Shafl'er. 

Politically, Mr. Stotler is a Republican. He 
is connected fraternally with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Odd Fellows. The publish- 
ers take pleasure in presenting his portrait in 
this connection. 

WILLIAM L. CAMPFIELD, undertaker- 
and dealer in furniture, at Barberton, is one of 
the leading citizens of the town, a man of 
progressive ideas and real public spirit. He 
was born April 2, 1862, in Mercer County, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of Andrew Jack- 
son and Mary J. (Montgomery) Campfield. 

Mr. Campfield lost his father when he was 
fourteen years of age, and remained on the 
home farm wath his mother, until her death. 
He then sold the property, and in partnership 
with H. Orrison, embarked in an undertak- 
ing and furniture business at Martin's Ferry. 
After one year, ^Ir. Campfield bought out 
his partner's interest and conducted the busi- 
ness alone until 1902, when he disposed of 
it and one year later came to Barberton. On 
January 1, 1904, he arrived from Martin's 
Ferry and bought out the furniture store of 
Frank Hale, continuing the business at the 
same stand and inceasing its scope by adding 
undertaking. On April 18, 1901, Mr. Camp- 
field was graduated from the Pittsburg School 
of Anatomy, and understands every detail of 
the undertaking business. He is well 
cquijiped for all the business demands made 
upon him in this line, and is also the lead- 
ing furniture dealer in Barberton. 

In the fall of 1895 Mr. Campfield was 
married to Matilda E. Shaffer, and fhey have 
a very pleasant home in Barberton. Frater- 
nally, Mr. Campfield belongs to the Elks and 
Knights of Pvthias. With his wife, he be- 
longs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Since locating here he has taken an active 
interest in promoting every movement for the 
welfare of the town. In the Business Men'.s 
Association, of which he is a director, he seas 



450 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



a strong factor in the ultimate development 
of Barbertofl's business activities, as well as 
greatly increased prosperity along all lines. 

WILLISTON ALLING, president of the 
Dime Savings Bank at Akron, and formerly 
county recorder of Summit County, was born 
October 26, 1842, in Vienna Township, 
Trumbull County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Jonathan and Maria (Clark) Ailing. The 
parents of Mr. Ailing came to Trumbull 
County from Connecticut, in which state he 
resided imtil he was twelve years old. He 
then became a member of his uncle's family, 
in Northampton Town.«hip, Summit County. 
After remaining with his uncle for three 
years, he secured farm work in Tallmavge 
Township. In August, 1862, he enlisted frcm 
that township for service in the Civil War a:id 
for three and a half years thereafter Avas a 
member of Company I, One Hundred and 
Fifteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infan- 
try. He was honorably discharged in De- 
cember, 1865. 

Mr. -Ailing then returned to Tallmadge 
Township and engaged in contracting and 
building, in wliich business he continued un- 
til 1897. Mr. Ailing became president on its 
organization of the Dime Savings Bank, at 
Akron, which is now one of the leading finan- 
cial institutions of the city. The other offi- 
cers* of this bank are: Clint W. Kline and 
Charles Switzer, vice-presidents, and William 
H. Evans, secretary and treasurer. The capi- 
tal stock of thds bank is $50,000, with a sur- 
plus of $2,250. The bank i,s .^dtuated in the 
Ma.sonic Building on the corner of Mill and 
Howard Streets. 

Mr. Ailing was married in 1867 to Emilie 
A. Carter, who was born in Brimfield, Portage 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Horatio 
Tj. and Julia A. (Lyon) Carter, native'; of 
Ma,'«achusetts. He and his wife have b en 
the parents of six children: Julia M., Wal- 
ter C, Ruth W., Fannie M.. Mary E. and Ed- 
win L., of whom the last mentioned died in 
December, 1904. The family ha> a hi^ih so- 
cial standing in Akron. 

Politically, Mr. Ailing is a staunch Ropulv 



iican, and at various times he has served in 
important offices. For twenty-one years he 
was a justice of the peace, for several years 
county recorder, and for a long period an 
active and useful member of the Board of 
Education of Tallmadge. Mr. Ailing and 
family reside at No. 39 South Balch Street. 
The Ailing family are members of the West 
Congregational Church. 

JOSEPH COOK, an old and honored citi- 
zen of Akron, now retired from active busi- 
ness life, was born in England in 1847. His 
parents came to America when he w-as an 
infant, settling first at Danville, later at 
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and still later at 
Eagt Liverpool, Ohio. 

He was reared up to the age of sixteen 
years in East Liverpool, obtaining his educa- 
tion in the public school.*. He was still a 
schooll)oy when he first enlisted for sei-vice 
in the Civil War, entering Company F. 
Fourth Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry, in 
which he served, nevertheless, with the cour- 
age and efficiency of a man through the eight 
months for which he had contracted. After 
his discharge he re-enlisted, entering Co'm- 
pany A, One Hundred and Forty-third Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, in which he served four 
months, and being lionorably discharged, 
came to Akron. Here he enlisted for the thira 
time, in Company A, One Hundred and Fif- 
teenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for one 
year, but as this was an old regiment, it 
was soon mustered out, and Mr. Cook wns 
transferred to Company E, One Hundred and 
Eighty-eighth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he remained until the close 
of the war, being finally mu.«tered out in 
the fall of 1865. He had served imder Gen- 
eral Butler in the Eastern army and under 
General Kelley in West Virginia, his la-t 
field service being with the Army of the 
Cumberland. 

Mr. Cook then returned to Ohio, his par- 
ents in the meanwhile having settled on a 
farm in Summit County, where he remained 
until he had recuperated from his long period 
of fatigufts a.nd exposure incidental to army 



AND IfKPlJESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



451 



life. Settling in Akron, he became inter- 
ested in a pottery business with John Hich- 
ardson and David Butler, under the firm 
name of Richardson, Cook & Butler. This 
firm was afterward incorporated as the Ak- 
ron Stoneware Company, of which Mr. Cook 
was president and general manager for three 
years. Failing health caused him to dis- 
pose of his interests in the company, and 
he took a season of rest. He subsequently 
retiu'ned to the pottery busines.s. however, 
under the firm name of Weeks, Cook & Weeks, 
building a pottery plant and managing the 
business for four years. He then sold out 
to F. H. Weeks, and turned his attention to 
improving his education, which' his early 
enlistment had interrupted, to that end tak- 
ing a complete coui'se in Hammel's Business 
College, at Akron. 

Mr. Cook then accepted a position as 
manager with the Wood Type and Novelty 
Company, and so continued until the busi- 
ness Avas clo.sed out. For .«ome four subse- 
quent years he was associated with the Drop 
Hammer Forge Company, filling the office 
of president, and later went into business 
with Charles S. Hart, mider the firm name 
of Hart & Cook, which connection lasted for 
fifteen years. At the same time Mr. Cook 
was president and general manager of the 
Akron China Company, but he sold his in- 
terests therein and later became connected 
with the Cleveland China Company in the 
decoration of china and white ware. After 
four years Mr. Cook practically retired, in 
1905, from active business life, although he 
owns a large amount of land, to which he 
gives attention, and he is also financially in- 
terested in the Aluminum Flake Company. 
He was for so long an active factor in the 
city's bu,«iness life that his name is a famil- 
iar and an honored one in the local mart* 
of trade. He has also been active in political 
life to the extent of working for ci\T[c reform 
and good government, but has consented to 
service in no oflice, except on the school board, 
where he continued for four years. 

On October 9, 1873, Mr. Cook was mar- 
ried to Mary P. Norton, who is a daughter 



of Thomas Norton, and who was born in the 
pleasant old home at No. 1320 East Market 
Street, in which Mr, Cook and his family 
now reside. Six children have been born 
into their household, namely: Eva, who 
married Carl Trulson, residing at Cleveland; 
Thomas M., residing in Nevada; Mary P., 
who lives at home with her piuents; Martha, 
who married John Lemmon, and resides in 
Oakland, California; George W., residing in 
Oakland, but in business at San Francisco; 
and Celia, who resides with her parent*. Mr. 
Cook is a member of Akron Lodge, F. & A. 
M.; Buckley Post, No. 2, Grand Army of the 
Republic; the Odd Fellows, and of some 
purely .social organizations. 

RICHARD L. MOORE, postmaster at 
Cuyahoga Falls, and one of the representa- 
tive citizens of the place, was born at Black- 
lick, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, August 
24. 1880, and is a. son of McConnell and Eliza- 
beth (Mildren) ^loore. 

The Moore fainilj- is of Scotch-Irish extrac- 
tion. William Moore, the great-grandfather 
of Richard L., was born in Westmoreland 
County, Pennsylvania, where his life was 
.spent, engaged in agricultural pursuits. His 
son, Hugh Moore, was born in Westmoreland 
County in 1806, and died in Sugar Creek 
Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, 
in 1900. He followed the trade of black- 
smith. His wife was Fannie, daughter of 
John Shryock, of Butler County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they reared the following children : 
John and William, both deceased; James, re- 
siding at Johnstown, Penn.sylvania; Lavinia, 
deceased; Thomas H., residing at Los An- 
geles, California; McConnell, residing at Cuy- 
ahoga Falls; Sarah Jane, who is the wife of 
Captain Samuel J. Nicker.son, of Indiana, 
Pennsylvania: Margaret Ann, widow of John 
Adams, of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; 
and George H., of Rimer.sburg. Pennsylvania. 
The mother of the above family died at the 
age of eighty-three years. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Hugh Moore were devout Presbyterians. Mr.. 
Moore being an elder in the church. 

McConnell Moore, father of Richard L.. 



452 



IIIS'I^OUY OK SUMMIT COUNTY 



was reared in Armstrong County and educated 
in the district schools. He was emploj-ed as 
clerk in a general store at Brady's Bend for 
several years, and then went to Oil Creek, 
where he had cliarge of some oil interests 
for about a year. Then he went to Pittsburg, 
where he worked at heating in a rolling mill 
for two and one-half years. He then returned 
to Brady's Bend as an inspector of ore for 
the Brady's Bend Iron Company, in which 
capacity he worked for seven years, after 
which he was in the oil business for himself 
for one year. In 1872 Mr. Moore went to 
Blacklick Station, in Indiana County, where 
he managed a firebrick business for his 
brother-in-law, E. J. Mildren, and he contin- 
ued there until 1885, when he came to Cuya- 
hoga Falls. For a time he was engaged with 
different firms in this city in more or less re- 
sponsible positions, until he en teamed the em- 
ploy of the Rivet and Machine Works as time- 
keeper, remaining with that great indu.stry 
until April 15, 1907, when he retired from 
business activity. 

In 1861 Mr. Connell ^loore was married to 
Elizabeth Mildren, who was born in Penzance, 
Cornwall, England, in 1842, and is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob L. Mildren, formerly of Brady's 
Bend. Of the thirteen children of this mar- 
riage twelve grew to maturity, namely : Fan- 
nie Jane, who is the widow of B. B. McCon- 
naughey, of Homer City, Pennsylvania; A. 
Kate J., deceased; Edward J., who is a resi- 
dent of Cleveland; Mel da, who was a victim 
of the great flood at Johnstown, Pennsyl- 
vania, May 31, 1889; Lavina, who married 
F. J. Creque, and resides at Cuyahoga Falls; 
Charles M., residing at home; Alice, who mar- 
ried John Young, of Muskegon. Michigan; 
Leroy M., a resident of Newark, New Jersey; 
Frank R., residing at Cuyahoga Falls; Ralph 
R., who is engaged in the jewelry bvisine-ss 
and resides at Cuyahoga Falls ; Richard L. ; 
and Dora, who married Rev. C. A. Coakwell, 
a minister of the Disciples Church, located at 
Lennox, Iowa. 

Richard L. Moore was reared and educated 
at Cuyahoga Falls, attending both the com- 
mon and High School. Prior to his appoint^- 



ment as postmaster, which was made June 15, 
1906, he worked in different factories in this 
vicinity, being a .skilled mechanic, but since 
he assumed his present duties, on July 1, 
1906, he has given the postoffice his main at- 
tention. His success a^s a public ofhcial has 
been generally recognized, and he is held in 
high esteem by his fellow citizens. 

Mr. Moore married Bessie Belle Schnee, 
Avho ds a daughter of Joseph and Jennie 
Schnee, of Cuyahoga Falls. He and his wife 
are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. Mr. Moore has alwaj's been in-- 
terested in public matters and has been an 
active worker in the Republican party. Fra- 
ternally he belongs to Howard Lodge, No. 62, 
Odd Fellows, and to the Foresters. 

JAMES M. LAFFER, vice-president of the 
Security Savings Bank, and vice-president of 
the People's Savings Bank, at Akron, is one of 
the city's leading financiers and business men. 
He is a dealer in drugs, paints and oils, and 
is largely interested in real estate. He was 
born in 1848, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, 
but Akron has been his home for over a half 
century. He is a son of John Laffer, former- 
ly a farmer and miller, who.se .father was 
Henry Laffer, an early settler in Tuscarawas 
County. 

James M. Laffer was reared and educated in 
his native comity, where he remained until 
1861, when he moved to Millersburg, (_)hio. 
In 1865 he established himself in Akron. 
During his youth he ser\'ed for four years as 
a clerk in a driig store, and then went to Chi- 
cago, where he was engaged in a drug busi- 
ne.-^ for about nine months, afterwards re- 
turning to Akron. In October, 1869. the W. 
C. Byride & Company drug house was estab- 
lished. Mr. Laffer being interested, which con- 
tinued until 1873, when he bought the inter- 
est of Mr. Byride and has continued alone 
ever .«ince, having an excellent business loca- 
tion on the corner of Main and Exchange 
Streets. Mr. Laffer is one of the city's old and 
experienced business men — one who has wit- 
nessed and assisted in the wonderful develop- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



453 



nieiit of her ccmimerce and the growth of her 
institutions. 

In 1872 Mr. Laffer wa.-i married to Minnie 
Collins, who is a daughter of J. H. Collins, of 
Aki-on. He and his wife have one daughter, 
Josephine, who is the wife of Francis Seiber- 
ling, a well known attorney of Akron. Mr. 
Laffer has taken a prominent part in public 
affairs, and in 1884 consented to serve on the 
City Council, in which he proved himself a 
careful guardian of municipal interests. His 
fraternal connections include the Knights of 
Pythias and the Odd Fellows, of Akron. 

W. W. McINTOSH, president of the Mc- 
Intosh-Baum Company, at Akron, has been 
a resident of this city for the past decade, but 
is a native of New York, having been born in 
Schoharie County, that state, in 1863. 

Mr. Mcintosh was educated in the schools 
of Sloans^^lle, and, after attending Claverack 
College, Claverack, New York, was prepared 
to enter into busine&s. and went to Jackson, 
Michigan, where he learned the jewelry trade, 
remaining in that location for five years. He 
was then engaged in the jewelry business at 
Clinton, Illinois, for about ten years. His 
health failing him, he was compelled to 
change his business, and, accordingly, he be- 
came interested in the manufacture of furni- 
ture, in which industry he was engaged for 
five years, at Constantine, ilichigan. Mr. 
Mcintosh then came to Akron, and for a 
.short time was engaged in the wholesale man- 
ufacture of undertaking goods. ;\fter sell- 
ing his interest in that business he became 
vice-president of the Hall & Harter Insurance 
Company, continuing as such for a period of 
two years, after which he organized the Mc- 
Intosh-Baum Company, which is now incor- 
porated. Mr. Mcintosh is connected with a 
iunnh)er of other Akron enterprises, being a 
director in the McNeil Boiler Company, vice- 
president of the S. & O. Engraving Company, 
director of the Beacon-Journal Company, and 
other succesful concerns. 

In 1889 Mr. Mcintosh was married to 
Grace Bishop, of Clinton. Illinois, and they 
have two children. Bishop and Margaret. A 



sister of Mrs. Mcintosh is the wife of Hon. 
\'espasian Warner, United States Commis- 
sioner of Pensions. 

Fraternally, Mr. Mcintosh is prominent in 
Masonry, having attained the thirty-second 
degree. He is a member of the Blue Lodge, 
Chapter, Council, Commandery, Consistory 
and Shrme at Cleveland. He has taken an 
active interest in locating a nimiber of indus- 
tries at Akron since he has made this city 
his home, and is a valued publicnspirited citi- 
zen. 

ISAAC SHELDON COWEN, one of the 
representative agriculturists of Northfield 
Township, was born on his farm in this 
township September 18, 1863, and is a son of 
John and Eliza (McNiece) Cowen. 

John Cowen was born in November, 1794, 
on the Isle of Man, whence he came to Amer- 
ica in 1827, and for eight years worked on 
the Ohio Canal. Sub-sequently he settled on 
a farm of forty acres in Northfield Township, 
where he engaged in sheep and cattle rais- 
ing, and built the home now occupied by 
Isaac S. He died at the age of eighty- 
three years. Mr. Cowen married Eliza 
McNiece, who was born in County An- 
trim, Ireland, and was a daughter of Isaac 
McNiece. Eight children were bom to Mr. 
and Mrs. Cowen. of whom six grew to ma- 
turity, namely: Rebecca Jane, born October 
20, 1850, who married William Henry Price, 
of Cleveland, and who. w-ith her husband, is 
now decea.sed: Isaac Sheldon, .subject of this 
sketch ;3ViiHam Henry, who was born March 
LS, 1856; Minnie Eliza, who married John B. 
Ward, of Solon, Ohio; Elsie Ann, who lives 
on the home farm ; and Bertha Adele. who 
m-arried Ernest. E. Leslie, of Northfield Town- 
ship. The mother of these children was, 
like her father, an adherent of the Ouaker 
faith, hut after coming to Northfield Town- 
.'hip, there being no meeting-houses here of 
that denomination, she attended the Presby- 
terian Church. 

Isaac Sheldon Cowen was educated in tbe 
com^mon .schools, and has resided all of his 
life on his present farm, which was purchased 



454 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COU^^rV 



by his fatlier from the Connecticut Laud Com- 
pany. He has tlirec barn.s, 26x30, with 14- 
foot posts; 26x42, with 14-foot posts, and 3Bx 
46, with 18-foot posts, respectively, and all 
of his buildings are kept in the best condi- 
tion. He keeps about twelve head of cattle, 
his milk being shipped to Cleveland, and his 
principal crops are potatoes, grain and hay. 
Since procuring his farm Mr. Cowen has 
added thereto by purchase, and he now owns 
131 acres, about thirty-five of which are under 
cultivation. An up-to-date farmer, he uses 
the most modern methods and machinery, 
and is conceded to be one of the townshijis 
prosperous agriculturists. Mr. Cowen is a 
Democrat in liis political views, but he has 
never cared for public office. 

REV. IRA A. PRIEST, I). D., who served 
as president of Buchtel College, at Akron, 
from 1897 until 1901, is one of the prominent 
men of this city. Dr. Priest was born at Mt. 
Holly, Rutland County, Vermont, and be- 
longs to an old colonial family of that sec- 
tion. 

After attending the public schools of his 
native place, Ira A. Priest entered a seminary 
at Barre, Vermont, where he prepared fi>r 
Tufts College, at Medford, Massachusetts, 
where he was entered in 1880, and was grad- 
uated four years later with his degree of Ph. B. 
In 1884 he continued his studies, in the 
theological department, and in 1887 he was 
graduated with the degree of A. M. In 1898 
his alma mater conferred on him the degree 
of D. D. 

Dr. Priest was connected exclusively with 
churcih work for many years and served 
nimieroiis pastorates prior to coming to Ak- 
ron. For two years he had charge of the 
Universalist Churcli at Monson, ^Iassachu- 
setts, for three years he was at Adams, Ma.s- 
sachu.setts, and for five yeare at Newtonville, 
Massachusetts. In the fall of 1896 he took 
charge of the Akron church, and in the fol- 
lowing year became president of Bncht^l Col- 
lege. Although he .still continues his pas- 
toral work, since the close of his official con- 
nection with Buchtel College, he has been 



more or less interested also in business and 
political life. In 1901 he embarked in a 
real estate, loan and general insurance busi- 
ness, which he conducted alone until Septem- 
ber, 1906, when the firm of Patton & Priest 
was organized. This has since become one 
of the leading firms in its line at Akron and 
has offices in the Everett building. Dr. Priest 
is a stockholder in a number of the business 
enterprises of the city, and has attained rank 
among her men of capital and commercial 
capacity. On June 23, 1887, he was married 
to Eva Hall, who was born at Lacon, Illinois. 
They have one child, Ruth Hall. 

Dr. Priest has always taken an active and 
intelligent interest in politics, and has done 
his part in promoting good local government. 
On numerous occasions he has been elected to 
city offices, in 1903 becoming president of 
the City Council, to which office he was re- 
elected in 1905, and which he .still holds. A 
stanch Republican, he has been trea.surer for 
the past year of the Summit County Central 
Committee, and he is his party's choice for 
membership on the Board of Public Service. 
Fraternally, Dr. Priest is a Knight Templar 
Mason, and he belongs also to the Odd Fel- 
lows. 

WILLIS E. PETTITT, secretary and treas- 
urer of the Petfitt Brothers Hardware Com- 
jiany, of Akron, was born in Portage Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, in November, 
1868, and is a son of the late Williaaii Pet- 
titt. His father was a prominent farmer and 
stockraiser in Portage Town.'^hip, where lie 
.settled in 1830, coming from Pennsylvania. 
The death of AVilliam Pettitt took place in 
1882. He married Lucy Cook, who died in 
1892. Of their eight children seven survive, 
namely: Orilla (married D. N. Spellman, of 
Akron) ; Clara. Ida, George, Miles, Lewis M., 
and AVillis E., all residents of Akron. 

Willis E. Pettitt was reared and educated 
in Summit Coimty until the age of seventeen 
years, when he caune to Akron and secured a 
po.sition a.s bookkeeper with the firm of May 
& Fiebeger. which he filled for sixteen years. 
Then, in 1903, in partner.ship -with his 





FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE 



FIRST HIGH SCHOOL 



.csMfiieiMfietm^i. 





Y. W. C. A. BUILDING, AKRON 



NEW COURT HOUSE, AKRON 





M. W. HOYE'S RESIDENCE, AKRON 



IN PERKINS' PARK 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



457 



lirothcr, Lewis M. Pettitt, he established a 
hardware business under the name of Pet- 
titt Brothers & McDo^-ell, which continued 
until the fall of 1906. Mr. McDowell then 
retired and the firm name became The Pet- 
titt Brothers Hardware Company. The com- 
pany was incorporated with a capital stock of 
$50^000, with L. M. Pettitt as president; AVil- 
lis E. Pettitt, secretary and treasurer; Alfred 
Winkler, vice-president, and W. F. Ringler. 
general manager. The company docs a whole- 
sale and retail hai-dware and paint business, 
carrying a full and up-to-date stock, and hav- 
ing a wide trade ter^ito^}^ 

Willis E. Pettitt wasmarried in 1899 to Ab- 
bie A. Mead, who is a daughter of the late 
William H. Mead, of Illinois. They have one 
child, Grace A'irginia. Politically, Mr. Pet- 
titt is a Republican. He is a member of the 
West .Vkron Congregational Church and is on 
its official board. 

THOMAS .lEFFERSON SNYDER, owner 
of the East Side Dairy Farm, which com- 
prises 150 acres of valuable land situated in 
Coventry Township, belongs to an old pioneer 
family which settled in this section of Sum- 
nnt County eighty-eiglit years ago. Mr. 
Snyder was born in his father's log cabin, 
not far distant from his present farm, in Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, Ohio, Aug- 
ust 16, 1857, and is a son of George M. and 
Mary (Rex) Snyder. 

George ^I. Snyder was born in 1814, in 
Pennsylvania, and was five years old when his 
father, Yost Snyder, brought his family and 
possessions to Coventry Township, making the 
long journey through the wilderness with an 
ox-team. When he built his log cabin in the 
woods, ^^kron was a hamlet of a half dozen 
rude shanties, and it would have required a 
vivid imagination to depict in its place the 
present l)usy, beautiful city. The digging of 
the canal was a great event and George M. 
Snyder told his children how the whole fam- 
ily "walked to Akron to see the finst canal boat 
on its waters. Yost Snyder and wife lived to 
old age on this farm and reared a large fam- 
ily of children, George M. being among the 



older ones. The latter assisted in the clearing 
of the farm and later learned the mason 
trade, at which he worked for twenty-two 
years, during the summers, and during the 
long, cold and stormy winters -he would use 
the old loom and w-eave cloth. He acquired 
land of his own, and possessed the farm in 
the Snyder allotment, through which Snyder 
Avenue, Barberton, now extends. He lived 
to the age of eighty years, and in many ways 
was a remarkable man. Pie had enjoyed but 
few advantages of any kind in his youth and 
had never learned to either read or writ* the 
English language until the Civil War, when, 
on account of the deep interest he felt in pub- 
lic affairs, he .set himself the task of learning 
to read, his children being his teachers, and 
became thoroughly informed in this way, al- 
though, at his age, it doubtless required great 
perseverance. He was a stanch Democrat, of 
the old type. 

George M. Snyder was married (first) to 
Catherine Harter, who bore him two children : 
Henry, now residing at Barberton. and 
George, who is deceased. He married (sec- 
ond) Mary Rex, whom he also survived, and 
they had fourteen children, namely: Jacob, 
Daniel, Lewis, Thomas J., William F., Mary 
(Mrs. Anderson), Sarah, who married H. 
Deisen, residing in North Dakota; Inez, who 
married J. H. Horner; Elvina, who married 
H. Pontius; Emma, who married William 
Stott; and four children now deceased. George 
M. Snyder was married (third) to Lucinda 
Bachman, but they had no family. 

Thomas J. Snyder remained with his fa- 
ther on the farm on which he was l)orn until 
1859, when the family moved to w-hat is now 
the Snyder allotment. Land then could be 
bought for $2.50 an acre which later has been 
valued at $300. During his boyhood the 
family endured many hardships, their home 
having few of the comforts or conveniences 
of the present day. Mr. Snyder remembers 
when his mother used to come with her broom 
and sweep away the heavy snow that had 
sifted through the wide cracks onto the floor, 
so that her many children could get out of 
bed without having a chill. He attended the 



458 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



old district school whenever farm work per- 
mitted. In 1887 he bought his present farm 
in Coventry Township, purchasing it from 
George Fouser, and settled on it in 1891. It 
was cleared land at the time, but he has spent 
a large amount of money in making the ex- 
cellent improvements, which are to be seen on 
every side. He practically rebuilt the house, 
making it both attractive and comfortable, 
and erected commodious barns and other 
buildings made necessary on account of his 
farming operations and dairying. He is as- 
sisted in the work of the farm by his sons, 
and superintends the dairy himself, keeping 
twenty-four head of cattle, and numing a 
milk wagon to Barberton. He has spent al- 
most his whole life in Coventry Township, 
and is interested in everything concerning its 
welfare. With peace and plenty on every side, 
congenial work, many friends, and the re- 
spect and esteem of his fellow citizens, Mr. 
Snyder perhaps enjoys life to a greater de- 
gree than many of those who spend their 
time and substance moving in a larger cir- 
cle. 

On October 5, 1877, Mr. Snyder was mar- 
ried to Mary E. Deiter, who was a daughter 
of Samuel and Lorinda Deiter. They have 
had ten children, namely: George, who mar- 
ried Cora Croser, and has three children — 
Love, Celia and Blanche; Lucy, who married 
0. Nicodemus, and has three children — Hazel, 
Park A. and Ethel; Carrie, who is the wife 
of M. Hissem, and the mother of four chil- 
dren — Guy, Helen, Pauline and Clifford; Lil- 
lian, who married W. Nicodemus, and has 
three children — Chester, Roy and Elnora; 
Thomas R., who married Mary First; Wil- 
liam. Nora Belle, Halley Maude, Howard, 
who died aged fifteen months; and Edna 
Fern. Mr. Snyder and family belong to the 
Reformed Church. Politically he is a Demo- 
crat. 

ADAM HUDDILSTON, whose death on 
December 28, 1905, removed from North- 
field Township, one of her leading citizens, 
was a native of Ireland, born near the city of 
Belfast, October 31, 1840. He was a son of 



Gilbert and Sarah Elizabeth (Whighani) 
Huddilston. 

The father of Mr. Huddilston was born 
near Belfast, in 1798. In Ireland he had 
cliarge of large estates belonging to his- un- 
cle, Adam Patterson, w-hose heir he became. 
The e.st.ate is still in the Chancery Court, and 
forty years must yet elapse before the heirs 
can come into possession. With his wife and 
three children, Gilbert Huddilston left Bel- 
fast for America, on the ship Wales, -Tune, 
10, 1841, and landed at the port of New York, 
August 12, 1841. He settled first at Glen- 
ville, Ohio, and in 1842 bought a farm near 
Solon, where he died in 1878. His wife 
survived liiin until 1900. 

Adam Huddilston was reared on the farm 
at Solon, which when, lie grew to manhood, 
he conducted, also carrying on a flour and 
.feed store and dealing in agricultural imple- 
ments. For seventeen years prior to his mar- 
riage, he traveled over the country selling 
farm machinery for Warder, Bushnell, Glas- 
ser & Company. In 1886 he came to North- 
field and settled on Mrs. Huddil^ton's home- 
stead farm, and two years later he bought the 
Z. P. Sorter place of 100 acres, ad.i'oining the 
other farm. Of his land Mr. Huddilston 
made a dairy and .grain farm, raising over 900 
Vni.shels of oats annually and other grain in 
proportion, cultivating 100 acres. He kept 
thirty head of cattle. Since his death, which 
was caused accidentally, his horses becoming 
unmanageable when stnick by a car. Mrs. 
Huddilston has kept up the farm and dairy. 

In 1884 Mr. Huddilston married Anna 
McNeice, of Northfield Township, and they 
had five children, namely: Leigh, born 
March 4, 188P>: Hes.sie Marian, born March 
26, 1888; Mercedes (decea.«ed), born Juno 
24, 1890; Gilbert Leonard, born June 11, 
1892 ; and Warren Paul, born May 12, 1895. 

Leonard McNeice, father of ^Irs. Huddil- 
ston, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, 
and was twenty-eight years of age when ho 
came to .\mcrica, accompanied by his wife. 
For a time he worked as a molder at Cleve- 
land, and then came to Northfield Town- 
ship, where he bought the farm which Mrs. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



459 



Huddilston owns, and where she was born 
December 29, 1859. Mr. McNeice mamed 
Anna Bell, also of Count\' Antrim, and they 
had six children, the two who survived to ma- 
turity being: Jonathan B., residing at Solon, 
and Mi-s. Huddilston. Prior to her marriage 
she built her comfortable residence, a coni- 
modius and attractive one, with seventeen 
rooms. The bank barn, 36 by 60 feet in di- 
mensions, was built in 1898. The Lake 
Erie and Pennsylvania Railroad purchased 
ninety acres of her land when they built their 
cross line. This farm is one of considerable 
value and has always been well kept up. ^Irs. 
Huddilston has a magnificent apple, plum 
and small frait orchard. She was reared in 
the faith of the Presbyterian Church, and 
during his residence at Solon, the late Mr. 
Huddilston was an elder in the same. His 
untimely death was a terrible blow to his 
family, and a shock to the community in 
which he was so highly esteemed. 

P. H. SCHNEIDER, president of the 
Schneider Building Company, of Akron, lie- 
longs to that cla&s of able, far-seeing business 
men, whose energy and enterprise have added 
greatly to the reputation of this city as an 
important commercial and manufacturing 
center. He was born December 1, 1866, in 
Wayne County, New York, but was reared on 
a farm in Kent County, Michigan. 

Being a farmer's boy, he attended the 
country schools, and was nineteen years old 
before he found -an opportunity to attend tlie 
High School, at Lowell, Michigan, where he 
spent one year. He then became employed 
in a grocery and dry goods store, first as a 
clerk, and later as manager of the dry goods 
departments of the different stores conducted 
bv the -T. L. Hudson Company, of Detroit, 
Michigan, remaining in their employ for ten 
years. In 1897 he came to Akron in the 
capacity of manager for the dry goods store 
of William Taylor, Son & Company, at 155 
and 157 South Howard Street, a position 'e 
filled for eighteen months. He organized t'e 
P. H. Schneider Company, purcha'iing the 
Taylor .store. Of this company Mr. Schneidi-r 



was president, treasurer and general manager, 
and he contmued to operate the store for 
seven years, in the meantime doing an exten- 
sive dry goods business. Disposing in Au- 
gust, 1905, of his mercantile interests to the 
M. O'Neil Compiiny, he decided to enjoy a 
period of rest from the demands of busiiie-is 
life. In March, 1903, the Schneider Build- 
ing Company was organized, of which Mr. 
Schneider is president and treasurer. Subse- 
quently, Mr. Schneider bought the buildings 
between the Central Savings and Trust Com- 
pany and the Odd Fellows' Temple, on South 
Main Street, one of them being a six-story, 
and the other a five-story building, both val- 
uable and paying properties. Mr. Schneider 
is a director, and member of the executive 
committee of the Central Savings and Trust 
Company, and took a prominent part in the 
consolidation of the Central Savings Bank 
and the Akron Trust Company, 'at which time 
he was director of the Akron Trust Company. 
He is interested in other succes.sful enterprises 
in this vicinity. 

In 1880 Mr. Schneider was married to Jen- 
nie Winegar, who was born in Michigan. He 
and his wife reside in a beautiful home at 120 
Adoiph Avenue. 

Fraternally, Mr. Schneider is a Thirty-sec- 
ond Degree Mason, and belongs to the Blue 
Lodge. Chapter, Council and Commandery at 
Akron and to Lake Erie Consistorv at Cleve- 
land. 

GEORCtE T. RANKIN, JR.. M. D., one of 

tlie leading practitioners of medicine and sur- 
gery at Akron, was born in this city, Septem- 
ber 6, 1875, and is a "Son of George T. and 
Mary C. (Shumaker) Rankin. 

The father of Dr. Rankin was born at Hud- 
son, New York, where he learned building 
and contractine. In 1872 he came to Sum- 
mit County, Ohio; he followed contracting 
at Akron and became superintendent of the 
improvements made in the public school 
buildings. 

George T. Rankin was reared at .Vkron, 
and, after completing the public school course, 
attended Buehtel College. He then began to 



460 



PIISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



read medicine. His medical education was 
completed in the University of Pennsylvania, 
at Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 
June, 1899, following which he sen'ed six 
months as an interne in the Allegheny Hos- 
pital, and two year.-; in the Kings County 
Hospital at Brooklyn, New York/ In 1901 
Dr. Rankin returned to hLs native city and 
opened an office. He is surgeon of the Akron 
City Hospital, and also of the Mary Day 
Ho.S'pital. He occupies well-appointed offices 
in the Hamilton Block, being well equipped 
to handle any case of modern surgery in- 
volving the most complicated treatment. Dr. 
Rankin is a member of the American Medi- 
cal Association and of the Ohio State, and 
Summit County Medical Societies. Politic- 
ally, he is identified with the Reiniblican 
party. Fraternally, he is a Thirty-second 
Degree Mason, and belongs also to the Elks. 

MILTON A. YA^ HORN, clerk of North- 
field Township, which position he has ably 
filled since the spring of 1904, was bom in 
Summit County, Ohio, March 27, 1843, and 
is a son of Robert, and Catherine (Kuhn) 
Van Horn, and a graiidson of Edward Van 
Horn. 

Edward Van Horn, the grandfather, was 
born in Mifflin County. Pennsylvania, in 
1778, and died in Ohio in 18.")4. He came 
to Ha.rri.son County,Ohio, in all probability, 
immediately after hLs marriage to Margaret 
Hamilton, who was a woman of rare gifts 
and noble character. He was a soldier in the 
War of 1812, being stationed near Toledo, 
where either wounds or sickness prostrated 
him, and word was pent to his wife far 
away in her little log cabin, that her husband 
was dving. The coairageous woman stopped 
only long enough to wrap her infant son 
w-armly, and, with him in her arms, in the 
dead of winter, .she rode alone through the 
dee)) virgin forasts until she reached the 
military camp. There she found prepara- 
tions were being made to bury one whom 
his comrades believed to be past help, but 
the sight of his brave wife and babe created 
a reajction, and he recovered and lived many 



years afterward to show his devotion to so 
faithful a wife. He was one of tlie first men 
to banish liquor from the harvest field, going 
against a popular custom of the day. 

Robert Van Horn was born at New Athens, 
Harrison County, Ohio, January 10, 1812, 
and died in November 24, 1905. He wa< a 
man of excellent parts, well educated for his 
day, having spent a year at Franklin Col- 
lege. In 1837 he came to Northfield and 
taught school, and he siibsequently jiurcha-ied 
a farm of eighty-six acres north\\est of North- 
field Center, on which he raised cattle and 
slieep. He was an on t-sj token Free-Soil man 
and attended many of the early conventions 
as a delegate and subsequently became a zeal- 
ous Republican. He served in many local 
offices and was a truly representative citizen. 
He married a daughter of Archibald Kuhn, 
a prominent man in his dav, who represented 
Allegheny County in the Pennsylvania State 
Legislature. To this marriage three children 
were born : Archibald, who died in 1889, 
aged fifty-eight years; Jennie A., who mar- 
ried Joseph Boyd, residing at Northfield ; and 
Milton A. The mother of this family was 
born in Pennsvlvania in 1809 and died in 
Northfield in ]\iarch, 1889. 

Milton Van Horn attended school in North- 
field Township and continued to a■^«i-t on the 
home farm imtil his marriage. He owns a 
farm of fifty acres on which ho resided until 
1903, condiicting it mainly as a dairy farm, 
making a choice grade of butter and cheese. 
He erected a comfortable and attractive home 
residence at Northfield Center, where he has 
resided since retiring from the farm in 1903. 
For nearly thirtv years he served as a mem- 
ber of the school board, being elected by the 
Republican partv in 1878. He is a progres- 
sive, public-spirited citizen and has contin- 
ually shown a commendable interest in pub- 
lic affairs. 

Mr. Van Horn was married (first) in 1804 
to Harriet Thompson, who died in 1872. 
aged twenty-nine years. She left two chil- 
dren, namely: Rev. Francis J., D. D., who 
is a minister of the Congregational Church, 
stationed at Seattle, Washington ; and Jen- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



461 



nie, who married Bird Waite, a farmer in 
Northfield Township. Mr. Van Horn was 
married (second) to Mary Rinear, who died 
in 1889, leaving no issue. Mr. Van Horn 
was married (third) in 1890 to Cynthia 
Honey, who died October 16, 1906. Mr. 
Van Horn is an active member of the United 
Presbyterian Church, of which he is clerk. 
For a period of forty years he was choir mas- 
ter of this church nnd is now Sunday-school 
superintendent. 

JOSEPH COl'RTNEY, a general farmer 
and extensive dairyman, owns 190 acres of 
valuable land in Sunnnit County, 159 acres 
lying in Portage Township, and 31 acres in 
Northampton Township, the township line 
jiassing through his land. Mr. Courtney was 
born in Boston Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, July 13, 1862, and is a son of James 
and Julia (Bergin) Courtney. His parents 
were born in Ireland. James Courtney came 
to America in early manhood, settling in Bos- 
ton Township. His .second wife, Julia, 
mother of Joseph Courtney, was mar- 
ried first in Ireland to John Hogan, and 
with him came to America. Mr. Hogan died 
in New York and his widow, with her chil- 
dren, came to Summit County. Three of the 
latter still survive, namely : Stephen ; Nora, 
who married Francis Courtney, a son of James 
Courtnej' by his iirst marriage; and Mary, 
who married James McGuire, of Peninsula. 
By his fir.st marriage .lames Courtney had 
three" children— Francis, who married Nora 
Hogan ; James, who was killed in the Civil 
War; and Ellen (Mrs. Tosier), who is now 
deceased. Two children were born of the 
second marriage of James and Julia Court- 
ney — .loseph and Julia, the latter of whom 
married Charles Martin, of Akron. James 
Courtney acquired a farm of eighty acres, in 
Boston Township, which he sold in 1864, at 
which time he bought ninety-six acres of the 
present home farm, later adding ninety-one 
acres, his son Joseph also adding five acres. 
When James Courtney came to America he 
was a poor boy, entirely dependent upon his 
own efforts, but he was industrious and pru- 



dent and when he died in February, 1878, 
he possessed what was for him an ample for- 
tune. He was survived by his widow until 
December, 1903. At her death she was al- 
most eighty-three years old. Both were ear- 
nest Christian people. 

Joseph Courtney was reared on the farm he 
now owns, and with the exception of a few 
years, when he lived at Akron, he has been 
continuously engaged in farming. In 1893 
he entered into the dairy business, and now 
keeps from twenty to twenty-five head of cows. 
In April, 1894, Mr. Courtney was married to 
Maud Cassidy, who is a daughter of William 
Cassidy, and they have seven children: 
James, William, Julia, Joseph, George, Mary 
and Margaret. Mr. Courtney, with his fam- 
ily, belongs to the Catholic Church at Akron. 
He is one of the leading agriculturist men of 
this section and is held in esteem by all who 
know him. 

WILLIAM H. STONER, secretary and 
general manager of the Baker-McMillen Com- 
pany, at Akron, -was born in this city, in Sep- 
tember, 1870, and is a son of Samuel D. and 
Lucinda E. (Shirk) Stoner, the former of 
whom is deceased. 

William H. Stoner completed his education 
in his native city, and when sixteen years of 
age, entered the employ of the Baker-McMil- 
len Company, with which he is .still identified, 
having risen step by step from the humblest 
position to that of general manager, which he 
has ably filled for the pa.st four and one-half 
years. 

In 1895 Mr. Stoner was married to .Julia 
A . Pardee, who is a sister of Judge Pardee, of 
the Summit County Probate Court, and a 
daughter of the late George K. Pardee, who 
wa-^ for many years one of Akron's promi- 
nent attorneys. 

Mr. Stoner has long been considered a rep- 
rasentative citizen of Akron, and has taken 
nart in public movements of various kinds, 
For four years he served on the Board of Jury 
Commi.ssioners, of which he was .secretary. 
He is a member of the First Disciples Church 
of Akron. 



462 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ANDREW HALE, who bore the distinc- 
tion of being the first white child born in 
Bath Township, died in the same township, 
July 29, 1884, aged seventy-three years. He 
was a son of Jonathan and Mercy S. (Piper) 
Hale. 

The father of Mr. Hale was the first perma- 
nent settler in Bath Tcnvnship, Summit 
County, to which he had come from Gla-ton- 
bury, Connecticut, in 1810. Andrew at- 
tended the subscription schools and spent his 
life engaged in clearing and improving the 
lands belonging to himself and father. He 
was a man of sterling character, and is men- 
tioned as a faithful friend and good neighbor. 
Like his father, he possessed the qualities 
wihich marked the representative settlers of 
those times — men to whom we like to point 
as 'Our ancestors of unpretentious honesty, 
dauntless courage and untiring perseverance. 
Mr. Hale was married April" 12, 1838, to 
Jane Mather. Of this union there were six 
children : Pamela L. Oviatt, Sophronia J. 
Ritchie, Clara Ashmun, Charles 0. Halo, 
Alida Humphrey and John P. Hale. Mr. 
Hale, with his family, belonged to the Con- 
gregational Church. 

GEORGE A. McCONNELL, dairy farmer 
of Northfield Township, was born in Coshoc- 
ton County, Ohio. April 8, 1856, and is a son 
of John and Jane L. (Shannon) McConnell. 

John McConnell was born in Comity Done- 
gal, Ireland, and was brought to America by 
his parents when he was eight years of age. 
He died March 6, 1905, aged within a few 
days of hLs eightieth birthday. He lived on 
the home farm in Coshocton County, where 
his parents had settled, until 18B4. Prior 
to his marriage, with his brother Alexander, 
he operated the home farm of 480 acres. After 
coming to Northfield Township he l)ought one 
tract of land after another until he owned 
367 acres, on which he wintered from sixty 
to seventy head of cattle, and raised many 
horses and hogs and some 200 sheep. Later 
he turned his attention to raising wheat, at 
which he was very successful, and he also en- 
gaged in dairying. He took an intelligent in- 



terest in public, matters, but he was never 
a politician. In Coshocton County he mar- 
ried a daughter of Is9,ac Shannon. She died 
March 30, 1896, aged sixty-five years. They 
had nine children, namely: John, who is 
deceased; Isaac, of Northfield Township; 
George A., subject of this sketch; Hervey A., 
jusitice of the peace in Northfield Township; 
LaGrande, a physician, now deceased; James 
and Albert, deceased; Sarah, who married H. 
R. Boyden, of Northfield; and Charles, of 
Magnolia, Colorado. 

George A. McCoiniell attended school in 
Northfield Township until he was sixteen 
years of age, in the meanwhile assisting on 
the home farm, as did also his brothers, all 
working for the common benefit. He then 
learned cheese-making, an industry that he 
followed for six years, and with the excep- 
tion of that period, has ever since been a 
farmer. He keeps from thirty to thirty-five 
head of cattle and ships milk to Cleveland. 
He raises nearly all his own cows and is mak- 
ing plans to keep only the Ayreshire stock, 
having purchased a thorough-bred Ayreshire 
bull. He has had a valuable silo constructed 
with dimensions of 16 by 18 feet, 27 feet 
high. In 1892 he built his present com- 
fortable residence. 

Mr. McConnell married Jane A. AVillcy, of 
Northfield Township, and they have a family 
of five promising children: Albert A., Carl 
W., Ella L., Clark and Lucy. Mrs. McCon- 
nell is a member of the Presbyterian Church. 
Mr. McConnell is affiliated with the Repub- 
lican party. He has never served in any of- 
fice except one connected with educational af- 
fairs, including a number of terms on the 
school board, and for a few years as towii.ship 
trustee. He is giving his children every edu- 
cational and socifl advantage in his power. 

FR.VNK S. PRIOR, secretary and treasurer 
of the Akron Plumbing and ITeatinu- Com- 
pany, at Akron, was born in ISSO, in Sum- 
mit County, Oliio, and belontrs to a family 
which was numbered among the first .settlers 
in the county. His grandfather, Samuel S. 
Prior, was a native of Massachusetts, and his 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



463 



father, Frederick S. Prior, was born in Sum- 
mit County, in January, 1848. He resides 
at Akron, where he follows the profession of 
stationary engineer. He is active in Repub- 
lican political circles. 

Before becoming identified with the Akron 
Plumbing and Heating Company Frank S. 
Prior was mainly engaged in securing a good 
education, attending the schools of Cuyahoga 
Falls and Hammel's Business College. He 
was connected with his present business house 
before it was incorporated in March, 1907, at 
which time he became its secretary and treas- 
urer. He is one. of the younger set of busi- 
ness men at Akron, who are injecting much 
vigor into the city's commercial and indus- 
trial life. In 1905 Mr. Prior was married 
to Leota J. Zink, who was born at Akron and 
who is a daughter of Z. E. Zink, foreman at 
the plant of the American Cereal Company. 
Mr. Prior is a member of the Disciples Church 
at Cuyahoga Falls. He belongs to the bene- 
ficiary order of the Protected Home Circle. 

JOHN P. HALE, one of Akron's promi- 
nent business men, proprietor of a large 
jewelry establishment, belongs to one of the 
earliest pioneer families in Summit County, 
his father having been the first white child 
born in Bath Township. He was born in 
Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 
1862, son of Andrew and Jane (Mather) 
Hale. He was reared on the home farm and 
was mainly educated in the schools of Tall- 
niadge. spending one year in the Ohio State 
University at Columbus. After completing 
his college cour.*e, he spent three years on 
the farm, and then, in 1887, came to Akron 
and embarked in a jewelry business with a 
Mr. George Jackson, with whom he remained 
as.-*ociated for two years. Since then he has 
been establi.shed alone, doing a large retail 
business at his convenient location. No. 54 
South !Main Street. He has made an exten- 
sive study of optics and lens-fitting, and, like 
his forefathers, is used to hard work. He 
is engaged in 'both the manufacturing and 
repairing of jewelry-, and can-ies a large and 



well-assorted stock. He is interested also in 
other enterprises. 

In 1891 Mr. Hale was married to Zedella 
Frank, who was born and reared in Copley 
Township, and is a daughter of the late David 
Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have one son, 
Andrew. They are members of the West 
Congregational Church, of Akron, Mr. Hale 
being a member of its present board of trus- 
tees. 

CHARLES H. JAITE, president of the 
Jaite Company, manufacturers of paper and 
paper bags, with a plant in Northfield Town- 
ship. 

The parents of Mr. Jaite settled at Cleve- 
land in 1860, where he attended the public 
schools ^intil he was thirteen years of age. 
He then went to work in a paper mill. Be- 
ing suited with this employment, he set out 
to master every detail of the business, and in 
time became a thorough expert. He later 
became president of the Standard Bag and 
Paper Company and vice-president of the 
Cleveland Paper Company. In 1902. when 
the two companies were consolidated with the 
Akron Paper Company, the new style of 
The Cleveland-Akron Paper Company was as- 
sumed. Mr. Jaite had charge of the manu- 
factiu'ing part of the business, and located the 
plant in Bo.ston Township, Summit Countv. 
He continued to be thus occupied until July, 
1905, when he resigned as director and man- 
ager, at the same time disposing of his stock. 
He had, however, no idea of going out of the 
paper basiness, bvit merely desired an estab- 
lishment organized according to his own 
plans, and on September 18, 1905, he founded 
the .Jaite Company. The officers of this new 
company are: Charles H. Jaite, president; 
Robert H. Jaite, vice-president ; Emil W. 
Jaite, .secretary; and Julius Kreckel, treasurer. 
The business was incorporated September 18. 
1905, and was followed immediateh' after- 
ward by the erection of their plant in North- 
field Township, which they placed on the 
Cuyahoga River. They now own one of the 
most substantial manufacturing buildings in 
Summit Countv. The machine room of the 



464 



HLSIORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



plant is 50 by 200 feet in dimensions and 
over this, in the second story, is located tlie 
bag factory. The boiler room for heating 
is 60 by 157 feet in dimensions; the boiler 
room for the 580 horse-power steam engine 
and engine room is 61 by 74 feet; the 
bleach room is 37 by 60 feet, and the of- 
fice is 16 by 20 feet. The building is two 
stories in height, with a warehouse 60 by 164 
feet. The plant is equipped wdth a capacity 
of eight tons of manufactured paper a day, 
which is made into paper bags, the product 
being sold direct to manufacturers of flour 
and cement. The company has drilled 
five productive gas wells, each 900 feet deep, 
and thus they get abundant heat, their power 
being obtained by a gas and a steam engine. 

The quality and purity of the water used is 
a factor of importance in the manufacture of 
paper and this company has an artesian well, 
390 feet in depth, which flows 400,000 gal- 
lons of water a day. It ls of such purity that 
the paper manufactured with its use is many 
points stronger than paper made heretofore 
by the same formula, wdth ordinary water. 
The company has built five two-flat buildings 
just across the line, in Brecksville Township, 
for the housing of their employes. This is 
one of the most important business enterprises 
of this section, and its success must be attrib- 
uted to the quiet, resourceful man who has 
studied the manufacture of paper in a prac- 
tical way from boyhood. 

Mr. Jaite married a daughter of E. L. 
Peebles, of Cuyahoga Falls, and they have had 
six children, namely: Grace May, Rov W., 
Giles, Edna E., Nettie and Fern J. "Giles 
died at the age of three years. Mr. Jaite 
built a beautiful home in Boston Township 
in 1904, in which he has resided since the 
spring of 1905. He is a member of the 
Chamber of Commerce at Cleveland, the 
Royal Arcanum in Cleveland, and of Cri- 
terian Lodge, K. of P. He belongs to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JOSEPH C. HILL, formerly county com- 
missioner of Summit County, and a leading 
citizen of Akron, carries On a large contract- 



ing business liere, and has been a resident 
of the city since 1882. He is a prominent 
member of Buckley Post, Grand Army of tlie 
Republic, having served as a soldier in the 
Union army during the entire period of the 
Civil War. He was born in Pennsylvania, 
March 9, 1844. When a youth of but seven- 
teen years, in June, 1861, he voluntarily as- 
siuned the dangers and hardships that fell to 
the lot of those who took active part as sol- 
diers in the great Civil War, which he faced 
with courage and endurance that would have 
been creditable in one much older and more 
seasoned. 

As a member of Company E, Seventy- 
.seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 
Colonel F. H. Stambaugh, and under com- 
mand of General Negley, he left Pittsburg on 
October 26, 1861, going directly to Ken- 
tucky. He served under some of the greatest 
commanders of the war — Generals Grant, 
Sherman, Rosecrans and Buell — and par- 
ticipated in some of the most memorable en- 
gagements, including those of Pittsburg Land- 
ing, Corinth, Perryville, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, the campaign from Chatta- 
nooga to Atlanta., Jonesboro, Sherman's 
March to the Sea, through the Carolina.*, and 
in the last' struggle at Bentonville. He was 
honorably discharged and was mustered out 
of the service at Louisville, Kentucky, in Sep- 
tember, 1865. During all this period of al- 
most constant exposure to danger, Mr. Hill 
was wounded but once, and then slightly. He 
was captured once, at Chickamauga, but for- 
tunately made his ftscape on the same day. 

After the close of his very creditable mili- 
tary serve, Mr. Hill returned to-Pennsylvania, 
and in 1867 went West. , There he soon found 
profitable employment in building, and his 
work was so approved that he became con- 
cerned in the building of all the bridges for 
the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Rail- 
road, from Chetopn, Kansas, to Fort Gibson. 
He subsequently built the Plaza hotel at 
Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Palace hotel at 
Las Vegas, New Mexico; the Adelia Silver 
Mill, for the Adelia Mining Company, at Sil- 
ver Cliff, Colorado. After completing the last 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



46c 



mentioned contract, in January, 1882, he re- 
turned east to "Ohio and located permanently 
at Akron. Here Mr. Hill has had a good 
share of the general building and contract- 
ing work of the city, and has erected some of 
the finest residences here, including those of 
M. 11. Crumrine, Charles Berry, on Portage 
Path ; H. H. Bender, on Batch Street, and 
that of Dr. Rose, on Rhodes Avenue. He is 
a stockholder in the Dos-De-Atril Mining 
Company, of Chico, New Mexico. 

In 1870 Mr. Hill was married at Clinton, 
Summit County, Ohio, to Belle Whittlesey, 
of that place. He and his wife have four sons 
and two daughters, namely: Clarence M., who 
is a conductor on the A. B. & C. Railroad; 
Charles R., who is connected with the firm 
of Yeager Company, as windoiw dresser; Wil- 
liam W., residing at home with his parents; 
Kathrj'n, who married Charles Ellet, resid- 
ing at Akron; and Mabel, who is a graduate 
nurse, connected with the Akron City Hos- 
pital ; and Frank, who is a stenographer in 
the offices of the Goodrich Rubber Com- 

Formerly Mr. Hill was quite active in poli- 
tics, and served very efficien'tly as a commis- 
sioner of Summit County, but latterly has 
given the larger part of his attention to busi- 
ness affairs. 

A. POLSKY, one of .Vkron',-; entei-prising 
men and successful merchants, dealing in dry 
goods, cloaks and milliners', and carrying tlie 
largest and most exclusive stock of its kind 
in this city, occupies a three-story and base- 
ment building, at Nft«. 51-53 South Howard 
Street, where he ha^ a floor space of 40 bv 90 
feet. 

Mr. Polsky was born in 1848 in Polish 
Russia, where he remained until twenty years 
of age, >when he emigrated to America. After 
landing in the United States be remained for 
six months in New York and then wpnt on 
a tour through Iowa, Minnesota and -other 
states in search of a d&sirable location, finally, 
irt 1877, coming to Ohio and engaging in a 
general mercantile business at Orwell, Ash- 
t'abula County. He entered into partnenship 



with Samuel Myers, under the firm name of 
Myere & PoLsky, and they continued there for 
eight years. In 1885 they came to Akron and 
contirmed the business until 1893, when Mr. 
Polsky became sole proprietor, and has since 
continued the business alone. Mr. Polsky has 
demonstrated his fine business qualities, and 
in the face of much competition, has attaim d 
a place in the front rank of local merchant-. 
Good judgment in buying, honest methods in 
selling and courteous treatment to all have 
been the leading factors in his success. 

In his native land Mr. Polsky was married 
to Molly Bloch, who died in 1803, leaving 
children as follows: Anna, who married C. 
R. Finn, a wholesale grocer of Cleveland; 
Eva, who married I. Sands, who is in the con- 
fectionery business at Cleveland; Rose, wife 
of Dr. Morgenrath, of Akron ; Harry, who is 
manager of the cloak department of A. Pol- 
.sky; and Bertram, who is also an a-ssistant in 
his father's bu.siness. Mr. Polsky is a mem- 
ber of the Akron Hebrew Congregation. Fra- 
ternally, he Ls connected with Adoniram Ma- 
sonic Lodge and Akron Lodge of Odd Fel- 
lows. 

JAMES B. SENTER, one of the prominent 
citizens of Northfield Township, who is serv- 
ing his second term as township trustee, was 
born November 14, 1850, in Northfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
.lohn and Jane (Boyle) Sentcr. 

John Senter, who was a native of Ireland, 
came to America as a young man, and set- 
tled at Cleveland, Ohio, where he was offered 
two acres of land, on which the Case Block 
now stands, for one year's work. After a 
short time in Cleveland, Mr. Senter caime to 
Northfield Township, where he purcha-ed a 
farm of eighty acres, to which he later added 
from time to time. Here he .spent the re-t 
of his life in dairy farming, his death o-^- 
curring in his seventy-.sixth year. He wa« 
married in Stow Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, to .lane Boyle, who was also a native of 
Trelatid. They had ten children, of whom 
seven grew to maturity, namelv: Sarah Jane, 
whrr' married' ■SiiTip.*oii IIibl)ard : William. 



466 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



who resides in Bedford Township; Edward, 
Jiuiies B., Ellen, Robert, Delia, who married 
Frank Southwick, of Twinsburg Township; 
Caroline, who married Chai'les Belong, and 
resides on Ihe home farm; and three others, 
who died in infancy. The family are mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church. 

James B. Senter was educated in Northfield 
Township, where for two years he carried on 
agricultural pursuits with his brother, Ed- 
ward. In 1880, however, he sold his inter- 
ests to his brother, and purchased his present 
farm of 100 acreis on the road between Center 
and Macedonia, where he has been engaged in 
dairy and general farming to the present 
time. He raises hay, corn, wheat and oats, 
using everything for feed, except wheat, and 
keeps about forty head of thoroughbred Hol- 
stein cattle. He has shipped milk to Cleve- 
land for thirty years. Mr. Senter was a mem- 
ber of the Northfield Grange until the dis- 
bandment of that organization, and he is now 
connected with Bedford Lodge, Knights of 
Pythias. In politics Mr. Senter is an inde- 
pendent Democrat, and he is now serving his 
second term as town.¥hip trustee. For about 
eight years he has been a member of the 
board of directors of the Children's Home. 
Mr. Senter was married to Adda L. Sheppard, 
who is a daughter of Simeon Sheppard, of 
Solon, Ohio, and five children have been bo:n 
to this union, of whom three survive, name- 
ly: May, who is the wife of Clarence Jones, 
of Macedonia; Clyde, who resides in Bedford, 
and who married Dortha Barn^; in S?])t?mber, 
1907; and Opal. 

FRED S. VIALL, president of tlie Akron 
Plumbing & Heating Company, of Akron, 
has been a resident of this city for the past 
.seventeen years. He was born in Summit 
County, Ohio, in 1873, and is a son of Syl- 
vester Viall. The father of Mr. Viall was 
also born in Summit Coimty. in 1844, and is 
a son of Sullivan Yiall, who settled early in 
Summit County. Sylvester Viall re=ides on 
his farm in Boston Township and is one of 
the prominent citizens of the coimtv. 

Fred S. A''iall wa.=! reared on his father's 



farm and obtained his education in the coun- 
try schools. He came to Akron when he was 
.■seventeen years old, and, deciding to learn 
the plumbing business, entered the employ of 
Kraus & Oberlin, with which firm he re- 
mained three years. For one year afterward 
he traveled through Vermont and Massachu- 
setts, working at his trade, and then return- 
ing to Akron, and was connected with the 
firm of Kraus & Kirn for four years. About 
this time, in association with other practical 
men, he formed the Akron Plumbing & Heat- 
ing Company, which was incorporated in the 
spring of 1907, with a capital stock of $15.- 
000. The officers are: Fred S. Viall, pre-i- 
dent ; R. H. A^iall, vice-president and man- 
agei'; and F. S. Pryor, secretary and treas- 
urer. The business of the company is' gen- 
eral contracting and plumbing of the most 
approved style. 

In 1897 Mr. Viall was married to Kate M. 
Watson, a daughter of Frank Watson, who 
came originally from Scotland. They have 
four children : Irene, Blanche, Mary Frances 
and Carl Sylvester. Mr. Viall has a fine lai-- 
iness record and is numbered with tlie i)rn- 
gressive bu.sine.ss men of this city. 

C. P. FRAIN, of the firm of Frain & 
Manbeck, leading dealers at Akron in fine 
groceries, fruit "and meats, with extensive 
quarters at Nos. 422-424 East Market Street, 
is a prominent man in the city's commercial 
life and a citizen of most reliable character. 
He was born at Middleburg, Snyder County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1853, and was reared and 
educated in his native place, where he lived 
to the age of twenty-one vears. He then 
went to Lewistown, Pennsvlvania, where for 
five years he was engaged in a clerical capac- 
ity in a dry goods .store. In 1879 he came 
to Akron, and for the five following years 
was with the firm of O'Neil & Dyas. Then, 
in partnership with Frank J. Mell, he estab- 
lished his present business at the same loca- 
tion. The firm name of Mell & Frain was 
continued until the .spring of 1885. Mr. 
Mell then sold his interest to Harry J. Shref- 
fler, and the business was conducted for two 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



469 



years under the name of Shreffler & Frain, 
when Mr. Shreffler sold out his interest to 
C. D. Manbeck. The business has been con- 
ducted under the present style since 1887. 
Mr. Frain has remained continuously a mem- 
ber of the firm and the business is one of the 
oldest in the city in its line. 

In 1878 Mr. Frain was man-ied to Mar- 
garet C. Brenneman. In 1892 Mr. Frain 
erected his handsome residence at 92 Forge 
Street, on which street he has resided since 
coming to Akron. 

AVILLIAM COOPER, for many ycar.s con- 
nected with the industrial interests of Akron 
a.^ a manufacturer of brick, but now retired, 
was born in Staffordshire, England. March 
19, 1845. 

His knowledge of brick-making \va.s ac- 
(juired in his native land, where he served an 
early and thorough apprenticeship to the 
trade. Coming to this country in 1865, at 
tlie age of twenty, Mr. Cooper found employ- 
ment in Akron in Brewster's coal mines, in 
which he worked for six years, gaining the 
reputation of being one of the most skillful 
coal miners in this section. 

He then returned to England, where for 
the next seven years he was employed in the 
mines. At the end of that period he came 
again to the United States and took up his 
permanent residence in Akron, where he was 
employed by Dr. .Jewett, on contract, to man- 
ufacture brick. In this line of industry he 
proved himself an expert, and probably no 
better brick was ever made here than that 
turned out by him. 

About the same time two of Mr. Cooper's 
brothers, Samuel and Joseph, botli practical 
Itrick-makers, were working at Akron, and 
the. three brothers decided to embark in the 
manufacturing business for themselves. 
Though posessing but a small amount of cap- 
ital, the most of which was absorbed in leas- 
ing their plant and buying a horse, they all 
had the requisite knowledge, industry and 
perseverance to make the business a success, 
and they were rewarded by early and long 
continued prosperity. Under the style of the 



Cooper Brick Company they carried on the 
business for sixteen or seventeen years, at the 
end of which time Mr. William Cooper bought 
out his brothers' interests, afterwards conduct- 
ing the business alone until 1905. He then 
sold the plant to George W. Crouse, Jr., and 
retired. He is now living in the enjoyment 
of the ease earned by his long years of honest 
labor, which is sanctified by the blessings 
which accrue to those who lead a sincere 
Christian life. 

Mr. Cooper was married in 1864, near 
Portsmouth, England, to Elizabeth A. Bag- 
gott. He and his wife have been the parents 
of eleven children, of whom seven still sur- 
vive, namely: Hattie, Emily J., Rose, Ed- 
win T., Amanda, Charles Ford, and Eva 
(Irace. Hattie, who Ls the wife o/ William 
Leoder, of Akron, has one child by a former 
marriage — Grace Mattocks. Emily J., wife 
of Charles Tewksberry, of Akron, by her finst 
marriage to Charles Spellman, had four chil- 
dren — Clarissa, William, Eva, and Pearl — of 
whom Clarissa and William are deceased. 
Ro-e, who married Jesse Schofield, of Akron, 
has had five children, namely: Edith, Ellen, 
Ethel, Mabel, and Park, of whom Edith and 
Ethel are now deceased. Amanda, who is 
the wife of Eugene Spellman, of Altoona, 
Pennsylvania, has two 'children — Ruth and 
William. Edwin T., who is an engineer at 
the Weeks Pottery, Akron, is married and has 
one child — William. Charles Ford, an engi- 
neer, residing in Akron, has two children — 
Viola and Edwin. Eva Grace is the wife of 
Thomas Johnson, of Akron, and has one child 
—Elizabeth. 

Mr. and Mrs. William Cooper, whose por- 
traits appear in this connection, are memljers 
of the United Brethren Church. Mr. Cooper 
has been a member of the order of Sons of 
St. George for a number of years. He is a 
strong advocate of the temperance cau.se, and 
casts his vote in support of the Prohibition 
party. 

GEORGE STARR, one of Copley Town- 
ship's most highly respected residents, who 
owns 245 acres of well-improved land at Cop- 



470 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ley Center, was bom on the faxm and in the 
house which continues to be his liouu', 
November 1, 18-lG. His parents were Simon 
iind Parnell (Orcutt) StaiT. 

Simon Starr was born in Connecticut, in 
August, 1800, and wa^ twenty-six years of 
age when be came to Ohio. He remamed for 
two years in Medina County and then pa?hed 
on into Summit County, where he bought Mr. 
Starr's present farm from the Perkins fam- 
ily. It was mainly covered with a timber 
growth at that time, imd only a portion of 
the present residence had been built. Short- 
ly after coming to this section Simon was 
married to Parnell Orcutt, who was born in 
New York, and had accompanied her father, 
Chester Orcutt, to Ohio. This remained the 
family home and liere the father died in 1800 
and the mother in Febiiiary, 1880. They h; d 
eight children, namely: Mary, who married 
Samuel Moore; Lucius, who is deceased; 
Sarah, who is the widow of Henry Ingham; 
Simon, deceased; George, subject of this 
sketch; Martha, deceased, who married 0. B. 
Hardy; Eddie, who died at the age of two 
years; and Charles. 

George Starr obtained his education in the 
district schools. His home has ever been in 
Copley Township, and he has been mainly 
interested in farming, but as a matter of rec- 
reation, he htis visited many parts of the 
country, including the states of Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Iowa, Missouri and California. While 
interested in the products and resources of 
those sections, he remains satisfied with Ohio 
and hi.? own fine ftirm in Copley Township. 
He can recall how this land looked before it 
■was improved by his father and himself, and 
knows the fertility of its soil. He is an en- 
terprising agriculturist, as was his father, the 
latter having purchased the first reaper ever 
used in Copley Township. It was but the 
forerunner of other improved machinery. 

Mr. Starr was married to Martha Searle;-, 
and they have two children, namely: Clark, 
engaged in farming near his father, who 
married Fannie Bender, and has onesm, 
George Eber; and Maude, who married Guy 
AVeeks, has one son. George Harrison, and 



also lives in Copley Township. Mr. Starr is 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Politically, he is a Republican and has served 
on the Township School Board. 

A. C. ROIIRBACHER, senior member of 
the leading hardware firm of Rohrbacher & 
Allen, has been identified with this line of 
trade foi' a quarter of a century, making him 
one of the oldest hardware men at Akron, in 
point of years of service. He was born in 
1856, in Mississippi, but was reared at Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Rohrbacher was educated at the West- 
ern University of Pennsylvania, and prior to 
coming to Akron, had been engaged in the 
drug business in Pittsburg. In 1882 he 
bought a one-third interest in the hardware 
business at Akron, of Williams & Rohrbacher, 
he being the junior partner, and this firm con- 
tinued for fourteen years, at its termination, 
Mr. Rohrbacher purchased Mr. Williams' 
interest. . Subsequently, Mr. Rohrbacher 
took in I. F. Allen and the present 
firm style has since continued. The 
firm deals both by wholesale and retail. Their 
building at No. 66 South Howard Street is 
five stories high, with dimensions of 22 by 108 
feet, and with a warehouse in the rear of 75 
by 27 feet, and two stories high. The busi- 
ness is a leading one of the city and keeps two 
salesmen on the road, who cover a larg> 
amount of territory. Mr. Rohrbacher has 
other business interests and is concerned in 
the Jaihant Heating Company. He is an en- 
terprising citizen and ever ready to further 
public-spirited movements, but he cares httl ■ 
for political preferment. After serving one 
term in the City Council he declined to ser\'e 
longer. 

In 1877 Mr. Rohrbacher was married to 
Marv E. Lyon, of Courtland, Ohio, who died 
July 28, 1905. She left one son, Paul F., 
who creditably completed the Akron High 
School course and then entered Buehtel Col- 
lege. Mr. Rohrbacher is one of .Akron's most 
prominent Masons. He belongs to the Blue 
Tjodge, of whicli he was treasurer for a nuin- 
)>er of years. Cliapter, Coinicil and Command- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



474 



ery at Akron, Lake Erie Consistory and Al- 
koran Shrine, at Cleveland, and to the Ma- 
sonic club. He aLjo belongs to the Knights of 
Pythias, and the Odd Fellows, and is treasurer 
of the organization known U5 the Builders' 
Exchange. 

ASHER F. SIPPY, M. D., physician and 
surgeon at Akron, who is a valued member of 
the Sixth Councilor District, the Summit 
County, the Ohio State and the American 
Medical Associations, came to this city in 
May, 1894, a graduate of- the Rush Medical 
College of Chicago. 

Dr. Sippy was born in Richland County, 
Wisconsin, in 1861, where he secured his lit- 
erary training and grew to sturdy manhood 
on the homestead farm. His inclinations, 
however, were in another direction and from 
farming and dairying, he turned to profes- 
sional work, and at the age of twenty-seven 
years entered the medical institution above 
named. There he was graduated in 1892, re- 
ceiving the Benjamin Rush gold medal for 
the highest standing in examinations for the 
three years' course in his class of 163 mem- 
bers. For nineteen months following he had 
the advantage of ser\'ing as an interne in the 
Cook County Haspital, at Chicago, where 
probably everj^ disease that afflicts the human 
body, and many of the most serious accidental 
injuries, came under his care and were ob- 
jects of study. From there Dr. Sippy came 
to Akron, where he has built up a large and 
satisfying practice. 

In 1884 Dr. Sippy was married to Nona 
Jaquish, who was born in Wisconsin, and 
they have two .sons: Burne 0. and H. Ivan. 
Dr. Sippy retains member.«hip in his college 
society, the Alpha-Omega-Alpha fraternity. 
He belongs also to the Odd Fellows and the 
Maccabees, the Sunnnit County Medical club 
and the Celsus club. 

0. D. LEVY, junior member of the whole- 
sale and retail clothing house of Federman it 
Levy, at Akron, is one of the city's represent- 
ative business men. Fie was born in 1868, 
in the citv of London, Fniiland, and wa- 



thirteen years of age when he came to Amer- 
ica. Mr. Levy's first year in the United States 
was passed in Philadelphia, removal then be- 
ing made to New York City, where he was 
practically educated. During his eighteen 
years' residence there he sei'ved a two-year 
apprenticeship to the jeweler's trade, and then 
traveled for three years for a New York con- 
fectionery company. He was afterward in 
the wholesale stationery and confectionery 
line for himself for eight years. He then lo- 
cated at McKee-sport, Pennsylvania, and 
opened a branch store at Youngstown, and 
later at Akron and at Lorain, in 1899 
establishing the firm of Federman & Levy, 
The firm has disposed of its stores at Y^oungs- 
town and McKeesport, but still retains the 
Lorain trade. Mr. Levy has made his home 
at Akron for the past seven years. The firm 
here has a very large store and does a wholesale 
and retail furnishings business, a retail cloth- 
ing business, and make a specialty of hosiery 
and underwear, wholesale. During his period 
of residence in New Y^ork, Mr. Levy took 
considerable interest in public affairs, but 
since coming to Ohio has not been active in 
politics. He is recognized as a fine business 
man and stands very high commercially. 

In 1884, in the city of New York, Mr. Levy 
was married to Sadie Federman, and they 
have a family consisting of seven cliildren, 
namely: Bertha, who maiTied Morris Gross- 
man, a prominent business man of Akron ; 
Rebecca; Sadie, who married Arthur Brown- 
stein, of Newburg, New Jersey; Harry, who 
is associated with his father; Hannah, Hilda 
and Edgar. Mr. Levy is a member of the 
Akron Hebrew Congregation. 

SYLVESTER G. VIALL, who is cultivat- 
ing a finely imijroved farm of forty-three acres 
in Boston Township, was born ilareh 13, 
1844, in Northampton Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Sullivan and 
]\Iary Ann (Freeby)Viall. He attended his 
first term of school in the old log schoolhouse 
with split log floors and '^eats, and after his 
father's death removed with his mother to 
Richfield Townsliip, where Mr~. YxaW pur- 



472 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



chased a small farm. In 1864 Mrs. Viall sold 
this place and Sylvester G. started out in life 
for himself, his mother marrying Stephen 
Dales of Copley Township, where .she died. 
In 1864 Mr, Viall worked in Bath Township, 
but soon thereafter married, and started house- 
keeping at Peninsula, where he was engaged 
in teaming for two years. He then removed 
to Copley Township and began farming a 
rented property, but in 1883 located on his 
present tract, which he had purchased some 
time previously. In this year he built his 
house, and in the following spring his barn. 
He now has growing fruits of all .staple vari- 
eties and in addition raises wheat, corn and 
potatoes. He makes a specialty of breeding 
thoroughbred Poland China hogs. 

Mr. Viall was married October 15, 1864, 
to Mary E. Ozmun, who is a daughter of Hec- 
tor Ozmun of Boston Township. He and hi- 
wife have been the parents of seven children, 
namely: Florence, wife of F. C. Lee, a resi- 
dent of Brunswick Township, Medina County, 
Ohio; Theda, who is the wife of David C. 
Ilarpham, of East Akron, Ohio; Ward, who 
died when twenty-two years of age; Fred, of 
The Akron Plumbing & Heating Company of 
Akron ; Rutherford H., also a member of the 
same firm; Maud, the wife of James Crum, 
of Brunswick Township, Medina County, 
Ohio; and Mabel, a .stenographer, who lives 
at home with her parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Viall are identified with the 
Congregational Church, of which the former 
has been a deacon for the pa.st sixteen or 
seventeen years. They are also members of 
the Richfield Grange, No. 1260, of which Mr. 
Viall has been master, and he has also been 
overseer of Summit County Pomona Grange 
for six consecutive years. In political mat- 
ters he is a Republican, and he was personal 
property appraiser for three years and real 
estate appraiser during the last appraisement, 
which occurred in 1900. 

Nathaniel Viall, grandfather of Sylvester 
G., was born March 28, 1782. After his death 
his widow Betsey, who was born December 
14. 1768, in Vermont, came to Northampton 



Township with her son Sullivan, with whom 
she made her home until her death. 

Sullivan Viall was born in \'ermont March 
3, 1811, and received hi^ education in the 
conmion schools. He came to Middlebury, 
Ohio, which is now a part of Akron, and 
thence he went by team to Pittsburg, hauling 
tlour there and returning with dry goods. In 
this business he was engaged for many years 
and accunmlated in it about $4,000, which 
he lost through the failure of a private bank. 
He then decided to engage in agricultural 
pursuits, and accordingly purchased a farm, 
on which the remainder of his life was spent. 
He met with a sudden and accidental death, 
being gored to death by a savage bull in 
1851. He was one of the first Whigs in this 
county, and served as township trustee, and 
for nearly the full period of his residence in 
Northampton Township was a member of ihe 
School Board. Sullivan Viall was married 
August 28, 1836, to Mary Ann Freeby, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, .^lugust 28, 1813. 
Her father, George Freeby, was a shoemaker 
and farmer who came to America from Ger- 
many and died in Indiana about 1855. Mrs 
Viall died March 21, 1890, having been the 
mother of three children, namely: Henrietta, 
Avho is the widow of Isaac Smith, of Portage 
Township; Sylvester G., who.se name stands 
at the head of this article ; and Damaris, who 
is the wife of Dr. F. N. Chamberlin, of Stow 
Township. Mr. and Mrs. Viall were mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

FRANK J. CONVERSE, whose valuable 
farm of eighty acres is situated in one of the 
best portions of Copley Township, was born 
on the old Converse homestead in Portage 
County, Ohio, November 23, 1863, and is the 
youngest child born to Chauncey and Eliza- 
beth (Stewart) Converse. 

Chauncey Converse, the father, was born 
in New York and was brought to Ohio by his 
parents when ho was a child five years old. 
The Converse family settled in Franklin 
Township, Portage County, the Franklin 
mills there giving the name to the place, 
which was later called Kent. Chauncey Con- 



AND REPRESENTATI\'K CITIZENS 



473 



verse assisted hi; fatlier to clear and culti- 
vate the farm, and grew to manhood in the 
log cabin first erected on it. In early man- 
hood he married Elizabeth Stewart, who was 
born in Portage County and spent the whole 
of her life there. Chauncey Converge owned 
a farm of 14-t acres at the time of his death, 
which took place in 1878, when he was 
seventy-three ye^irs of age. His widow sur- 
vived him some years. They had five chil- 
dren, namely: William J., residing in Sha- 
ron Township, Medina County; Emma A., 
deceased; Tillinghast. re^-iding on the old 
home place; Edward S.. deceased; and Frank 
Jefferson, residing in Copley Township. 

It was upon the above mentioned farm 
that Frank J. Converse spent his boyhood and 
early manhood, attending the schools of Kent 
and assisting on the farm. After his mar- 
riage he lived for a year and a half longer 
in Portage County. In 1885 he moved to 
Summit County, renting a farm near Mont 
Rose, in which vicinity he remained for seven 
years. In 1892 he came to his present farm, 
which he purchased a few months later from 
the .Joseph Decovy estate. Here. Mr. Converse 
carries on general farming and dairying, and 
for eight years he ran a wagon to Akron. He 
is interested also in the Logan Clay Product 
Company, located at Logan, Ohio, where all 
kinds of clay products are manufactured. 

Mr. Converse married Ella Moore, who is 
a daughter of 0. C. and Mariuiu Moore, who 
came to this .section as pioneers. Mr. and 
Mrs. Converse have had five children, namely: 
Vera, who married F. C. Thompson, a resi- 
dent of Cuyahoga Falls, Ruth, Bina, Pauline 
and Marcia. Mr. Converse is a member of 
the Church of Christ. He takes an interest 
in the public affairs of the township, and 
has served as a member of the Board of Edu- 
cation. 

CHARLES R. MORGAN, pn^^ident of the 
Pouchot-Hunsicker Company, prominent 
wholesale and retail gen<»ral hardwai'e house 
of long standing in this city, was born at 
London, England, in 185R. He was reared 
in England, and was in France at the time 



Napoleon III. became a prisoner of war. He 
accompanied his parents to America when 
se\-enteen years of age. He had been well 
educated in schools on the other side of the 
Atlantic, and after his parents located at .Vsh- 
land, Ohio, he attended an American school 
for one term and was then apprenticed to the 
Ashland Machine Company. He learned the 
pattern-maker's tx'ade very thoroughly and 
remained with that firm for ten years. In 
1880 he came to Akron and for ten years 
was connected with the Buckeye Mower and 
Reaper Company, working in the winters, 
and through the summers working with the 
Webster, Camp and Lane Company. Later 
lie became connected with the firm of Jahant 
and Weber, which was the oldest stove house 
of Akron. On March 24, 1893, Mr. Morgan 
embarked in- his present business on South 
Howard Street, under the style of Morgan & 
Pouchot, the partnership lasting three years, 
when Mr. Morgan sold his interest and went 
to Chicago as representative of Kernan Fur- 
nace Company, of Utica, New York, where 
he remained for two years, when he returned 
to Akron, buying back his interest in the 
firm, which then became Pouchot-Hunsicker 
& Company. In 1903 thev bought the brick 
building at Nos. 200-202 South Main, its di- 
mensions being 44 by 90, five stories high in 
the rear and three in front, where they are 
.-till situated. The company is an incorpo- 
rated one, its capital stock" being $30,000, 
and the present officers are: Charles R. Mor- 
gan, president; H. D. Holland, vice-president; 
Horace Hunsicker, treasurer, and Irvin Barth, 
secretary. All are active members of the 
firm and are practical business men in this 
line. They occupy five floors of their build- 
ing, do both wholesaling and retailing in 
stoves and general hardware, and also oper- 
ate a tin shop, making a specialty of factory 
repair work. Mr. Morgan js interested also 
in Akron real estate. 

In 1879. Mr. Morgan was married to Kate 
Stahlheber, of Ashland, Ohio. He is a mem- 
ber of Trinity Lutheran Church and belongs 
to the church council. Fraternally Mr. Mor- 
gan is a Master ^lason, a Knight of Pythias, 



474 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and an Odd Felluw, belonging to the En- 
campment. He id connected also witii tlie 
beneticiary order of I'rotected Home Circle. 

E. tf. UNDEKWOOi), M D., a representa- 
tive member of liLs proiessioHj who nad been 
engaged in the practice of medicine and sur- 
gery at Akron, for the past sixteen years, was 
born in Akron, Ohio, m ISijy, and is a son 
of Dr. Warren J. Underwood, formerly a 
well known physician of Summit County. 

After completing the public school course 
at Akron, Edward S. Underwood, subject of 
this notice, entered Buchlel College, going 
thence to the Ohio Wesleyan University at 
Delaware, and afterwards to Jefferson Aledi- 
cal College, at Philadelphia, where he was 
graduated in 1891. He innnediately located 
in his native city, where he has been in active 
and successful practice since. He has served 
as health officer of Akron for four years, his 
intelligent inauguration and supervision of 
various sanitary reforms in this connection 
resulting in a greatly lessened death rate. Dr. 
Underwood is a man of public spirit, and dur- 
ing two terms when he served in the city 
council, he advocated many public improve- 
ments. He is visiting physician to the Ak- 
ron City Hospital and is a member of the 
Summit County, the Ohio State, and the 
Northeastern Ohio Medical Societies. He is 
also surgeon for the Akron fire department. 
In 1899, Dr. Underwood was married to 
Sarah J. Kile, who is a daughter of Salem 
Kile. The doctor belongs to the Elks and 
also to the Elks Club. 

WILLI.VM H. BOWER, farmer and dairy- 
man, residing on his valuable farm of ninety- 
four acres, which is situated in Green Town- 
ship, wa.s born on his father's farm in Stark 
County. Ohio, October 12, 1840, and is a son 
of David and Mary (Bullinger) Bower. 

The grandparents of Mr. Bovver came to 
Ohio when their son David wa.s not more 
than eighteen months old and settled on a 
farm in Stark County, where they were pio- 
neer.". There David wa« reared and assisted 
his father to clear the land. The latter, had 



secured it from the Government, and it was 
still in its wild state when the Bowers located 
in Nimishilleii Township. David Bovvers 
was a man of an adventurous spirit and was 
so fond of traveling that lie frequently made 
long journeys. He was a good tanner and 
had a business w'hich kept a number of men 
employed, but when he felt the desire to 
travel he left everything and started out. He 
was a man of pletisant, genial manner and 
could always interest people telling them of 
his experiences. He spent nineteen years in 
California, in early days, during which period 
he was his own housekeeper. When he 
was about fifty-four years of age, he moved 
with his wife and family to Kansas, where his 
wife died. She was a native of Pennsylvania 
and had accompanied her parents to Stark 
County when about fourteen years old. 
David Bower died while traveling in Oregon. 
Of their fourteen children, but four survive, 
these being: William Henry, subject of this 
article; James, residing in Michigan; Ade- 
line, now Mrs. Studebaker; and David, who 
is a resident of Kansas. While living in 
Stark County, David Bower owned and oper- 
ated a fai'm together with his tannery. 

William lienry Bower remained on his 
father's farm in Stark County until 1861, 
when he enlisted a.s a private to serve three 
months, in Company A, 19th Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, which regiment formed 
a part of the force that drove the Confeder- 
ates out of their strongholds in West Virgin- 
ia and saved that State to the Union. After 
the close of his first ser\-ice, he returned to 
his home, thinking, like many others, tliat 
tlie war was practically over, but when Presi- 
dent Lincoln issued his call for 600,000 men, 
he re-enlL>ted, entering Company II, 107th 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with 
the rank of third sergeant, and during his 
faithful subsequent service of thirty-five 
months, he rose step by step until the close 
of the war found him wearing a lieutenant's 
uniform. He participated in many of the 
most telling battles of the war. notably those 
of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, Chan- 
cellorville, Mav 1-4, 18fiR, and Gettysbiirg, 




F. WIJJ.IAM FUCILS 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



477 



July 1-3, 1863. On the tiret day at Gettys- 
burg, he was struck in the breast by a bullet, 
l>ut his life was saved by a buckle on hi.s uni- 
form. 

In 1865 Mr. Bower came to Summit 
County and found employment with John 
Chisnell, grindino- potters' clay, at which work 
he continued for three years. He wa.s faith- 
ful and industriou.s, and proved that he could 
do his duty in peace as well as war. On 
March 5, 1868, he was married to Lydia 
Winkleman, who is a daughter of Christian 
and Susan (Witmyer) Winkleman. The 
Winklemans came from Pennsylvania, where 
Mrs. Bower was born, and settled on the pres- 
ent farm, which was then wild land. For 
two years after marriage, Mr. Bower farmed 
for hLs father-in-law, and then rented a farm 
in Northampton Township for three years. It 
contained 229 acres and belonged to George 
McMillen. After the expiration of his con- 
tract there, he rented his present farm for 
one year, and then removed to the old Goug- 
ler farm in Green Township, which he oper- 
ated for two years. Afterwards he farmed the 
Aaron Swartz farm for three years. In 1878 
he purchased the present farm, the old Win- 
kleman property, from the heirs, moving 
here in 1879. He has put this property into 
fine condition, expending a large amount in 
repairs and improvements. He carries on 
general farming and makes a specialty of 
dairying, his products finding a good market 
in Akron. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bower have had five chil- 
dren, namely: Cora, who married William 
A. Sutton, residing near Barberton, and has 
four children — Clarence, Lillian, Anna and 
Nellie; Mary Ellen, who died aged eighteen 
years; Anna, wife of D. Buckmaster, who 
farms for Mr. Bower, . has two sons — Isaac 
and Charles William: two other children died 
in infancy. 

F. WILLIAM FUCHS, secretary and man- 
ager of the Akron Brewery Company, who 
is interested also in other important business 
enterprises in this city, was born in Akron, in 
18.'')8. He is a son of Nicholas Fuchs, a na- 



tive of Germany, who came to Akron in 1849, 
and embarked here in a grocery business, 
later keeping a hotel. He continued in active 
business life here for many years. His death 
took place in 1890. 

F. William Fuchs, after leaving school, 
worked five years for a railroad company, af- 
terwards operating a summer resort at Cuya- 
hoga Falls. In January, 1886, he engaged 
in a wholesale beer business, and, since 1903, 
he has been largely interested in the Akron 
Brewery Company, which concern was organ- 
ized in that year and incorporated with a cap- 
ital stock of $150,000. The company has 
erected a fine plant at No. 851 South High 
Street, which has an annual capacity of 60,- 
000 barrels. Mr. Fuchs has been manager 
and secretary since the enterprise was 
launched. He is also proprietor of the Buck- 
eye Supply House, located at 66 North How- 
ard Street, wholasale dealers in glassware, 
hotel and bar supplies of all kinds. He is one 
of the directors of the Dime Savings Bank 
and Ls connected with other successful busi- 
ness houses. 

In 1886 Mr. Fuchs was married to Anna 
AVilhelm, and they have two children — Mina 
and Frederick W. The former is a student 
at Oberlin College, and the latter a recent 
graduate of the Akron public schools. Mr. 
Fuchs is a man of genial disposition, and is 
a popular member of the Knights of Pythias, 
the Elks, and the German Club. 

WARREN J. UNDERWOOD, M. D. For 

twenty-three years the late Dr. Warren J. Un- 
derwood was a jirominent physician and lead- 
ing citizen of Akron. He was a Pennsylva;nian, 
born in York County, March 20, 1840, and 
belonging to one of the old representative 
families of that section. He died at Akron. 
Ohio, June 9, 1890. 

Dr. Underwood obtained his education in 
the district schools, where he prepared him- 
self for the profession of teaching, which he 
followed thereafter until 1860. He then be- 
gan the study of medicine, and in 1864 was 
graduated at Jefferson Medical College, of 
Philadeli)hia. In the meantime he had .served 



478 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



as assistant surgeon, attached to the Nine- 
teenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer 
Infantry, later becoming surgeon of the 151st 
Regiment. In the spring of 1864, after re- 
ceiving his degree, he came to Ohio, finding 
a useful field of practice at Canal Fulton, 
where he remained for three years. He came 
to Akron in August, 1867, and this city re- 
mained the scene of his professional labors for 
the remainder of his useful life. He identified 
himself with the various medical organiza- 
tions of the State and belonged to the Ameri- 
can Medical ^^sociation, in all of which his 
high professional ability was recognized. In 
1873 he was appointed examining pension 
surgeon, and continued as such until the or- 
ganization of the board in 1889, of which he 
was unanimously elected president. He was a 
man of enlightened views and public spirit 
and was a valuable member of the City Coun- 
cil for several years. 

Dr. Underwood was first married in 1864, 
to Harriet Shoemaker, who died December 9, 
1873. One of their three children survives — 
Dr. Edward S. Underwood, of Akron. Dr. 
Underwood married, second, Mrs. Frances C. 
Pizzala, of Brooklyn, New York. 

JOHN H. WEBER, M. D., a specialist in 
surgery, to which he limits his practice, is one 
of the skilled jtrofessional men of Akron, 
whose ability is recognized and whose services 
are in demand all over and even beyond Sum- 
mit County. He was born at Miamisburg, 
Ohio, in 1877, and is a son of the late Chis- 
tian Weber. 

He acquired his elementary education in 
the schools of his native i)lace, and then en- 
tered Adelbert, College, where he was grad- 
uated in 1899, with the degree of Ph. B. He 
immediately entered the medical department 
of the same institution, from which he was 
graduated with his degree of M. D. in 1902. 
Having a strong predilection for surgery, Dr. 
Weber decided to make that branch his spe- 
cialty, and has directed the larger part of his 
study to that end. He spent two and a half 
years in the Charity Hospital, at Cleveland. 
where he had an opportunity to study almi)-t 



every kind of surgical case, after which he 
spent six months in St. Ann's Maternity Hos- 
pital in the same city. Before settling in Ak- 
ron he still further increased his knowledge 
by visiting as a student, the clinics of Phila- 
delphia and Baltimore, witnessing and taking 
part in some wonderful surgical operations. 
He is surgeon of the Summit County iledical 
Society, and he belongs to the Summit County 
Sixth Councilor District, the Ohio State Medi- 
cal Society and the American Medical Associa- 
tion. On January 3, 1906, Dr. Weber was 
married to Norma Smith, of Willoughbv, 
Ohio. 

WARREN MILLER, who is well known 
throughout Summit County as a former suc- 
cessful buj-er and seller of stock, to which busi- 
ness he devoted many years, now carries on 
general farming on his valuable tract of sixty- 
four acres, situated in Copley Township, ten 
miles west of Akron, on the township road of 
Bath and Copley, and the county road of 
Summit and Medina Counties. He was born 
in Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
August 18, 1840, and is a son of William and 
Electa (Crosby) Miller. 

William Miller, his father, was born in 
1817, in the State of New York, a son of 
Morris and Hettie (Lucas) Miller, who came 
to Ohio in 1818. For a short time they lived 
with the Turner family on the very farm 
that Warren Miller now owns, and then moved 
to Bath Township, locating west of Ghent, 
where Morris Miller cleared up a farm. He 
died in Bath Township, after which his widow 
returned to Copley Township and died at the 
home of a daughter. They had the follow- 
ing children: John, William, Aaron and 
Morris, all deceased; Harriet, now deceased, 
who was the wife of N. Hubbard; Charlotte, 
who is the widow of B. Lee; and Laura, who 
married George McMillan, and. with her hus- 
band, is now deceased. 

William Miller attended school for a short 
time at Lamb's Corners, not far from his son's 
present farm, but the greater part of his boy- 
liood was passed in Bath Township. He mar- 
ried Electa ' Crosby, whose parents came to 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



479 



Summit County at an early day, from New- 
York, settling in Granger Township. After- 
ward, he and wife lived for a short time on 
Liberty Hill, Granger Township, and then 
settled in Bath Township, remaining there 
until 1858, when they moved to Copley Town- 
ship, living here for a number of years. 
Later, AVilliam Miller bought the Harris mill 
in Bath Township, but subsequently returned 
to Copley Township. Afterwards he built a 
fine residence at Akron, where he died in 
1893. His widow married a Mr. Findlay, 
who died in 1904, .she surviving him up to 
the present time. There were two children 
born to William Miller and wife : Ralsamond 
and Warren, the former being now decea.sed. 

Warren Miller spent his boyhood on the 
farm, and obtained his education in the 
schools at Stony Hill and Sharon Center. 
For a number of years and until quite re- 
cently, he devoted the larger part of his 
time to dealing in stock. In 1870 he pur- 
chased his present farm from the Turner 
heir.s — Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Sackett. The 
present residence was then standing, Init he 
built the substantial barn in 1880. 

Mr. Miller was married (fir.st) in Novem- 
ber, 1863, to Eliza Hawkins, who died in 
1870, leaving one son, Forrest C. The latter 
married Effie Hoeglan, and they have one 
child, Florence. Forrest C. Miller is engaged 
in farming in Coj)ley township. Mr. Miller 
was married (second) in June, 1877, to Emi- 
ly Huntley, who is a daughter of Seymour 
and Eveline (Miller) Huntley. One son, 
William H., has been born of this union. Mr. 
Miller is one of the solid, substantial men 
of his community and has the esteem of hi.s 
fellow-citizens. 

0. (i. LYON, proprietor of the Lynn Rub- 
ber Co., Akron, came to xVkron in 1893. He 
was born at Mt. Rose, Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1859, .son of Morris Lyon. His father, 
a native of Connecticut and one of the early 
settlers in the county, died in 188'o. The 
present Mr. Lyon resided in Mt. Rose until 
reacliing the age of twenty-four, completing 
his literary education in the Cojiloy high 



school. He then went to Medina County, 
where he was engaged in farming until 1893. 
In that year he came to Akron and engaged 
in the real estate business, with which he 
was connected for .some six years. His con- 
nection with the rubber manufacturing in- 
dustry dates from 1899, in which year he 
became connected with the Faultless Rubber 
Co., in whose employ he remained for two 
years. He then establLshed the Lyon Rub- 
ber Co., of which he is still the proprietor 
and which is doing a successful business in 
the manufacture of rubber cements and other 
similar products. In e.stablishing this indus- 
try Mr. Lyon has placed himself in line with 
the many other enterprising business men 
who have helped to spread the fame and 
build up the fortunes of this wide-awake, l)us- 
tling city. 

Mr. Lyon was married in 1882 to Miss 
Miranda F. Adams of Munroe Falls, Ohio. 
He has one son, who is a.ssociated with him 
in business. Religiously Mr. Lyon and his 
family are affiliated with the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. 

M. D. KUHLKE, junior member of the 
firm of Jones and Kuhlke, machinists, with 
l)lant located at No. 14 East E.xchange street, 
Akron, was born in 1872, at Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of Diedrich Kuhl- 
ke, who is connected with the American 
Cereal Company of this city. He "was four 
years old when his parents came to Akron, 
and he has been identified with the interests 
of this place ever since, gaining his educa- 
tion here and his training as a machinist. 
He worked for the first three years of his 
industrial life in a pottery plant and then 
went into the shops of Webster, Camp & 
Lane, where he learned his trade, and where 
he continued for seven years, after which he 
worked in various shops throughout the city 
up to 1900, when he went into business for 
himself. In partnership with B. E. Jones, 
he established the Jones it Kuhlke Machine 
shops, the firm fitting uji their plant with 
all kinds of improved machinery, and mak- 
ing it the best equipped in the city. On 



480 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



account of ill lioalth, Mr. Jones lias been 
forced to lake up his residence in Arizona, 
which causes Mr. Kuhlkc to have sole charge 
of the shops. AVork is furnished for eleven 
skilled employes and the capacity of the ]ilant 
is taxed to its fullest extent. 

In 1897 Mr. Kuhlke was married to 
Augusta Zintel, who was born at Akron and 
is a daughter of Casjier Zintel, of thi- city. 
They have one child, Barbara Eleanor. Mr. 
and Mrs. Kuhlke are mcmliers of the (Jcr- 
man Reformed Church. The former l)i'loug- 
to Granite Lodge of Odd Fellows. 

MARK A. REPLOGLE, secretary of the 
Lombard and Replogle Engineering Com- 
pany, of Akron, an hydraulic engineer of 
wide reputation, has been a resident of this 
city since 1895. He was born in Martin.s- 
hurg, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1861. 
When a child he accompanied his parent.s 
to MifRin Countj', that state, where he was 
reared, attending the district schools mitil 
nineteen years of age. He then went to 
Franklin County, Iowa, where he worked one 
year on a farm. The. following year wa.s 
spent in an agricultural machine .shop, after 
which he made a short sojourn in Hardin 
County, Iowa, in a .second country shop. His 
next move was to Fayette County, where he 
found employment in running a saw-mill 
and was also otherwise occupied. Then re- 
turning to Franklin, he devoted another year 
to agriculture. Although married and with 
a family to support, he resolved to complete 
his education and accordingly went to Cedar 
Falls, Iowa, where he became a student at 
the Iowa State Normal School, taking a spe- 
cial Normal course of three years. During 
summer vacations he worked in the harvest 
field for Aultman, Miller & Co. While at 
this place he became interested in electrical 
water-wheel governors, built by H. E. 01- 
brich and H. H. Clay. After completing his 
college course he taught school for two term.s 
at Mt. Pleasant and Mattawana, Pennsyl- 
vania. Then returning to Cedar Falls, he 
engaged in the manufacture and sale Of water- 
wheel governors, and was so occupied until 



1895, when the manufacturing rights were 
bought by the Selle Gear Company of Ak- ' 
ron, with whom Mr. Replogle then became 
associated. He continued with them until 
1899, when he became hydraulic engineer 
for the Webster, Camp & Lane Company, and 
was with them for nearly four years. He 
then turned his attention once more to the 
water-wheel governor manufacture, organiz- 
ing the Lombard and R^eplogle Engineer- 
ing Company, under which style he has since 
continued in the manufacture of water-wheel 
governors and automobile transmissions. 
While he was with the AA'ebster, Camp & Lane 
Company, they constructed the equipment 
for the largest water-] )Ower plant (in the mun- 
bcr of turbines used) ever erected in .Vmer- 
ica — at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the work 
being under his .supei-vision. He also has 
the credit of inventing a method and govern- 
ing the first water-power plant driving an 
electrical railway by water i>ower that was 
automatically governed, in America. He also 
turned on the water and started the first 
turbines in the plant of the Niagara Falls 
Paper Company, and furnished the gov- 
ernors. These were the first turbines to de- 
velop power from the great tunnel tail race. 
The United States Patent Office and foreign 
office records show that Mr. Replogle has 
been active as an inventor, not only in his 
chosen line of turbine governors, but in kin- 
dred lines. He is inventor of many devices 
in other fields that have been found useful 
in this Electric Age. As an author it can 
be said that the first book ever publi.shed 
treating on "Electricity and Water-Power," 
liears his name. Also, at the request of the 
Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, he pre- 
jjared a. paper on "Speed Regulation in 
Water-Power Plants," that has been the foim- 
dation of American literature on that subject. 
A number of mechanical essays and engineer- 
ing papers have appeared from time to time 
in our own country as well as articles for 
European and Japanese publications. 

Mr. Replogle is a member of the ^^meri- 
can Society of Mechanical Engineers of New 
Y'^ork. He also belongs to the Masonic Or- 




JOHN MOT/ 



AND REPKESENTATI\'E CITIZENS 



483 



der, being a member of the local Blue Lodge 
and Chapter, to the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen in Iowa, and to the Modern Wood- 
men of America. He belongs to the German 
Baptist church, with which he became af- 
filiated when a young man. 

JOHN MOTZ, an esteemed citizen of Ak- 
ron, who has been a resident of this city for 
the past thirty-nine years, was bom in 1846, 
in Pennsylvania, and was reared and educated 
in his native state. 

Coming to Akron in 1868, Mr. Motz con- 
ducted a restaurant here for some years, and 
then embarked in a real estate and insurance 
business under the firm name of Motz & 
Brother, which in 1883 became Motz it 
Myers. This firm is one of the oldest real 
estate and insurance firms in the city. It 
represents such companies as the following: 
the Phoenix, of England ; Pennsylvania Fire, 
of Philadelphia; Union, of Philadelphia; 
Richland Mutual; Western Mutual, Ohio Mu- 
tual, and Lloyds' Plate Glass. Mr. Motz has 
numerous other business interests, being a 
stockholder in the Indiana Rubber Company ; 
vice-president of the Akron Provision Com- 
pany; and a director in the Peoples' Savings 
Bank, and in the Masonic Temple Company. 
He is a man of forceful business qualities, 
but, while careful of his own interests, scrup- 
ulously upright in his dealings with others. 
He is interested in the general development 
of the city, and has done his full share in 
promoting it through his business enterprise 
and public spirit. 

Politically a Democrat, he was his party's 
candidate for city treasurer in the fall of 1907, 
and was elected by a handsome majority. 
For three years he was assessor for the Third 
Ward, and for one term was councilman for 
the First Ward: and in all the conventions 
of his party he is a prominent factor, usually 
attending a? a delegate. 

Fraternally Mr. Motz is a Mason, belong- 
ing to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and 
Commandery. at Akron, and to Alkoran 
Shrine at Cleveland. For twelve years he 
ha= been treasurer of the Akron Commandery, 



and has frequently ser\ed as an official in the 
lower divisions of the order. For the past 
twenty-nine years Mr. Motz has been a mem- 
ber of the board of deacons and treasurer of 
Trinity Lutheran Church, and for twelve 
years he has been treasurer of the East Ohio 
Synod. At the meeting of the General Synod 
of the Lutheran Church of the United States, 
held at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to which he 
was a delegate, a movement of the lay mem- 
bers to raise the synodical funds by lay in- 
stead of ministerial effort, was started, and a 
committee of five was appointed, of which 
Mr. Motz was a member, to lay out a feasible 
plan for this purpose. The members of this 
committee are: .J. L. Clark, of Ashland, Ohio, 
chairman; Hon. J. L. Zimmerman, of 
Springfield, Ohio ; attorney, George E. Neff, 
of York, Pennsylvania; Mr. Jesse Schwartz, 
of St. Joseph, Missouri; and Mr. John Motz. 
In 1868 Mr. Motz was married to Martha 
Dotts, who died in 1885. There are three 
surviving children of this union, namely: 
-John A., who resides in Akron; Harley J., 
who is connected with the Diamond Rubber 
Company, of Akron ; and Ruth, who is the 
wife of Harry Kirwin, of Akron. Mr. Motz 
wa^ married, second, in 1886, to Emma K. 
Hilbish, who died in 1899, having borne her 
husband three children: Guy W., a law 
student in the Western Reserve University; 
Paul, who is a student in the Akron High 
School, and Helen Leotta, who is attending 
school in Akron. 

HOMER G. LONG, M. D., the only rep- 
resentative of the medical profession at Cop- 
ley Center, Copley Township, is one of the 
leading men of this township, having served 
as clerk since 1901 and having been promi- 
nent in almost all public matters. Dr. Long 
was born November 29, 1871, in Wayne 
Township, Noble County, Ohio, and is a son 
of John T. and Amanda E. (Stoneburner) 
Long. He grew up on his father's farm in 
Noble County, where he attended the district 
schools until sixteen years of age. He then 
entered the High School at Quaker City, 
from which he was subsequently graduated. 



484 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



He afterwards taught school for two years in 
Noble County, and in 1893 entered the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1897 with the degree of M. D. He 
immediately settled for practice in Portage 
County, Ohio, where he remained for one 
winter. He then came to Copley, remaining 
here for over a year, and subsequently re- 
moving to Piedmont, Harrison County, Ohio. 
In 1901 he returned to Copley Center, where 
he has since been located. His present resi- 
dence was purchased in 1899 from Dr. George 
Huntly. 

On August 31, 1899, Dr. Long was mar- 
ried to Bessie Hammond, w'ho is a daughter 
of James and Celia (Heustis) Hammond, of 
Summit County, Ohio. Of this union there 
have been born two children — Lucille and 
Stanley. Dr. Long is a member of the Na- 
tional Protective Legion. 

CHARLES T. INMAN, business man and 
capitalist of Akron, has been a resident of 
this city since 1870, coming here at the age 
of eleven years. Born in Trumbull County, 
Ohio, he was educated in the district schools 
of Cuyahoga County, subsequently entering 
the Akron High School, where he was grad- 
uated in 1877. Deciding to make the drug 
business his main sphere of activity, he en- 
tered the Cleveland College of Phaarmacy, 
from which he was graduated in 1880. His 
experience as a druggist covered a period of 
thirty five years. He did not confine him- 
self entirely to this line of trade, however, 
as his store included four departments — drugs, 
groceries, hardware and pottei'y supplies, being 
located in fine business blocks on East Mar- 
ket Street, which he had erected. For a num- 
ber of years he was counted among the lead- 
ing men of Akron engaged in active business 
life. About three years ago, however, Mr. 
Inman, feeling the need of rest, retired from 
the active conduct of his business, closing 
out his large interests in the store, though 
retaining his ownership of the building. Mr. 
Inman is president of the Harmony Coal 
Company, of Harmony, Utah; director of 
the Lake Erie Terminal and Southern Rail- 



way, and a stockholder in many other con- 
cerns, both in Akron and elsewhere. He 
also owns a large amount of Akron and Sum- 
mit County real estate. He was formerly 
president for a number of years of the Ak- 
ron school board. He is a member of Akron 
Lodge, F. & A. M., also of the Masonic Club 
and the German Club. Mr. Inman is a mem- 
ber of the Christian church, and was for many 
years a member of the official board of the 
Disciples' church in Akron. 

Mr. Inman was married in 1881 to Miss 
Lillian Jewett, a daughter of the late Dr. 
Jewett, who was one of Akron's most promi- 
nent physicians. Into their houshold were 
born four children, namely: Hilda, who is 
now the wife of Dr. J. H. Hulse, a leading 
medical man of Akron ; Hesper, who has been 
a student at Lake Erie College : Eleanor, who 
is attending the public schools, and Richard 
Mendal, who is the youngest member of the 
-family. 

URIAH A. MILLER, a prosperous agri- 
culturist of Copley Township, where "he is 
cultivating a fine farm of fifty-two acres, was 
born on his grandfather's farm in Norton 
Town.ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Jonas Franklin and Marietta (Slaugh- 
back) Miller. 

John Miller, his grandfather, was the first 
of the family to come to Ohio, making the 
trip from Pennsylvania in wagons, with 
about sixty other pioneers, and settling on 
the partly cleared lands of Norton Township. 
His honie was one of the first frame houses 
in that section, and he became the owner of 
two farms, of eighty and 175 acre,s respect- 
ively, which are still in the family name. 
He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. 
J. F. Seiberling. John Miller and his wife 
had a family of eleven children, eight daugh- 
ters and three sons, of whom three survive: 
Catherine, who married J. F. Seiberling; 
Pollie, who is the widow of John Lahr; and 
S. H. Miller, of Doylestown. 

Jonas Franklin Miller was a boy of eight 
or ten years when he made the trip from 
Pennsylvania with his parents, and he was 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



485 



reared on his father's farm, experiencing all 
the hardships of pioneer life. Thronghout 
his entire active period, Mr. Miller was a hard- 
working, industrious citizen, and at the time 
of his death had accumulated a fortune esti- 
mated at $20,000, most of which was in- 
vested in land in Norton Township, Barber- 
ton and Loyal Oak. His death occurred at 
Loyal Oak, Ohio, Febiiiary 1, 1907. Mr. 
Miller married Marietta Slaughbaek, who was 
born at Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 
and who still survives, her Iiome being at 
Loyal Oak. Nine children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Miller, namely: Uriah Augustus; 
Alice, who became the wife of H. F. Myres; 
Milton H. ; Ida, who is decea.sed; Harry E. ; 
John G. ; Ella, who married James Harter ; 
Ellsworth, deceased; and Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Charles Gable. 

Uriah Augustus Miller, the direct subject of 
this sketch, lived on his grandfather's farm 
in Norton Township until he wa.s eight years 
old, at which time the family removed to his 
grandfather's 170-acre property in the same 
township, where he resided until attaining 
his majority. He then spent seventeen years 
and a half on his father's property. On 
February 14, 1894, he purchased his present 
farm from Frank Seiberling and Frank Wil- 
cox of Akron, it being known as the Cali- 
fornia property, Mr. California having been 
the original owner. The farm has been im- 
proved to a high state of cultivation, and 
under Mr. Miller's able management yields 
large crops. 

In June, 1877, Mr. Miller was married to 
Adaline Amelia Koplin, who was born in 
AVadsworth Township, Medina County, Ohio, 
a daughter of David and Mary A. (Moser) 
Koplin. Her parents were natives of Sum- 
mit County, to which Mrs. Miller's grand- 
father, Christian Koplin, came from Hunt- 
ingdon County, Pennsylvania. He died in 
Wadsworth Township when his son David 
was a child of four years. Jlrs. Miller died 
April 23, 1891, aged thirty-three years, hav- 
ing been the mother of four children, namely : 
Morris E., who died in infancy;; Inez, who 
lives in Akron; Nellie, who resides at home; 



and Raymond, who is an employe of the 
Barberton Rubber Company, at Barberton, 
Ohio. 

On Febiniary 22, 1899, Mr. Miller mar- 
ried for a second wife, Sarah Jane Stocker, 
who was born in Norton Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Phillip 
and Mary (Acre) Stocker, both of whom are 
living. Phillip Stocker came from Pennsyl- 
vania, and was married to Mary Ann Acre, 
who had come to Summit County at the age 
of fourteen years with her parents, who were 
pioneers of Summit and Medina Counties. 

Mr. Miller is a Republican in politics, to 
which party his father also belonged, his 
grandfather having been a stanch Whig. He 
served his township as ditch commissioner 
the only year that the office was in existence. 
With his wife he attends the Lutheran Church 
of Loyal Oak. 

STACY G. CARKHUFF, secretary of the 
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, of Ak- 
ron, has been identified with lai-ge and success- 
ful houses in different cities ever since he com- 
pleted his education. He was born January 
12, 1872, on a farm east of Jerseyville, Jer- 
sey County, Illinois. 

Mr. Carkhuff was ten years old when his 
parents left the farm and moved to Rood- 
house, Greene County, Illinois, where he at- 
tended school until he completed the course. 
He then went to Chicago for the completion 
of his education, after which he entered the 
publishing house of Rand, McNally Com- 
pany, from which he went to the Washburn, 
Crosby Company, where he remained for 
eight years, a part of the time having charge 
of their branch agency at Peoria, Illinois. 
May 1st, 1901, Mr. Carkhuff came to Akron 
ancl a&sociated himself with the Firestone Tire 
& Rubber Company, less than one year after 
its organization, when the industry was still 
in its infancy; he has contributed of his en- 
ergy and ability, with others, until this con- 
cern has become the largest exclusive tire, 
manufacturing one in the United States, 
while its goods are sold all over the civilized 
world. 



486 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



December 16, 1896, Mr. Carkhuff was mar- 
ried to Jessie L. Johnson, of New Castle, 
Indiana. Their one child, a daughter, is 
deceased. Mr. CarkhnfF is a member of the 
Congregational Church, and his social con- 
nection is with the Portage Country Club. 

W. WALLACE WARNER is the sixth 
son and eighth child of John Warner, who 
was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 
1798, and of Marietta (Woodard) Warner, 
born in Glenmore, New York, in 1805. His 
parents moved to the "New Connecticut" in 
1834. 

Mr. Warner was born in Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, February 28, 
1848. When he was four years old his par- 
ents moved to Cuyahoga Falls, where he re- 
ceived the most of his schooling, finishing at 
the Quaker City Business College of Phila- 
delphia in 1866. He was married in Phila- 
delphia to Annie E. Yeamans, daughter of 
Robert and Mary (Greer) Yeamans in 1869. 
By this union two children were born, Jan- 
uary 14, 1870. Arthur Lee, who died in 
1881, and Harry Albert, who married Miss 
Josie James. His wife died in 1871. He was 
again married to Miss Alice Grace, daughter 
of George and Susanna (Dodson) Littleton, 
October 25, 1877. By this union three chil- 
dren were born — George Littleton Warner, 
now married to Miss Martha Burton of Okla- 
homa; Wallace Vincent, who died April 23, 
1907; and Mabel Marietta. There are two 
grandsons, Irvin Shelley, aged nine, son of 
Harry A. and Josie; and George Burton, one 
year old, son of George L. and Martha. 

Mr. Warner's business life has been mostly 
spent in Akron, in the real estate business. 
He is known as the pioneer abstract man. 
Commencing in 1870, when abstracts were 
comparatively unknown in business transac- 
tions, he compiled the first abstract books 
of the county, and established the business 
now conducted by The Bruner Goodhue Cooke 
Company, with whom he is now associated. 
He has made several maps of the city, county 
and other places. His most notable work in 
this connection is an atlas, known as "Illus- 



trated Summit County, Ohio," published in 
1891-2, and, which, though out of date, is a 
standard authority in its line. His business life 
of forty years has been an active one; inter- 
spersed with its pleasures, anxieties and dis- 
appointments. He is hale and hearty and at 
sixty is actively engaged in abstract work. 

He became deputy recorder in 1868, and 
does not believe that anj^one then a county 
officer is now living, and but four attorneys, 
only one of whom is practicing. He does 
not recall a business house or factory now do- 
ing business in the same name. Two hundred 
thousand real estate papers have been re- 
corded. Barberton, South Akron and nearly 
all the present industries have come into ac- 
tivity since that time. 

ERNEST A. PFLUEGER, president of 
The E. A. Pflueger Company, manufacturers 
of all kinds of fishing tackle, is one of Ak- 
ron's busy men and prominent citizens. He 
was born in 1866 at Erie. Pennsylvania, but 
has been a resident of this city since he was 
four years old. 

Mr. Pflueger was reared and educated at 
Akron and started to work in boyhood in the 
factory of his father, E. F. Pflueger, who 
founded the Enterprise Works, for the manu- 
facture of fishing tackle. After learning the 
necessary details of this business, Mr. Pflueger 
became secretary and treasurer of The Enter- 
prise Company, with which he continued for 
almost twenty-five yeare, resigning this posi- 
tion in September, 1906, and establishing 
The E. A. Pflueger Company. This com- 
pany carries on the manufacture of every 
kind of fishing appliance and also manxi- 
factures a large line of saddlery specialties. 
The company is incorporated with a capital 
stock of $100,000, with E. A. Pflueger as 
president; George D. Bates as vice-president; 
C. I. Bruner as treasurer and L. W. Griiflths 
as secretary. Mr. Pflueger retains his interest 
in the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, 
which was incorporated in 1886, and is also 
a stockholder in other concerns of this sec- 
tion. 

In 1896 Mr. Pflueger was married to Ruth 



AND REPRESEXTATR'E CITIZENS 



487 



Seiberling, who is the youngest daughter of 
J. F. Seiberling, and they have four children ; 
John S., Theodore S., WilHam S. and Eohert 
S. Mr. Pflueger and family belong to the 
Lutheran Church. Only as a good citizen, 
anxious to promote the general welfare, is 
Mr. Pflueger interested in politics. He is 
prominent in Masonry, having attained the 
Thirty-second Degree, and belongs to the Blue 
Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery 
of Akron, and Alkoran Shrine and Lake Erie 
Consistory, of Cleveland. 

PHILIP STOCKER, who is one of the 
best-known and most highly esteemed among 
the older residents of Norton Township, re- 
sides on his valuable farm, five acres of which 
lies in Copley Township and seventy-three 
and one-half acres in Norton Township. This 
property is beautifully situated on what is 
known as the East and West road, about eight 
and one-half miles west of Akron. Mr. Stocker 
was born in Northampton County, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 29, 1829, and is a son of Jona- 
than and Christina (Stecker) Stocker. His 
father worked as a carpenter in early man- 
hood but later became a farmer. 

Philip Stocker assisted his father on the 
home place until he was twenty years of age, 
when he came to Summit County, and worked 
for Peter Lerch for one year. He then went 
with his brother Eli Stocker, who rented a 
farm for three years. The brother then 
bought a farm in Norton Township and he 
remained with him for one year and after- 
wards worked for other farmers. In 1864 
he bought his present farm, settling on it in 
March of that year, and he has made all 
the improvements, which consist of a fine 
residence and substantial barns and other 
buildings. It is not too much to assert that 
Mr. Stocker has one of the best improved 
farms in Norton Township, and its condition 
has been brought about by his own industry 
and good management. He no longer under- 
takes the active operation of the farm, dele- 
gating this work to a son-in-law, who is a 
practical and successful farmer. 

On October 21, 1855, Mr. Stocker was mar- 



ried to Mary Acker, who is a daughter of 
Henry and Sarah (Hartman) Acker. Mrs. 
Stocker was born in Pennsylvania, her father 
being a weaver in Union County, from which 
place he moved to Sharon, Medina County, 
Ohio, when she was sixteen years of age. Mr. 
and Mrs. Stocker have had four children, 
the three now living being, AVilliam, resid- 
ing at Akron, who has two children, Harry 
and Grace; Sarah Jane, who married U. Mil- 
ler, and resides in Copley Township; and 
Viola, who married F. 0. Moser, who farms 
for Mr. Stocker and who has one child — 
Hilda Belle. 

For fifty-one years Mr. and Mrs. Stocker 
have been members of the Evangelical Lu- 
theran Church at Loyal Oak — the oldest 
members in continued attendance. Mr. 
Stocker is a trustee of this church and he 
and his estimable wife have been active in 
promoting its good influence for a half cen- 
tury. Their lives have been quiet, temperate 
and useful and they have journeyed through 
life and reached old age together, surrounded 
by comforts of their own securing. They take 
great pleasure in their three bright grand- 
children. 

CHARLES W. SEIBERLING, treasurer 
of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 
at Akron, and a business man who is largely 
interested in many successful manufacturing 
enterprises of this city and vicinity, was born 
in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
not far from Western Star, January 26, 1861, 
and is a son of John F. and Catherine L. 
(Miller) Seiberling. 

John F. Seiberling was born at Norton, 
Ohio, March 10, 1834. In the spring of 
1861 he moved with his family to Doyles- 
town and thence in 1865 to Akron, with the 
business interests of which city he was promi- 
nently identified until the close of his long 
and fruitful life. From operating a sawmill 
at Norton, where he pursued the studies and 
experiments which resulted in the invention 
of the agricultural machinery with which his 
name is still connected, he removed to Doyles- 
town, where better conditions prevailed for 



488 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the erection of works and manufacture of 
the inventions which had sprung from liis fer- 
tile brain. Later for Hke business reasons, he 
came to Akron, soon after calling his eldest 
son, Frank A., who is now president and gen- 
eral manager of the Goodyear Tire and Rub- 
ber Company, from college to assist in fur- 
ther developing his plans. In 1871 he or- 
ganized the Akron Strawboard Company, in 
1883 he founded the Seiberling Milling Com- 
pany and in 1889 he gained a controlling 
interest in the Akron Electric Street Railway. 
His death took place at Akron, September 3, 
1903. 

In 1878 Charles W. Seiberling, the second 
son of the late John F. Seiberling, completed 
the public school course at Akron, and then 
entered Oberlin College. At that institution 
he pursued a two-year eclectic course, and 
then returned to Akron in order to assume 
the duties of foreman of his father's extensive 
works where the Empire Reaper and Mowers 
were manufactured. On the incorporation of 
the J. F. Seiberling Company, in 1884, 
Charles W. was elected a director and subse- 
quently became superintendent of the works. 
In 1896, in association with his father, Mr. 
Seiberling became interested in the organi- 
zation of the India Rubber Company, of 
which his father was elected president, and 
he became its secretary. He continued with 
this company for two years in this capacity, 
and then resigned in order to accept a similar 
position wdth the Goodyear Tire and Rubber 
Company. This company, with which Mr. 
Seiberling has been identified since 1898, was 
organized in that year. It is engaged in the 
manufacture of rubber goods, especially solid 
and pneumatic carriage and automobile tires, 
bicycle tires, rubber horseshoes, rubber tiling, 
golf balls, moulded rubber and rubber spe- 
cialties. The officers of the company are as 
follows: F. A. Seiberling, president and 
general manager; L. C. Miles, vice-president; 
G. M. Stadleman, secretary; C. W. Seiber- 
ling, treasurer; and P. W. Litchfield, super- 
intendent. The goods of this company find 
a market all over the world. Mr. Seiberling 
has not confined his attentions to the enter- 



prise mention, but has also invested in and 
promoted other prosperous concerns. 

In 1895 Mr. Seiberling was married to 
Blanche C. Carnahan, and they have four 
children : Charles W., Jr., T. Carnahan, 
Lucius Miles and Catherine. They reside at 
No. 76 Fay street, Akron. 

J. Y. SWARTZ, who is engaged in a whole- 
sale confectioner J' business at Akron and is 
located at No. 69 East Mill street, was born 
in Coventry townshiiD, Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1870. and is a son of the late Alfred 
Swartz. 

When a hamlet, village or town bears the 
name of a family it is pretty good evidence 
that this family is one held in general esteem 
and the Swartz family in Coventry town- 
ship, gave its name to Swartz Corners, a pleas- 
ant little place of residence and quite an 
active business center. John Swartz, the 
grandfather of J. V. Swartz, came to Summit 
County as an early settler and became a 
prominent man in the organization of the 
various civilizing agencies. His son, the late 
Alfred Swartz, was born in Coventry Town- 
ship, in 1844, and died at Akron, in 1899. 

J. V. Swartz was reared in Coventry Town- 
ship and there attended school through the 
primary grades. He then passed through the 
Akron schools into Buchtel College. His first 
business experience was as traveling salesman 
for S. B. Lafferty, confectioner at Akron, and 
he continued in this capacity for nine years, 
when he embarked in the wholesale con- 
fectionery business for himself. In 1905 he 
built a three-story brick building at No. 69 
East Mill street, with dimensions of 20 by 
80 feet, occupying the basement, and the first 
and third floors, in his business, and having 
the second floor comfortably arranged as a 
residence. Mr. Swartz takes a practical part in 
his business himself and has two other travel- 
ing representatives, covering a radius of 
twenty-five miles around Akron. His trade 
name is a guarantee of the excellence and 
purity of the goods. 

In 1902 Mr. Swartz was married to Caro- 
line Kolp, a daughter of John Kolp; she was 




M. W. IIOYK 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



491 



born and reared at Akron. Mr. and Mrs. 
Swartz have one son, Forest Swartz. Frater- 
nally, Mr. Swartz is a member of the Masonic 
order and belongs also to the United Com- 
mercial Travelers' Association. 

MICHAEL W. HOYE, one of Akron's 
best known citizens, who is interested in a 
number of her business enterprises, has been 
one of the city's faithful and efficient public 
servants since 1887, when he was appointed 
sanitary policeman, with quarters at the City 
Hall. He is also a veteran of the Civil War. 
Mr. Hoye was born at Castle Dermott, County 
Kildare, Ireland, April 22, 1844, and accom- 
panied his parents to America in 1847, when 
they settled at Akron. 

Mr. Hoye attended the public schools of 
Akron, and made himself useful to his father 
until he was seventeen years of age. He then 
enlisted, August 28, 1861, in Company K, 
Nineteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infant- 
ry. He served three years, when the regi- 
ment veteranized, and Mr. Hoye re-enlisted 
in the same company. His command was at- 
tached to the Army of the Ohio and Cumber- 
land, taking part in every battle that the 
army engaged in: It was finally mustered 
out at San Antonio, Texas, October, 24, 1865. 
Mr. Hoye reached Akron November 28, 1865, 
making a period of sei"\-ice of four yeai"s and 
three months. 

He shortly afterward entered the employ 
of Abbey & Johnson, manufacturers of stone- 
ware, with whom he remained for six years. 
On April 1, 1872, he accepted the foreman- 
ship of the extensive coopering establishment 
of C. B. Maurer. and continued at the head 
of these shops until January 1, 1885. He then 
became traveling salesman for the Franklin 
Milling Company, but returned to Akron 
in the following year to accept the ap- 
pointment of sanitarj' policeman and milk 
inspector of the city. In this position ilr. 
Hoye has since rendered efficient service to 
the decided benefit of the public and satis- 
faction of the citizens generally. He has 
taken an active part in political campaigns on 
various occasions, and has been one of the 



local leaders of his party. He is interested 
in the National City Bank, and is treasurer 
of the Akron Times-Democrat Company. 

On October 3, 1867, Mr. Hoye was mar- 
ried to Isabella Mulligan, who died May 16, 
1872, leaving two children — William J. and 
A. P. On October 14, 1872, he married for 
his second wife, Mary Cummins, who has 
borne him five children^ — Mary, Isabella, Rob- 
ert, Grace and Julia. Since Mr. Hoye's sec- 
ond marriage he and his wife have adopted 
twelve children, making nineteen in all, 
whom they have reared and educated. 

J. T. ENRIGHT, of the firm of Enright 
& Hummel, funeral directors and embalm- 
ers, at Akron, came to this city in 1894, where 
he' has resided up to the present time. He 
was born at Urbana, Ohio, December 4, 1868, 
and was there reared and educated. 

After leaving school, Mr. Enright went to 
Chicago and became connected with the un- 
dertaking firm of Lawrence Foley & Sons. 
He remaining with that concern for three 
years, learning all the details of the business. 
The holding of the World's Fair offered many 
business opportunities to young men in Chi- 
cago, and during the period of its existence, 
Mr. Enright filled a lucrative position in the 
Custom House department. In 1894 he canae 
to Akron and went into the undertaking busi- 
ness for himself, continuing alone until Jan- 
uary 1, 1907, when J. B. Hummel became his 
partner, and since then the firm style has been 
Enright & Humniel. Mr. Hummel was born 
in Akron, October 15, 1878, and is a son of 
Valentine Hummel. The latter was born in 
Bavaria, Germany, and has been a resident 
of Akron for over forty years. He was one 
of the first German teachers in this city. For 
the past thirty-eight years he has been organ- 
ist at St. Bernard's Catholic Church. In 1902 
Mr. Hummel married Barbara Willenbacher, 
and they have two children: John H. and 
Laurence V. 

On May 8, 1899, Mr. Enright wa^ married 
to Catherine H. Doran, who was born in Ak- 
ron, Ohio. They have three Children — 
James, Francis and Mary. Mr. Enright is a 



492 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



member of St. Vincent de Paul's Church. He 
belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the 
Catholic Mutual Benevolent Association, the 
Catholic Knights of Ohio, the Ancient Order 
of Hibernians and the Modern Woodmen. 
Mr. Hummel is a member of St. Bernard's 
Church organization. He belongs to Com- 
mandery No. 6, Knights of St. John, and to 
the Bavarian Society of Akron. Mr. Enright 
and Mr. Hummel have well arranged and 
convenient quarters at No. 159 South High 
street. They are equipped to handle funerals 
in every detail. 

LUTE li. MILLER, gardener and dairy- 
man, residing on his well-cultivated farm of 
eighty-six acres, situated in Copley Township, 
was born on this farm, March 1, 1871, and is 
a son of Charles C. and Mary Ann (Phil- 
brick) Miller. 

Charles C. Miller, father of Lute H., was 
born at Akron, December 11, 1832. His 
father, Ansel Miller, came from Vermont to 
Ohio, in 1819, locating at Akron, which was 
then a settlement consisting of a few houses. 
The outlook apparently did not please Ansel 
Miller, as he went back to the East, and did 
not return until he could find work in the 
building of the canal, during which period 
he bought the farm in Copley Township. In 
November, 1860, after the marriage of his 
son, Charles C, he came to live on the farm, 
where he died in 1879, aged eighty years. 
He was married at Akron to Lucy Hawkins, 
who came to Ohio with her parents, from 
Vermont. She died in 1838, leaving two 
sons: Charles Carroll and James Nelson, the 
latter of whom died in infancy. 

Charles Carroll Miller grew up in the vil- 
lage of Akron, and attended the sessions of 
school held in the old stone building known 
to all the older residents of the city. Llis 
literary education was completed in Cleve- 
land. He then became bookkeeper in a store 
in Akron, on the canal, but being of an enter- 
prising nature and wishing to see something 
of the world, he shipped, in 1848, on a whal- 
ing vessel, with the expectation of going 
around Cape Horn to California and visiting 



the gold fields; but after two years of sea- 
faring life he gave up the idea and returned 
to Akron, bringing with him some souvenirs, 
such as whale's teeth, which his son still pre- 
serves. He then went to Michigan to assist 
his uncle in clearing a farm. While there 
he was married and at once came back to 
Summit County, and settled on the farm his 
father had purchased, where he died in Sep- 
tember, 1897. 

On August 7, 1860, Charles C. Miller mar- 
ried Mary Ann Philbrick, who was born in 
the State of New York and who, when nine 
years of age, accompanied her parents to 
Ionia County, Michigan. The long joui'ney 
was made by wagon to Buffalo, by water to 
Detroit, and by ox-team to the pioneer farm 
on which settlement was made. There, on 
that farm, the parents, Daniel and Mary 
(Gould) Philbrick died. Mrs. Miller still 
survives. Charles C. Miller and wife had the 
following children: Frank E., who died in 
infancy; Lottie A., who married M. Weager; 
Ansel P., Lute H. and Carl E. 

Lute H. Miller was educated in the dis- 
trict schools of Copley Township, and the 
High School at Copley Center, and later 
taught school for two years in Northampton 
Township. In 1892, with his brother Ansel, 
he began operating the home farm, and they 
continued together until 1901, when Mr. 
Miller purchased his farm from the other 
heirs. He lauis a dairy with fourteen cows, 
but his main industry is gardening, his suc- 
cess which is shown by the long list of pre- 
miums that he has received for some years 
past for his choice vegetables, which he raises 
under glass. He has recently built a brick 
and cement-lined silo — the first of its kind in 
this section. His early lettuce and rhubarb, 
grown under glass, sell at fancy prices. He 
also luakes a specialty of raising poultry. He 
began to exhibit the products of his farm in 
1899, when he was awarded four premiums 
at the county fair, and he has exhibited each 
year since that time, and his premiums have 
amounted to a considerable sum. In 1900, he 
received twenty-seven premiums, amounting 
to $14.55; in 1901, 180 premiums, amount- 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



4'.)3 



ing to $64.00 ; in 1902, forty-eight premiums, 
amounting to $38.00; in 1903, sixty-two pre- 
miums, amounting to $47.40 ; in 1904, sev- 
enty-seven premiums, amounting to $59.90; 
in 1905, eighty-six premiums, amounting to 
$59.05; and in 1908, seventy-seven pre- 
miums, amounting to $61.40. 

On August 11, 1897, Mr. Miller was mar- 
ried to Amy B. Arnold, who is a daughter 
of Charles F. and Rosina (Burr) Arnold, 
and they have had three children, namely: 
an infant, now deceased, Ross 0. and Gay] 
R. Politically Mr. Miller is a Republican 
and he has served as township trustee, being 
elected on that ticket. He belongs to the 
National Protective Legion. Mr. Miller is 
one of the progressive men of his community. 
He has made a scientific study of everything 
relating to the industries in which he is en- 
gaged, and he keeps well informed in regard 
to modern methods and new discoveries. In 
large part this explains his remarkable suc- 
cess. 

JOSEPH YEAGER, vice-president and 
treasurer of the C. H. Yeager Company, at 
Akron, one of the leading dry goods enter- 
prises of this city, the phenomenal growth of 
which has been a noted commercial achieve- 
ment here, is an old "and experienced mer- 
chant who has associated his sons with him 
for some years. Mr. Yeager was born at 
Newton Falls, Trumbull (Jountv. Ohio, in 
1847. 

Mr. Yeager was reared in his native place, 
and was engaged in a mercantile business 
there for a number of years. He then re- 
moved to Conneaut, Ohio, where he did an 
extensive business and operated a department 
store for seven years. Seeking a wider field, 
as his sons had reached maturity, Mr. Yeager 
selected Akron, coming to this city July 1, 
1906. Here he bought out the old firm of 
Dague Brothers, which was one of the 
oldest in Akron. The Yeagers have made 
the acquisition one of the largest, neatest, 
best stocked and most modern stores of 
this section. They are centrally located at 
No. 82 Main Street, where they occupy over 



50,000 square feet of floor space. The public 
has been quick to recognize the opportunities 
they offer, and the success of this venture has 
been already assured. 

On April 25, 1872, Mr. Yeager was married 
to Eliza Jane Goldner, of North Jackson, Ma- 
honing County. He and his wife are the 
parents of three children, namely: R. G., 
who is manager of the C. H. Yeager Company 
at Akron ; John L., who is manager of the 
suit deijartment of the C. H. Yeager Com- 
pany ; and Chloe Estelle, who resides with her 
parents. C. H. Yeager is president of the C. 
H. Yeager Company and he has a department 
store at Sharon, Pennsylvania. Mr. Joseph 
Yeager is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
.of the Eastern Star, the Elks and the Macca- 
bees. He belongs to the Congregational 
Church. Both sons belong also to the EUis, 
and R. G. Y''eager is also a Mason. 

JAY HORACE HAWKINS, one of Cop- 
ley Township's substantial citizens, residing 
on his well-improved farm of sixty-two acres, 
is a leading farmer of this section, and a mem- 
ber of the Summit County Agricultural So- 
ciety. He was born on his father's farm in 
Portage Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
November 29, 1866, and is a son of Nelson 
and Esther (Sherbondy) Hawkins. 

The Hawkins family is of Vermont stock, 
Mr. Hawkins' grandfather, John Hawkins, 
coming to Ohio from that state and settling in 
Summit County when it was still a wilder- 
ness. His family consisted of six daughters 
and three sons. Nelson being the youngest 
son. Nelson Hawkins' life was passed near 
his birthplace, in Portage Township, where 
he was engaged in carpenter work and con- 
tracting, and also in farn.ing. He married 
Esther Sherbondy, whose father, Peter Sher- 
bondy, was one of the first settlers in Sum- 
mit County. Mr. Hawkins died on his farm 
in Portage Township at the age of sixty-six 
years. His widow survived to the age of 
seventy-six. They had four children : A. 
Wesley, who is engaged in a lumber business 
at Akron; Walter N. ; Ella B., who married 
M. B. Shoemaker; and Jav Horace. 



494 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Jay Horace Hawkins Ls known a.s one of 
Copley Township's progressive and successful 
farmers. He had good educational advan- 
tages in his youth, attending first the country 
schools, then the public schools of Akron, and 
later a business college in that city. For eight 
years he was clerk in a clothing and shoe 
store. After his marriage, in 1891, he spent 
one more year at Akron and then moved to 
the old home place, which he farmed until 
1904, when he purchased his present farm 
from his father-in-law, John Moore. He owns 
a portable sawmill and for the past ten years 
has given a large part of his attention to the 
lumber business, employing twelve men. 

On December 9, 1891, Mr. Hawkins was 
married to Jennie G. Moore, who is a daughter 
of John and Nellie (Chamberlain) Moore. 
He has two children — Howard Paul and May 
Gracia. 

Politically Mr. Hawkins is a Republican. 
He is a man of sterling qualities, and is recog- 
nized by his neighbors as a representative 
citizen. In 1907 he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Fair Board of the County Agricul- 
tural Society to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of John Moore. 

HENRY B. SPERRY, manager of the fire 
brick department of the Robinson Clay Prod- 
uct Company, of Akron, Ohio, having also 
a leading interest in several other prominent 
business entei-prises of this city, was born at 
Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 1, 1863. His parents were Ira P. and 
Clarissa (Carlton) Sperry. The father, the 
Hon. Ira P. Sperry, was born in Watertown, 
Conn., November 24, 1817, and came to Tall- 
madge with hi? parents when an infant one 
year old, they being among the first settlers 
of that place. He received a common school 
education, and from the age of fourteen to 
that of seventeen was employed as a black- 
smith's apprentice. From seventeen to twenty 
he served an apprenticeship to the earriage- 
ironer's trade. He then spent a year in school 
at Cuyahoga Falls. He then worked two 
years for William C. Oviatt as carriage ironer, 
at the end of which time he purchased an in- 



terest in the concern, which, under different 
partnership relations, he successfully carried 
on for nearly a third of a century. In 1870, 
with his brother. Dr. Willis Sperry and Mr. 
Samuel J. Richie, he established extensive 
sewer-pipe works, which, in connection with 
his son, George P. Sperry, he successfully con- 
ducted for a number of years. An early anti- 
slavery man, Mr. Sperry, in 1858, was elected 
on the Republican ticket as Summit County's 
representative to the State Legislature, ably 
serving two years. On September 27, 1841, 
he was married to Miss Clarissa Carlton, of 
Portage County. Of this union were born 
six children — Willis *C., Charles O., Mary A., 
George P., Francis L., and Henry B. 

Henry B. Sperry acc^uired his education in 
the schools of Tallmadge, including the high 
school, and at the Western Reserve Academy 
at Hudson, Ohio. When a young man he 
became associated with his father in the 
sewer-pipe business, in 1884 being sent to 
Chicago as assistant to William M. Dee, the 
manufacturing agent of the company in that 
city. He then spent two years traveling in 
the interest of the Union Sewer Pipe Com- 
pany, after which he spent five years in the 
sewer-pipe business at Huntingdon, Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr. Sperry then purchased the silica 
brick plant of J. Park Alexander, which he 
operated for about thirteen years thereafter, 
or until 1904. In that year he formed his 
present connection as manager of the tire 
brick department of the Robinson Clay Prod- 
Tict Company. The silica plant of The Rob- 
inson Clay Product Company was designed 
and constructed under the supervision of Mr. 
Sperry, who is also the inventor of a machine 
for stripping the mold from the silica brick. 
Mr. Sperry's other business interests include 
the presidency of the Baker McMillan Com- 
pany, of Akron, enamelers and wood-turners, 
and proprietors of the Akron Spirit Level 
Works. Mr. Sperry is a 32d degree Mason, 
belonging to the Blue Lodge at Cuyahoga 
Falls, the Chapter and Commandery at Ak- 
ron, and Lake Erie Consistory of Cleveland; 
also to the Masonic Club. 

He was married in 1800 to Miss Helen B. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



495 



Alexander, a daughter of J. Pari Alexander, 
oue of Akron's prominent citizens. Of this 
union there were four children — George Alex- 
ander, John Alexander, Robert Alexander, 
and Helen .Vlexander. 

ALFRED AKERS, president of "The Ak- 
ron Brick & Tile Company" and of "The Ak- 
ron Vitrified Clay Manufacturing Company,"' 
besides holding a large interest in the firms 
of "Akron Supjsly Company" and "Akers & 
liai-pham," has been a prominent representa- 
tive of business interestcj in this city for many 
years. 

Alfred Akers was born in England in 1849, 
and at an early age served his apprenticeship 
to the tinsmith's trade in that country, and at 
the age of eighteen years came to ^Vmerica 
and settled in Akron in 1869. 

Mr. Akers was married at Tallmadge, Ohio, 
to Lottie Cowley, and they have five children 
— Addle May, Walter Thomas, Alice, Charles 
B., and Grace — all of w'hom are living, and 
now married, with the exception of the lat- 
ter, who resides at home. 

After following his trade for two years, em- 
ployed by "Jahant Brothers" and "Cramer 
& May," he started into business for himself, 
which he conducted alone until 1881. The 
partnership of "Akers & Haipham" was then 
formed, and is continued to-day, having been 
developed into the city's largest and oldest 
sheet metal and roofing establishment. 

In 1890 Mr. Akers bought the controlling 
interests of the "Akron Brick & Tile Com- 
pany." which he still retains, and which is 
one of the leading shale brick factories of Ak- 
ron. In 1892 he was one of the organizers 
of the "Akron Supply Company," which has 
built up a large business in the wholesale and 
retail trade in builders' supplies. In 1901 he 
was one of the organizers of "The Akron Vit- 
rified Clay Manufacturing Company," which 
has a large clay plant at Tallmadge, Ohio, for 
the manufacture of sewer pipe and drain tile 
and fireproofing, the product of w-hich plant 
is handled by representatives in the large 
eastern cities, i. e., Pittsburg, Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston, etc. 



Mr. Akers is still actively engaged in busi- 
ness and with his sons, Walter T. and Charles 
B., and F. M. Ilarpham, son of his deceased 
partner, is joint owner of the above com- 
panies, the busine.-s of which they conduct 
together. 

COL. ARTHUR LATHAM CONGER, 

formerly president of the Whitman and 
Barnes Manufacturing Company; president 
of the Akron Steam Forge Company, of Ak- 
ron ; and also president of the Diamond Plate 
Glass Company, of Kokomo and Elwood, 
Indiana; president of the Hartford City, In- 
diana, Glass Company; and for years closely 
identified with the American Tin Plate Com- 
pany, of Elwood, Indiana, w-as one of the 
shrewdest financiers and remarkably success- 
ful business men that ever engaged in great 
industrial enterprises, in this part of Ohio. 
He was much more than a business man, how- 
ever, having distinguished himself in the 
Civil War, and having been a leading factoi 
in the political life of his state. 

Arthur Latham Conger was born at Boston, 
Ohio, February, 19. 1838, and up to date of 
his enlistment in the Union Army, in 1862, 
he had remained a resident of Summit 
County, working on his father's farm and in 
his brick-yard, then turning his attention to 
boating on the canal, and just as easily, two 
years later, becoming a school teacher. In 
whatever direction he turned his attention he 
met with corresponding success. In July, 
1862, he enlisted in Company G, 115th Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, of which he w^as elected 
second lieutenant, and before the expiration 
of his three years of service he had been suc- 
cessively promoted to the ranks of first lieu- 
tenant, captain and then assistant adjutant 
general and provost-marshal, at Covington, 
Kentucky, a member of court martial, assist- 
ant inspector of railroad defenses, and w-as 
recommended by General Thomas as captain 
and commissary' of .subsistence. 

After the war had closed and there "was no 
longer need for his services in defense of his 
country. Colonel Conger returned to Summit 
County and resumed farming. In the mean- 



496 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



while he became interested in politics, and in 
1866 he was elected treasurer of Summit 
County, and served in that office for four 
years, officiating also as treasurer of Portage 
Township and of the city of Akron. He sub- 
sequently served as a member of the County, 
State and National Executive Committees of 
his party, was twice chairman of the Repub- 
lican State Central Committee and once chair- 
man of the Republican State Executive Com- 
mittee, and for eight years was an active and 
able member of the Republican National Com- 
mittee. In 1870 he first became connected 
with the Whitman and Miles Manufacturing 
Company, as a stockholder and director, and 
six years later became president of that com- 
pany. Identification with other important 
industries followed, and he crowned his busi- 
nes career by becoming the president of the 
American Tin Plate Company, which was or- 
ganized at Elwood, Indiana, in 1891, with 
a capital of $300,000. 

On November 1, 1864, Colonel Conger was 
married to Emily Bronson, who is a daughter 
of the late Hiram Volney and Ruth L, (Ran- 
ney) Bronson, Mrs. Conger survives her dis- 
tinguished husband and resides at Irving 
Lawn. They had four children, namely: 
Kenyon Bronson, Arthur Latham, Latham 
Hubbard and Erastus Irving. Colonel Con- 
ger died in Des Moines, Iowa, February 25, 
1899. 

Colonel Conger always took a deep interest 
in the Grand Army work and in military af- 
fairs; in 1884 he was made commander of the 
Akron Post, and from July, 1881 , until July, 

1888. he served as colonel of the Eighth Reg- 
iment, Ohio National Guard. He also served 
on the staff of Gen. Asa S. Bv:shnell of Ohio. 
He was a man who won admiration for his 
business genius and personal affection for the 
loA'al, generous, considerate way in which he 
treated both friend and foe. 

In Boston Township stands a beautiful 
monument which was uncovered on July 4, 

1889, which will ever serve to keep green the 
memorv of Colonel Conner and that of his 
beloved wife. It i- of Westerly granite, the 
base stone weiohinj}; over five ton?, which is 



surmounted by two small base stones, on the 
upper end of which stands the three-foot 
square pedestal. On the front is this inscrip- 
tion: "Presented to Boston Township, by 
Artlmr Latham and Emily Bronson Conger, 
to commemorate the bravery and patriotism 
of the soldiers who served in the War of the 
Rebellion— 1861-65, erected July 4, 1889." 
The names of the 141 soldiers of Boston 
Township who served are then inscribed, and 
four of the greatest battles in which they par- 
ticipated ai'e given, namely: Nashville, Five 
Forks, Cedar Creek and Appomattox. On the 
sur-base stands a tapering square shaft of 
nearly 26 feet, surmounted by a beautifully 
carved capital, with a Grand Army badge ex- 
ecuted on the side, the whole being sur- 
mounted by the finely-proportioned figure of 
a soldier, six feet and six inches in height, in 
fatigue uniform, standing at parade rest. The 
entire structure is a work of art and it reflects 
not only the taste but the patriotism and lib- 
erality of its donors and is above money value 
to the citizens of Boston Township. Its cost 
was more than $3,000. The presentation 
speech was made by Kenyon B. Conger, the 
unveiling by the second son, Arthur L., while 
the third son, in the uniform of the Grand 
-Vrmy of the Republic, acted as orderly of 
the dedication procession. 

Colonel Conger, wife and sons were all 
members of St. Paul's Pi'otestant Church at 
Akron, Ohio. 

DANIEL TAYLOR, a representative citi- 
zen and agriculturist of Copley Township, 
where he owns 125 acres of valuable farming 
land, was born on his father's farm in Cop- 
ley Township, Summit County, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 4. 1831, and is a son of Theodore and 
Matilda (Hoyt) Taylor. 

Theodore Taylor was born in Connecticut 
in 1801, and in 1818 accompanied his parents,* 
AVade and Diana Taylor to Ohio, after which 
they lived for two years in a log cabin in 
Norton Township, near the Copley line, on 
the Chauncy Beckwith farm. Then Theo- 
dore and his brother. David, took up 160 
ncres of land, on which the fatlier and mother 




FRKl) -M. 1I.\1;PITAA[ 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



499 



both died, the father's burial being the first 
to take place in the early graveyard of the 
township. 

For some ten years the Taylor Ijrolhers 
lived together on the farm, and then Theo- 
dore acquired eighty acres for himself, paying 
for it $2.50 per acre. To this he later added 
thirty-five acres which cost him $5.00 an 
acre, and for which he made part payment 
with one yoke of oxen and three head of 
cows. His wife, Matilda, whose family name 
was Hoyt, was born in New York, and was 
ten years old when her parents brought her to 
New Portage, where Barberton now stands, 
the long journey being made with ox teams. 
For eight j-ear.s after their marriage, Theo- 
dore Taylor and his wife lived on the Charles 
Hemple farm, and then moved to the farm 
on which Daniel Taylor was subsequently 
born. There both parents died, the father 
aged sixty-one years and the mother at the 
age of seventy-one. Of their thirteen children 
all died young except five, namely : Orson, 
now deceased; Daniel; Charles; Correl. who 
died while in service in the Civil War; and 
Orphelia. who married F. Arnold. 

Daniel Taylor assisted his father to clear 
the homestead farm and was reared to habits 
of industry and honesty. On November 4, 
1858, he married Louisa Foster, who is a 
daughter of Alanson and Elvira (Harvey) 
Foster. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Tay- 
lor conducted the tavern at Copley for four 
year?. He then sold it and bought his pres- 
ent farm from the Bruno Brothers. Two 
years later the husband and wife started a 
dairy, and for seventeen years they made 
cheese which found a ready sale at Akron, 
their son in the meanwhile operating a milk 
route. For a number of years Mr. Taylor 
raised fine cattle, in addition to farming. He 
has made many improvements on his place 
and has built his present house and a new 
barn, the old one having been destroyed by 
lightning. 

Mr. and ]\trs. Taylor have five children, 
namely: Harrison, who married Martha 
Bramley; Martha, who married Charles Crum, 
and has two children — Pearl and Arlis, the 



former of whom married W. Smith; Carl, 
Avho married Ida Edgar, and has three chil- 
dren — Ethel, Glen and Earl; Bert, who mar- 
ried Amanda Squires, and has two children 
— Lewis and Gladys ; and Frederick, who mar- 
ried Etta Riley, and has one child — Frances. 
Politically Mr, Taylor is a Republican and 
served four years as township constable. He 
voted twice for Abraham Lincoln. He has 
seen this section of country develop from a 
■wild region to its present cultivated state and 
he can remember when his father caught deer 
and bear on this farm and sold their skins 
at Canton. 

FRED M. HARPHA]\I, one of Akron's en- 
terprising young business men, junior mem- 
ber of the firm of Akers & Harpham, the lead- 
ing roofing and cornice manufacturing house 
of this city, was born at Akron in 1S75, and 
is a son of the late William Harpham. 

William Harpham was born in England 
and in 1870 came to Akron, where he engaged 
in the roofing and cornice . business, brick 
manufacturing and dealing in buildei's' sup- 
plies. He was one of the representative busi- 
ness men of the city and was honored and es- 
teemed by his fellow citizens. At the time of 
his death he was president .of the City Council. 

Following his graduation from the Akron 
High School, Fred M. Harpham was em- 
ployed for a time in the Akron Savings Bank, 
but on the death of his father he assumed the 
latter's interest in the finn of Akers & Harp- 
ham. He is also a stockholder and a director 
in the Akron Brick & Tile Company, and is 
a director and treasurer of the Akron ^''itri- 
fied Clay Manufacturing Company. 

In 1904 Mr. Harpham was married to Cecil 

A. Johnson, who is a daughter of Judge A. 

B. Johnson, of Kenton, Ohio. They have one 
child, Louise Murcott. Mr. ■ Harpham for 
some time represented the Sixth Ward on the 
Board of Education, and during this period 
he started a new era of school building. It 
was while he was the chairman of the build- 
ing committee that the Miller school building 
was built, which was considered by experts 
one of the model school buildings of the 



500 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



country. Thi^ type of building was imme- 
diately followed by the construction of the 
Lane, Fraunfelter, Findley and Portage Path 
SchoolSj which are of a similar type, 

JOSEPH A. P. WHITNEY, who has been 
connected with the Diamond Rubber Com- 
pany, at Akron, since 1897, id a well-known 
and respected citizen, and is a veteran of the 
Civil War. Mr. Whitney belongs to a prom- 
inent old New England family, and he was 
born in 1842, at Boston, Massachusetts. 

He was reared and educated in his native 
city, and was in his eighteenth year when he 
entered Company D, 8th Regiment, Massachu- 
setts Militia, as a private, which regiment 
responded to the first call of President Lincoln 
for troops. It became famed for its practi- 
cal work, being called the "Working Eighth," 
an honorable appellation which it deserved, 
being made up of expert mechanics. Mr. 
Whitney was its youngest member, but he did 
his part in the building of bridges and the 
construction of roads in the vicinity of Annap- 
olis and Washington City. This regiment 
formed part of the command under General 
B. F. Butler, and having served out its first 
enlistment of three montlis, immediately re- 
enlisted for nine months, and again for 100 
days, the last service being mainly in Vir- 
ginia. At the end of his period of service, 
Mr. Whitney was honorably discharged, with 
the rank of sergeant, and returned to his 
home in Bo.ston. He has been an interested 
and honored member of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, ever since its organization. 

Mr. Whitney went into the rubber business 
in 1859. and prior to starting out as a com- 
mercial traveler in this line, was taught how 
to sell rubber goods by Robert D. Evans, -who 
started in the rubber busine-?s at $3.00 per 
week and rose to be president of the Ameri- 
can Rubber Trust Company. He continued 
to sell rubber goods for some years and then 
embarked in the hardware business, which 
he conducted for twenty-five years. In 1897 
he cnme to Akron, and has since been asso- 
ciated with this city's largest rubber industry. 

:\t Roxburv. ^Lassachusetts, which is now a 



part of the city of Boston, Mr. Whitney was 
married, in 1862, to Emma D. Bills, who is 
a daughter of Mark Bills, who founded the 
omnibus line that was formerly i-un between 
Cambridge and Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Whit- 
ney have two children : Florence Bills, who 
married A. H. Marks, superintendent of the 
Diamond Rubber Company at Akron; and 
Lynwood Gore, who is engaged in business in 
New York City. 

Mr. Whitney has been a Republican since 
casting his first presidential vote for Abraham 
Lincoln. He is identified with the leading 
fraternities, having been a Mason for thirty- 
five years, an Odd Fellow for thirty years, a 
Knight of Pythias for the same length of 
time, and a member of the Royal Arcanum 
since it was organized. He belongs to the 
Episcopal Church. 

WILLIAM F. BRUNSWICK, junior mem- 
ber of the firm of Dietrich & Brunswick, pro- 
prietors of the pattern works operated under 
the above name, is one of Akron's progres- 
sive young business men. He was born in 
Germany in 1878 and is a son of John Bruns- 
wick who brought his family to Akron and 
established a home on Arlington Street, where 
he still resides. 

William F. Brunswick, after accjuiring his 
education in this city, went to work for the 
American Cereal Company, and was later 
with the Buckeye Mower & Reaper Company, 
where he remained six years. He then en- 
tered the employ of the Akron Pattern Works; 
and still later, for over four years, was con- 
nected with tlic Taplin-Rice pattern shops. 
Subsequently, in partnership with A. J. Diet- 
rich, he established the Dietrich & Brunswick 
Pattern Works, which is now a thriving in- 
dustry. 

On June 8, 1898, Mr. Brunswick enlisted 
for service in the Spanish-American War, en- 
tering the Third U. S. Artillery, which he 
accompanied to Tampa, Florida.. He was sent 
several weeks later to Santiago, and subse- 
quently was detailed with his comrades to 
participate in the expedition to Porto Rico, 
under General Allies. Mr. Brunswick was in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



501 



the West India Islands for six months, and 
after his return was mustered out at Fort 
Riley, Kansas, February 23, 1899. 

In 1900, Mr. Brunswick was married to 
Hattie Cutting, who was born and reared in 
Kansas, but who later resided in Akron. 
They have two sons: Wilbur F. and Dewitt 
John, sturdy little Americans, but showing a 
trace of their German ancestry. Mr. Bruns- 
wick belongs to the Knights and Ladies of 
Honor, and to other beneficial societies. 

ANDREW T. BROOKS, general merchant 
at Macedonia and manager of the Brooks 
Creamery Company at this point, was born 
at Cleveland, Ohio, July 2, 1859, and is a 
son of John H. and Catherine (Plunkett^ 
Brooks. 

The father of Mr. Brooks was born in Hol- 
land, in 1831, and was brought to America 
when he was fourteen years of age. He 
learned the trade of shoemaking at Cleve- 
land, where he followed it for a number of 
years, and in 1866 moved to Brecksville, 
where he was engaged in business for him- 
self until 1894, when he retired. He served 
during the last three months of the Civil War. 
He is a member of the lodge of Odd Fellows 
at Brecksville. 

Andrew T. Brooks attended school at 
Brecksville through boyhood up to the age of 
fifteen years. He learned cheese-making and 
followed this industry until 1890. during the 
last seven years being in partnership with J. 
E. Wyatt. under the firm name of Wyatt & 
Brooks. After selling his interests in the 
cheese business to his partner, Mr. Brooks be- 
came associated with Jesse J. Barnes, under 
the firm name of Barnes & Brooks, and to- 
gether they purchased the general mercantile 
bu.^iness of T. T. Richie & Co., at Macedonia. 
Mr. Brooks continued to increa.=e his business 
interests and in 1900, when the Macedonia 
Implement Company was organized, he be- 
came its president, with J. L. Ranney as man- 
ager. The company handles agricultural im- 
plements and make a specialty of manufactur- 
ing a can wa.sher, for the use of dairymen. In 
1896 the Brooks Creamery Company was in- 



corporated, Mr. Brooks being manager and 
main stockholder, and he is also president of 
the Northern Ohio Dairy Company of Cleve- 
land. 

By marriage, Mr. Brooks is connected with 
a well-known family of Macedonia, his wife 
being a daughter of Abram C. Munn. They 
have two children — Norma L. and Neva L. 
Politically Mr. Brooks is strongly Republican 
in his sentiments. He was appointed post- 
master by the late President McKinley. He 
served as a justice of the peace for six months, 
resigning the office, and is a member of the 
Macedonia village council. His fraternal 
relations are with Summit Lodge, No. 213, 
F. & A. M., of Twinsburg; the Odd Fellows 
of Brecksville, and the Maccabees, of Mace- 
donia. 

0. AV. BAUM, of the firm of Mcintosh & 
Baum, leaders in the insurance line at Ak- 
ron, dealing extensively also in loans, invest- 
ments and real estate, occupies a prominent 
position in the business circles of this city 
and is identified with numerous important 
concerns. He was born at New Berlin, Stark 
County, Ohio, in 1862, and has been a resi- 
dent of Akron for fifteen years. 

Mr. Banm completed his education in the 
High School at Canal Fulton, and then taught 
school for about three years in Stark County. 
He then became connected with the retail de- 
partment of the George Worthington Com- 
pany, of Cleveland, Ohio, with which he re- 
mained associated for three years. For the 
following three years Mr. Baum was interested 
in a hardware business at Greenstown, Ohio, 
and later became traveling salesman for the 
Standard Hardware Company, of Akron, rep- 
rasenting it for four or five years. He then 
turned his attention to fire insurance, and 
with a Mr. Graham, bought out the insur- 
ance business of App & Carr, later purchasing 
Mr. Graham's interest. In 1900 he was 
elected secretary of the Summit County Build- 
ing & Savings Company, which, in 1903, was 
consolidated with the German-American 
Building it Loan Association, a.s.suming the 
name of the latter, of which Mr. Baum has 



502 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



been secretary ever since. In 1905 Mr. Mc- 
intosh purchased an interest in the business 
and the firm of Mcintosh and Baum was es- 
tablished. This firm does an immense busi- 
ness and stands deservedly high among simi- 
lar concerns in Summit County. Mr. Baum 
is also secretary of the Summit Real Estate 
Company, and is a stockholder and director 
in the Dollar Savings Bank Company. 

In 1887, Mr. Baum was married to Jennie 
C. Spangler, of Manchester, Summit County, 
Ohio. Their only child, Lucile, is now de- 
ceased. Mr. Baum is identified with a num- 
ber of fraternal organizations. He is a mem- 
ber of Nemo Lodge, of Odd Fellows; Akron 
Tent, No. 126, Maccabees, and of the Uniform 
Rank of that order; the Protected Home Cir- 
cle; the Independent Order of Heptasophs; 
and the Junior Order of American United 
Mechanics. He takes a deep interest in and 
is a member of the Young Men's Christian 
Association. He belongs to Grace Reformed 
Church. 

HIRAM W. LIMBERT, vice-president 
and manager of the Limbert-Smith Plumb- 
ing Company, is one of Akron's representa- 
tive business men. He was born in Tall- 
madge Township, Summit Coimty, Ohio, in 
1875, and is a son of the late John Limbert. 

The Limbert family was established in 
Summit County by the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch in pioneer days. John 
Limbert was born in Summit County and dur- 
ing his active life took a deep interest in 
everything concerning the welfare of this sec- 
tion. He was for .some time engaged in the 
pottery business in Tallmadge Township. 

H. W. Limbert was reared and educated 
in Tallmadge Township. When sixteen years 
old he came to Akron and went to work for 
the Baker-McMillen Company. Later he was 
connected with other shops in the plumbing 
business, was with J. A. Smith for two and 
one-half years, then was with Whyler & Smith 
for two years, with Englehart & Eckert one 
year, with the Akron Plumbing & Heating 
Company for two years, and in 1903 he be- 
came connected with the firm of Slater & 



Smith, the firm name thru becoming Slater, 
Limbert & Smith Company. The business 
was incorporated in 1904 as the Limbert- 
Smith Plumbing Company, with a capital 
stock of $10,000, its officers being: J. D. 
Slater, president; H. W. Limbert, vice-presi- 
dent and manager; and B. G. Smith, secre- 
tary and treasurer. All these oflicers are men 
of practical experience and their business con- 
cern is a leading one of the city. 

Mr. Limbei't was married May 29, 1895, to 
Nellie Hall, who is a daughter of J. L. Hall, 
of Akron. They have three sons: Donald 
Arthur, Garland Ardell, and Wayne. Mr. 
Limbert is afilliated fraternally with the Odd 
Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. 

ALEXANDER NESBIT, general farmer 
and a well and favorably known citizen, of 
Northfield Township, was born on the farm 
on which he now lives, on March 10, 1843, 
and is a son of William and Lucinda (Hun- 
gerford) Nesbit. William Nesbit was born 
in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and 
came to Northfield Township as an early 
settler. He cleared a farm and acquired 100 
acres of valuable land. He was a son of Wil- 
liam N&sbit, who was born in Scotland, who 
settled first in Westmoreland County and 
came to Northfield Township in 1834, where 
he died. William and Lucinda Nesbit had 
four children, namely: David G., of Cleve- 
land; Emily Lucinda, who married Samuel 
Gallic, of Northfield; Caroline Esther, who 
married William Deisman, of Bedford, Ohio; 
and Alexander, of Northfield. 

Alexander Nesbit was reared on the home 
farm, which he now owns, a valuable tract 
of land, consisting of sixty-two and one-half 
acres, of which he has fifty under cultivation. 
He raises corn, oats, wheat and hay. keeps 
four head of cows, and raises calves for the 
market. 

Mr. Nesbit married .Tosephine Fillius, who 
is a daughter of Philip Fillius, of Hudson, 
and they have one daughter, Grace E., who 
is residinc; at home with her parents. Mr. 
Nesbit and his family belong to the United 
Presbyterian Church. During its existence, 




MR. AND MRS. A. PETERSEN 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



305 



he belonged to the old Northfield Grange. 
Although his father was a Jacksonian Dem- 
ocrai, Mr. Nesbit is identified with the Repub- 
lican Party. 

A. Pi:TERSON, proprieiur of the A. Peter- 
son Company, located at No. -482 kSouth High 
Street, Akron, Ls one of the city'.s enterprising 
and successful business men. Mr. Peterson 
was born in Denmark, in 1859, where also 
he was reared and educated. Denmark has 
contributed a large number of valued citizens 
to the United States, many of them having 
come as emigrants, and others, like Mr. Peter- 
son, with lives of useful effort and a measure 
of social prestige back of them. Mr. Peterson 
owes to his interast in public movements his 
present establishment in one of the most 
prosperous cities in the State of Ohio. He 
was sent from Europe to the World's Fair at 
Chicago, in 1893, as a representative of the So- 
cial Democrat Press, and came with the expec- 
tation of returning to Denmark. Finding bet- 
ter opportunities for business in New York 
than he had anticipated, he entered Wrigley's 
box factory, in that city, and learned the busi- 
ness, remaining there until 1901, when ho 
came to Akron. By thLs time Mr. Peterson 
wa-; prejKired to embark in business for him- 
.self. and although confronted with competi- 
tion, he started a factory with eight employes. 
He has since achieved a remarkable .success. 
Where at first his few men scarcely had 
enough to keep them busy, -he now finds fifty- 
four none too many. His plant is fitted with 
all kinds of modern box-making machinery, 
and its finished product is sold all over the 
country. In 1893 Mr. Peterson was married 
to Dagmar Heuriette .lenson, who was born in 
Denmark, and they have two children: Mag- 
da Marie and Reinholdt. The A. Peterson 
Company is made up of Mr. Peterson and his 
wife, the latter being a capable business wom- 
an. 

M. M. NEUMAN, secretary and treasurer 
of the Stein Double Cushion Tire Company, 
of Akron, was born in Hungary in 1859, and 
was there reared and edueated. At the age 



of twenty-one he came to America and first 
found employment for about three months as 
a traveling agent. This was followed by two 
years' othce work as bookkeeper, after which 
Mr. Neuman was engaged for three years in 
the grocery business in Zanesville, Ohio. In 
1885 he went to Cleveland and entered into 
the cigar business, in which he was engaged 
until 1902. In September, 1902, the Stein 
Double Cushion Tire Company was organized 
and incorporated with a capital stock of $100,- 
000, with Mr. C. K. Sunslian of Cleveland, 
president; J. Neuman of Cleveland, vice-presi- 
dent; and M. M. Neuman, secretary and treas- 
urer. In the following year the firm began 
business as manufacturers of a double cushion 
tire, in which they have been very succesful, 
they having now about sixty employees. 

Mr. Neuman was married in 1888 to Mi.ss 
Hattie Stein, of Mcadville, Pennsylvania. He 
and his wife are the parents of two children 
— -Miriam J. Neuman and Beatrice S. Neu- 
man. Mr. Neuman is a member of the He- 
brew congregation of Akron. He is one of 
the substantial business men of the city. 

A. C. BACHTEL, manager of the Bachtel 
Paper Company, at Akron, has been prom- 
inently identified with important business in- 
terests in this city for many years. He was 
born May 4, 1855, near Huntington, Indiana, 
from which point his parents moved to Can- 
ton, Ohio, in his childhood, and there he was 
reared and educated. One of his favorite 
teachers was Miss Anna McKinley, a sister of 
the late President William McKinley. 

Early in his business career, Mr. Bachtel 
came to Akron and engaged in the manufac- 
ture of brooms, under the firm name of Bach- 
tel & Pontious. The firm became one of con- 
sequence, and continued in business for near- 
ly a quarter of a century, their trade relations 
extending over Ohio and Western Pennsyl- 
vania. They continued a jobbing business 
until 1898, when the Bachtel Paper Company 
succeeded the firm of Bachtel & Pontious. 
This firm does a jobbing business in all kinds 
of wrapping paper, paper bags, stationery and 



506 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



wrapping twine, giving employment to a 
large force and keeping one man on the road. 

In 1873, Mr. Bachtel was married to 
Amelia T. Pontius, who is a daughter of 
Nicholas Pontius, of a prominent Ohio fam- 
ily. They have two children, Edwin S. and 
Ella, the latter residing at home. Edwin S. 
Bachtel i^ connected with the Carter Rice 
Paper Company, of Boston, Massachusetts, 
with headquarters at Denver, Colorado. 

Mr. Bachtel is one of the leading Odd Fel- 
lows of Ohio, belonging to all divisions of the 
order and having been a delegate to the Grand 
Lodge on two occasions. He was responsible 
for the motion that started the agitation which 
resulted in the building of the beautiful fra- 
ternity temple, at Akron, and served several 
years as its president. In political sentiment, 
Mr. Bachtel is a stanch Democrat and has 
served his party and city in a number of im- 
portant positions. During his term of five 
years as park commissioner, Mr. Bachtel de- 
voted himself so closely to the extension and 
improvement of the park system of the city 
and with such great results, that he justly 
considers it a satisfactory and productive 
period of his public life, one that shows him 
possessed of enterprise, sound judgment and 
civic pride. 

DAVID ITANKEY, a representative agri- 
culturist of Copley Township, as well as one 
of its best-known citizens, having served as a 
justice of the peace and in other offices, resides 
on his farm of sixty acres of valuable land. 
He was born on his father's farm in this town- 
ship, October 8, 1850, and is a son of Sam- 
uel and Maria (Witmer) Hankey. T^ewis 
Hankey, his grandfather, came to America 
from Germany. In earlier years he followed 
the trade of shoemaker, but in later life was 
a farmer and also a preacher. He died in 
Copley Township, aged eighty-eight years. 
His children were: Lewis. John, Jacob, Snm- 
uel, Sarah, Catherine and Susan, all of whom 
have passed away. 

Samuel Hankey, father of David, was a 
young man when he came to Wavne County, 
Ohio, where ho married IMaria Witmer, a na- 



tive of Pennsylvania. He then bought a farm 
near the reservoir, in Copley Township, from 
which he subsequently moved, purchasing 
land where South Akron now stands, which 
13lace he farmed for five years. After that 
he moved to the farm now owned by his son 
David, on which he lived many years, moving 
thence to a farm where White Elephant has 
been built, and there both he and wife died. 
They had five children: David, whose name 
begins this sketch; Mary Ellen, who married 
P. S. Prentiss; Catherine (deceased), who mar- 
ried Charles Travor; John Frederick, who 
owns a farm in Copley Township; and Eliza- 
beth, who married J. D. Arnold. 

David Hankey attended the district schools 
of the localities in which his parents lived, 
but as he was the eldest of the family, more 
responsibility fell upon him than upon the 
others. He has been accustomed to farm 
work almost from childhood, and has made 
farming his main occupation in life. He 
purchased his present farm from his father, 
clearing a part of the land and putting up 
substantial buildings. 

Mr. Hankey was married (first) in Novem- 
ber, 1872. to Amy First, who left at death 
one child — Forest, who lived but three years. 
Mr. Hankey married (second), in June, 1881, 
Agnes Delong, a daughter of Jonathan De- 
long. Of this vmion there is a daughter, 
Maude Ethel, who is now an educated and ac- 
complished young lady, a graduate of the 
Copley High School. It was a pleasant inci- 
dent that at the time of her graduation her 
father was president of the School Board and 
had the agreeable duty of presenting her with 
her diploma. She subsequently married Wal- 
lace Gingery, and they reside in Akron. 
Politically, Mr. Hankey is a Republican. 
With his wife he belongs to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, being a member also of the 
official board. 

C. L BRUNER, vice-president of the Sec- 
ond National Bank at Akron, president of the 
Akron Building and Loan Association and 
president of the Bruner-Goodhue-Cook Com- 
pany, all of Akron, is also identified with 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



507 



other large business interests here, either as 
prim-ipal, director or stockholder. Mr. Brun- 
er \v;ui born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 
185(5. When he was ten years of age, his 
parents removed from Ohio to Wabash, In- 
diana, where he was educated, and where dur- 
ing his earUer business years, he wiis asso- 
ciated with his father in a grain and later 
in a hardware business. Subsequently he es- 
tablished himself in the hardware business at 
Kokomo, Indiana, afterwards taking charge 
of a wood-working plant there. Seven years 
later this manufacturing plant was consoli- 
dated with a similar one at Ludington, Mich- 
igan, and a central agency was established at 
Akron, of which Mr. Bruner had charge for 
three years. After disposing of his interest 
in that concern, he went into the real estate 
business and was engaged in it to a large ex- 
tent for some years. He then became cashier 
of the Citizens' National Bank, and in 1903, 
at the time of its consolidation with the Sec- 
ond National Bank, he became its vice-presi- 
dent. He is a director in the AVhitman-Barnes 
Manufacturing Company, treasurer of the 
Werner Company, treasurer of the E. A. 
Pflueger Company, a director in the Peo- 
y)le's Savings Bank, and for four years has 
been president of the board of trustees of the 
city sinking fund. The quiet efficiency with 
which he discharges the duties of all these 
responsible offices, marks him as a man pos- 
sessed of great natural ability, sound judg- 
ment, and a clear business foresight that re- 
sults in successfiil achievement. 

In 1883, Mr. Brimer was married to Nel- 
lie Pettit. of Waliash. Indiana, and they have 
two daughters, viz.: Marion, who is a grad- 
uate of Welleslcv College: and Julia. Mr. 
Bmner and family belong to the First Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, at Akron, which he is 
serving; as a member of the board of trustees. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fel- 
lows, and sociallv with the Portage Countrv 
Club. 

LEWIS A. MILLER, one of Akron's capi- 
talists and men of lars;e business interests, 
whose investments and dealings in real estate 



in city and vicinity include the handling of 
some of the most valuable property in this 
section, is also interested in the manufacture 
of electric automobiles, and he is vice-president 
and a director of the Byrider Auto Company 
of Cleveland. 

Mr. Miller was born at Canton, Ohio, in 
October, 1863, and is a son of Lewis Miller. 
His parents moved from Canton to Akron 
when he was six months old. Lewis Miller, 
the father, was the inventor of the Buckeye 
mower, reaper and binder, and he was also 
the founder of the great Chautauqua move- 
ment, in 1874. 

Lewis A. Miller was reared at Akron, where 
he attended the public schools and for a time 
was a student at Mt. Union College. He then 
made a tour of Europe, afterwards returning 
to Akron, For the fifteen years following, 
Mr. Miller was connected with the firm of 
Aultman and Miller, as a department man- 
ager and as a member of the board of direct- 
ors. He also acted as assistant .secretary to 
his brother. For the past si.x years he has 
given his main attention to investments of a 
realty character, as mentioned above. Mr. 
Miller is a member of the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church at Akron, and belongs to 
its official board. He still retains his member- 
ship and interest in his Greek fraternity at 
Mt. Union College. 

LORAN LUMAN OVIATT, formerly one 
of the most highly esteemed citizens of North- 
field Township, who was largely interested in 
the cattle business for many years and was 
identified with many schemes of public im- 
jiroveineiU in his immediate community, 
was born in the southwest corner of Twins- 
liurg township. Summit County, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary 19, 1844. His parents were Luman and 
Lucinda (Cregg) Oviatt. He was reared on 
his father's farm, and early became interested 
in the cattle business, which was his father's 
principal occupation. He attended the dis- 
trict schools, but gained rather' through prac- 
tical experience the knowledge which made 
him one of the best-informed men of his sec- ' 
tion. He carried on general farming on his 



508 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



farm of 238 acres, eight\'-four acres of which 
had been originally purchased by his father, 
and the balance was added by himself, ('ul- 
tivating about sixty-live acres, he used all his 
produce for feed, except his wheat. Urom 
the beginning of his business career he dealt 
largely in cattle, and he probably was one of 
the best judges of cattle in the county. For 
one year he owned a meat market at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, butchering his own cattle and sup- 
plying the Macedonia market with dressed 
meat. This business he sold to Roethig 
Brothers. Buying cattle took him all over 
the country, and wherever he did business he 
made friends. He was honest in business and 
a man of .strong family affection — wdthout, 
it is said, an enemy in the world. For two 
years he was township trustee, and for twenty- 
one years was a^ member of the School Board, 
spending a considerable part of that time in 
supervising the erection of school buildings. 
His death, which took place June 6, 1907, re- 
moved from the community one of its most 
useful members. 

Loran L. Oviatt was married, first, March 
17, 1864, to Lura, daughter of Elisha Temple- 
ton. She died March 18, 1878, leaving two 
children — Edward Lunian, now a resident of 
New York ; and Frank Loran, who resides on 
his farm adjoining the homestead farm at 
Little Fork. Mr. Oviatt was married, second, 
to Elva Adell Eggleston, who is a daughter 
of Milton Eggleston. Three children were 
born of this marriage, namely: Yinna P., 
Hazel L., and Lynn E., all of whom are re- 
siding with their mother. 

Captain Joseph Eggleston. the grandfather 
of Mrs. Oviatt, was born July 6, 1779. In 
1807 he carhe from Massachusetts and settled 
at Aurora, Portage County, Ohio, where he 
was a pioneer, erecting his log cabin among 
the first in the place. Tie married Parlia 
Leonard, and by her reared six children. She 
was born in Mas.sachusetts and died in 1842. 
He married for his second wife, Anna Mack, 
a daughter of Colonel Mack. Of this latter 
union there were no children. Milton Eggles- 
ton, father of Mrs. Oviatt, wa-< horn .Tune 29, 
1814, and died November 9, 1898. He en- 



gaged in farming and cattle-raising, and be- 
came a man of considerable substance. He 
married Eraeranca Loveland, who was born 
at Aurora, Portage County, Ohio, and who 
died August 17, 18(30. The two children born 
to Milton Eggleston and wife were: I'^rances, 
now deceased, who married C-iustavus G. Cass, 
W'ho is also deceased; and Elva A. (Mrs. 
Oviatt), who was born at Aurora, January 22, 
1855. The members of Mrs. Oviatt's family 
were all Congregationalists, and during her 
residence at Aurora, she was identified with 
that church. She takes an active interest in 
promoting various charitable projects. 

FRANK NOLTE, vice-president of the Ak- 
ron Foundry Company, has been a resident 
of this city since he was seven years of age, 
but was born in Hanover, Germany, August 
14, 1865. In 1867, his father, the late John 
Nolle, brought hLs family to America and 
settled in Akron. After leaving school, 
Frank Nolte entered the employ of May 
& Fiebeger, with which -firm he continued 
for twelve years. In 1900 lie entered the 
shops of the Akron Foundry Company, of 
which lie is now the vice-jiresident. Step by 
step he advanced through the different depart- 
ments to his j)resent responsible position, 
which he gained through his own energy, en- 
terprise and industry. Tie has also other bu.s- 
iness interests and is secretary of the Pruden- 
tial Heating Company. On June 21, 1893, 
Mr. Nolte was married to Margaret Kauth, 
who wa.s born at Akron, and they have one 
child, Florence I. Mr. Nolte is a member of 
the order of Maccabees. 

FRED \V. TWEED, who is superintendent 
of Factory No. 2, of The Robinson Clay Prod- 
uct Company, has been a resident of this city 
for the past thirty-nine years. He was born 
in 1862, in the Dominion of Canada, where 
•his parents, George "William and Ann (Clark) 
Tweed then resided. His father died when he 
was six year> old and his widowed mother 
came with her children to Summit County, 
where she rounded out her useful existence, 
dying in 1902. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



509 



Fred W. Tweed attended tlie public schools 
of Summit County until old enough to enter 
the employ of the Diamond Match Company, 
where he remained for three years. He then 
became employed in the pottery of Richard- 
son, Cook & Butler, and later went to the Ak- 
ron Sewer Pipe Company. He next worked 
for the firm of L'obk & ^\'eeks, and afterwards 
for the Robinson Clay Product Company, 
which was then known as the E. H. Merrill 
Company. A period of twenty-four years lias 
passed since then and Mr. Tweed has never 
severed his connection, gradually winning 
promotion, and for the past seven years he has 
been superintendent of Factory No. 2, an of- 
fice which requires many special qualifica- 
tions. 

On July 19, 1882, Mr. Tweed was married 
to Louisa Remmy, who was born at Akron 
and is a daughter of Charles Remmy. They 
have two sons — Charles W., who is a draughts- 
man for the Diamond Match Company, and 
Frederick G., who is a student at Akron. Mr. 
Tweed is connected fraternally with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 

HOUSTON KEPLER, residing on East 
Robii>son Avenue, just outside of the corpo- 
ration lines of the village of Barberton, form- 
erly owned the 300 acres adjoining the plant 
of the Diamond Match Company, as well as 
other valuable farming land. Mr. Kepler 
was born on the farm on which he lives, Au- 
gust 25, 1839, and is a son of Jacob and Susan 
(Marsh) Kepler. 

Mr. Kepler comes from German and Eng- 
lish ancestry. His father. Jacob Kepler, was 
born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and 
was a son of John Kepler, who came to Sum- 
mit County from Pennsylvania, settling in 
Green Township, when Jacob was a boy of 
eight years. Both grandparents died on their 
farm in Green Township. Jacob Kepler was 
reared and married in that township. The 
mother of Houston Kepler was born in Penn- 
sylvania and came with her parents to Frank- 
lin Township. Summit County, when she was 
10 years of age. She was a daiighter of Adam 
Marsh, who purchased a farm, .\fter mar- 



riage, Jacob Kepler and wife came to the farm 
on which Houston Kepler hios lived all his 
life. Jacob Kepler first purchased 128 acres 
of land which he subsequently increased to 
882 acres, all but 329 acres of which were 
situated in Coventry Township, the latter be- 
ing in Franklin Township. There were thir- 
teen children born to Jacob Kepler and wife, 
seven of whom reached maturity. UnJil re- 
cently five were living, namely : Mrs. Lavma 
Reninger, who was the widow of Solomon 
Reninger and resided in Akron, died October 
30, 1907; Samuel, residing in Akron; Hous- 
ton, whose name begins this sketch; Eliza- 
beth, who LS the widow of Henry Wise, 
residing in Barberton ; and Amanda, who mar- 
ried Andrew Oberlin, and resides at Doyles- 
lown, Wayne County, Ohio. Both ]iarents 
died in this township. 

Houston Kepler attended the district schools 
of Coventry Township. He has always de- 
voted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 
1863 he was married to Catherine Foust, who 
was born in Pennsylvania and is a daughter 
of Abraham Foust. She was reared in Green 
Township, Summit County, her parents hav- 
ing come here in her childhood. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kepler have four children, namely: Clara 
A., married Andrew Kreighbaum, and has 
three children — Houston, Marjorie and Flor- 
ence; Laura J., who married W. D. Foust, 
has one son. Forest ; Maggie E., married Wil- 
liam G. Steadman, and resides in Cleveland, 
where her husband is engaged in the drug 
biisiness; and Nelson E., who lives at home 
with his parents. 

At one time Mr. Kepler owned a large 
amount of land, but has disposed of a great 
deal of it. After .selling the 300 acres to 0. 
C. Barber, for manufacturing purposes, he 
bought 127 acres in Copley Township. He 
owns also a store building and a brick build- 
ing in Barberton, which is utilized as a livery 
stable. Mr. Kepler is one of the capitalists 
of Coventry Township. He is a stockholder 
in the Dime Savings Bank, and in the Bar- 
berton Savings Bank Company, and is a 
director in the former. He is a member of 
the Reformed Church. 



510 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



In polilifs Mr. Kepler is a Democrat and 
lias been honored by being elected as justice 
of the peace, which office he held for twenty- 
four jears. He was township clerk seven yeai's 
and was to.wnship treasurer one year, and 
coroner of the county two years. 

HON. JAMES McNAMARA, mayor of 
Barberton, is one of Ihe best known and most 
popular citizens of Summit County. He was 
born at New Portage, Summit County, Ohio, 
December 4, 1866, and is a son of John Mc- 
Namara, also a well known smd popular citi- 
zen. 

Mayor McNamara spent his boyhood days 
at New Portage, which is now a part of Bar- 
berton, and, with the exception of two or 
three years' residence in Akron, has spent his 
life in this town. During his youth, while 
attending school, he assisted his father in 
the latter's store, at New Portage, and later 
was connected with the Barberton Sewer Pipe 
Company. He served under Mayor E. M. 
Buel for two years as clerk, and was assistant 
postmaster during the nineteen years that his 
father held the government office, from July, 
]893, until February, 1898. Later he was as- 
sociated witli his father in the real estate 
business, the firm being large dealers in real- 
ty in this vicinity for many years. When his 
father was made mayor, in 1900, the present 
mayor served as his clerk, and in the fall of 
1905 he was elected to the same high office 
on the Democratic ticket. He was re-elected 
in the fall of 1907, which is the first time in 
the liistory of Barberton that any mayor has 
succeeded him.self. His whole life ha* been 
passed, more or less, in the public eye, and 
whatever important position he has filled, his 
integrity has never heen questioned. He pos- 
sesses in large degree those qualities which 
arouse ■warm friendship, and enjoys the re- 
spect and esteem of his fellow-citizens, irre- 
.spective of party lines. 

Mayor McNamara was married ffirst) to 
Minnie McMullin, who died August 2, 1901, 
leaving one child, Velva. He was married 
fsecond) January 9, 1907, to Mary Mc- 
Mahon. In church relationship Mayor ^Tc- 



Namara is member, councilman and secretary 
of St. ^Vugustine Roman Catholic Church at 
Barberton. He belongs to the Elks and holds 
membership with Lodge No. 982, Barber- 
ton. 

HORACE B. CAMP, one of Akron's most 
stirring and successful business men, came to 
Middlebury, now East Akron, in 1854. He 
was born in Ohio, November 9, 1838. When 
he was a child his parents settled in Cleveland, 
where he resided until he was fifteen years 
of age. During the family's sojourn there 
he attended the public schools, his literary 
education, however, being completed at East 
Akron. After leaving school he engaged in 
farming in Northampton Township, and was 
so occupied until 1865, in which year he en- 
gaged in the manufacture of sewer pipe at 
Cuyahoga Falls in the firm of Lewis & Camp. 
In this business he continued until 1893, at 
which time the style of the firm was Camp & 
Thompson, they having plants also at Green- 
town. In 1893 there was a division of the 
firm and Mr. Camp took the plaTits at Green- 
town, which he operated subsequenth' until 
1901, wlien he sold out to the National Fire- 
proofing Company. Mr. Camp has various 
other important, business interests, being presi- 
dent of the Faultless Rubber Company of 
Ashland, Ohio; president of the Camp Con- 
duit Co.; president of the Akron Clutch Com- 
pany; president of the Colonial Sign and In- 
sulator Company ; president of the Indiana 
Run Mining Company; president of the Ak- 
ron Fireproof Construction Company; a di- 
rector in the Hamilton Building Company. 
and is also president, or a leading oflicial. in 
several other companies. He is fraternally 
affiliated with the Free Masons. 

Mr. Camp was married, in 1874, to Amelia 
M. Babb. Their household has been graced 
by four children, as follows: Grace E.. who 
is now the wife of R. E. Armstrong; Henry 
H., now a prominent voung business man of 
this county; Louis, who is residing at home 
with his parents: and Laura M., who is the 
wife of Professor Willi.nm E. Mosier, of Ober- 
lin Collece. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



513 



CHARLES HENRY, architect, of the well 
known firm of Charles Henry & Son, of Ak- 
ron, has been a resident of thid city for more 
than a quarter of a century, and is one of 
the experienced men in his profession. Mr. 
Henry was born in Vernon, Trumbull County, 
Ohio, on May 24, 1847, and belongs to one 
of the old families of that section. 

He received his first education in the com- 
mon schools near his home, afterwards attend- 
ing the High School at Palmyra in Portage 
County, and later taking a scientific .course 
in Hillsdale College at Hillsdale, Michigan. 
This was followed some years later by a full 
business course in the Bryant & Stratton Col- 
lege at Meadville, Pa. 

Mr. Henry commenced the study of archi- 
tecture early in life, and for ten years (1870- 
1880) was engaged in contracting and build- 
ing in northwestern Wisconsin. He first 
came to Akron in 1881 and engaged with Mr. 
Jacob Snyder as a draughtsman in his office, 
remaining in his employ until Mr. Snyder's 
death, when he became his successor. In 
1896 Mr. Henry admitted his son, Leroy W. 
Henrj', into partnership, adopting the firm 
name of Charles Henry & Son, architects, 
which has not since been changed. 

The younger member of the firm received 
his primary education in Wisconsin, after- 
ward finishing in the High School at Akron. 
Since completing his education he has de- 
voted all of his time to the study and practice 
of architecture. 

The firm of Charles Henry & Son do a gen- 
eral architectural business, including nearly 
all classes of buildings, but make a specialty 
of church architecture, and more than two 
hundred beautiful church edifices, scattered 
through eighteen different states, have been 
erected from drawings made by them. Their 
work is of a high class character, and in walk- 
the streets of Akron their many buildings may 
almo.st be recognized for the qualities which 
mark their work. Akron has been very ap- 
preciative and thus has added greatly to her 
reputation as a city of beautiful structures, 
graceful in outlines, substantial in construc- 
tion and entirely adequate for the purpose for 



which they were built. This firm has a well 
grounded reputation. 

In 1869 Mr. Henry, Sr., was married to 
Charlotte Anna Bartlett, of Ravenna, Ohio, 
and they have two children, viz.; Leroy W., 
who was married in 1895 to Myrtle Royer, 
of Uniontown, this county, and has one child ; 
and Julia A., who is the wife of John E. Mc- 
Canna, of Akron. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry are members of the 
Congregational Church of Akron, and he is 
one of the deacons. For many years he has 
been an active member of the Odd Fellows in 
all of its branches. In the Masonic bodies 
he is a member of Akron Lodge, No. 83, A. F. 
& A. M. ; Washington Chapter, No. 25 ; Akron 
Commandery, No. 25; Akron Council, No. 
80, and Lake Erie Consistory, of Cleveland, 
Ohio, 32d degree. He belongs also to the 
Protected Home Circle of Akron. Mr. Henry's 
portrait, also that of his son Leroy, may be 
found on an adjoining page. 

_ WILLIAM WAGGONER, a representative 
citizen and leading agriculturist of Copley 
Township, resides upon his well-improved 
farm of ninety-six acre,?, and has been a resi- 
dent of Ohio since his childhood. lie was 
born on his father's farm in the state of New 
York, November 13, 1829, and is a son of 
William and Catherine (Spohr) Waggoner. 
The coming of the Waggoner family to 
Summit County from the old home in New- 
York was a wonderful event for many of its 
members, and was probably full of interest 
to little William. The long journey was made 
in a prairie schooner and reached Copley 
Township in the fall of the year. The country 
was unsettled and no house was to be secured, 
but the Waggoners were people full of re- 
sources, and before long some timber was se- 
cured from an old sawmill, and what wa.s 
known as an "Irish shanty," in those parts, 
was erected. The present young generation 
of the family would consider it impossible to 
pass a long and stormy winter, in a strange 
neighborhood, in such a structure, but their 
sturdy ancestors made light of hardship. In 
the spring, removal was made to a log hoiise 



514 



JILSTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



near William Waggoner'ji present farm, in 
which the family lived until the younger Wil- 
liam was twelve years old. HLs father bought 
forty acres in the heart of the woods and was 
occupied through all his active life in im- 
proving this farm, on which he died. His 
widow died at the home of her son William. 

William Waggoner, direct subject of this 
sketch, had scarcely any educational advan- 
tages. There was always plenty of work to 
do in clearing and cultivating the farm and 
while he gained little book learning in his 
boyhood, he was trained to be obedient, in- 
dustrious, and self-reliant. In 1850 he went 
to Akron, where he learned the brick-laying 
trade, which he followed until 1857. lie then 
married and with his wife removed to Iowa, 
where he remained six years. 

In the fall of 1863 he returned to Copley 
Township and here liis wife died. She was, 
in maidenhood, Betsey A. Stearns, and was 
born in Copley, a daughter of John 0. and 
Orpha A. (Clark) Stearns. Mr. Stearns was 
living at that time on Mr. Waggoner's farm. 
Mrs. Waggoner left no children. After the 
death of his wife, Mr. Waggoner enlisted in 
the Union army, in the fall of 1863, enter- 
ing the Sixth Ohio Independent Battery, and 
remaining i;i the service until the close of the 
war. He particii)ated in the Atlanta cani- 
]>aign and was with the force that jiursued 
General Hood. 

When the war closed Mr. Waggoner re- 
turned to Akron and worked at his trade for 
four years. In 1869 he returned to Copley 
Township, in the spring of that year being 
married to his second wife, Lydia Ann Ran- 
doljih, a daughter of Bayliss Randoljih. She 
'died April 7, 1896. After his second mar- 
riage, Mr. Waggoner bought his present farm 
from Samuel Long, and has been engaged in 
a general line of agriculture for many years. 
He has now, however, given over the manage- 
ment to his nephew, Harry Weeks, who makt^^ 
his home with his uncle. Mr. Weeks married 
Nellie Prentice, and they have three children : 
Arthur, Myron and an infant. 

Although, in boyhood, ;is mentioned, Mr. 
Waggoner was deprived of school advantages. 



that did not prevent him studying on his own 
account. He thus prepared for teaching, and 
when he wiis twenty years old began to teach 
the winter schools in an adjoining district, 
and so acceptably, that he taught in various 
districts through nine winters. There are 
many residents of Copley Township who re- 
member him as a schoolmaster. Politically, 
he is a stanch Republican and has frequently 
served in offices of responsibility. For two 
and one-half terms he was township trustee, 
for two terms was a justice of the peace, and 
for ten years was a member of the Board of 
Education. For the pa.st thirty years he has 
belonged to the Grange, and he is proud to 
belong also to the Grand Army of the Re- 
public. 

SOLOMON M. GOLDSMITH, secretary 
and treasurer of the J. Koch Company, Ak- 
ron's largest clothing .store, was born in 1873, 
at Rochester, New York, where he was reared 
and educated. 

Mr. Goldsmith has been associated with the 
clothing business throughout his whole busi- 
ne.'^s career. He began in boyhood in a hum- 
l)lc capacity in the line of work he had chosen 
and learned its details from the bottom up, 
gradually rising until he became a member of 
tlie clothing manufacturing firm of Goldsmith 
& Son. When the firm of J. Koch Company 
was incorporated in February, 1907, he came 
to Akron and accepted his present position 
with this house, his thorough training and 
long experience making him a most desirable 
acquisition to the house. 

In 1904 Mr. Goldsmith was married to Ce- 
lia Moss, who is a daughter of H. W. Moss, 
one of Akron's pioneer merchants and a mem- 
ber of the old firm of Koch & Moss, for years 
Akron's leading clothiers. Mr. Goldsmith is 
a Free !NLason. He is a member of the Ak- 
ron Hebrew Congregation. He is a young 
man of pleasant address and undoubted busi- 
ness capacity. 

W. T. TOBTN, secretary of The M. O'Neil & 
Company, Akron's leading department store, 
bus been identified with this husines': since 



AND REPKESKNTATIVE CITIZENS 



515 



he wa.s a youth of fifteen years, and has grown 
up with tlie house as it were. He was horn 
at Akron in 1864, and is a son of the hite 
Martin Tobin, formerly a well known citizen. 
Martin Tobin was born in Ireland and set- 
tled in Akron in 1863, where he became con- 
nected with the Hills Sewer Pipe Company, 
the Akron Iron Company and the Wliitman- 
Barnes Company. He married Honora 
Brazell, who was also born in Ireland. 

W. T. Tobin was reared in his native city 
and up to the age of twelve. years attended 
the parochial schools attached to the Catholic 
Church in the parish of St. Vincent. Until 
he was fifteen years old he worked in the 
shops of the Diamond Matcli Company and 
the McNeil Boiler Company, and then en- 
.tered the store of O'Neil & Dyas as cash boy. 
His indu.«try and capacity brought him quick- 
ly to the attention of his employers and he 
rapidly rose to be cashier, and later book- 
keeper. 

The mannnoth enterprise with which Mr. 
Tobin has been connected so long, wa« started 
in 1877 and was incorporated in 1892, when 
Mr. Tobin became secretary of the company, 
the other officers being: M. O'Neil, president 
and general manager; J. J. Feudner, vice- 
president; F. B. Goodman, assistant man- 
tiger. The company has a capital of $200,- 
nOO and a surplus of $275,000. Its location 
is at 38-48 South Main Street and 41-49 South 
Howard Street. It occupies five floors and a 
basement, and 300 persons are given employ- 
ment. In addition to performing the duties 
of .secretary, Mr. Tobin is buyer and manager 
of the Leader Ready-to-Wear Garments and 
Millinery and Manufacturing departments. 

He served for twelve years as a tni.stee of 
the Akron Public Library, and is now a mem- 
ber of the Sinking Fund Commission. He is 
also a director in. and actively connected 
with, the Akron Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
pany. 

In September, 1892, Mr. Tobin was mar- 
ried to Anna G. Walsh, of Cleveland, and 
they have had eight children, those now living 
being Dorothy, Honora, Mar\', Catherine, 
Paul and Richard. The family belong to St. 



N'incent Catholic Church. Mr. Tobin is a 
member of the Knights of St. John, and has 
filled the office of district deputy of the or- 
ganization. 

CALVIN GOUGLEK, a highly esteemed 
citizen and substantial agriculturist, who oper- 
ates a well-improved tract of land consisting 
of eighty-seven acres in the north central part 
of Green Township, was born in this town- 
ship August 20, 1870, and is a son of Daniel 
and Phoebe (Arnold) Gougler. 

Daniel Gougler was born in Snyder County, 
Pennsylvania, and was a son of Tilton Goug- 
ler. a life-long agricidturist of Pennsylvania, 
and a soldier in the Mexican War. In his 
youiiger days Daniel was a blacksmith, but 
subsequently engaged in farming, and in 1870 
with his family came to Ctreen Town.ship, 
Summit County, Ohio, and settled on a 
rented farm near the Inland cemetery, where 
he resided for one year. He then removed 
to the present farm of Ami Gougler, on the 
Akron Road, in Green Town.ship, but in the 
following year located on the farm now owned 
by Calvin CTOugler, which Mr. Gougler pur- 
e-based from the Chisenell heirs in association 
with his uncle, John Gougler. This tract 
originally consisted of 153 acres, but on its 
division Daniel secured the south part of the 
property. Here Mr. Gougler died in 1887, 
aged fifty-nine years, four months. He was 
married in Pennsylvania to Pho'be Arnold, 
who was also born in Snyder County, and 
who still survives and makes her home with 
her son, Calvin. Seven children were born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Gougler, namely: Savoris, 
who lives in Coventry Township ; Irving, who 
died, aged two years ; Louisa, who married 
Frank Miller, of Green Town.«hip : .lacob, 
who lives in Springfield Township; .Tackson. 
who resides at Kent, Ohio; Maria, who is the 
wife of J. Gearhart, of Tallmadge Township; 
and Calvin. 

Calvin Gougler attended the old di.strict 
school hou.se in Green Township, and has re- 
sided in this section all of his life. He bought 
an undivided interest in his present farm 
from his father's heirs, and has l)ro\ight the 



516 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



property to a high state of eviltivation, using 
the latest methods and most improved ma- 
chinery. On March 16, 1902, he was united 
in marriage with Alice Hershey, who was 
born at New Berlin, Stark County, Ohio, and 
is a daughter of William and Ada (Hule) 
Hershey. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey, the former of 
whom died in Stark County, had four chil- 
dren : Alice, the wife of Mr. Gougler ; Maude, 
w:ho married C. White; and Anna- and 
George, who are single. Mrs. Hershey was 
married a second time to Samuel Stover and 
resides in Stark County. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Gougler have been born two children — Ray 
A. and Opal. Mr. Gougler is a stanch Democrat 
in politics, and served as township supcr\isor 
for two years. He belongs to the Grnnge. 
With his family he attends the United Evan- 
gelical CShurch. 

ALEXANDER H. COMJNHNS, formerly 
the senior member of the prominent business 
firm of Commins & Allen, at Akron, was born 
June 1, 1815, at Lima, Livingston County, 
Ne^v York, and died at Akron, .\ugust 17, 
1880, aged sixty-five years. He was the eld- 
est son of Dr. Jedediah D. Commins. His 
parents located at Akron in 1832. After a 
short period spent as clerk in his father's 
drug store, Mr. Commins became interested 
with a number of Akron capitalists in the 
manufacture of woolen cloth, satinets, etc., be- 
coming a member of the Perkins Company. 
The business was carried on in the old brick 
building on Canal Street, which is now known 
as the Allen mill. Tn 1867 Mr. Commins, 
with Albert Allen, purchased the old stone 
mill and the firm of Commins and Allen con- 
tinued to do a very large and .successful busi- 
ness for many years. This business was sub- 
sequently merged into The American Cereal 
Company, now The Quaker Oats Company. 

Mr. Commins was married October 8, I860, 
to Addie H. Starks, who was born at Buf- 
falo, New York. They had nine children, 
six of whom still sun'ive, Cora, Katherine B., 
Adelaide H., Daisy, Alexander PL and Au- 
gustus J. Alexander H. Commins, of this 
family, is an attorney and director in the Cen- 



tral Savings and Trust Company, with othce 
at No. 12 East Market Street, and residence at 
No. 135 Fir Street. The death of Mr. Com- 
mins was a distinct loss to Akron, where as 
business man and citizen he had so long been 
held in esteem. His widow survived him le.ss 
than four yeans, dying June 29, 1884. 

J. J. FEUDNER, who has been identified 
with the bu-siness interests of Akron ever 
since he was twenty-one years of age, and is 
now vice-president of The M. O'Neil & Com- 
pany, the largest dry goods store of this whole 
section, is a man whose capacity is universal- 
ly recognized, and whose good citizenship 
makes him a representative man in the broad- 
est application of the term. 

Mr. Feudner was born in Stark County, 
Ohio, in 1857, and he was reared and edu- 
cated in the vicinity of his birthplace. In 
1878 he came to Akron and was employed by 
the old dry goods firm of Hall Brothers, for 
eighteen months, later working for Brouse & 
Wall on Howard Street. In 1881 he entered 
the employ of O'Neil & Dyas, and continued 
with that firm until The M. O'Neil & Com- 
pany was organized and incorporated, when 
he became vice-president and has since de- 
voted his exclusive attention to that concern. 

In 1882 Mr. Feudner was married to Kath- 
eryn Brumbaugh, who is a daughter of Con- 
rad Brumbaugh, of Stark County, and they 
have three children : Grace, Harry and Lloyd. 
Ever since coming to Akron Mr. Feudner has 
been connected with Trinity Lutheran 
Church, and he is now a member of its offi- 
cial board. For fully thirty years he has been 
affiliated wnh the Odd Fellows, of which he 
is a Pa.st Grand, 

GEORGE A. SWIG ART, a representative 
citizen of Copley Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, who is carrying on agricultural opera- 
tions on his fine farm of sixty-eight and one- 
half acres, was bom July 7, 1842, in Frank- 
lin Township, and is a son of George and 
Elizabeth (Daily) Swigart. 

George Swigart, grandfather of George A., 
was a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



51' 



from whence he eauie to Oliio iu a prairie 
schooner and located in a cabin in the 
Wilderness of Stai'k County. He married 
Elizabeth Peifer, who survived him many 
yearSj and they had the following children: 
John, George, Joseph, Jacob, Peggy, who 
married Joseph Rex; Catherine, who mar- 
ried H. Sours; and Caroline, who married a 
Mr. ^Vsper. 

George Swigart, father of George A., was 
also born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
and was just a lad when he made the journey 
to Ohio with his parents. After his marriage 
he purchased a farm in Franklin Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and there he spent the 
rest of his life. Mr. Swigart married (first) 
Mary Daily, who died without i.ssue some 
years later, and he married (second) her sis- 
ter, Elizabeth Daily, by whom he had the fol- 
lowing children : Margaret, who married D. 
Waggoner; John; Susan, who married Sam- 
uel Kepler; Joseph; Mary Ann, who married 
J. Yocht; Sarali : Jacob; Catherine, who mar- 
ried Daniel Grill ; Elizabeth, who married 
Pliillip Serfa.ss; Caroline, who married J. 
Cormany; Henry; David; George Adam; 
Dajiiel; and Hiram. 

George Adam Swigart was reared on the 
home farm, and, after obtaining a good com- 
mon school education, began teaching school, 
an occupation which he continued to follow 
until his marriage, after which he rented a 
farm in Norton Township for three years and 
then purchased his present farm, on which 
he built all of the buildings. Mr. Swigart 
is a Democrat in politics, and has .served on 
the school board. With his wife he attends 
the Reformed Church. 

On September 28. 1871, Mr. Swigart was 
married to Eliza J. Harter, who is a daugh- 
ter of Daniel Harter, who now lives with Mr. 
and Mrs. Swigart and Ls eighty-eight years 
old. One child has been born to this union: 
Homer A. 

Homer Alden Swigart w,ts bom Augu.st 9, 
1875, on his father's farm in Copley Tow-n- 
ship, attended school at Montrose, the Copley 
High School, the Ohio University at Ada and 
the Mount Union College at Alliance. In 



1892 he began teaching school and continued 
in that profession for thirteen years in Cop- 
ley and Coventry Townships. After giving 
up teaching he engaged in a creamery busi- 
ness at Cleveland for five months, but re- 
turned to Copley Township and engaged in 
business with his father-in-law, Eugene A. 
Hawkins, with whom he is still in partner- 
ship. They are dealers in coal, fertilizer, 
lime, cement, plaster, farm implements, bug- 
gies, wagons, etc., and do a large business 
throughout the surrounding countrj-. He is 
also considering a proposition to become ticket 
freight agent for the N. 0. Railroad. Mr. 
Swigart purchased his present large dwelling 
in 1904. He is a Democrat in politics, and 
has been active in the ranks of his party in 
Copley Township, serving for four years in 
the capacity of township clerk, to the satis- 
faction of all concerned. 

During the year of the Buffalo Exposition 
Mr. Swigart was married to Mabelle A. Haw- 
kins, who is a daughter of Eugene A. and 
Laura (Colson) Hawkins, and two children 
have been born to this union: Alverda M. 
and Alice V. 

JOHN LIMRIC, now living retired at 
Akron, enjoying the comforts of a beautiful 
home at No. 556 Ea.st. Buchtel .\venue, was 
one of the leading busine.«s men of this city 
for many years, and he is also an honored 
veteran of the Civil War. Mr. Limric was 
bom in Germany. May 14, 18.36, and was a 
babe in his mother's arms, when his parents — 
Baltis and Ursilla Limric — came to America. 

The parents of Mr. Limric settled first at 
Liverpool. Ohio, but came to Akron in 1839, 
and in this city he was reared and educated. 
In boyhood he ser\'ed three years as a clerk in 
a grocery store and when seventeen years of 
age learned the carpenter's trade. On Oc- 
tober 9, 1861, he entered the Ihiion army, en- 
listing in the Sixth Ohio Independent Light 
Battery. He participated in the battle of 
Shiloh, the siege of Corinth and the battles 
of Stephenson and luka, and accompanied his 
command to Na.<hville, and aferwards to 
Louisville, where he was confined in a hos- 



518 



HISTORY OF Sl'M-MIT COUNTY 



pital for tliree \veek;>, suffering from the ef- 
fects of a wound received at Shiloh. He was 
later sent to a hospital at Gamp Dennison, 
where he remained three months, receiving 
his honorable discharge December 20, 1862, 
on account of this disability. During his 
service of fifteen months, until incapacitated, 
he performed eveiy duty of a true jiatriot 
and faithful soldier. 

Within three weeks after returning home 
and receiving the care and attention he 
needed, he went to work at his trade with the 
late George Thomas, a large contractor and 
builder of that day, and after his death he 
continued with his son and successor, D. W. 
Thomas, remaining with father and son for 
a period altogether of forty years. He was 
made superintendent of many of their larg- 
est contracts and worked at Cleveland, Bal- 
timore and in other cities, including Akron. 

February 21, 1858, Mr. Limric was mar- 
ried to Anna L. Williams, who was born at 
Harpersfield, As:htabula County, Ohio, in 
1841. Hei; parents were Lemuel and Lucinda 
Highby Williams, the former of whom was 
born in Vermont and the latter in Connecti- 
cut. They were early settlers at Akron and 
Mrs. Limric easily recalls the little log cabin 
home, to the door of which Indians would 
frequently come. Mr. and Mrs. Limric have 
four children, namely: Arthur Eugene, wlio 
was one of the first mail carriers in Akron, 
which position he still holds; Rev. Harry 
George, who is rector of an Episcopal Clnirch 
at Abilene, Texas; Lulu May, wife of .7. C. 
Leohner, of New Castle, Pennsylvania: and 
Curtis Clifton, who is employed in tlu^ olfico 
of the Diamond Rubber Works at Akron. 

Mr. Limric is a member of Bucklev Post, 
No. 12, G. A. R. Since 1864 he has been 
identified with the Odd Fellows as a member 
of Lodge No. 50 and of Encampment No. 
18. Mr. and Mrs. Limric are both members 
of Colfax Lodge, No. 23, Daughters of Re- 
bekah, Mrs. Limric being one of the charter 
members. 

H. PL CAMP, whose business interests at 
Akron cover many of the leading enterprise? 



of the city and neighborhood, is treasurer and 
manager of the Camp Conduit Company. He 
was born at Cuyahoga Falls, in October, 1876, 
and is a son of the venerable IL B. Camp, 
who was prominently identified for many 
years with the nianufacture of clay prod- 
ucts. 

Mr. Camp was educated in the schools of 
Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson and Akron, and first 
entered into bu.S'iness as assistant to his father. 
Later he went to New York city to take charge 
of a large contract his father was filling. He 
remained there three years, at the end of 
which time he returned to his father's office 
and continued with him until the Cami) fac- 
tory was bought by The National Tinproof- 
ing Company. He remained with that cor- 
l>oration as manager for three years, when 
the organization of The Camp Conduit Com- 
pany called him to accept official position with 
tliis organization. The plant of this company 
is situated at Independence, in Cuyahoga 
County. Other enterprises in which Mr. 
Can>p is interested are the Central Savings 
and Tru.st Company, of which he is a di- 
rector and stockholder; the Akron Fireproof 
Construction Company, of Akron, Ohio, and 
the Akron Coal Company, in both of which lie 
is also stockholder and director. Other less 
important concerns also claim his attention. 
On September 10, 1902, Mr. Camp was mar- 
ried to Anna Christy Metlin, who was born 
and reared at Akron. Mr. Camp is a member 
of the Akron club. 

.T. IT. ANDREWS, superintendent of the 
Quaker Oats Company's Akron mills, is an 
experienced man in his line, having been 
identified with the grain business almost all 
his mature life, and since 1881 has been par- 
ticularly occupied in milling. He was born 
in 1856, at Cincinnati, and was reared and 
educated in his native city, where he was en- 
gaged for three years in a wholesale grocery 
business. In 1881 he embarked in a milling 
business at Ravenna, in connection with 
which he operated an elevator. He contin- 
ued there until 1891, when he came to Akron, 
since which time he has been .superintendent 








REV. JOHN B. BROUN, D. D. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



521 



of the millg of the Quaker Oat« Company, one 
of Akron's most impoi'tant indastrie.*, where 
from 700 to 1,000 people find employment. 
In 1887 Mr. Andrew.s wa.s married to Laura 
L. Day, of Kent, Ohio, and they have three 
children : Laura, Llelen and Edward. With 
hi.s family, Mr. Andrews belongs to St. Paul's 
Episcopal Chiirch. Fraternally, Mr. An- 
drews is a Ma.-on and has long been promi- 
nent in the Portage Coimtry cluV). of which 
he is vice-president, and is at present acting 
president. 

REV. JOHN B. BROUN, D. D., pastor of 
St. Bernard's Church at Akron, and the oldest 
Catholic priest in the city, was born at Ren- 
ing, France, March 2, 1834, and accompanied 
his parents to America and to Monroe, Michi- 
gan, in 1847. In his boyhood he attended 
the parochial schools, and at the age of 20 
years became a pupil in A.ssumption College, 
at Sandwich, Ontario, Dominion of Canada, 
where he remained three years. He then en- 
tered St. Thoma-s's College, near Beardstown, 
Kentucky, where he was graduated in 1860, 
and after one year in St. Mary's College, 
Cleveland, returned to Assumption College, 
where he studied theology for three years. In 
1863 he wa.* ordained a priest by Bishop Bar- 
raga, of Michigan, and located at Eagle Har- 
bor, in that stat.e. The three years which 
Father Broun spent in this mission were 
memoraljle ones. His territory covered fifty- 
five miles in extent, and pastoral visits to some 
of the 1,000 families included under his 
charge could be made only on foot, often 
through dense forests. Nevertheless, twice 
each month, the faithful priest was on hand 
at churches or missions scattered far apart, to 
greet his people and comfort them liy his 
ministrations. Since 18G6 Father Broun has 
been identified with pastoral work at Akron, 
his only respite from continuous duty having 
been obtained during two brief visits to Eu- 
rope. 

St. Bernard's Church, of which Father 
Broun has been pastor for forty-one years, 
has an interesting history. Originally all the 
people of various nationalities subscribing to 



the Roman Catlaolic faith, at Akron, were 
identified with the parish of St. Vincent de 
Paul. As the German element increased, an 
amicable separation was effected in 1861, 
twenty-three German families of the latter 
nationality forming a new society which was 
named for St. Bernard. In 1862 a church 
edifice was connnenced and when Rev. Mr. 
Broun took charge, as the third regular pas- 
tor, St. Bernard's had become the church 
home of the German Catholic element in Ak- 
ron. Father Broun's work has not only been 
directed for the .spiritual welfare of his con- 
stantly increasing congregation, but he has 
worked alrnost as persistently and successfully 
for their material benefit. Through many 
changes St. Bernard's has become one of the 
most substantial congregations in the city, 
and the church, which was completed in 1905, 
is one of the finest religious edifices in Akron. 
The corner stone of the new church was laid 
with impre.ssive ceremonies, June 23, 1902, 
and was dedicated October 14. 1905. Father 
Broun is one of the most beloved among the 
Catholic clergy, and is held in the high es- 
teem also, both in his own and other churches, 
for his business ability, his scholarly attain- 
ments, and his other admirable personal qual- 
ities. 

ALFRED CAPRON, who has been a life- 
long resident of Copley Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, was born in the log cabin 
erected by his father on the pioneer family 
farm. May 8, 1832, and is a son of Ara and 
Eliza (Sweet) Capron. 

The Caprons and the Sweets both belonged 
to Pennsylvania. Orren Capron, the grand- 
father of Alfred, was the leader of the fam- 
ily party that came to Ohio. He took up 160 
acres of land on the Smith road on the Bath- 
Copley Township line, in Summit County, 
and there spent the remainder of his life, 
dying at the age of eighty-four years. He 
had four sons and one daughter, and he 
as.si.sted all of his children to procure farms. 
Ara Capron, the youngest son, had accompa- 
nied his father wdth his newly-made wife, 
and he took up land in Copley Town.«hip, 



522 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



which he subsequently cleared, and built the 
log house in which his children were born. 
There were five of these, as follows: Laban, 
who died in 1907, aged eighty-three years; 
Elias, who died, aged fifty-three years; 
Adeline, who married Abel Allen, deceased; 
Albert, deceased; and Alfred, residing in 
Copley Township. 

When Alfred Capron was two years old he 
lost his father by death, and, although he re- 
mained on the old farm with his mother, he 
was obliged to look after himself from the 
age of ten years. He attended the district 
school for a short time, but his educational 
advantages were' few. Different farmers in 
the neighborhood employed him at a .salary 
of three dollars a month, which was increased 
as he grew older, and he continued to work by 
the month until he was thirty years of age. 
On April 10, 1862, he was married to Emily 
Moore, who is a daughter of "William and 
Mary (Baer) Moore, who came from Frank- 
lin County, Pennsylvania, to Summit County 
and settled on this farm in 1833. Mr.s. Cap- 
ron was born near this place. Her father 
died at the age of forty -five years and her 
mother, in 1872, at the age of fifty-nine years. 
There were six children in the Moore fam- 
ily, namely: Oliver and John R., both de- 
ceased; Perry, Emily and Amanda and Mc- 
Curdy, both deceased. All of Mrs. Capron's 
brothers, except the youngest, served in the 
Civil War, and all the brothers of Mr. Cap- 
ron also were soldiers, these families being 
very patriotic. Mr. Capron preserves the 
splintered gun which his brother-in-law, John 
R. Moore, carried. Elias Capron served in the 
Mexican War and later participated in the In- 
dian troubles in the West. Albert Capron also 
served in the Civil War. enlisting in 18(i2 in 
the Second Ohio Volunteer Cavalr\', and was 
a courageous soldier, who faced the dangers 
of war for four years, but fortunately escaped 
injury. 

Shortly after his marriage. .Mfred Capron 
enlisted, in August, 1862. and served six 
months as a teamster. In February, 1864, he 
re-enlisted as a private in Company I, 188th 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under 



Captain Smith and served until the close of 
the war. When Mr. Capron ret\u-ned from 
his military service he began farming for 
himself, buying from E. Randall one-half of 
his present farm, to which he moved, and 
• here he has continued ever since. He has 143 
acres of valuable land, which he devot&5 to 
general farming. Mr. Capron made the 
greater number of the improvements on the 
place, erecting the substantial buildings, set- 
ting out the hedge fence, which is very orna- 
mental, and has made a comfortable and at- 
tractive home, both without and within. 
Among the interesting articles of furniture 
that he di.splays with pardonable pride, is his 
grandfather's old clock, which is made of 
wood and stands eight feet high. Its pendu- 
lum still swings true, although it must have 
marked the flight of time for the past hundred 
years. In addition to looking after his farm, 
Mr. Capron is interested as a stockholder in 
the Logan Clav Product Companv. at Looan, 
Ohio. 

Mr. and Mrs. Capron have two children, 
Ara and Bessie. The former married Flor- 
ence Vallen and they live on a part of Mr. 
Capron's farm. Politically, Mr. Canron is a 
Republican, and he belongs to the local post 
of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both 
he and wife are valued members of the United 
Brethren Church. His life of seventy-five 
years has covered an important part of his 
country's history, and he has been a witness 
of many beneficial changes in his own com- 
munity. 

WILL CHRISTY, one of Akron's mo-^t 
prominent busines'; men and influential citi- 
zens, who is president of the Central Savings 
and Trust Company, vice-president of the 
Northern Ohio Traction and Light Company, 
president of the Akron People's Telephone 
Company and president of the Hamilton 
Building Company, has also other extensive 
interests in Akron and the vicinity. He was 
born in Akron, in 1859, was reared in this 
city and was educated in its public schools. 

In early manhood, Mr. Christy became in- 
terested in the tannine; and leather business. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



with his father, and remained connected with 
that industry for ten years, after which his at- 
tention was attracted to the promotion and 
construction of electric railways. It was Mr. 
Christy who organized the Cleveland Con- 
struction Company, which has built many 
thousands of miles of electric railroads 
through Ohio and in Canada, at present hav- 
ing 170 miles of road in course of construc- 
tion. His business interests have gradually 
broadened until he has become associated, 
either as the head or a.s a director or stock- 
bolder, in a large number of the leading 
bu.siness concerns of this section. In the prime 
of life, he has hardly yet reached the full 
measure of his usefulness. 

In 1890 Mr. Christy was married to Rose 
Day, who is a daughter of E. S. Day, vice- 
president of the National City Bank, of Ak- 
ron. Mr. and Mrs. Christy belong to St. 
Paul's Episcopal Church. He is identified 
wath a number of social organizations, in- 
cluding the Portage Country club and the 
Union. Euclid and Country clubs, of Cleve- 
land. 

DR. ARTHUR M. COLE, banker and 
manufacturer, and one of the busiest men in 
.\kron, is a native of Summit County, hav- 
ing been born near Everett. His education, 
begun in the district schools of Boston Town- 
ship, was continued later in Cleveland, Ohio. 
He then spent several years as clerk in his 
father's store at Peninsula, Ohio. Toward 
the end of this period he had leanings to- 
ward a professional career, and so we find him 
beginning the study of medicine, which he 
pursued first in New York city, graduating 
from the New York Medical College, and aft- 
erwards in the Cleveland (Ohio) Medical Col- 
lege, from which he was graduated in the 
cla.ss of 1876. For two or three years subse- 
quently he practiced his profession in Cleve- 
land. Then, returning to hi? native county, 
he practiced for about a year at Peninsula. 

The death of his father, which occurred 
about this time, changed the whole current 
of his life, and directed it into those chan- 
nels of trade and finance in which it has 



since flowed with such momentous volume. 
He purchased his father's business and con- 
ducted it very successfully until his election in 
1883 as treasurer of Summit County. His 
election to this responsible office shows that 
he had by this time become generally recog- 
nized throughout the county as a man of 
financial ability and trustworthy character, 
and the record he made while in the office 
justified the people's confidence, and resulted 
in his re-election for a second term, the period 
of his incumbency thus covering four con- 
■secutive years. During the same period he 
served as city treasurer of Akron. He had 
now entered fully into the business life of 
the city; his ability was recognized and his 
opinion sought in regard to matters of trade 
and finance by the leading business men here, 
and led naturally to his connection with some 
of Akron's representative concerns. He was 
for some time president of the City National 
Bank; was one of the organizers of the Akron 
Twine and Cordage Works, and was its secre- 
tary, treasurer and manager until its merger 
with the National Cordage Company in Tan- 
uary, 1891 ; he was president also of the J. C. 
McNeil Boiler Company. He has since con- 
tinued his successful business career, being, 
or having been, president of a number of 
other flourishing enterprises in Akron and 
in other cities. He organized the Western 
linoleum Company and was its president for 
years; it is now the Standard Oil Cloth Com- 
pany, in which he is largely interested, and 
of which industry he may be called the 
pioneer in the West. He has also been and 
is still closely connected with the match man- 
ufacturing industry, is president of the Re- 
liable Match Company at Ashland, Ohio, and 
is also concerned in the manufacture of drill- 
ing machines, for ten years having been 
president of the Star Drilling Machine Com- 
pany. He was one of the organizers of the 
Plome Building & Loan Company, and was 
its vice-p resident until his resignation. He is 
also an active and influential member of the 
Akron Board of Trade, of which he wa« one 
of the organizers, and president for some 
time. He is also at the head of the firm of A. 



524 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



M. Cole & Company, bankers. In short, Dr. 
Cole may be described as a man of wide and 
useful activities, in close touch with every- 
thing connected with the growth and ma- 
terial advancement of the thriving city in 
which he has made his home. 

In his fraternal and religious affiliations 
also he is not lacking. In the Masonic Or- 
der he has advanced as far as the Connnand- 
ery, and both the Knights of Pythias and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows claim 
him as a brother. An Episcopalian in re- 
ligion, he is a member of the Church of Our 
Saviour at Akron, which he consistently 
helps to support, his benefactions (lowing 
also at times, as he sees cause, in additional 
channels. 

Dr. Cole was married, January 20, 187B, 
to Mrs. Lucy J. Tru.scott, of Cleveland, who, 
besides the two children she brought to him^ 
Harry and Jessie Truscott, has borne him 
two sons — Samuel Jackson, born May 30, 
1879; and Edmund Herbert, born November 
25, 1882. Of the two latter, Samuel J. Cole 
is now cashier for the United States Express 
Company, while Ednnmd H. Cole is his fath- 
er's as.sociate in business. Mrs. Cole is a sis- 
ter of the Hon. A. L. Conger. The family 
home is at No. 18 Bowery Street. 

PERRY GIBSON EWART wa.< born 
August 28, 1847, in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of John 
and Elizabeth "(Harris) Ewart. 

The Ewart> family is of Scotch-Irish extrac- 
tion, the groat-grandfather, in company with 
several of his brothers, coming to America at 
a very early day and settling in Pennsylvania, 
where he died. His son Joseph Ewart, the 
grandfather of Perry G., in company with 
his family and James Caruthers and family, 
came to Ohio, in 1811, and both settled at 
Tallmadge, where the Carutlior.-; family re- 
mained, but Grandfather Ewart pushed far- 
ther into the country and in 1812 settled in 
Springfield Township, on the farm now occu- 
pied by C. C. Ewart. He lived on that farm 
until his death in 1852, at the age of eighty- 
eight years. This land he purchased for eight 



dollars an acre. It liad formerly been ten- 
anted and an old blacksmith shop stood on 
the place. His wife died aged eighty-seven 
years. They were perfect types of the early 
j)ioneers and faced the certain dangers and 
hardships with cheerful hearts and brave de- 
meanor. Their children were: James, Josiah, 
Campbell, John, Robert Lee, Polly and Mar- 
tha. 

John Ewart, father of Perry G. Ewart, was 
born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1809, 
and came to Ohio in the arms of his mother, 
in 1811, who rode on horseback the whole dis- 
tance. He was educated in the early district 
schools and followed farming all his life. He 
married Elizabeth Harris, who was left an 
orphan when young. They had the following 
children : Joseph, who died when five years 
old ; Perry G. ; Charles Calvin ; Belle, who 
married John L. Sheppard, residing in Lake 
County, Ohio; and Ada, who married Hubert 
J. Wright, residing in Lake County. John 
Ewart died in 1901, aged ninety years, hav- 
ing lived on the same farm continuously for 
eighty-eight years. 

Perry G. Ewart was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his township and later be- 
came a student in the Akron High Scliool, 
when Professor Hole was superintendent, and 
subsequently was graduated from a military 
academy at Cleveland, in 1867. He then took 
a business course in the Bryant and Stratton 
Commercial College, following which he ac- 
cepted a position as bookkeeper in Cleveland. 
After he returned to Sunnnit County, he took 
charge of the books for the Brewster Brothers 
Coal Company, at Akron, and for six years 
was bookkeeper with the Thomas Phillips 
Co.'s Paper Mill. For the past twenty-five 
years he has been residing on his present 
farm. 

Mr. Ewart was married to Jennie Shaft'er, 
who is a daughter of Sannicl and Katherine 
(Kepler) Shaffer. The remote ancestors of 
Mrs. Ewart were natives of Pennsylvania, but 
her parents came to Summit from Stark Coun- 
ty, Ohio, about 1824, and both are deceased. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ewart have had two .*ons and 
two daughters, three of whom are living: 




SAMUEL COOPER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



52^ 



Haxry, who operates the home farm, married 
Laura Brumbaugh and they have one son, 
Donald Brumbaugh ; Jessie, who married Dr. 
Floyd J. Metzger, residing in New York, have 
one daughter, Elizabeth ; and Claude, who was 
born in 1886, graduated from the Akron 
High School and has taken two years of the 
four-year course at Buchtel College. One 
daughter, Mabel, died in November, 1895, 
aged eighteen years. 

Politically Mr. Ewart is a Democratic leader 
in this section. For twelve years he served 
as a justice of the peace and has been elected 
to various township offices, and in 1893, he 
was chosen by his i>arty as their candidate 
for the Legislature. Although conditions were 
such that no Democrat could have been 
elected, he cut the majority very materially. 
Later he was selected as candidate for auditor 
of Summit County. He has been identified 
with insurance affair.* for many years and 
ha? been a director in the Farmers' Lake 
Township Mutual Company for twenty-four 
years. In 1907 Mr. Ewart was elected a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Agriculture. He is 
a member of the local Grange, having always 
taken an interest in this movement. 

SAMUEL COOPER, brick manufacturer, 
a member of the firm of Cooper Brothers, 
came to Akron May 15, 1883, from Stafford- 
shire, England, where he was born July 27, 
1853. In his native land, Mr. Cooper learned 
the brick business, to which he has devoted 
his attention almost all of his busines.s life. 
For a .short time after reaching Akron, he 
worked in the brick manufacturing plant of 
Byron Allison, and later for eighteen months 
was in a brick business with John Dehaven 
and Dr. Jewett. Subsequently he went into 
partnership with his brothers, Joseph and 
William Cooper, in a brick manufacturing 
business which has been continued with great 
success until the present time. The firm of 
Cooper Brothers manufacture at their plant 
at No. 573 Spicer Street, all kinds of build- 
ing and sewer brick, and their product has 
entered into the construction of many of the 
substantial buildings of Akron. 



November 18, 1872, Mr. Cooper married 
Ann Edge and of this vuiion have been born 
four children, namely: Ann Elizabeth, who 
married Timothy Emery, a missionary, resid- 
ing at Liverpool, England; Samuel, Jr., and 
John William, both of whom are connected 
with the firm of Cooper Brothers; and Sarah 
Jane, who married William Johnson, a stu- 
dent at the Bible School at Alliance, Ohio. 

Mr. Cooper is identified politically with the 
Republican party. He belongs to the order 
of Foresters and to the Sons of St. George. 
He is one of the attendants of the Gospel Mis- 
sion Church on East South Street, Akron, of 
which his family are members. 

CHARLES A. HARING, who owns sev- 
enty-nine acres of fine land, was born on his 
present farm in Franklin Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, April 3, 1869, and is a son 
of Daniel and Mary E. (Ludwick) Haring. 

Charles Haring, the grandfather of Charles 
A., was born in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, to which place his parents had 
come in early days. After his marriage he 
settled on a farm in Franklin Township, and 
here he and wife spent the remainder of 
their lives. Charles Haring was married to 
a Miss Willtrout, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania and came to Franklin Township when 
quite young. They had a family of eight 
children: Joel, Daniel, Allen, Hiram, Mrs. 
Whitmire, Mrs. Dailey, Mrs. Swigart and 
Mrs. Marsh, all of whom are deceased with 
the exception of Mrs. Swigart. Allen Haring 
was a school teacher and was credited with 
teaching more terms than any other native 
teacher of the township. 

Daniel Haring, father of Charles A., was 
reared on his father's farm in Franklin Town- 
ship, which he helped to clear, and after his 
marriage he removed to the present farm of 
Charles A. Haring, which he purchased from 
a Mr. Kaler. There the rest of his life was 
spent, his death taking place in 1886, at the 
age of fifty-six years. He married Mary E. 
Ludwick, who died in 1891, aged fifty-three 
years. She was a daughter of Samuel Lud- 
wick. Three children were born to thL^ union : 



528 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Elmina, who died at the age of ten years; 
Charles Alvin; and Delia M., the latter of 
whom died aged eighteen years. 

Charles A. Haring was educated in the 
district schools and was reared to agricultural 
pursuits. For two years he was in partner- 
ship with E. 0. Cox and Warren Miller in 
a threshing business, but for the past five 
years he has carried on this line of work by 
himself, owning- a complete thrashing outfit 
and portable saw mill. 

On September 5, 1895, Mrs. Haring was 
married to Carrie M. Young, and to this 
union there have been born two children: 
Russell and Ophir. With his family he at- 
tends the Reformed Church at Barberton, 
Ohio. He is a Democrat. 

FREDERICK G. SHERBONDY, secretary 
of the Biggs Boiler Works Company, of Ak- 
ron, was born in this city, in 1884, and is a 
son of Joseph P. Sherbondy, a business man 
residing on Sherbondy Hill, at Akron. 
The grandfather, Levi Sherbondy, came to 
Ohio in 1814, traveling by wagon from Penn- 
sylvania. He was an extensive farmer and 
large land-owner and a prominent man in 
Summit County for many years. He died at 
Akron in 1898, aged eighty-six years. 

Frederick G. Sherbondy was reared and 
educated at Akron, and immediately after 
leaving school, entered the Biggs Boiler 
Works Company's employ as book- 
keeper. In February, 1907, he became 
secretary of the company. He is rec- 
ognized as one of the capable and pro- 
gressive young business men of Akron who 
hold the future prospcritv of the citv in their 
hands. On November 22, 1906, Mr. Sher- 
bondy was married to Pearl M. Winkler, who 
is a daughter of Frank B. Winkler, of Akron. 
Mr. Sherbondy is a member of the Disciples 
Church. 

JACOB FINLEY JAMES RICHEY, who, 
for the past seven years has been a trustee of 
Northfield Township, is one of the progressive 
and successful general farmers of this section, 
and resides on the homestead farm of 231 



acres, of which he owns 116, his mother re- 
taining the balance. He was born September 
20, 1859, and is a son of Andrew K. and 
Elizabeth (Bain) Richey. 

Thomas Richey, the paternal grandfather, 
came to America when twenty-one years of 
age and first worked in fisheries near Phila- 
delphia. During the War of 1812 he was 
employed in the Du Pont Powder Works at 
Wilmington, Delaware, and then came to 
Ohio, pre-empting land in Chippewa Town- 
ship, Wayne County. He continued to work 
in the powder works until he had made two 
payments on his land, and after making his 
third payment he settled on it, and lived there 
until 1852, when he sold that property and 
bought 211 acres in Northfield Township. He 
carried on large agricultural operations, en- 
gaging in farming and dairying in the old 
way, when butter and cheesemaking were im- 
portant household industries. On April 3, 
1826, Thomas Richey was married to Mar- 
garet Koplin, who came from Pennsylvania 
to Wayne County. She died June 22, 1879, 
having passed her eightieth birthday. Thom- 
as Richey died August 27, 1867, seventy- 
seven years. All of their children are now 
deceased, namely: Andrew K., Matthias, 
Jane, Margaret, George, Catherine, Thomas, 
and Mary Ann. 

Andrew K. Richey was born in Chippewa 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, January 31, 
1828. He obtained his education in the old 
Tallmadge school, which, like others of that 
period, made the study of the classics a lead- 
ing feature of the curriculum. He was a fine 
Latin student and at the age of eighteen years 
began to teach school, and he taught one year 
also after his marriage. He subsequently 
purchased the present homestead farm, start- 
ing with 114 acres and adding to it grad- 
ually until he owned 231 acres. He erected 
buildings here and made improvements which 
have been still further added to by his son, 
one of these being the enlarging of the barn 
until now it is a handsome, substantial struc- 
ture with dimen.'^ions of 105 by 40 feet, with 
basement and 24-foot post^. During the Civil 
War, Andrew K. Richey ser\'ed as a lieuten- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



529 



ant in the militia. He was a man every one 
trusted, one who met every obligation, treated 
all men fairly and displayed in full the manly 
qualities which brought him universal esteem. 
He served as a justice of the peace, and as 
township assessor and township trustee. 

On November 6, 1856, he married Eliza- 
beth Bain, a daughter of .Jacob Bain, who 
was born in Washington County, New York, 
April 30, 1807, and who died May 5, 1877. 
Mr. and Mrs. Richey had six children, 
namely: Margaret Zephina, who married 
John L. Ritchie; J. F. J., of Northfield Town- 
ship ; Thomas Tell, residing at Cleveland ; 
Andrew Fenn, residing at Northfield ; Emmer 
Ross, now deceased; and Elizabeth Catherine, 
residing with her mother. Mrs. Richey was 
born September 19, 1836. She is a member 
of the old Associated Presbyterian Church in 
which Mr. Richev was a deacon and trustee. 
He died July 7, 1900. 

The paternal great-grandfather of Mrs. 
Richey was James Bain, who was born at 
Argyle, New York, where he married, and 
where his nine children were born. Jacob 
Bain came to Ohio in 1855, and reaching 
Macedonia in July, and in the following De- 
cember he settled on the farm on which he 
subsequently resided until his death. He was 
a carpenter and joiner by trade and assisted 
to build the first museum ever erected in the 
city of Albany, New York. In 1832 he mar- 
ried Catherine McNaughton, a former neigh- 
bor of his, who was born April 14, 1806. 
They had five children: Finley, deceased; 
Mrs. Richey; Mary Etta, who married Joseph 
C. Finney, residing near Mansfield, Ohio ; 
Catherine M., who married Dickson T. Har- 
bison, residing at Robinson, Illinois; and 
James M., residing at New York city. The 
Bain family was affiliated with the As.sociated 
Presbyterian Church. 

Jacob Finley James Richey has spent his 
Ufe on the homestead farm. He tills about 
160 acres, his main crops being corn, oats, 
wheat, hay and potatoes. He raises horses 
and keeps thirty head of young cattle. Mr. 
Richey believes in scientific farming to a large 
degree, and makes use of modern machinery. 



following the latest improved methods. The 
fine condition of his farm testifies both to 
his industry and to his thorough knowledge 
of his chosen calling. 

Mr. Richey was married to Mary Alice 
Martin, who is a daughter of Henry Martin, 
of Northfield Township, and they have four 
children — Clarence La Mar, Laura Alice, Wil- 
lis Paul and Ada Blanche. 

WILLIAM H. WAGONER, the owner of 
seventy-six acres of excellent farm land which 
is situated in Coventry Township, about five 
miles south of Akron, is a well-known citizen. 
He was born in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, not far from his present farm, 
March 4, 1857, and is a son of David and 
Margaret (Swigart) Wagoner. 

The grandfather of Mr. Wagoner was 
George Wagoner, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania and after coming to Summit County, 
located on land near Manchester, which he 
cleared and developed into a good farm. He 
was married (first) to a Miss Roades and 
(second) to Catherine Souei-s. Both grand- 
parents died on that farm, when about eighty- 
three years old, the second wife surviving her 
husband for thirteen years. There were four 
children born to the first marriage and ten 
to the second, six of the children still sur- 
viving, as follows: Philip, who is an ex- 
county commissioner of Summit County; 
Henry; John; Aaron; Harriet, who Ls the 
widow of John Harpster; and Mrs. Amanda 
Spangler, who is also a widow. 

David Wagoner, father of William H., had 
a twin brother, who died in childhood. They 
were born near Manchester and were children 
of the first marriage. David became a farmer 
and also a carpenter working at his trade to 
.some extent all his life. He bought twenty- 
six acres of the farm now owned by his son, 
from Emanuel Sholley, and resided on it 
until his death in his fifty-seventh year. He 
married Margaret Swigart, who survived him 
for nine years. She was born on an adjoin- 
ing farm,' near Manchester, and was a daugh- 
ter of George Swigart, who came to Ohio from 
Pennsvlvania. He had fifteen children and 



530 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the mother of William H. Wagoner wa-s 
one of the first to die. David Wagoner and 
wife had six children, namely: Oliver, who 
was a soldier in (he Civil War, a member of 
Company H, 104th Regiment Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and died while at home on a fur- 
lough; Mary, who died aged three years; Al- 
berta, who died aged one year; John, who is 
deceased; William Henry; and Sarah, who 
is the widow of Adam Carmany. 

William Henry Wagoner was nine years 
of age W'hen his parents moved on the present 
farm and he has lived here ever since. From 
boyhood he has been accustomed to farm 
work and from the age of twenty years, when 
his father died, he has had charge of this 
property. The original farm of twenty-six 
acres was divided among three children, each 
one receiving a small amount after the debts 
of the estate were paid. Mr. Wagoner cleared 
off the above claims, and by hard and honest 
effort acquired land for himself, adding until 
he became possessed of his present farm. He 
owns also a one-half interest in thirty-one 
acres of timber land in Green township. He 
greatly improved his property by building a 
comfortable home in 1889, having erected the 
barn in 1883. 

On November 26, 1886, Mr. Wagoner was 
married to Clara E. Shook, who is a daugh- 
ter of George A. and Elizabeth (Mutchler) 
Shook. They were born near New Berlin, 
Stark County, Ohio, where they lived until 
1881, when they bought and moved on the 
farm adjoining that of Mr. Wagoner, where 
they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. Shook had 
four children, namely: Clara; Henry; Ir- 
win and Anna, the latter of whom was born 
in Summit County, and married Edward 
Eippert. Mr. and Mrs. Wagoner have had 
four children, namely: Edward Samuel, 
Elsie May, Floyd H. and William Ray. Ed- 
ward Samuel died in infancy. 

Mr. Wagoner is a Republican and he has 
been elected by that party to a number of 
important offices. For nine years he served 
as township trustee and then resigned in order 
to assume the duties of infirmary director, to 
which office he had been elected, in a normal 



Democratic town.-hip, by an overwhelming 
majority. For a number of years he has 
served as school director and at the present 
time is a valued member of the School Board. 
With his family he belongs to the Lutheran 
Church at Akron, having a.ssisted to build 
this church edifice. He was one of the build- 
ing committee and a trustee and gave his 
time and services as well as financial assist- 
ance. Mr. Wagoner has given his children 
excellent educational advantages and Elsie 
May and Floyd H., both graduated from the 
Kenmore High School in 1907, receiving di- 
plomas and teacher's certificates. Prior to her 
marriage, Mrs. Wagoner was a teacher as were 
her brothers and sisters. 

CHARLES S. JOHNSON, who stands de- 
servedly high as a business citizen at Barber- 
ton, where he is the leading dealer in hard- 
ware, is president of the Ohio Hardware j\s- 
sociation and is known all over the State as 
a man of thorough knowledge along hardware 
lines. He was born at Allegheny, Pennsyl- 
vania, March 7, 1867, and is a son of George 
R. and Florence Estella Johnson. 

The father of Mr. Johnson was an oil well 
engineer and was also employed in the oil 
fields as a well shooter. For about ten years 
he followed farming, but during his later 
years he was in business with his son Charles 
S., at Barberton. As his business demanded, 
he moved to different sections of the country, 
in 1873, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he 
remained for three years, in the fall of 1876, 
to Philadelphia, and from there to a farm 
near ^^'est Liberty, low'a. For several years 
he was also engaged in a hotel business. 

It was during the residence of the family in 
Iowa, that Charles S. Johnson took a com- 
mercial course at Drake LTniversity, at Des 
Moines, where he was graduated with the 
highest honors in a class of twenty-two stu- 
dents, and carried off the coveted prize of 
being chosen valedictorian. Mr. Johnson then 
went to Pittsburg, and for a number of years 
he was employed there in the auditor's office, 
but, desiring a more active life, he accepted 
a position at Salem, Ohio, with Bakewell 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



531 



& MuUins. About one year later, he took 
charge of a general store at Burkettstown, 
Pennsylvania, for six months, and then re- 
turned to Salem, where, in 1886, he became 
bookkeeper and collector for the firm of Mc- 
Lern & Crumrine, hardware merchants. In 
1891 Mr. Johnson retired from this connec- 
tion and embarked in business for himself 
at Barberton, locating first in a frame build- 
ing situated just across the street from his pres- 
ent spacious quarters. In 1892 he purchased 
this property and in the following year he 
added a second story in order to facilitate in- 
creasing demands of business, and in 1902 he 
was obliged to still further add to his prem- 
ises by building a third story. His line of goods 
comprises everything denominated hard- 
ware and his trade covers a large territory. Mr. 
Johnson's thorough knowledge of this line 
of goods, as well as his well established reputa- 
tion for business ability and commercial in- 
tegrity, caused his election to the office of vice- 
president of the Ohio Hardware Association 
for two successive terms and later to the presi- 
dency of the organization. He is connected 
with other successful business interests of 
Barberton, and is a member of the board of 
directors of the Barberton Savings Bank and 
also of the Deming Manufacturing Company. 

Mr. Johnson owns real estate of consider- 
able value in this city, including a pleasant 
home. He married Laura Hartong. He is a 
member of the Christian Church. 

Fraternally Mr. Johnson is connected with 
the Masons, the Elks and the Maccabees. 

PETER LEPPER, whose farm of 255 acres 
is situated in Springfield Township, is a promi- 
nent and substantial citizen of this section. 
He was born October 7, 1826, at Milton, Ma- 
honing County, Ohio, and is a son of John A. 
and Magdalena (Stine) Lepper. 

The Lepper family belonged originally to 
Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. There the 
grandfather of Peter Lepper, John A. Lep- 
per, followed his trade of milling and lived 
and died. He had a family of eleven chil- 
dren and three of his sons, Johan A., Anthony 
and John A., serv^ed in the Germany army, 



all members of the same regiment. John A., 
father of Peter, served ten years and survived 
all dangers, but his two brothers were killed 
on the field of battle. The Stine family also 
belonged to Hesse Darmstadt and Grand- 
father Henry Stine was reputed a prominent 
and wealthy man at one time. He married 
Louisa Ritthousen and they had four chil- 
dren, Mrs. John A. Lepper being the eldest. 
John A. Lepper was born in June, 1779, and 
in 1803 he was married in Germany to Mag- 
dalena Stine. She was born in April, 1780, 
and died December 11, 1871, surviving her 
husband exactly three years. They both were 
faithful members of the Lutheran Church 
and through a long life which brought them 
many undeserved misfortunes, they preserved 
their old faith intact. 

To John A. Lepper and wife were born the 
following children: Elizabeth; an infant 
that died on the ocean while the family was 
coming to America; Adam, who died at New 
Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio; Philip, 
who was killed in 1864, while serving as a 
soldier in the Civl War, was born in Germany 
in 1813, owned a farm in Missouri; Gerhardt, 
who died January 11, 1865, aged fifty-two 
years, ten months and twenty-one days ; Cath- 
erine, deceased, who married Joseph Crase; 
Louisa, who never came to America, died in 
Germany, in 1893, and was the wife of Philip 
Hommel ; and Peter, who is the only survivor 
and the only one of the family who was born 
in America. 

Early in the year 1819, John A. Lepper be- 
gan to make preparations to emigrate with 
his family to America, and finallj- reached 
the docks at Bremen ready to take passage in 
one of the old sailing vessels of that time. 
It was a great undertaking for these quiet, 
home-loving people to break all old ties and 
start for a strange new country, but possessed 
of such courage and determination were the 
early pioneers whose efforts have made the 
LTnited States the great grand land that it is. 
It was no easy matter to accumulate at one 
time the required passage money, a sum of 
some $510, but it was finally obtained, the 
amount was paid and the eager emigrants 



532 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



were gathered awaiting the last arrangements 
before they went on the ship which they con- 
fidently believed was to take them to a land 
flowing with the proverbial milk and honey. 
Just then happened one of those unforeseen 
accidents, brought about innocently but of 
vast importance to the Lepper family. One 
of the waiting emigrants picked up a bullet, 
about the size of a small nut, and instead of 
throwing it away, unfortunately gave it to 
one of the restless Lepper lads, who, boy-like, 
immediately saw in it a plaything with which 
to while away the weary hours of waiting. 
He attached it to a string and found amuse- 
ment in swinging it in a circle, until suddenly 
the string broke and the piece of lead flew 
off at a tangent, crashing into the front of 
a business house on the street and breaking 
a show window valued by the irate proprietor 
at $400. The passage money of the Lepper 
family was immediately attached, and for a 
time it seemed as if they would have to re- 
turn to their old home instead of sailing across 
the Atlantic. The glass broken was a fine 
one and among the passengers the broken bits 
were purchased to take with them to their 
new homes as relics, and to assist the unfor- 
tunate family, but although they paid good 
prices, there still remained $200 to be paid. 
In this serious dilemma, the captain of the 
vessel came to the aid of the Leppers with the 
suggestion of a custom then in force, that of 
giving free passage to the port of Baltimore 
to those members of the family who could 
not pay, if such members would consent to 
be auctioned off as servants, to work until 
the amount was settled, or, if children, until 
the age of majority. This was a hard propo- 
sition for the honest old German father, but 
he saw no other way and finally signed the 
necessary papers. 

After ninety-one days on the water, during 
forty-one of which the passengers never saw 
daylight on account of the tempestuous seas, 
the little vessel reported at the Baltimore docks 
and the news was spread through the city 
streets that a family would be sold to pay pas- 
sage money. It was not quite so dreadful a 
thing then as it would be now, for it was the 



custom, and in that way many large land- 
owners in the vicinity secured their necessary 
help. It was decided that little Catherine, 
then a maid of fourteen years, should be the 
one offered to float the family out of its diffi- 
culties, and she was sold for enough to cover 
the shortage, and went with the strange fam- 
ily who had bought her, to remain until she 
was twenty-one years of age. However, her 
.sturdy father had no intention of permitting 
her to remain and fill out the conditions. 
With the rest of the family he went on as 
far as Northumberland County, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he soon secured employment at 
his trade, that of miller, and as soon as the 
kind-hearted people among whom he had set- 
tled learned of little Catherine's fate, they 
raised by subscription enough money to re- 
lease her, and a messenger was sent to Balti- 
more for this purpose. He proved unreliable 
and never returned. A second subscription 
was then taken up and a reputable citizen took 
the matter in hand and went to Baltimore and 
returned the daughter to her afflicted family. 
This incident is presented as recalling a his- 
toric custom and also as a bit of family his- 
tory. 

The family had landed at Baltimore in 
June, 1819, and Mr. Lepper continued to 
work at milling in Northumberland County, 
for three years and then they moved to Ohio, 
where he followed milling at New Lisbon for 
three years at Milton, Mahoning County, for 
one year, and at Tompkins Creek, for one 
year, and in the following year removed to 
Akron, which was then known as Middle- 
bury. After working for two years at a mill 
in East Akron, he came to Springfield Town- 
ship, and after working one year at his trade 
at Millheim, he bought twenty-six acres of 
land and took charge, at the same time, of 
the Randolph flouring mill, this being in 
Randolph Township. This land subsequently 
passed into the hands of his son Peter, who 
took it upon himself to pay all incumbrances 
on it and to take care of his parents as long 
as they lived. 

Peter Lepper was three years old when his 
parents moved to the farm in Suffield Town- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



533 



ship, Portage County, which was then all 
dense forest. When twelve years of age he 
began to make his way independently, find- 
ing plenty of employment in his own neigh- 
borhood, assisting in clearing up the wild 
farms and chopping wood. He worked for 
three seasons as a driver on the canal, and in 

1840, made a trip as cabin boy on the Mis- 
sissippi River. In the fall following the above 
trip, he attended school for three months, 
in Suffield Township, and in the spring of 

1841, resumed work on the canal, as bows- 
man, under Captain Woodward, working sat- 
isfactorily all through that summer, although 
only a boy in years. He at last accumulated 
enough capital to enable him to buy an ax 
and saw, with which implements he made a 
good living for the next two years, going from 
house to house at Akron, chopping and saw- 
ing wood. Thus he earned enough to buy 
a two-horse wagon and team and for the next 
two years he did general hauling. In 1845 
he sold his team, and during the next two 
years he was employed peddling groceries and 
cigars. About this time, his older sister, who 
also possessed an independent spirit and good 
business capacity, started a little grocery store 
in Suffield Township and induced her brother 
Peter to enter into partnership with her, he 
to do the purchasing in connection with his 
peddling, while she managed the business at 
home. They were entirely successful in car- 
rying out their plans. 

In 1847 Mr. Lepper bought forty-seven 
acres in Suffield Township, lying adjacent to 
the twenty-six acres owned by his parents, 
and then followed the agreement formerly 
noted, and as long as the aged parents lived 
they had a comfortable and happy home with 
this devoted son. Mr. Lepper followed farm- 
ing and stockraising in Suftield Township un- 
til 1853, and also, for fourteen years operated 
a threshing machine and for thirty years was 
more or less engaged in selling farm machin- 
ery and agricultural implements. After a resi- 
dence of nearly forty years in Suffield Town- 
ship, Mr. Lepper moved to Springfield Town- 
ship and purchased his present valuable farm 
of 255 acres. It is situated convenientlv near 



to Akron and was formerly known as the 
Philip Kramer farm. It is acknowledged to 
be one of the finest farms in Summit County 
and Mr. Lepper still carries on general farm- 
ing and sheep raising, formerly being one of 
the largest shippers in the county. He has 
made many improvements on his property, 
erecting his fine home in 1878 and subse- 
quently his substantial barns and other build- 
ings. There is an air of solidity about this 
farm and its surroundings that give on a fair 
indication of the character of its owner. 

On May 20, 1848, Mr. Lepper was married, 
at Hartsville, Stark County, to Cather- 
rine Sausaman. This estimable lady was 
born September 25, 1818, and died on this 
farm July 9, 1896. Her death was a great 
affliction to her sorrowing family, for she 
had been a loving, faithful wife and kind 
mother. Her parents were Isaac and Cather- 
ine ( Jarrett) Sausaman. Her father was born 
in Union County, Pennsylvania, in 1842 
moved to Stark County, Ohio, where he fol- 
lowed his trade of saddler for many years 
and then bought twelve acres of land in Suf- 
field Township, Portage County. He had 
nine children, two of whom survive. 

Peter Lepper and wife had seven children 
born to them, as follows: John H., residing 
at Brittain, Summit County, where he con- 
ducts a large grocery, married Anna Kling, 
who is a daughter of George Kling and they 
have these children : George, Winnifred Mar- 
garet, Benjamin Franklin, Kittie Lillie and 
Daisey Ruth; Louisa, who is her father's 
housekeeper and devoted attendant; Benjamin 
Franklin residing on his large sheep ranch in 
Montana, has made a great success of sheep- 
i-aising and has resided in the West for twenty- 
five years; Margaret A., residing on a farm 
in Portage County, married Henry Swartz 
and they have had six children: Lillian, de- 
ceased, Sylvia, Lois, Ruth, Louise and Frank ; 
Mary Elizabeth and Jefferson, twins, the latter 
of whom was married (first) to Ottie Smith., 
daughter of Orrin Smith, who died January 
1, 1890, leaving one son, Howard, and (sec- 
ond) to Maria Adams, daughter of Horace 
Adams. They have one daughter, Edith, and 



534 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



they reside near New Springfield ; and Cather- 
ine, who married Frederick Hawk, residing 
in Portage County, and they have seven 
children: Frederick, Helen P., John, Earl 
P., Clair, Irene, and Eva. 

During fourteen years in Springfield Town- 
ship, Mr. Lepper wiis a valued member of the 
Summit County Agricultural Society, of 
which he was president for two years, vice- 
president for two years and for eight years 
was superintendent of the horse department. 
During the time he was president he spent the 
available funds in such a way as to meet with 
the approbation of all concerned. With K. J. 
Ellet, he set out the fine poplar trees which 
give such needed shades on the fair ground, 
without any compensation. For several years 
he took a great interest m Fountain Park and 
has always been willing to contribute liberally 
to various public improvements. Politically, 
he is a Democrat and has been elected to al- 
most all the local offices, although never seek- 
ing them, and has served as township trus- 
tee and assessor. In 1890 he was elected ap- 
praiser of real estate in Springfield Town- 
ship and served as township trustee, super- 
visor and as a member of the School Board 
for many years, in fact until he refused to 
serve longer. On one occasion he was select- 
ed as his party's candidate for Representa- 
tive to the General Assembly and although he 
was not elected, his personal popularity re- 
duced the normal Republican majority from 
1,500 to 380 votes. He has been prominent 
in political life for a long period and his 
judgment is often consulted by the party 
leaders in his locality. 

Mr. Lepper is a member of xVkron Lodge, 
F. & A. M., No. 83, and of Akron Comman- 
dery, K. T., No. 25. He is one of the old- 
est members of that lodge, having entered the 
fraternity at Kent, Ohio, in 1861. He is a 
charter member of both the Pomona and the 
Tallmadge Grange. In his religious life Mr. 
Lepper belongs to the Reformed Church and 
formerly was a deacon in that body. He 
is a man of kind heart and generous impluses 
and in his treatment of others, on his journey 
through life, has never forgotten the time 



when he was a poor boy with no future to 
look forward to except one made by himself. 
His generosity and sympathy have cost him 
many thousands of dollars, but he still has 
faith in human nature and still plays the part 
of a philanthropist on many occasions. Few 
residents of Springfield Townhip are more 
generally esteemed. 

WILLIAM P. BARKER, senoir member 
of the firm of W. P. Barker and Son, at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, engaged in heavy blacksmith 
work for the big machine shops, and sub- 
contracting work for the United States Govern- 
ment, came to this city in 1845, and it has 
been his real home ever since. Mr. Barker 
has been a great traveler through the United 
States, but in all his wanderings has not 
found a section more to his liking than the 
one to which he was brought by his English 
father, sixty-two years ago. Mr. Barker was 
born in Yorkshire, England, on August 3, 
1841, and is a son of Jonathan and Mary Bar- 
ker. 

Mr; Barker's mother died when he was a 
child, he being the youngest of her sixteen 
children. The father, a weaver by trade, de- 
cided to come to America to better his busi- 
ness prospects, and brought with him his sur- 
viving children, namely: Elizabeth, who 
died unmarried; Anna, deceased, who mar- 
ried George Irvington ; Sarah, who married 
J. C. Daly, residing at Medina; and William 
P. Jonathan Barker worked for a time in 
the fork factory at Cuyahoga Falls, after 
which he bought a horse and wagon and for 
many years traveled through the country as 
a tin peddler, retiring several year prior to 
his death, which occurred in 1877, when he 
was aged seventy-seven years. 

Under the above circumstances it can be 
seen that William P. Barker had fewer oppor- 
tunities of obtaining an education than is the 
Ciise with children of the present day; in 
fact, he went to school regularly for but one 
year. When he was fourteen years of age 
he went to Windsor, Ontario, Dominion of 
Canada, where he was apprenticed to his 
brother-in-law, George Irvington, and learned 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



r)37 



the horseshoer's trade. He continued to work 
there for two years, when he came back to 
Cuyahoga Falls and worked for one year at 
blaeksmithing for John and Robert Allen. 
In 1863 he accompanied John Allen to Red- 
wood, California, where Mr. Allen opened a 
blacksmith shop. After working in this shop 
for about a year, Mr. Barker joined a party 
of three and went with them to Arizona, and 
thence to Montana. He walked 1,800 miles 
that winter, going from Montana to Los An- 
geles, back to Arizona, around by Salt Lake 
City, and then back to Montana. Mr. Bar- 
ker worked at his trade during favorable sea- 
sons and prospected during the rest of the 
time. He reached Cuyahoga Falls about two 
years after the close of the war, and then em- 
barked in his present business, in partnership 
with his brother-in-law, J. C. Daly. A few 
months later he bought Mr. Daly's interest 
and continued to work alone for about a year, 
when he was again seized with a desire to 
travel. 

On this occasion, Mr. Barker went to Min- 
nesota, where he remained for a year engaged 
in lumbering and trapping. Then returning 
to his old home, he reopened his shop and 
continued in business until 1896. He then 
took a gold prospecting trip to Alaska, but 
was forced to return home on account of ill- 
ness, after an absence of sixteen months, dur- 
ing which time he experienced hardships 
which almost terminated his life. He soon 
recuperated, however, under home' care, and 
resumed business at his present place, which 
he had built before .starting for the far North- 
west. His shop is a one-story brick building 
107 feet long and 50 feet wide in the north 
end and 36 feet in the south end. For the 
past twenty-five years he has been engaged as 
above indicated, and fully one-half of the 
work of the plant goes to Alliance. Since 
1895 his son, William H. has been his part- 
ner. 

Mr. Barker was married to Charlotte Lyons, 
who was born probably in New Jersey, and is 
a daughter of John Lyons. They have had 
ten children, all of whom are still living as 
follows: Mary, Amelia, Sarah, William H., 



George, John, Samuel and Susan, twins, 
Harry and Fred. 

Mr. Barker is a good citizen in all that 
pertains to keeping the laws and exerting an 
influence in the direction of morality and 
business integrity, but he has united with 
neither of the great political parties, casting 
his vote independently. 

GEORGE STROBEL AND WILLIAM 
STROBEL, owners of 125 acres of valuable 
farming land, which is favorably situated in 
the southwest corner of Coventry Township, 
are the sons of William and Lovina (Cor- 
many) Strobel. 

Their grandfather, Lorenzo Strobel, was a 
native of Germany, from which country he 
came to America in about 1840, in a sailing 
vessel, the journey consuming six weeks. 
Continuing his journey to Summit County, 
Ohio, he settled on Sherbondy Hill, near Ak- 
ron, which was at that time a mere village. 
For a few years he lived in the woods, follow- 
ing weaving, an occupation which he had 
learned in Germany, and then removed to a 
farm in Coventry Township, that is now- 
owned by his grandsons. There he died in 
1900, aged eighty-eight years, his wife hav- 
ing passed away when 75 years old. To 
Lorenzo Strobel and his wife Margaret there 
were born six children, namely: Elizabeth, 
who married George Miller; William; Sophia, 
who married John Filler; John; Hannah, 
who married George Haas; and Lawrence, 
who died in childhood. 

William Strobel grew up on his father's 
farm, and experienced all the hardships of 
pioneer life. When a young man he learned 
the shoemaker's trade with a Mr. Hoskins, 
but did not follow it to any great extent, giv- 
ing more of his attention to farming. About 
1867 he purchased the farm of his father, 
which Tvas mostly cleared by this time, and 
here he met his death, being killed by a run- 
away team December 23, 1874. He was mar- 
ried to Lovina Cormany, a daughter of George 
Cormany, who came to Manchester, Ohio, 
from Pennsylvania, and hero became a prom- 
inent agriculturist and large landowner. 



538 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wil- 
liam Strobel, namely: George, the subject, 
with his brother, William, of this article; 
John, who married Nellie Hardin, and resides 
at Akron ; Anna, wife of Ellsworth Hall, and 
a resident of Norton Township; William, 
mentioned above; and Elizabeth, who died 
at the age of eight years. 

George and William Strobel are now en- 
gaged in general farming, although for two 
years they carried on poultry raising, and for 
a like period George and his brother John 
conducted a confectionery store at Barberton. 
They reside on the old homestead, where 
George was born August 25, 1866, and Wil- 
liam April 23, 1871. Both are good, practi- 
cal agriculturists, public-spirited citizens, and 
stanch Democrats in politics, William hav- 
ing served on the school board, and as town- 
ship supervisor in 1904-5-6. For some time 
both brothers were connected with the Good- 
rich Rubber Company at Akron, and William 
spent one year on the Akron street car lines, 
while George was for a year with the Webster, 
Camp and Lane Machine Company. They 
were reared in the Lutheran and Reformed 
faiths. William Strobel is a member of the 
Independent Order o^ Foresters, No. 356, 
Court Pride, in whien he has passed the 
chairs, and of the Knights of Pythias, Akron 
Lodge, No. 603. 

HARVEY E. STEIN, a representative 
farmer of Bath Township, who owns 155 acres 
of excellent land, was born May 23, 1863, in 
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and is a son 
of Joseph and Catherine (Leiby) Stein. 

Harvey E. Stein remained at home until 
fourteen years old, assisting his father in his 
general store, and then went to Guilford 
Township, Medina County, Ohio, where he 
worked for about two years as a farm hand. 
He then spent one year in the coal mines of 
Norton Township, Summit County, after 
which he engaged in farm work in Granger 
Township, Medina County, for one and one- 
half years. At the end of this time Mr. Stein 
came to Bath Township, where he was em- 
ployed by C. P. Heller for five and one-half 



years and by Edward Jones for two years. 
After his marriage he settled on a rented farm 
for several years, and in 1900 purchased his 
present property from the heirs of Edward 
Heller. Here he has since been engaged very 
sucessfully in general farming and stock- 
raising, and has made a specialty of breeding 
imported horses. 

In 1888 Mr. Stein was married (first) to 
Dora Heller, and (second) to Amanda Hel- 
ler, who were born in Copley Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, daughters of Edward and 
Julia (Dutt) Heller. 

JAMES ALBERT SMITH, who owns 104 
acres of some of the best land in Bath Town- 
ship, which is situated in School District No. 
12, one-half mile north of the Smith or 
Medina road, has owned and resided on this 
property since 1896. He was born in 
Springfield Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
March 22, 1856, and is a son of Housel and 
Susan (Moore) Smith. 

When James Albert Smith was an infant, 
his father moved first to Bath Township, pur- 
chasing a farm of ninety-four acres, in its 
eastern part, on which the family lived for a 
short time and then went back to Springfield 
Township. James Albert was twelve years 
old when his father returned to Bath Town- 
ship and settled on the farm he now owns, 
which he subsequently purchased from the 
other heirs. Both parents died on this farm, 
the mother surviving until April 17, 1907. 
They had eight children, two daughters and 
six sons, as follows: Emanuel C. and John 
Newton, both residing at Akron ; James Al- 
bert of Bath Township; Robert, residing at 
Montrose; Sarah L., who married James Ed- 
gar; Charles Henry, residing at Peninsula; 
George, residing in Coshocton County; and 
Maggie L., who married Cyrus Fields, of De- 
troit, Michigan. 

Until he was twenty-one years of age, James 
Albert Smith resided at home and then 
learned the stone-mason trade, at which he 
worked for seventeen years, during thirteen 
of this period, living at Copley. For the past 
eleven years he has engaged in general farm- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



539 



ing and is numbered with the successful men 
of this section. 

On December 28, 1882, Mr. Smith was 
married to Elta Barber, who is a daughter of 
Solomon and Harriet (Wright) Bajber. 
Solomon Barber was born in Stark County, 
Ohio, and accompanied his father in boyhood 
to the farm in Bath Township, on which 
Newton Hackett lives. The mother of Mrs. 
Smith was born at Lima, New York, and in 
her widowhood, lives with Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith. Her parents were Richmond and 
Betsey (Egbert) Wright. They came to 
Akron when Mrs. Barber was a babe and be- 
came well-known residents. Mr. and Mrs. 
Barber were married at Independence, Cuya- 
hoga County, Ohio, and they had twelve chil- 
dren, eight of whom survive: William, re- 
siding at Minneapolis; Leonard, residing in 
Oregon ; Sylvenes, deceased at the age of 
twenty-five years; Elta; Belmont, who is de- 
ceased; Belle, residing at Youngstown, is the 
wife of DeForest Richards; Theron, residing 
at Brown Valley, Minnesota; Minnie, de- 
ceased, married Peter Hanson; James, resid- 
ing at Youngstown ; Emily, deceased, mar- 
ried Louis Molton, residing at Warner, 
South Dakota; Thomas, residing at Roches- 
ter, Minnesota, and Paul, residing in South 
Dakota. The father of Mrs. Smith died Au- 
gust 29, 1901. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four children: 
Pearl, who married Harry Robinson, has 
three children, Albert, Victor and Jessie; 
Bessie, who married Ervin Snyder, has one 
child, Celesta; and Ethel and Ruth. 

Mr. Smith belongs to the beneficiary or- 
ganization known as the Knights of the Pro- 
tective Legion. ■ 

CHARLES HATCH, superintendent of 
the Ohio Canal between Cleveland and Na- 
varre, Ohio, who has been identified with this 
waterway during all his business life, was 
born at Peninsula, Summit County, Ohio, in 
1855. His father, Asa D. Platch, who was 
a native of Vermont, removed from that State 
to Pennsylvania, where he operated a saw- 
mill for about twenty years. He served over 



three years in the Civil War as a member of 
Company D, Battery F, Second Regiment 
Ohio Volunteers, and survived the war thir- 
teen years, dying in 1878. 

Shortly after the death of his father, 
Charles Hatch bought a boat which he oper- 
ated on the Ohio Canal until 1884. He then 
entered the employ of the State of Ohio, as 
foreman of a State boat on the canal, which 
position he continued to fill until 1902, when 
he became superintendent of the Ohio Canal 
from Cleveland to Navarre, with his office at 
Lock No. 1. He takes an active interest in 
politics and for years has been a member of 
the Summit County Republican Executive 
Committee. In 1878, Mr. Hatch was mar- 
ried to Fannie Hardy, who was born in Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and they are the parents 
of three children: Stella E., who married D. 
E. J. Williams; Asa D., and Harold H., all 
residents of Akron. Mr. Hatch is a Mason, 
an Elk, and a Maccabee and belongs also to 
the Sons of Veterans. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

NORMAN WARE, highly esteemed retired 
citizen of Norton Township, residing on his 
valuable farm of sixty-three acres, situated at 
Johnson's Corners, was born on the old Ware 
home place, near Hometown, Summit 
County, Ohio, February 24, 1840, and is a 
son of Israel and Mary (Lautzenheiser) 
Ware. 

Israel Ware came to Ohio from Pennsyl- 
vania and settled in Norton Township at a 
very earlj' day, marrying into a Norton 
Township family, and purchasing the farm 
that is now occupied by Forrest Swain. On 
that farm his eight children were born, four 
of whom are deceased, one of whom was killed 
in the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, July 
12, 1863, and there both he and his wife 
died. 

Norman Ware was reared on his father's 
farm and assisted in its care and development. 
He attended the country schools and re- 
mained working on the homestead until 1884, 
when he purchased his present farm, on 
which he carried on a general line of agri- 



540 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



culture until he retired from hard work. 
His second son then assumed his responsi- 
bilities in the management of the property. 

In 1864, Mr. Ware married Louisa Waltz, 
who was born in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio, but was reared in Norton 
Township, Summit County. Her parents 
were David and Lydia (Baughman) Waltz, 
old settlers. Her father was born in Penn- 
sylvania and came to Medina County when 
a young man, and after marriage moved to 
Summit County. Mrs. Ware is one of a 
family of thirteen children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ware have two children : Roy D. and Loman, 
the latter of whom is the home farmer. Roy 
D. Ware resides at Johnson's Corners and is 
employed in the Sterling Boiler Works, at 
Barberton. He married Nellie Sharp and 
they have two children : Earl and Lloyd. 

Politically, Mr. Ware is identified with the 
Democratic party. He has served as a 
member of the School Board of Norton Town- 
ship and also as township treasurer. He is 
one of the reliable, representative men of his 
section and is a consistent member of the Re- 
formed Church. 

GEORGE P. IIEINTZ, a prominent citi- 
zen of Bath Township, a member of the 
School Board and a leading farmer, resides 
on his well-improved farm of eighty-seven 
acres, which lies in School District No. 10, 
on the Croten House road, running north 
from the old Smith or Medina road. Mr. 
Heintz wtis born on the corner of Brown and 
Exchange Streets, Akron, where the family 
then resided, October 24, 1845, and is a son 
of John and Sophia (Keck) Heintz. 

John Heintz, the father, was born, reared 
and married in Germany and came to 
America in 1834, living for six months at 
Cleveland, then coming to Akron. At Cleve- 
land, he engaged in butchering and after 
reaching Akron he worked both as a butcher 
and a.s a cooper, having learned the latter busi- 
ness in his native land. Later he owned a 
small slaughter house and marketed his meat 
through Akron. Subsequently he moved to 
Summit Hill, Coventry Town.ship, where he 



first bought sixty acres, to which he later add- 
ed fourteen acres of the old Witner farm. He 
died in Coventry Township in 1903, aged 
ninety-one years. His first wife, the mother of 
George P. Heintz, died when the latter was 
five years of age, and John Heintz married 
Mrs. Margaret Bolick for his second wife. 
She died in 1900. 

George P. Heintz was six years old when his 
father moved to Coventry Township, and 
there he obtained all his schooling. He re- 
mained at home until 1864, when he enlisted 
for service in the Civil War, during his first 
term being a member of the Sixth Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, connected with the 
Army of the Potomac, for one year and seven 
months. During the great war he partici- 
pated in a number of battles, including: 
Boynton Plank Road, October 27, 1864; 
Stony Creek Station, December 2, 1864; 
Hatcher's Run, December 9-10, 1864 ; ^Monk's 
Neck Bridge, February 5, 1865; Hatcher's 
Run, (2), February 6, 1865; Dinwiddle Court 
House, March 31, 1865; Fettersville, April 
4, 1865 ; Famer Cross Roads, April 5, 1865 ; 
Farm,sville, April 6, 1865; Harper's Farm, 
April 7, 1865 ; and Appomattox Court House, 
the memorable spot where General Lee sur- 
rendered to General Grant, April 9, 1865. 
Mr. Heintz was in the brigade that opened the 
fight in that closing action of the war. On 
his discharge papers may be read the follow- 
ing, under the signature of Lieutenant Smith, 
of his company: "In all eleven engagements 
in which he was commendable for his bravery 
and coolness." Those simple words tell the 
story of how Mr. Heintz served while in the 
uniform of his country. He was promoted 
to the rank of corporal, from being a private. 
His enlistment was for the whole of the war, 
the termination of the struggle happily end- 
ing it. He was honorably discharged at 
Petersburg, Virginia, August 7, 1865, hav- 
ing entered the army when a little past seven- 
teen, and wiis not quite nineteen when he was 
discharged. 

After a short season at Akron he went to 
Louisville, Rentucky, where he enlisted a 
second time, on May 5, 1866, entering Com- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



541 



pany G, Second United States Infantry, and 
served for three years with the Regulars. On 
April 1, 1867, he was made a corporal, and 
July 15, 1868, was promoted to be a sergeant. 
He was discharged at Atlanta, Georgia, on 
May 5, 1869. About one-third of his second 
term of service was spent in Kentucky, his 
regiment being stationed at Louisville, at 
Danville, at Stamford and Paducah. For a 
short time it was at Union, West Virginia, 
but returned for several weeks to Louisville, 
then was sent to Atlanta, where it was dis- 
charged some four months later. During all 
this long season, when each day was filled 
with danger, Mr. Heintz escaped every death- 
1}" missile, and at no time was seriously hurt 
except on one occasion when his horse fell on 
him. Three days after he returned to Akron, 
in 1869, Mr. Heintz with his widowed sister, 
Mrs. Sarah Pelott, moved to his present farm 
which his father had previously purchased. 
Here he has continued ever since, engaging 
successfully in farming and stockraising. 

On November 25, 1869, Mr. Heintz was 
married to Sarah J. Harris, who is a daughter 
of Thomas and Eliza (Peach) Harris. She 
was born and reared in Bath Township, Sum- 
mit County, but her father was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and her mother of West Vir- 
ginia. Mr. and Mrs. Heintz have no children 
of their ow^n, but they adopted a little girl 
named Edith, who subsequently married 
Clyde Miller. Mr. Miller assists in carrying 
on the farm work with Mr. Heintz. The 
Millers have had four children, namely: 
Iva Marie, Nona Grace, Homer Guy, and Lee 
Harold, the latter of whom died aged four 
years. Since November, 1906, Mr and Mrs. 
Heintz have been enjoying the handsome resi- 
dence which was completed at that time. 
Both are members of the Evangelical Church, 
of Bath Township. Since 1905 he has served 
on the School Board. He is a member of 
Buckley Post, No. 12, Grand Army of the 
Republic. 

GEORGE W. M'COY, residing on his well- 
improved and valuable farm of eighty-six 
acres, which is situated in Norton Township, 



here carries on a general line of farming. He 
was born at Wadsworth, Medina County, 
Ohio, March 4, 1844, and is a son of Robert 
and Lucinda (Bartlett) McCoy. 

Robert McCoy was born in Tallmadge 
Town.ship, Summit County, and was a son of 
Samuel McCoy, who was born in Ireland. 
Samuel McCoy came to America in young 
manhood and was an early settler in Tall- 
madge Township, moving from there to 
Wadsworth Township, in Medina County, 
where he purchased a farm. On that farm 
Robert McCoy was reared from boyhood, and 
in Medina County he was married to Lucinda 
Bartlett. Of their nine children, the four sur- 
vivors are: Mrs. Olive Dickerson, residing 
at Akron ; George W. ; States, residing in 
Copley Township; and Mrs. Ella Britton, re- 
siding at Sharon, Medina County. About 
1859, Robert McCoy moved to Summit 
County and invested in 225 acres of land at 
what is known as McCoy's Cro.ssing. It was 
all farming and pasture land at that time, 
but the city of Akron has long since invaded 
the fields which Mr. McCoy used to follow 
over with his plow. South Main street, a 
busy thoroughfare of Akron, now spreads out 
over this land. Robert McCoy also owned 
the land upon which Lakeside Park now 
stands. All this land each year grows more 
and more valuable. Robert McCoy was a 
contractor and he met his death while en- 
gaged in grading on North Hill, the accident 
occurring while he was superintending the 
work. His wife had died when the children 
were small. 

George W. McCoy attended school at Wads- 
worth and later in Coventry Township. 
When twenty-one years of age he left home 
and spent three years on a farm in California 
and then moved to Nevada, where he went 
into contracting, cutting and hauling wood 
to the quartz mills. He owned a number of 
teams and employed a large force of men. 
Mr. McCoy remained in the West for ten 
years and then returned to Akron for about 
two years, but went back to Nevada and re- 
sumed contracting. Several years later he 
again visited Akron for a short period and 



542 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



returned to Nevada for the third time, ac- 
companied by his wife, and remained six 
years. In October, 1881, Mr. McCoy re- 
turned permanently to Summit County and 
purchased the farm he resides on. This was 
first tlie property of his brother, the late 
Samuel McCoy, who sold it to another broth- 
er, States McCoy, who, in turn sold it to 
George W. It thus has not been out of the 
McCoy family for a number of years. 

In 1876, Mr. McCoy was married to Amelia 
J. Falor, who is a daughter of .John Falor, of 
Akron. Her grandfather, Abraham Falor, 
was an early settler in this section, and when 
Mrs. McCoy drives through South Main 
Street, Akron, it is over land which was once 
her father's farm, on which she was reared. 
They have four children, namely: Elsie, 
who married Norman Miller, of Barberton; 
George, unmarried, residing at Baiberton ; 
Ernest, residing at home'; and Myrtle, who 
married Henry Zeisick, residing at Barberton. 
The beautiful family home was built by Mr. 
McCoy in 1883. It is one of the fine, modern 
re.sidenoes of thLs section. 

JOHN D. ARNOLD, proprietor of a valu- 
able farm which contains 102 acres and is 
situated on the old Smith road, about one and 
one-half miles west of Montrose, was born 
on a farm one mile west of Copley Center, 
August 1, 1855. His parents were Daniel 
and Sophia (Porter) Arnold. 

The iVrnolds came to Summit County, 
Ohio, from Maryland. The father of Mr. Ar- 
nold owned and disposed of a half dozen 
farms in course of his life, but John D. 
grew up on the farm near Copley. He was 
reared to agricultural pursuits and has been 
able to trace a straight furrow with his plow, 
ever since he was eight years of age. AVjout 
two years after his marriage, he moved to 
the pr&sent farm, eighty-two acres of which he 
purchased at that time, subsequently adding 
twenty adjoining acres. This makes a fine, 
easily cultivated farm and here Mr. Arnold 
carries on a general line of agriculture. 

Mr. Arnold married Lizzie Hankey, De- 
cember 25, 1876, who wa* born in Copley 



Township, and is a daughter of Samuel and 
Maria (Whitmer) Hankey. Samuel Han- 
key was one of the earliest settlers at Akron 
and from there he moved to Copley Town- 
ship. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have three children 
of their own and another child. Hazel Brad- 
ley, whom they have reared from' the age of 
two years to seventeen. Their three children 
are : William, who is employed by the Akron 
Telephone Company, married Mary Wiley, 
and they have two children, Eva and Ray; 
Lilly, who married Albert Boltz, has two 
children. Earl and Glen; and Frank, who as- 
sists his father. 

Mr. Arnold's farm and surroundings show 
good management and thrifty methods. All 
of the substantial fai'm structures, except the 
house, he has placed here, and he has done 
much additional improving. 

AARON A. SWIGART, who is engaged in 
agricultural operations on an excellent tract 
of 200 acres, is one of the substantial citizens 
of Franklin Township, and was born August 
6, 1857, on his present farm in FrankliJi 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Joseph and Sarah (Hai'ing) Swigart. 

George Swigart, grandfather of Aaron A., 
was a native of Pennsylvania, whei"e he mar- 
ried. On coming to Ohio he had to clear most 
of his farm from the woods, and here his 
first wife died. He was married the .second 
time to a Miss Daily, a native of Summit 
County, and here the remainder of their lives 
were spent, his death occurring in his 85th 
year, his second wife having preceded him to 
the grave. They had a large family, about 
fourteen children, and of these Joseph was 
next to the eldest. 

Joseph Swigart was born on his father's 
farm, which was located south of the present 
Swigart farm, and was reared to manhood 
here, helping to clear the farm from the wil- 
derness. Prior to his nuirriage he purchased 
a part of the present Swigart farm, and to this 
he kept adding from time to time, making im- 
provements, including a large house and barn, 
and converting his property into one of the 
finest farms in Franklin Township. Here he 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



543 



died in 1895, at the age of seventy years. Mr. 
Swigart was married to Sarah Haring, who 
was born in Franklin Township, and who 
is a daughter of Charles Haring. Mrs. 
Swigart survives her husband and resides on 
the home farm with her son Aaron A. Two 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Swigart: 
Aaron A., above mentioned, and Charles, who 
married Hattie Diehl, a daughter of William 
Diehl, and has two children — Gladys and 
Hallie. 

Aaron A. Swigart attended the district 
schools and afterward engaged in agricultur- 
al pursuits, in which he has been occupied 
all of his active period. With his mother and 
brother he owns the excellent homestead of 
200 acres, on which is situated a large and 
comfortable residence. The row of beautiful 
shade trees on each side of the driveway lead- 
ing to the house were planted by Mr. Swigart 
and others twenty-five years ago, and add 
much to the attractiveness of the property. 

On September 16, 1901, Mr. Swigart was 
married to Mary Scholl, who is a daughter 
of Peter and Ann Scholl, and to this union 
one child has been born: Joseph Herman. 
Mr. Swigart is a member of the Reformed 
Church at Manchester. 

L. K. FORCE, president of the Summit 
China Company, has been a resident of Akron 
for the past fifty-eight years. Born in New- 
York, in 1848, he came to this city with his 
parents, in the following year, and thus may 
almost be called a native of Akron, where he 
was reared and educated. 

In 1863, when only a school-V)oy of fifteen 
years, he enlisted for service in the Civil War 
entering the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Inde- 
pendent Light Artillery. His battery was 
sent immediately to become a part of the 
Army of the Cumberland, and thus he par- 
ticipated in all the battles and marches of 
the Atlanta campaign. After returning to 
Tennessee, this battery took part in the bat- 
tles of Franklin and Nashville, after which 
it went into winter quarters at Pulaski. In 
the spring of 1865 it returned to Nashville, 
where it took boat to New Orleans. In the 



succeeding August it returned to Columbus, 
where it was honorably discharged September 
1, 1865. 

After all this long and hazardous army ex- 
perience, Mr. Force returned to Akron, where 
he set about learning a peaceful trade, having 
no more desire for military life. He entered 
a factory where he learned the pottery trade, 
becoming so expert a worker, that in 1879. 
when the Akron Stoneware Company was 
organized, he was made superintendent and 
also president, and served as such until 
March, 1900. At this time, in association 
with R. H. Kent, he organized the Summit 
China Company, which is incorporated with 
a capital stock of $100,000, Mr. Force being 
president and superintendent and R. H. 
Kent, secretary and treasurer. This com- 
pany employs 150 men and does an annual 
export business of $175,000. 

In 1870, Mr. Force was married to Alice 
L. Washburn, a daughter of Daniel B. Wash- 
burn, who was one of the pioneers of Summit 
County. Mrs. Force died March 14, 1893, 
leaving six children, namely: Mildred, who 
married E. L. Demming; Orlando, residing in 
Akron ; Jessie B., residing at home; Daniel B., 
working with the Summit China Company; 
Ferdman F., assistant superintendent of the 
Summit China Company; and Benjamin F., 
who is a student at the Ohio State University. 
Mr. Force was married (second) in June, 
1897, to Mi's. Yeomans, who is a daughter 
of John Wilson, of Brimfield, Ohio. 

Although he has never sought public office, 
Mr. Force has long taken an active interest in 
politics, and on many occasions has demon- 
strated his public spirit and civic pride.. Fra- 
ternally, he is an Odd Fellow. He is a mem- 
ber of Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Re- 
public, and also of the German Rifle club. 
He ranks well up among Akron's prominent 
citizens. 

WILLIAM A. MORTON, notary public at 
Barberton, has been established in the in- 
surance and real estate business here since 
1903, and has been a resident of Summit 
Countv .since 1873. He wa« born in Law- 



544 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



pence County, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1864, 
and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Scott) 
Morton. 

The parents of Mr. Morton were born in 
England and were married there prior to com- 
ing to vVmerica in 1862. Thomas Morton 
was a coal miner and he engaged in this work 
first in Pennsylvania and after 1873, in 
Summit County, Ohio. For two years he 
lived at Tomotown, east of Akron, but in 
1875 he moved to Norton Township and lo- 
cated at a point then known as Dennison and 
now as Sherman. At this place he became a 
mine boss and was known as a very reliable, 
capable man. His wife died in 1881 and his 
death followed in 1884. 

Prior to coming to Summit County, Wil- 
liam A. Morton had attended school for a 
short time but had in no way gained a suf- 
ficient amount of education to satisfy him, 
even in boyhood. For three years he worked 
in the mines in Summit County and then 
started again to school, attending first the 
Copley and Norton Center High School and 
later the Normal Schools at Wadsworth and 
Lebanon. He then taught school for some 
time, after which he took a commercial course 
in the Iron City Business College at Pittsburg, 
where he was graduated in 1884. Upon his 
return to Summit County he engaged in 
teaching for ten years and for four years 
of this period he was principal of the Western 
Star Academy. He became widely known 
as an excellent educator, and he was made 
treasurer of the Summit County Teachers' 
Institute and latel- its president, serving one 
year in each position. In 1900, Mr. Morton 
came to Barberton and became a member of 
the office force of the Sterling Company, 
later of the Pure Gum Specialty Company, 
and later bookkeeper for the American Clay 
Company, of Akron. In 1903, he established 
a fire insurance office and began also to deal 
in real estate, and in company with Godfrey 
Werner he entered also into the coal business 
and developed the mines at Manchester, in 
Summit County. His business interests are 
large and important. 

On September 8, 1887, Mr. Morton was 



married to Sadie A. Boden, who is a daugh- 
ter of John Boden, and they have three 
children, namely: Raymond E., Bessie and 
Mary. 

Mr. Morton has been in public office for a 
number of years. Since 1889 he has been a 
notary public and for nine yeaiv he served 
as a justice of the peace in Norton Township, 
where he also was trustee for two terms, and 
township clerk for four years. He is a mem- 
ber of the Summit County Court House Com- 
mission, appointed by Judge J. A. Kohler, 
has served two terms as Deputy State Super- 
visor of Elections, and has been a member of 
the city council of Barberton. 

Mr. Morton is a popular and respected 
citizen. He is fraternally connected with the 
Odd Fellows and the Elks and is one of the 
trustees of the latter organization. 

GEORGE DREISBACH, whose farm of 
125 acres of valuable land, all in one body, is 
situated in Norton Township, is a representa- 
tive citizen of this section and one of its best 
farmers. He was born in Northampton 
County, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1843, 
and is a son of Charles and Sarah (Konkle) 
Drei.sbach. 

About 1865, Charles Dreisbach became a 
resident and landowner in Summit County 
and continued to invest in property until he 
acquired a very considerable amount. His 
first purchase was of 144 acres, to which he 
added sixty-five acres, and later bought sixty- 
seven acres where Barberton now stands, a 
part of which, on which Lake Anna is 
situated, he sold to John J. Warner, and also 
owned fifteen acres in Coventry Township, the 
total reaching 300 acres, the result of careful 
foresight and wise investing. He died on the 
farm where his son lives, in 1885. He was 
married three times, Sarah Konkle. his second 
wife, being the mother of George. He had 
fourteen children, ten of whom still survive. 

George Dreisbach was born near a place 
called Big Grass Pond, from which his father 
moved in his boyhood, to near Wilkesbarre, 
Pennsylvania, where he bought a farm. In 
1865, George accompanied his father to Sum- 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



545 



mit County, where he was subsequently mar- 
ried and one year later he moved to Michigan. 
He learned the joiner's trade in youth, work- 
ing with E. A. Barber of Akron, and worked 
also at this trade in Michigan. He also made 
a great deal of money by handling farming 
lands, buying, improving and selling, fre- 
quently owning and disposing of two farms 
in a year. Upon the death of his father, he 
returned to Ohio and bought out the other 
heirs, and has resided in Norton Township 
ever since. For a short time he owned the 
old Surfass farm, but this he sold to George 
Cowling. 

Mr. Dreisbach was given but few education- 
al chances in his youth. He was only thirteen 
years of age when he was sent into the harvest 
field, and was proud to be able to do the 
work of a half hand. He has always enjoyed 
the hard, hearty work incident to safely get- 
ting in the crops, and for a period covering 
fifty-two years he has never failed to take part 
in this labor, even when working as a joiner. 

Mr. Dreisbach married Martha A. Raber, 
who was born in Stark County, Ohio, who is 
a daughter of L. B-. Raber, and she came to 
Summit County in girlhood. They have two 
children : Lewis B. and Charles C. A. The 
elder son married Anna Blocher, who is a 
daughter of Martin Blocher, and they have 
one son, Leroy. He resides on the home 
farm. Charles C. A., who owns forty acres 
in Coventry Township, married Mamie 
Strawhacker, and they have one child, Mer- 
land. 

B. .T. GIFFORD, city superintendent of 
the Mohican Oil and Gas Company, whose 
portrait appears in this connection, has been 
identified with the gas business all his life. 
He was born in the state of New York, in 
1872. and was reared and educated in Penn- 
sylvania. 

After finishing his schooling, Mr. Gifford 
went to work for the Standard Oil Company, 
at Titusville, and eighteen months later went 
to Fremont. Ohio, where he was engaged in 
the gas business for six months. Thence he 
went to Toledo, where he was employed for 



two years. Later he worked all through the 
Indiana gas belt, subsequently returning to 
Pennsylvania. AVhen the Mohican Oil and 
Gas Company was organized, in May, 1905, 
Mr. Gifford became associated with it at Bar- 
berton and later, when it became the lessee 
of the Akron Gas Company, and the offices 
were transferred to Akron, he became the su- 
perintendent at this point. His steady con- 
tinuance in one line of effort has given him 
the experience needful for an office of the im- 
portance of the one who fills. In 1898 Mr. 
Gifford was married to Bernice Giles, who was 
born at Dennison. Ohio, and they have two 
attractive children : ^Margaret Grace and 
Bernice June. 

WILLIAM H. JIcCHESNEY. a descendant 
of one of Springfield's oldest and most hon- 
ored families, and a man of prominence and 
influence in his community, was born on the 
farm on w-hich he now resides, in Springfield 
Township, Summit County Ohio, December 
3, 1857, and is a son of William and Louise 
(Gressard) McChesney. 

John McChesney, the grandfather of Will- 
iam H., was a farmer and distiller, and he 
erected the residence which stands, well pre- 
.-^en'ed, on his grandson's farm. The name of 
his wife was Martha and they had the follow- 
ing children: Andrew, who married Betsy 
Cables, died in Kansas; Margaret, who mar- 
ried Eli Flickingcr, died in Iowa; Mary, who 
is the widow of Jacob Merton, resides in Ne- 
braska; Leslie, deceased, married Harriet 
Chote, who resides in Kansas; and William. 

William McChesney was born March 3, 
1817, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylva- 
nia, and wa.s eight years of age when he accom- 
panied his parents to Ohio. He followed 
farming all his life and died in 1905, in his 
eighty-ninth year. Enterprising and public- 
spirited, William McChesney did much to- 
ward building up the community in which 
he lived. He was one of the heartiest sup- 
porters of the Valley Railroad, to which he 
donated the right of way through his farm. 
He was one of the pillars of the Presbyterian 
Church. Politically, he was a Republican 



546 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



but hi.s desires never lay in the direction of 
political preferment. 

William McChesney married Louise Gres- 
sard, who was a daughter of Frederick Gres- 
sard and had been a soldier in the French 
army before coming to America. He landed 
at Philadelphia but subsequently came to 
Coventry- Township, Summit County, where 
he reared a family of six children. Both he 
and wife died in Coventry Township. To 
William and Louise McChesney were born the 
following children : Charles Lewis, who died 
in infancy; Edward Austin, a contractor and 
farmer, residing in Springfield Township, 
married Sarah Wise, of East Liberty ; Philora, 
who married George L. Sypher, residing at 
Akron ; Herman G., residing at Akron, owns 
a farm near Krumroy ; Frederick, residing on 
his farm in Springfield Township, who mar- 
ried Nettie Yerrick, and William H. 

William H. McChesney was reared in his 
native section and was educated in the dis- 
trict schools. For many years he carried on 
agricultural pursuits on the home farm. It 
is a tract of almost sixty acres and Mr. Mc- 
Chesney's careful cultivation resulted in 
abundant returns. When he tired of farm- 
ing he became associated with his brother, 
Edward Austin, in building and contracting, 
renting his farm to a tenant. He is well 
known all through this section and. enjoys the 
respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. 

By his marriage to Lucy Thompson, Mr. 
McChesney became connected with another 
prominent old family of Summit County. 
Mrs. McChesney is a native of Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Robert 
and Elizabeth (Henderson) Thompson, and 
a granddaughter of Jame.s and Margaret 
(Sunderland) Thompson. Robert Thomp- 
son was born in 1809, and came to Summit 
County, in 1832, where he died at the age of 
seventy-two years. The children of Robert 
Thompson and wife were : Margaret J. ; 
Mary F., who married Oscar Collins, re.sid- 
ing at Cleveland; Nancy J., who died in 1900, 
was the wife of William L. Ewart; James A., 
who died in 1906. resided in Indiana; one 



son died in 1864; and Lucy, the youngest, 
who married William H. McChesney. 

xVlthough Mr. and Mrs. McChesney have 
no children of their own, they have an 
adopted son who is very dear to them, who 
bears the name of Walter McChesney. He is 
a bright, intelligent youth of twelve years. 

Mr. McChesney is a stanch Republican. 
He belongs to the Presbyterian Church which 
has been the faith of the family for genera- 
tions. His beautiful modern home he erected 
in 1906, and there he and wife enjoy oft'ering 
hospitality to their many friends. 

ROBERT A. McCLELLAN, who was, for 
almost seventy-two years a prominent citizen 
and successful farmer of Springfield Town- 
ship, was born April 9, 1835, on the farm on 
which his son, William J. McClellan, now re- 
sides in Summit County, Ohio. He was a 
son of William and Jane (Fite) McClellan. 

The parents of the late Robert A. McClel- 
lan came to Sunnnit County in pioneer days 
and the family has been one of prominence 
in this section ever since its founding. Of 
the children of William and Jane McClellan 
the following reached maturity: William A., 
residing at Akron, married Alice Russell; 
Elizabeth, who married Urias Cramer, resid- 
ing at Wichita, Kansas; and Robert A. 

Robert A. McClellan passed his boyhood 
attending the district schools, and working 
on the farm, of which he later became man- 
ager and subsequently owner. He married 
Amanda Hoff, a member of another family 
that has been identified with Summit County 
from its earliest days. Her parents were 
James and Wilhelmina Hoff, who died in 
Springfield Township, where they had spent 
long and useful lives. They were natives of 
Pennsylvania. Mrs. McClellan still survives 
and is an esteemed resident of Mogadore. 
She was born February 9, 1847, and is one of 
a family of eight children, namely: Lucinda, 
who married James Stall, residing at Delta, 
Ohio; Miles, residing at Akron, who mar- 
ried Mattie Swain ; Emma, residing in Spring- 
field Township, who married Thomas Hale; 
Zadia, residing at Cuyahoga, Falls, who mar- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



547 



ried L. Cranier; Albert, re.<idiii<i- at Tallniadge, 
Ohio, wlio married Hattie Treat ; Frank, re- 
siding at Mogadore, who married Mary Hale; 
Amanda, who is the widow of Robert A. Mc- 
Clellan, who died April 29, 1907 ; and James. 

To Robert A. McClellan and wife were born 
five children, as follows: Cora, William 
James, Charles, Robert A., and Fred. Cora, 
who married Robert Gates, April 27, 1891, 
residing at Mogadore, has three children, 
Harry, born November 22, 1892, Eunice 
Mary, born May 16, 1894, and Ernest, born 
April 17, 1908. Mr. Gates is a prominent 
Rej)ul)lican of Springfield Township, serving 
at present as a justice of the peace, and he is 
a charter member of Mogadore Lodge, No. 
482. Knights of Pythias; William James, 
born November 18, 1874, was educated in the 
local schools and the Mogadore High School, 
married Lillian Selzer, daughter of Michael 
and .\manda Selzer of Springfield Township, 
and they have two children. Pearl, born De- 
cember 8, 1904, and Edna May, born May 18, 
190(J. Mr. McClellan is a very successful 
farmer, a Democrat in politics, and belongs to 
the order of Knights of Pythias at Mogadore. 
Charles, who has been in partnei-ship with 
his brother in conducting a meat market, at 
Mogadore, since September, 1900, is a Demo- 
crat in politics and fraternally a Knight of 
Pythia's. He married Elsie L. Denny, June 
21, 1905, a daughter of Henry A. and Barbara 
Deiniy, of Sufiield Township, Portage County. 
Robert A., who is in business at Mogadore, is a 
Democrat in politics, and fraternally a 
Knight of Pythias. Pie married Lizzie Bow- 
man, a daughter of Jefferson and Jemima 
(Boyer) Bowman, and they have two chil- 
dren, Earl and a babe. Fred resides with 
his mother at Mogadore. 

About four years preceding his death the 
late Robert McClellan moved from his farm 
to Mogadore, where he had erected a com- 
fortable home. He was a successful farmer, 
and was an honorable man. Politically, he 
was a Democrat. With his sons, he was as- 
sociated with Lodge No. 482, Knights of 
Pvthia«. 



CHARLES N. MILLER, a representative 
citizen of Mogadore, and manager, secretary 
and treasurer of the Colonial Pressed Brick 
Company, an important industry of this sec- 
tion, was born in Plain Township, Stark 
County, Ohio, February 27, 1880, and is a 
■son of N. S. and Ellen (Wise) Miller. 

The Millers came originally from Pennsyl- 
vania to Ohio, Abraham Miller, the grand- 
father, bringing his family to Stark County, 
where the father of Charles N. Miller was 
born and where he still resides, at the age of 
fifty-eight years. His occupation since he 
reached mature years has been farming. He 
married Ellen Wise, who also survives, and 
they are the parents of three sons and four 
daughters, namely : Roy C, residing at Can- 
ton; Joseph A., residing at New Berlin; Net- 
tie, who married Harry Stover, residing at 
Canal Fulton ; Minnie, who married Arthur 
Wear-stler; Lydia, who married Thomas 
Weaver, residing at Canton; Ellen, residing 
with her parents ; and Charles N. 

Charles N. Miller was educated in the 
schools of New Berlin and after graduating 
from the High School, took a couree in the 
Spencerian Business College, at Cleveland, 
where he was graduated in 1902, after which 
he accepted a position as cashier for the Fed- 
eral Manufacturing Company, manufactur- 
ers of automobiles and parts, at Cleveland. 
He remained with this organization until 
1905, when he entered into his present busi- 
ness, which was then located at Akron. He 
became bookkeeper for the Pressed Brick 
Company, and after its removal to Mogadore 
he became manager, secretary and treasurer. 

The Colonial Pressed Brick Company is 
an Ohio corporation, and in 1904, the late 
Ira A. Miller, of Greentown, was its presi- 
dent. J. A. Sheets was elected vice-president 
and C. N. Miller secretary, treasurer and gen- 
eral manager. The other capitalists con- 
nected with the company are: J. W. Hisey, 
Henry Sweitzer, Levi Stoner, E. C. Sheets 
and W. E. Butler. They are engaged in the 
manufacture of face or stiff mud brick. The 
kiln has a capacity of 12,000 brick per day, 
machine capacity, 40,000, and they employ 



548 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



25 men and market their product over a large 
area of country, finding ready sale on account 
of its superior quality. The plant is most 
conveniently located where there i-- an abun- 
dance of clay, with water supplied by the Little 
Cuyahoga River. Its equipments are entirely 
modern. When Mr. Miller took charge it 
needed a man of his business capacity to ad- 
just what was wrong and to put the business 
on a full paying basis. This he has done and 
it is numbered with the prospering industries 
of this part of Summit County. 

In 1904 Mr. Miller married Rhuie Sum- 
mers, who is a daughter of Rev. H. B. and 
Elizabeth Summers, who was born at Balti- 
more, Fairfield County, Ohio, and they have 
one son. Homer Summers. The father of 
Mrs. Miller is a well-known minister of the 
Evangelical Church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mil- 
ler belong to the United Evangelical Church. 
They have been residents of Mogadore for 
the past two years. 

ROBERT C. GATES, a leading citizen of 
Mogadore, where he is engaged in a grocery 
business, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, July 
18, 1861, and is a son of Henry and Eunice 
(Cornwell) Gates. 

The founder of the Gates family in this 
State was the paternal grandfather, Halsey 
Gates, who came with his wife Lucy and set- 
tled at what has been known ever since as 
Gates Mills, as early as 1816. He was the 
founder of that village and there lived out 
a long and useful life. His children were: 
Washington, who is deceased; Edwin, who is 
deceased; Alexander, w'ho has never been 
heard of by his family, since he moved to 
Mexico, in 1884; Maria, deceased, who mar- 
ried Selig Knapp; Eliza, who married Gordon 
Shipman; Hattie, who married D. B. Spear; 
William, who resides at Toledo, Ohio; and 
Henry. The grandparents were natives of 
New York. 

Henry Gates, father of Robert C, was born 
at Gates Mills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 
March, 1831. Soon after his marriage he 
left Gates Mills and settled at Cleveland, 
where he had charge of a mill, having been 



trained in this industry. He moved from 
there to Elmore, in Ottawa County, and from 
there to Port Clinton, in 1887 locating at 
Mogadore, where he has been engaged ever 
since in operating a mill of his own. Al- 
though many men of his age have retired 
from business, Mr. Gates has preserved his 
strength, vitality and ambition to a remark- 
able degree, and is just as capable of conduct- 
ing large business deals as in his earlier years. 
When twenty-one years of age he united with 
the Masons, at Chagrin Falls, and received 
his demit when he left Port Clinton. He is 
a member of the Disciples Church. Mr. Gates 
has been a life-long Republican, this being 
the political complexion of the whole kindred, 
with the single exception of Mr. Gosline, who 
is the editor of the Oak Harbor, Ottawa Coun- 
ty, Press, and a son-in-law of Mr. Gates. 

Henry Gates was married (first) to Eunice 
Cornwell, who died at the age of sixty-three 
years. She was a daughter of Sanders Cornwell. 
There were five children born to that mar- 
riage, namely : Walter, who died in infancy ; 
Lucy, who married J. W. Sylvester, residing 
at Cleveland; Cora, who married George Gos- 
line, residing at Oak Harbor; George, resid- 
ing at Mogadore, who married Grace Hicker- 
man ; and Robert C. 

Robert C. Gates attended school up to the 
age of seventeen years, both at Elmore and 
Port Clinton, after which he worked for a 
time in a printing office, and later worked at 
railroading. In 1887 he came to Mogadore 
with hLs father, and shortly afterward em- 
barked in his present business, in which he 
has met with success, being now one of the 
leading men in his line in the place. 

Mr. Gates was married (first) to Sylvia 
Atchison, who died in the following year. He 
was married (second) to Cora McClellan, who 
is a daughter of one of the prominent old 
county families, Robert and Amanda (Hoff) 
McClellan. They have three children : Hen- 
ry Robert, Eunice and Ernest. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gates are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

In politics Mr. Gates is a stanch Republican 
and on numerous occasions since locating at 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



549 



Mogadore, has been called to public office. 
He served six years as a member of the School 
Board, for three years was treasurer of the 
corporation, and in the fall of 1904, without 
his knowledge, he was nominated for justice 
of the peace and subsequently elected, his 
personal popularity being great enough to 
overcome a normal Democratic majority of 
some eighty votes. He has taken an. active 
interest in everything likely to advance the 
welfare and prosperity of the town and coun- 
ty. He is a charter member of Lodge No. 
482, Knights of Pythias, at Mogadore. Like 
every other member of his family, he is a 
musician and has been the leader of the 
Mogadore band since it was organized in 1902. 
His father, in his youth, was a member of the 
old Gates Mills band and was a member of 
the Elmore band when living there. 

BRADFORD W. SKINNER, a representa- 
tive citizen of Tallmadge Township, of which 
he has been a trustee for the past five years, 
resides one-half mile northeast of Tallmadge 
Center, where he owns fifty acres of excellent 
land. He was born in Bath Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, April 7, 1833 and is a son 
of Col. Salmon and Caroline (Waldo) Skin- 
ner. 

The father of Mr. Skinner was born at 
Milford, Connecticut. In his eighteenth year 
he entered the service of his country, in the 
War of 1812, after which he settled in Sum- 
mit County. He lived to the unusual age of 
ninety- two years, dying in 1892. He mar- 
ried Catherine Waldo, who accompanied her 
father, General Waldo, to Suffield Town- 
.ship, Portage County. He later moved to the 
far West, where he died. Mrs. Skinner died 
at the age of forty-two years. The children 
of Salmon and Catherine Skinner were the 
following: Daniel, residing in Nebraska; De- 
catur, who died in California; Uriah, deceased; 
Bradford W., of Bath Township ; Oliver, who 
died in Geauga County, Ohio ; Edwin, resid- 
ing at Tallmadge, married (first) to Caroline 
Wurst, and (second) a lady in Bath Town- 
ship, and he served in the Civil War as a 
member of the 29th Regiment, Ohio Volun- 



teer Infantry; and Joseph-, who died in a 
New York hospital, having served in the 
Civil War under General Sherman. 

Bradford W. Skinner was eleven years of 
age when his mother died. He lived 'in Bath 
and Northampton Townships until he was 
eighteen years of age, in the meantime having 
but meager school advantages. When he 
came to Bath Township he hired out to run 
a sawmill, and he remained in the employ 
of one man for fifteen years. He then rented 
land of F. D. Ailing for five years, subse- 
quently purchasing thirty-three acres of the 
land, which he has added to and continued 
to cultivate. For many years he followed 
teaming, this being very profitable to him, 
resulting in his becoming a man of independ- 
ent means. 

On April 18, 1855, Mr. Skinner was mar- 
ried to Laura Dickerson, who is a daughter 
of William and Martha Dickerson, farmers 
of Northampton Township. Five children 
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, namely: 
Etta L., Carlton B., OUie, Lucy A. and Min- 
nie. Etta L. was married (first) to Arthur 
Hart and (second) to John Newton, ra«ides 
at Hudson and has four children. Carlton B. 
married (first) Julia, a daughter of 0. S. 
Treat, and (second) Fannie Bierce, daughter 
of Luciu.'i V. and Hattie Bierce, and they have 
one daughter. Ollie married Frank Root, who 
is a mail carrier residing at Six Corners. 
They have four children. Miss Lucy A. is 
head nurse at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, 
Battle Creek, Michigan. She studied three 
years at Ann Arbor and holds the record of 
being the only girl who ever passed out of 
that institution from the school room directly 
to a high and responsible position, one which 
she has capably filled for the past three years. 
Minnie married Edwin Upson, who is engaged 
in farming in Tallmadge Township. 

Politically Mr. Skinner has been a stanch 
Republican ever since he acquired his right 
to full citizenship and he has been a supporter 
of the Government both in peace and war. 
On May 2, 1864, as a member of Company D, 
164th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
he accompanied his comrades to Cleveland 



550 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and from there to Arlington Heights, Wash- 
ington, and when the military necessity was 
over, returned to Cleveland and was mus- 
tered out. As one of the township's intelli- 
gent, reliable citizens, Mr. Skinner has fre- 
quently been called upon to accept local of- 
fices and on all occasions he has performed 
his duties faithfully and efficiently. For the 
past five years he has been a township trustee 
and his caution and good judgment have 
made him a valuable member of the board. 
He belongs to Buckley Post, Grand Army of 
the Republic at Akron, and is a member of 
the local Grange. He is a liberal man in 
the support of charities and has never turned 
a deaf ear to distress. 

HOWARD A. BAUER, a well-known citi- 
zen of Norton Township, who .since 1895 has 
been operating the Weygandt farm, which is 
a valuable tract of seventy-three acres, was 
born June 14, 1873, in Norton Town.ship, 
Sununit County, Ohio, and is a son of John 
and Susanna (Hoch) Bauer, who were natives 
of Pennsylvania. 

Howard A. Bauer was reared, in Norton 
Township, where he has resided all his life 
with the exception of two years spent at Bar- 
berton. On January 1, 1895, Mr. Bauer was 
married to Augusta Weygandt, who was born 
on the old Weygandt farm across the road 
from the present home, and is a daughter of 
Elias and Mary (Miller) Weygandt, the lat- 
ter of whom was a daughter of Peter Miller. 
Elias Weygandt was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and came early in manhood to Norton Town- 
ship. He owned the farm on which Mrs. 
Bauer was born, his wife being the owner 
of the present Bauer home, Mrs. Bauer owns 
the present farm, which Mr. Bauer cultivates 
very successfully. Mr. and Mrs. Bauer have 
one child, Thelma May. They attend the 
Lutheran Church at Doylestown, Ohio. 

EDWIN H. CARTER, general farmer and 
representative citizen of Northfield Township, 
was born in Boston Township, Summit Coun- 
ty, Ohio, August 14, 1858, and when fourteen 



years of age, his parents moved to Everett, 
and his education was secured there and at 
Peninsula. 

Mr. Carter worked on his father's canal boat 
and later assisted the latter on his farm, until 
he was twenty years of age, when he pur- 
chased the canal boat named Tempest, and 
later owned the Tidal Wave. He continued 
on the water for about two years, after which 
he engaged in farming for a time, still later 
entering a wholesale house at Akron, where 
he continued for five years. He had pre- 
viously learned the blacksmith business and 
spent a season in the Michigan woods working 
as a blacksmith for the Cleveland Sawmill 
Company, Prior to going to Akron, he con- 
ducted a blacksmith shop at Everett, for five 
years. Before his marriage in 1904, he rented 
a farm at Everett for two years, and after- 
ward came to the Chaffee farm, which he has 
operated very successfully ever since. He 
raises truck and produce of all kinds for the 
Cleveland market, keeps twenty cows and has 
butter made on the farm for special cus- 
tomers, has some twenty calves and twenty 
head of hogs. He raises good crops also of 
corn, oats, wheat and hay. The apple orchard 
is a fine producer and many barrels are 
shipped a season. 

On May 2, 1904, Mr. Carter was married 
to Gertrude Wisneski, who is a daughter of 
Peter Wisneski. She was born at Inde- 
pendence, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, December 
2, 1867, but for the past twenty-five years has 
lived with the Chaft'ee family, by whom she 
is looked on in the light of a daughter. Her 
father was born in Poland and came to Amer- 
ica with his parent.s. They settled first in 
Cleveland, moving later to Independence, 
where Mr. Wisneski followed the trade of 
stonecutter until within five years of his death, 
when he bought a farm in Northfield Town- 
ship, on which he raised truck for the Cleve- 
land market. 

Mr. Carter takes no active interest in poli- 
tics, voting as his judgment directs. He is 
known to his fellow-citizens as a fine farmer, 
a reliable man and an accommodating and 
helpful neighbor. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



551 



CHARLES W. WICKLINE, general su- 
perintendent of the Akron China Company, 
and one of the stockholders and a director in 
the concern, was born in 1869, at Pitt;>burg, 
Pennsj'lvania, where he attended school in 
early boyhood. 

Mr. Wickline is a self-made man, begin- 
ning at a very early age to provide for his 
own maintenance. He began to work as a 
feeder in a nail factory and so careful, ac- 
curate and industrious did he prove himself 
that by the time he was eighteen years old 
he was given charge of four machines, which 
he operated for about seven years. Desiring 
to see something of the country and to en- 
gaged in a more congenial business, Mr. Wick- 
line then went to East Liverpool, where he 
learned the pottery trade, his natural deft- 
ness and ready understanding of the prin- 
ciples of this industry soon bringing him into 
notice with china manufacturers and dealers. 
Coming to Akron he was here given charge 
of one department of the Akron China Com- 
pany, in which he owned stock. His manifest 
ability resulted in his rapid promotion, and 
for the past six years he has occupied his 
I)resent responsible position. The Akron 
China Company commands an extensive trade, 
as at their Chicago office they do a half mil- 
lion dollars' worth of business yearly in im- 
]>orted goods alone. They have 225 employes 
in their Akron plant. In addition to his in- 
terest in this important enterprise, Mr. Wick- 
line is a director in the Akron Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company. He has always taken 
some interest in local political affairs. 

In 1892 Mr. Wickline was married to Mary 
Frances Hawkins, who was born at Steuben- 
ville, Ohio. Her grandfather was one of the 
first settlers in Jefferson County. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wickline have one son, Frank Hawkins. 
Mr. Wickline, with his family, is affiliated 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
is quite prominent in Masonry, having been 
identified with the fraternity for many years. 
He is past worshipful master of Akron Lodge, 
N. 83, F. & A. M. ; past high priest of Wash- 
ington Chapter No. 25 ; past thrice illustrious 
master of Akron Council, No. 80 ; and belongs 



to the Akron Connnandery and Lake Erie 
Consistory. 

COMFORT JACKSON CHAFFEE, who 

has the distinction of being the oldest resident 
of Northfield Township, was born in what is 
now Hampden, Ma.ssachusetts, April 14, 1817, 
and is a son of Comfort and Persis (Skinner) 
Chaffee. 

The family can be traced back to France, 
from Avhich country it early went to Wales 
and in colonial days came to Massachusetts. 
The original settler was named Samuel and 
he had a son, John, who settled at Pomfret, 
Connecticut, and he had a son, Asa. Asa 
Chaffee, the great-grandfather, was born in 
Connecticut, and was one of the early set- 
tlers at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He had 
sixteen sons, many of whom were killed in 
the French and Indian and in the Revolu- 
tionary War. The youngest of these. Com- 
fort Chaffee, was born at Wilbraham, Mas- 
sachusetts. He participated in the Revolu- 
tionary War and proved a bold and resolute 
man. He was a strict Sabbatarian and per- 
mitted no household or farm work to be 
done on Sunday. 

Comfort Chaffee (2), the second child and 
eldest son of his parents was born at Wil- 
braham, Massachusetts, where his life was 
spent. He was a farmer and stockdealer and 
was a man of considerable substance. He as- 
sisted in suppressing Shay's Rebellion. He took 
a leading part in the town's government and 
held many of the offices. He married Persis 
Skinner, who was born in Woodstock, Con- 
necticut, and they have six sons and three 
daughters. Their children were reared in 
great strictness. 

Comfort Jackson Chaffee attended the dis- 
trict schools in his youth and received excel- 
lent training in the rudiments. On the last 
day of December, 1837, he entered the em- 
ploy of the firm of Waters & Flagg, armorers, 
at Millbury, Massachusetts, and remained a 
year, afterward worked at the Chicopee Falls 
Arms Company, and later cut a large amount 
of cord wood, taking his pay of thirty-seven 
and one-half cents a cord, in sole leather. 



552 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Later he worked at manufacturing monkey 
wrenches. About 1839, Mr. Chaffee received 
a letter from his brother Jonathan, who was 
then at Brecksville, Summit County, asking 
him to join him in this part of the country. 
On April 1, 1840, he left Massachusetts, trav- 
eling by rail to Rochester, New York, which 
was then the terminus of the line, and there 
took a stage to Dunkirk, at that point tak- 
ing passage on the steamer General Scott, 
then making her maiden trip to Cleveland. 

Having safely reached Northfield Town- 
ship, Mr. Chaffee bought seventy acres of 
land, which is included in his present farm 
and to the original purchase he continued to 
add until he owned 300 acres. He cleared 
the timber from his land, making his home 
for two years with his brother and also work- 
ing in a machine shop at Brecksville. In the 
second year he built a barn. When not em- 
ployed on his land he worked at Brecksville, 
in the iron works when they were running, 
and also, in the machine shops at odd times. 
He afterwards assisted in establishing a plant 
for the manufacture of rifles at Brecksville. 
He began to stock his farm with cattle and 
sheep, as soon as practicable, and in 1848, he 
began dairying, starting with two cows, and 
later increased to eighty-seven cows. At the 
same time he had 400 sale cows on the place. 
Later Mr. Chaffee became a drover, a very 
successful one, and in this capacity he was on 
the road until he was eighty-eight years of 
age, selling at Brooklyn, Ohio, and South 
Cleveland, when not holding sales on his own 
place. Mr. Chaffee is well known all over this 
section of the State, and for many years was 
regarded as an authority on cattle and stock. 
His operations sometimes were on a large 
scale and through his excellent business judg- 
ment, he accumlated an ample fortune. 

Mr. Chaffee married Asenath W. Ferry, 
who died May 30, 1904, aged eighty-six years. 
She was a daughter of Noah Ferry and was 
born at Wales, Ma.ssachusetts. There were 
two children born to this marriage: Mozart, 
deceased : and Anna Maria, who is the widow 
of Dr. Franklin Coats, of Berea, Ohio. 

In his early political life, Mr. Chaffee was 



a Whig, later became a Free Trade Repub- 
lican, but at present is identified with the 
Democratic party. The only ofhce he would 
ever consent to hold was that of school direct- 
or. His life has covered a notable period of 
history and has been more or less filled with 
interesting incidents. Mr. Chaffee is remark- 
ably preserved and enjoys social intercourse 
and takes the interest of a much younger 
man in the affairs of his community and of 
the world at large. 

J. M. WILLS, president and superintend- 
ent of the United States Stoneware Company, 
at Akron, is one of the city's prominent and 
substantial citizens. He was born in 1841, in 
England and was eight years of age when he 
accompanied his parents to America. 

Mr. Wills was reared and educated at 
Cuyahoga Falls. After graduating from the 
High School of that city, he looked about for 
employment, and was engaged for some two 
years in making plows. He embarked then 
in a mercantile business in which he con- 
tinued for twenty-six years, during sixteen 
of which he officiated as postmaster at Mid- 
dlebury. In 1889, Mr. Wills became super- 
intendent of the United States Stoneware 
plant at Akron, and this city has since been 
his place of residence. On the death of George 
W. Brewster, Mr. Wills succeeded him as pres- 
ident of the company. This concern was 
organized for the manufacture of all kinds 
of stonewai'e and enjoys a heavy trade, the 
plant giving employment to fifty workers. 
Mr. Wills is himself master of every part of 
the business, and keeps closely in touch with 
commercial and manufacturing interests all 
over the country. Under his guidance the 
business is enjoying continued prosperity. In 
1863 Mr. Wills was married to Martha E. 
Willis, of Middlebury (East Akron), and they 
have five children: Rena; Nellie J., who 
married A. H. Coles, of Cleveland; Bessie, 
who married J. J. Chamberlain, of Akron; 
Frank S., of Lima, traveling freight agent 
for the Lake Erie & Western Railroad; and 
Grant M., residing at Cleveland, who is stock 
clerk for the Ferro Machine & Foundry Com- 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



553 



pany. Mr. Wills has taken an active interest 
in city politics and for four years served as 
a member of the City Council. He belongs to 
the beneficiaiy order of the Protected Home 
Circle. 

WALTER A. FRANKLIN, of the firm of 
Franklin Brothers, also a general contractor, 
at Akron, has been for the past twenty-eight 
years a resident of this city, which has been 
the scene of his greatest business activity. He 
was born a Baltimore, Maryland, in 1868, and 
is a son of Charles Franklin, who is a retired 
citizen of Akron. 

The parents of Mr. Franklin came to Ohio 
when he was about two years of age, and he 
attended school in this city. His entrance 
into business was as a clerk in a tea store for 
two years, commencing at the age of thirteen 
years. Afterward he worked in a brick yard for 
one year and then engaged in lathing. He also 
learned the plasterer's trade and subsequently 
served two years at the cooper's trade. Prior 
to his twenty-first birthday he had accom- 
plished all this and was theii prepared to en- 
gage in contract plastering, which he did at 
the age of twenty-one. This easily led to 
mason work and general contracting. In 
1898 the firm of Franklin Brothers was estab- 
lished for the purpose of dealing in all kinds 
of sand and gravel and other commodities 
and doing all kinds of excavating and heavy 
teaming, an extensive business being car- 
ried on along all these lines. C. F. Frank- 
lin manages this business W. A. Franklin, 
independent of the Franklin Brothers does 
a large amount of contract work, private 
residences especially, in connection with 
city building. He has built the follow- 
ing fine residences: S. J. Rickie, B. G. 
Work's addition to residence, George G. 
Allen's, John Gross's. George Warner's. M. 
O'Neil's; I. R. Manton's, also Frederick Mil- 
ler's, of Cuyahoga Falls, and the addition to 
the palatial home of C B. Raymond, besides 
many others. 

In 1889, Mr. Franklin was married to Jes- 
sie E. Salmons, of Akron, and they have four 
children: William Charles, Harriet Ann, 



James A. and Robert D. Fraternally Mr. 
Franklin is a Mason and he belongs to the 
Blue Lodge, Chapter, and Council at Akron. 
His business location is at No. 327 Cuyahoga 
Street. He is recognized as one of the city's 
most capable business men, and is also an 
interested and a.ctive worker in advancing the 
welfare of Akron in every way. His portrait 
on the neighboring page will be regarded 
as an appropriate supplement to this article. 

C. F. FRANKLIN, of Franklin Brothers, 
the leading general contracting firm of Akron, 
is one of the city's successful, self-made men. 
He was born in 1873, at Cleveland, Ohio, but 
wiis reared and educated in Akron, attending 
the North Hill School. 

In boj'hood he started out to make his own 
way in the world, and he was the first lad to 
carry the Cleveland Press north of the Balti- 
more & Ohio Railroad, which work he per- 
formed for three years, and under conditions 
which would have discouraged, many less per- 
severing youths. At that time the newspa- 
per, which was greatly in demand, did not 
reach Akron until five o'clock in the after- 
noon, causing the brave little carrier to make 
a somewhat risky trip over the North hills 
at night. This determination of character 
has been a winning attribute in later life. 
From being a newsboy he entered the employ 
of the Akron Building and Cabinet Company, 
and reonained with this concern during seven 
busy years. He then took charge of L. D. 
Ewing's planing mill for two years. During 
the next two years he worked for the Akron 
Spirit Level Company, then for thirteen 
months w^as with the Summit Lumber Com- 
pany, following which came his partmership 
with his brother, Walter A, Franklin, under 
the style of Franklin Brothers. 

This firm is one of the most progressive in 
the city. The Franklin Brothers were the 
first to make a business of delivering screened 
sand to their customers, and they own the 
only steam shovel. They are engaged in all 
kinds of heavy teaming, having thirty-eight 
teams in operation to assist in excavating and 
other contract work. A large contract now 



554. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



bfing filkni is the building of the new State 
Mill Reservoir, which is progre.*sing satisfac- 
torily. 

The Franklin Brothei-s are the owners of 
the North Hill sand banks, situated at the 
corner of North Howard StTeet and Glenwood 
Avenue, whieh contains fifteen acres of sand 
and to an average of forty feet high. 

On November 15, 1893, Mr. Franklin was 
married to Ada M. Gillett, of Akron, and they 
have five children, namely: Charles E., 
Howard L., Walter A., Ada May and Francis 
Gillett. Mr. Franklin is a member of the 
order of Modern Woodmen and of the Build- 
ei-s' Exchange. 

McAllister brothers, the name in- 
cluding Isadore and Alexander McAllister, 
own the old Alexander McAllister farm of 
eighty-eight and one-quarter acres, which is 
.situated in Bath Township. It formerly con- 
tained eighty-nine acres but the McAllister 
school building, in School District No. 10, 
takes off three-fourths of an acre. This farm 
was purchased from an early settler, Dr. Cros- 
by, June 30, 1840, and has never been out 
of the family. 

The parents of the McAllister Brothers were 
born and reared in Ireland and came to Amer- 
ica in 1836, following their marriage. They 
settled first in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, and Alexander McAllister, the father, 
was a contractor on the Pennsylvania & Ohio 
Canal. Later he moved to Monroe Falls, 
where he took a second contract. His first 
contract was the building of the canal be- 
tween Akron and Middlebury, now East Ak- 
ron. From Monroe Falls he moved on the 
present farm of his sons, in Bath Township, 
finding no buildings but an old log house. 
Many of the trees had been girdled and were 
dead, and old stumps made a lonesome ap- 
pearing landscape, but he was a man of great 
energy and industry and completed the clear- 
ing of the whole farm. This was a large 
undertaking, as in those days, the use of pres- 
ent explosives and machinery for this purpose 
was unknown, and all the heavy work had to 
be done practically by sheer strength. In 



1843 he replaced the log house with the frame 
one in which his sons reside. He had seven 
children and Isadore and Alexander are the 
only survivors. The others were: John, who 
died in infancy in Coventry; Alexander (1), 
who died an infant, in Coventry ; an unnamed 
infant; Mary, who died June 20, 1854, aged 
three years; and James, who died in Bath 
Town.ship, September 6, 1873, aged twenty- 
one years. The father died April 22, 1854, 
and the mother, February 6, 1891. 

Isadore McAllister was seven year's of age 
when hL« father died, leaving a family of 
small children for the mother to rear. Her 
children being too young to give much as- 
sistance, she let the farm out on shares until 
her sons were old enough to take charge, 
which they did when young. They have 
proven themselves good farmers and stock- 
raisers and excellent business men as well. 
They operate a fine dairy with twelve cows. 

Isadore, the elder of the McAllister Broth- 
ers, was born April 4, 1847. He married 
Miranda Vallen, who is a daughter of Wil- 
liam Vallen, and they have two children : 
Lloyd, aged twenty-one years, and Alma, aged 
seventeen years. Mrs. McAllister died April 
12, 1902. 

Both brothers work together in harmony 
and present a picture of brotherly affection 
and devotion to each other's welfare that it is 
jileasant to contemplate. They are both consist- 
ent members of St. Vincent's Catholic Church. 
For four years, Alexander McAllister has 
served as a member of the School Board.' 

CALVIN SPADE, foreman of the Robin- 
son Clay Company factory No. 3, at East Ak- 
ron, a responsible position he has filled for the 
j)ast five years, was born in Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, September 6, 
1851, and is a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Heckman) Spade. 

John Spade, the grandfather of Calvin 
Spade, came to LTniontown, Springfield Town- 
ship, in 1812, from Snyder County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and died when advanced in years. Of 
his fourteen children, all reached maturity 
except two, and the survivors reached a good 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



555 



old age, the majority leaving descendants. 
The eldest child, George, was born in Snyder 
County, in 1811, was brought by his parents 
to Springfield Township, where he married 
Rebecca Weaver; Jacob married Miss Myers, 
and died at the age of seventy-two years; 
Samuel also married a Myers, and died aged 
sixty-seven years; Catherine also married into 
the Myers family, and died aged seventy-three 
years; William married a Miss Weaver, and 
died aged seventy years; Henry married a 
member of the Myers family, and lived to 
be sixty-eight years of age; Noah married a 
Miss Starr, and died aged seventy-eight years ; 
Thomas married a Miss Weaver, and died 
aged seventy years; Sarah married a Kreich- 
baum, and died aged thirty-five years; Eve 
never married, and lived to the age of eighty- 
one years; John, father of Calvin, lived to the 
age of seventy-seven years; and Michael mar- 
ried a member of the Weaver family. The 
grandparents died aged sixty-six and eighty- 
one years, respectively. 

Both parents of Calvin Spade were born in 
Springfield Township, where their lives were 
passed. They had the following children : 
Samuel, who died aged two years; Catherine, 
who married Joseph Bollinger ; Eve, who mar- 
ried Moses Israel ; Calvin ; Michael, who mar- 
ried Barbara Jane Swinehart; William, who 
married Barbara Keller; John, who married 
Minerva Schriner; Sarah, who remains un- 
married; Elizabeth, who is unmarried. 

Calvin Spade had few educational advan- 
tages in his youth. His life had been one 
of constant industry and has been mainly 
confined to the pottery industry. He learned 
his trade at the pottery of his uncle, George 
Spade, and for the past thirty-three years he 
has been engaged at Factory No. 3, this plant 
having been established for a half century. 
Mr. Spade, from his long experience, has the 
work here well in hand, and since he has been 
superintendent, the product has not only been 
increased in quantity but has still more surely 
confirmed its reputation as to quality. Mr. 
Spade has thirtj'-six workmen under his con- 
trol and the most cordial feelings exist between 
the foreman and his employes. 



In 1873 Mr. Spade was married, and nine 
of his family of children still survive, namely: 
William Edward, residing in New Mexico, is 
a locomotive engineer, married Pearl Metzger 
and they have one child; Robert, residing at 
Atlanta, is a pitcher in the Southern Base Ball 
League, married Carrie Boiling and they have 
two children, Glynn and Vera; Grace, who 
married William Ritzman, a farmer of Spring- 
field Town.ship, has one child, Hazel; Stella, 
who 'married John Ritzman, a farmer of 
Springfield Township, has one child, John; 
Louisa, who married George Ody, resides in 
the Hunt Allotment of Akron ; Ira, who is 
engaged with his father at the pottery; and 
Huldah, Lillie and Carrie L., all residing at 
home. The family belong to the East Mar- 
ket street Reformed Church. For thirty 
years Mr. Spade has been a member of the 
order of Knights of Pythias, belonging to 
Aetolia Lodge, No. 24, Akron. 

GEORGE A. SHAW, organizer, president 
and general manager of the Buckeye Match 
Company, of North Baltimore, Ohio, has been 
a prominent resident of Barberton and New 
Portage, for the past thirty-four years, serving 
with credit in public offices, successfully di- 
recting business affaii-s and taking an active 
part in political life. Mr. Shaw was born 
about one-half mile north of Johnson's Cor- 
ners, in Norton Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, September 1, 1853, and is a son of 
Merwin and Emily E. (Betz) Shaw. 

The father of Mr. Shaw was born at Medina, 
Ohio, and spent the larger part of his life 
in Norton Township, Summit County, where 
he engaged in fanning and also operated a 
grist mill. 

Attending the district schools in the winter 
seasons and working on the home farm during 
the summers, made up the larger part of 
Mr. Shaw's boyhood life. Later he attended 
the High School at Doylestown and subse- 
quently attended the Mennonitc College at 
Wadsworth, Ohio. The failure of his father's 
health, about this time, threw the responsibil- 
ity of managing the home farm on his shoul- 
ders. Several years later he went to South 



556 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Dakota, where he took up a Government cluini 
of 160 acres, but made his home at Mitchell. 
While there he entered into the employ of a 
railroad company, first as night yardniiister 
and later as manager of the day yards. After 
residing there for some two years and con- 
tinuing his railroad work, he was so seriously 
injured while making a coupling, that all 
further railroad work was abandoned and he 
returned to Summit County, on a pass gladly 
offered by the company. 

Mr. Shaw located at New Portage, where 
he opened a general stone, and for eight 
years he served as postmaster there, when, 
on being elected mayor of Barberton, he 
moved to his prsent home. He served four 
years also as postmaster of this city and- was 
elected a member of the first board of Public 
Affairs, of Barberton. Mr. Shaw is concerned 
in various business enterprises and is presi- 
dent of the Barberton Wire Lock Fence Com- 
pany, which plant employs about twenty-five 
men. He has recently organized an indus- 
try which promises to be one of great im- 
portance, the Buckeye Match Company, which 
has been incorporated for $100,000. The 
works are to be established at North Balti- 
more, Ohio. Mr. Shaw owns a majority of 
the stock and is president and general mana- 
ger of the company. He is recognized as one 
of the able and enterprismg business men of 
Summit County. 

In 1898 Mr. Shaw was married to Harriet 
L. Marshall. 

Politically he has always been identified with 
the Republican party and has been an im- 
portant factor of the same in Summit Coun- 
ty. He organized the first McKinley club in 
the county and has been liberal in contribut- 
ing to its work. Fraternally he belongs to 
the Junior Order of American Mechanics and 
to the Knights of Pythias. 

C. CHARLES CONAGHAN, a leading bus- 
iness citizen of Tallmadge, belongs to one 
of the old pioneer families of Ohio that crossed 
the mountains from Pennsylvania and en- 
tered the Western Reserve about 1800. C. 
Charles Conaghan was born October 16, 1842, 



in Wyandot County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Charles C. and Mary L. Conaghan. 

The Conaghan family is of Irish extraction, 
the grandfather, DennLs Conaghan, having 
been born in Ireland and left his native land 
in youth. He settled in Adams County, Penn- 
sylvania, married and subsequently came to 
Ohio, where he reared a large family, and 
died in old age in Wyandot County. 

Charles C. Conaghan, father of C. Charles, 
carried on agricultural pursuits on what was 
known as the old Logsdon farm, in Wyandot 
County. He married Mary A. Bardoon, who 
was born in Perry County, Ohio, in June, 
1822, and was a daughter of Anthony and 
Magdalene Bardoon, the former of whom 
was a native of France and the latter, of Ger- 
many. There were two children born to 
Charles C. and Mary (Bardoon) Conaghan: 
C. Charles and A. Frank. Charles C. Conag- 
han, died aged thirty-two years. His widow 
married (second) William Best, and .she be- 
came the mother of four more children, 
namely: Mary E., Agatha, Louisa and Ma- 
tilda. Mrs. Best died November 9, 1891. 

C. Charles Conaghan, bearing his father's 
name along with inheriting his sterling traits 
of character, was reared on the old farm in 
Wyandot County, which his father and grand- 
father had redeemed from the forest. He 
attended the district schools in boyhood and 
had already become very useful on the home 
farm when the Civil War broke out and its 
i<<ue.~ absorbed the thoughts of young and old 
almost to the exclusion of every private in- 
terest. On August 12, 1861, Mr. Conaghan 
enlisted in the Federal army, at Tiffin, Ohio, 
entering Company B, 49th Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, contracting for three 
years or during the war. He was honorably 
discharged at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sep- 
tember 5, 1864, having participated in num- 
berless engagements, many very serious bat- 
tles, and suffered both from wound and im- 
prisonment. He took part in the battles of 
Shiloh, Liberty Gap and Chickamauga, being 
wounded at the latter place, on September 19, 
1863, but he recovered in time to participate 
in the Atlanta Campaign and also in the hat- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



557 



ties of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Adamsville, 
Cassville, Pickett's Mills, Pine Mountain, 
Kenesaw ^Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and 
the siege and capture of Atlanta. The mere 
recital of these hLstoric names brings the 
blood to the cheek and the fire to the eye of 
every noble old veteran, but a tear also falls, 
for in the National Cemetery, at Marietta, 
Georgia, with, thousands of their gallant com- 
rades, sleep 113 brave soldiers who once were 
members of the 49th Ohio. 

Although Mr. Conaghan seemed to bear a 
charmed life through the furious JDattles which 
he never evaded, he was captured by a party 
of Gen. Kirby Smith's soldiers at Lawrence- 
burg, Kentucky, October 8, 1862. Fortu- 
nately for him his captors could not conven- 
iently take their prisoners with them at that 
time and he was immediately paroled. This 
kept him out of active service for a time, as 
did his wound for several months, otherwise 
he served with his regiment whenever it was 
in the field. Mr. Conaghan believes that he 
knows the States of Kentucky and Tennes- 
see better than many of their native sons, hav- 
ing marched three times across the former 
and five times across the latter, and under 
conditions which will never permit him to for- 
get the landscape or the people. Mr. Cona- 
ghan was but nineteen years of age when he 
entered the army and his only brother was 
but seventeen, the latter offering up his young 
life on the altar of his country, at the battle 
of Kenasaw Mountain. Mr. Conaghan is a 
prominent and interested member of Buckley 
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Ak- 
ron, and has represented his post at the De- 
partment Encampment. 

After the end of his military service, he 
returned to Carey, Wyandot County, where 
he remained until the spring of 1865, when 
he entered a commercial college at Cleveland 
and subsequently, for a few months, was book- 
keeper in a business house of that city. In 
February, 1866, he came to Akron, where 
he was engaged for one year in a coal busi- 
ness, later removing to New Portage, where 
he was in a grocery line for eighteen months. 
In 1870 he came to Tallmadge and engaged 



in clerking until 1885, and in the following 
year went into a partnership in a mercantile 
business, with the late Frank E. Hine. Mr. 
Hine died in 1892, since which time he has 
continued alone, doing the most satisfactory 
business in his line, in the place. 

Mr. Conaghan w-as married (first) al Ak- 
ron, to Olive R. Ellis, who died October 27, 
1885. She was a daughter of Joseph D. and 
Mary A. (Brown) Ellis,, and left two chil- 
dren, Nellie L. and Mary. Mr. Conaghan was 
married (second) March 25, 1897, to Mrs. 
Margaret E. (Hall) Hine, who was the widow 
of his former partner, Frank E. Hine. Mr. 
Conaghan is one of the town's public-spirited, 
enterprising and useful men. He commands 
the respect of his fellow-citizens and enjoys 
the esteem of a large circle of friends. The 
political offices he has held have been re- 
garded by him in the light of public trusts, 
and their duties as faithfully performed as 
were those of the young soldier in 1861-2-3. 

W. J. WILDES, president of the Board of 
Public Ser\'ice of Akron, has held this honor- 
able position since the organization of the 
board. He was born in this city in 1872, and 
is a son of James Wildes, a native of Sum- 
mit County, who settled in Akron, a half 
century ago. 

W. J. Wildes was reared in Akron and 
educated in her institutions, graduating from 
the High School in 1889. In the following 
year he went to Poughkeepsie, New York, en- 
tering Eastman's Commercial College of that 
city, where he completed the course. He then 
returned to Akron and entered into general 
contracting with his father. They have since 
executed a large amount of work, including 
the building of roads, streets and sewers, both 
in Akron and at other points, a number of 
important contracts having been filled in 
Northwestern Ohio. In recent years Mr. 
Wildes has taken quite an active interest in 
politics. In 1902 he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Board of City Commissioners, by 
Mayor Doyle, and served one year, since 
which time he has been in service on the pres- 



558 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ent board, a body which enjoys in large meas- 
ure the confidence of the people. 

In 1902 Mr. Wildes was married to Flor- 
ence McCue, who is a daughter of T. W. Mc- 
Cue, of Akron. Fraternally Mr. Wildes be- 
longs to the Knights of Columbus, the 
Knights of St. John, and to the Elks. He is 
a member of St. Vincent Catholic Church. 

HON. CHARLES A. DAVIS, mayor of 
Cuyahoga Fallis, and proprietor of the largest 
grocery house in the city, was born at Can- 
astota, Madison County, New York, January 
19, 1856, son of George M. and Sarah J. 
(Hale) Davis. 

His paternal grandfather was Samuel 
Davis, a native of New Jersey, but of Welsh 
parentage, who came to this county at an 
early day. This Samuel Davis died in Len- 
nox Township, Madison County, in 1850, at 
the advanced age of eighty-two years, having 
moved from New Jersey to Lewis County, New 
York, in 1828. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. 

Samuel's son, Aaron, grandfather of Mayor 
Davis, was born in New Jersey, sixteen miles 
from Brunswick, about 1808. Previous to his 
marriage he moved to Lewis County, New 
York. At the age of eighteen he learned the 
blacksmith's trade, which he followed until 
the death of his wife, when he went West, 
to Des Arc, Prairie County, Arkansas, where 
he became the owner of 1,200 acres of land. 
In 1850 he wrote saying that he would return 
home in the spring, if nothing happened to 
prevent him, but that was the last news re- 
ceived from him. He married, in Auburn, 
New York, August 25, 1825, Rachel Merritt! 
They had four children, of whom three grew 
to maturity, namely: Mary, who is now de- 
deased; Samuel, and George M. 

George M. Davis was born in Lewis County, 
New York, and came to Cuyahoga Falls in the 
spring of 1866, being for some years after 
coming here in the employ of L. W. Loomis. 
In January, 1875, he returned to New York 
with his family, afterwards returning to the 
Falls, where he and his wife now live re- 
tired. Tbev have two children, Charles A., 



whose name begins this sketch, and Frank J., 
who is a resident of Earned, Kansas. Politi- 
cally George M. Davis is a Democrat. His 
wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

Charles A. Davis completed his literary edu- 
cation in the High School at Cuyahoga Falls, 
and then worked for several years on a farm, 
which he left to enter the printing office of 
the Cuyahoga Falls Reporter. In 1875, when 
his parents returned to New York, he accom- 
panied them and remained there for three 
years, later returning to Cuyahoga Falls. Sub- 
sequently he worked as a printer on the Ak- 
ron Daily Tribune for a year, or until its 
suspension. He continued in journalism a 
while longer, accepting a position with the 
Oil City Derrick, at Oil City. In the latter 
part of 1879 he returned once more to Cuya- 
hoga Falls and entered the Jones Bros.' 
grocery' store as a clerk. Two years later, 
on the firm's going out of business, Mr. Davis 
opened a store of his own and conducted it 
for eighteen months, after which he resumed 
clerking. He had long been an active worker 
in the ranks of the Democratic party, and 
when President Cleveland entered upon his 
second administration, Mr. Davis was ap- 
pointed assistant postmaster. At the close of 
his term in that office he purchased the 
Cuyahoga Falls Reporter, which journal he 
conducted with marked ability for six years. 

In November, 1903, Mr. Davis sold the 
newspaper and bought his present grocery 
store, from H. E. Wells. He now conducts 
the largest grocery trade in the town, besides 
which he has other important business inter- 
ests, being a director in the Cuyahoga Falls 
Savings Bank, also in the Falls Savings and 
Loan Association and in the Elgin Butter and 
Ice Cream Company, and a member of the 
Finance Committee of the Cuyahoga Savings 
Society. He has been a strong political factor 
for many years, and was elected Mayor of 
Cuyahoga Falls on the Democratic ticket, as- 
suming the duties of the office January 1, 
1906. 

Mr. Davis was married to June E. Laug- 
head. a dauuhter of Carlisle B. Laughead of 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



559 



Middleport, Oliio. Mrs. Davis died in 1903, 
leaving two children, Leslie L. and Frank A. 
Mr. Davis is a member of Star Lodge, No. 187, 
F. and A. M. A patriotic and enterprising 
citizen, he keeps the p\iblic welfare ever in 
view, and his official acts have been fraught 
with beneficial results to the community. 

HIRAM STUMP, the owner of 175 acres of 
excellent farm land in Franklin Township, 
was born on his present farm, in an old log 
house, in Summit County, Ohio, September 
18, 1842, and has made his home on this 
property all of his life. He is a son of John 
A. and Mary (Grove) Stump. 

Michael and Mary (Ashway) Stump, the 
grandparents of Hiram, came to Ohio from 
Pennsylvania in wagons, with their five chil- 
dren, crassing the river at Pittsburg, by way 
of the ferry. They settled in Tuscarawas 
Township, Stark County, Ohio, in the dense 
woods, and here two more children were born. 
Nine years later, while assisting a neighbor 
to raise his house, Michael Stump was acci- 
dentally killed by a log falling on him. His 
widow, who was left in straitened circum- 
stances, reared her children as best she could. 
She lived to the advanced age of ninety-two 
years. 

AVhen he reached manhood John A. Stump 
returned to Pennsylvania, where he learned 
the cabinet-making and carpenter trade with 
hi.-i uncle, John Stump, with whom he worked 
three years, during which time, in 1832, he 
was married. One month after his marriage 
he took his young wife back to Stark County, 
Ohio, to his mother's home. In 1833 they 
came to Fi'anklin Township, Summit County, 
and located on the present farm of Hiram 
Stump, he purchasing eighty acres of section 
I'o, school land, from the Government. On 
this farm, which had been partly improved, 
had been erected a log house and barn, but in 
1845, Mr. Stump erected a brick residence, 
and a substantial barn was built by him in 
1851. Here Mr. and Mrs. Stump spent the 
remainder of their lives, his death occurring 
at the age of seventy-nine years, and hers in 
her sixty-sixth year. In political matters Mr. 



Stump was a Democrat, and he served his 
town,ship for some terms as trustee. The 
name of the lady Mr. Stump married was 
Mary Grove, and they became the parents of 
five children: Alpheus, who died January 2, 
1907, aged sixty-nine years; Eliza, deceased, 
who was the widow of Eli Stout, who died 
in the army; Hiram; Mary Margaret, who 
died at the age of four years; and Lucinda, 
who died in infancy. 

Hiram Stump was reared to manhood on 
the home farm, from which the longest period 
he has ever been absent was a six-weelvs' visit, 
in Pennsylvania. 

While attending the district school, where 
he had good teachers, he helped to clear the 
home farm from stones and brush, and when 
he began farming it was with the scythe, the 
cradle and other crude implements, before 
the introduction of modern farm machinery. 
Although Mr. Stump has retired from active 
work on his farm he still oversees general 
operations. Like his father, he is a Democrat, 
and for nine years in succe.ssion served as 
township trustee. He is a member of the Re- 
formed Church at Manchester. 

On April 13, 1876, Mr. Stump was united 
in marriage with Emma Swigart, who was 
born in Stark County, Ohio, and is a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Swigart, and to this union one 
child was born, Loma Belle, who married 
Rolla A. Stump, son of Nathaniel Stump. 

Mrs. Stump's father, Samuel Swigart, and 
mother, Anna Grubb, were the second couple 
to procure a marriage license after the forma- 
tion of Summit Countv, the date being June, 
1840. 

ISAAC NERHOOD, a representative farm- 
er and dairyman of Coventry Township, and 
the owner of ninety-eight acres of fine farming 
land, located about five miles south of Akron, 
was born on his father's farm in Snyder 
County, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1854, 
and is a son of Amos and Barbara Ellen (Lan- 
dls) Nerhood. 

Jacob Nerhood, the grandfather of Isaac, 
was a native of Pennsylvania and a soldier 
from Snyder County in the War of 1812-14. 



560 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



His death occurred in middle life on his farm 
in Snyder County. Jacob Nerhood married 
Hannah Eigel, who died in 1877, aged eighty- 
five years. They had seven children : John ; 
Daniel; Amos; Sarah, who married Isaac 
Musser; Sophia, who married Fred Haynes; 
Eliza, who married Jacob Snook; and Leah, 
who was the first wife of Isaac Musser. 

Amos Nerhood, father of Isaac, was born 
on his father's farm in Pennsylvania, where 
he grew to manhood, lived the life of a farmer 
and died in August, 1883, aged sixty-six 
years. He married Barbara Ellen Landis, 
who was born in Juanita County, Pennsyl- 
vania, where her father had been a pioneer. 
She died in 1902, aged eighty-four years. Mr. 
and Mrs. Nerhood had nine children, as fol- 
lows: Elizabeth, who was the wife of Edward 
Yetter; John Jacob, who resides in Pennsyl- 
vania; Lucy Ann, who was the wife of A. 
Roniig ; Melinda, who married Emanuel Page, 
resides in Snyder County, Pennsylvania; 
Daniel, who lives in Pennsylvania; William 
Howard, who lives in Montgomery County, 
Pennsylvania; Isaac; Joseph, who lives in 
Coventry Township; and Hannah Louisa, 
who died at the age of three months. 

Isaac Nerhood attended the district schools 
of his native locality, when opportunity of- 
fered but the greater part of his youth was 
spent on the home farm, at hard work. At 
the age of twenty-two years he went to Bell- 
vue, Sandusky County, Ohio, where he worked 
on various farms for about four years, and 
then located in Summit County, where he 
worked in J. P. Kepler's saw mill and at 
farming for a period of fourteen years, also 
during that time doing some carpenter 
work. Having accumulated enough capital 
he purchased a small piece of property in 
Springfield Township, a tract of thirty-eight 
acres, which he secured from Mr. Austin 
Spicer, but after three years he sold this place 
and bought his present property, from Edward 
Kepler, his brother-in-law. This is con- 
sidered one of the best farms in this section of 
the township, and here Mr. Nerhood carries 
on general farming and dairying, keeping for 
the latter purpose a herd of about fourteen 



cattle. The large, nine-room frame house 
was built by J. P. Kepler, Avhile the barn was 
erected by John Stroman, an early owner. 
Coal has been found on the land in large de- 
posits and much has been already mined. 

On March 29, 1892, Mr. Nerhood waa 
united in marriage with Clara Melinda Kep- 
ler, who is a daughter of J. P. Kepler and 
granddaughter of John Kepler, a well known 
pioneer of East Liberty. Mr. and Mrs. Ner- 
hood have one child, Harvey Elmer, who was 
born on Decoration Day, 1899. 

In political matters Mr. Nerhood is a Re- 
publican, but he has never cared for, nor 
sought public office. With his wife he attends 
the Reformed Church, to which faith the 
family has always adhered. Mr. Nerhood is 
one of Summit County's self-made men, hav- 
ing worked his way from a boyhood of hum- 
ble circumstances to be a man of substance, 
solely through his own efforts. 

JOHN WILLIAM KING, the owner and 
operator of an excellent farm of eighty acres, 
situated in Green Township, was born on his 
present property in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, March 15, 1878, and is a son of 
Jacob and Elizabeth (Gougler) King. 

William King, the grandfather of John W., 
was born in AVittenberg, Germany, and as a 
boy of sixteen years came to America and set- 
tled in Pennsylvania. He was married in 
Pennsylvania to Magdalena Stroub, who was 
born in Germany. When a child of thirteen 
years she came to America, penniless, and was 
hired out to work for strangers for three years 
and was married young. They became the 
parent.s of ten children. After marriage Wil- 
liam King removed to the northern part of 
Coshocton County, Ohio, where he became a 
substantial farmer and good citizen. 

Jacob King, father of John W., was born 
on his father's farm in Coshocton County, 
Ohio, January 20, 1837, and went to the old 
Millcreek Township log school-house for about 
three months each year in boyhood, then the 
Greenburg Seminary, and the Spring Moun- 
tain College, the latter a Methodist institution, 
thus obtaining an excellent education. For 




OTIS K. VI ALL 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



563 



about one year he taught school in Whitley 
County, Indiana, and the next six years were 
spent as an Evangelical preacher, being on 
the Stark County circuit. Two years of this 
time were passed at West Austintown, Mahon- 
ing County, Ohio, two years in Stark County, 
and the last two years at Fairview, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he preached in German. When 
only seventeen years of age Mr. King had en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Warsaw, 
Ohio, but gave this up in order to attend 
school. Later he spent many years in farm- 
ing, having acquired 458 acres of land, which 
he divided among his children. He is now 
one of the highly esteemed retired citizens of 
Greensburg. 

At the age of twenty-three years, Mr. King 
was married to Elizabeth Gougler, and to this 
union there were born four children, all of 
whom live in Green Township, namely: 
Mary, who married Henry Oberlin ; Saman- 
tha; Emma, who married Jacob Boettler; and 
John William. 

John William King attended the district 
schools, and was reared to agricultural pur- 
suits. He secui'ed his property from his 
father, and its present fine condition proves liLs 
ability as a farmer. Mr. King erected his 
large house, barn, and other buildings after 
taking possession. 

On January 14, 1900, Mr. King was mar- 
ried to Minnie B. Shaffer, who was born in 
Stark County, Ohio, and is a daughter of 
Samuel and Louise (Good) Shaffer, residents 
of Summit County. Three children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. King: Harvey, 
Maude and Clyde. In political matters Mr. 
King is a Republican, while fraternally he is 
connected with the Grange and the Junior 
Order of United American Mechanics. 

OTIS K. VIALL, funeral director, whose 
business is located at No. 919 East Market 
Street, Akron, was born at Akron, in 1874, 
and is a son of John F. and Cornelia C. 
(Wheeler) Viall. 

John F. Viall was born in Chautauqua 



County, New York, April 30, 1825, and was 
brought to Ohio by his parents, Bennett and 
Wealthy (Arnold) Viall, when five years of 
age. They settled in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, among the pioneers. John 
F. Viall learned the cabinet-maker's trade, 
which he followed until 1866, at which time 
he engaged in undertaking. Later he was in 
partnership wdth his son, under the firm name 
of Viall & Son. He married Cornelia C. 
AVheeler, and their surviving children are: 
Frances, who married William Orendorf, re- 
siding at Akron ; Laura, who married C. B. 
Macey, residing at Noblesville, Indiana; Ed- 
ward W., a r&sident at Noblesville; and Otis 
K., of Akron. Both John F. Viall and his 
wife have passed away. He was a man of 
business honesty and enterprise, and he made 
the first coffins kept in stock in the city of 
Akron, an innovation at that time. He was 
a stanch Republican politically but was never 
disposed to be a politician. A number of the 
minor offices of the township he held because 
he was elected to them, but he sought no polit- 
ical honors. For many years he was secre- 
tary of the Middlebury Cemetery Association. 

OtLs K. Viall, upon completing his school 
education, became associated with his father 
in the undertaking business, and since the 
latter's death has had sole charge of it. He 
is a graduate of the Champion College of Em- 
balming at Springfield, Ohio, and also of the 
Boston College of Embalming, of Boston, 
Massachusetts. His firm style is Otis K. 
Viall, funeral director and embalmer. He 
keeps in readiness all the paraphernalia inci- 
dent to his business, and has an establishment 
which is modern in every particular. He is 
superintendent of the East Akron Cemetery 
Association. 

In 1895 Mr. Viall was married to Daisy 
Shoemaker, who is a daughter of the late Cy- 
rus Shoemaker, one of the old families of 
Northampton Township. They have one son, 
Earl Victor, who is a student of promise in 
the public schools. Mr. Viall and his wife 
belong to the Disciples Church. Fraternally 
he is an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. 



564 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



CHARLES BIRGE WETMORE, whose 
finely improved farm of 100 acres is situated 
in Stow Township, is one of the representa- 
tive men of this section. He was born on 
his present farm in Stow Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, September 14, 1848, and is a 
son of Silas and Mary (Birge) Wetmore. 

The Wetmore family was founded in 
America some time during the Sixteenth cen- 
tury, by three brothers, Seth, Chauncey, and 
one whose name has been forgotten, who came 
from Wales. Seth Wetmore settled in Con- 
necticut, and from him the Wetmores of Stow 
Township have descended. He had two sons: 
William and Titus. William Wetmore was 
elected the first justice of the peace of Stow 
Township, when it was yet a part of Portage 
County. In August, 1804, he was appointed 
clerk of the court, and removed to Ravenna, 
but not being satisfied with the empty honor 
of hLs position he resigned and came hack to 
Stow Town.ship, settling on the farm now 
owned by Charles B. Wetmore. The first 
township election was held at his home. He 
built the house now owned by the heirs of 
Orison M. Moore, cultivated 200 acres of land, 
and in every way was one of the leading tnen 
of his section. In his latter years- he served as 
judge of the Court of Common Pleas. -Judge 
Wetmore was married to Anne Ogden, and to 
them were born four children: William, Ed- 
win, Clarissa and Henry. 

Edwin Wetmore, grandfather of Charles B., 
received a part of his father's farm at the time 
of the latter's death, and for many years wa.s 
engaged in busine.«s with his son Silas, whose 
death preceded his own by one year. For a 
long period he was a justice of the peace in 
Stow Township, having an office on his farm. 
In politics he was an ardent Whig in early 
life, later becoming a Republican. Mr. Wet- 
more died December 25, 1872, aged over 
seventy-four years. His finst wife was Polly 
Wetmore, a cousin, who died August 11, 
1843. 

Silas Wetmore, father of Charles B., grew 
to manhood on his father's farm, and through- 
out his mature life wa=: connected in business 
with his father, the partnership being dis- 



solved by his death in 1871. He was a Whig 
and Republican, and during the Civil War 
was very active in securing men and means 
for the cause. He was a trustee of Stow Town- 
ship, for a number of years. With the excep- 
tion of Edwin Wetmore, who was a Methodist 
in his early years, the Wetmores have always 
been identified with the Christian Church, in 
which Silas Wetmore was deacon. He was 
married to Mary Birge, who was born in Con- 
necticut and came to Ohio with her father. Dr. 
Simeon Birge, when ten years old. Two 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wetmore : 
Charles Birge, and Edwin S., both of whom 
reside in Stow Township. 

Charles B. Wetmore was reared on the home 
place, and his education was secured in the 
district schools and the High School at Cuya- 
hoga Falls. After a visit of one year's dura- 
tion, in the West, he returned, in order to 
take charge of the farm, when his father be- 
came ill, and here he has resided ever since. 
Mr. Wetmore has demonstrated his ability as 
a capable farmer, and raises large crops of 
wheat, potatoes and corn, and has a silo 14x30 
feet. He keeps on an average, twenty cattle, 
and ships his milk to the Co-operative Cream- 
ery of Stow Township, of which he is one of 
the large stock-holders, and which he was 
instrumental in founding. 

Mr. Wetmore was married to Adeline Kelly, 
who is a daughter of -John Kelly, a resident 
of Cuyahoga Falls, and to this union there 
have been born four children : Arthur S., 
who resides in Stow Township; Ida, who 
married Rev. D. W. Besaw, pastor of the Stow 
Corners Disciples Church; Jennie, who is the 
wife of Boyd Winch, of Akron ; and Henry, 
who lives at home. 

Mr. Wetmore is an independent Republican 
in politics. He has served as township trus- 
tee for twenty years and also has served as 
a member of the School Board. He and 
family belong to the Disciples Church at Stow 
Corners, in which he is an elder. 

JiVMES A. STETLER, a well known agri- 
culturist, formerly of Springfield Township, 
but now residing in Uniontown, was born in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



565 



Union County, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1840, 
.son of William and Salome (Reichley) Stet- 
ler. He is a descendant- of John Stetler, who 
came to this country at an early date from 
Germany, settling near what is now New York 
City. _ • 

The next in ancestral line, Conrad Stet- 
ler, son of John, resided for a time in New 
Jersey, where he married. He afterward re- 
moved to Union County, Pennsylvania, where 
he became a wealthy farmer, .owning 1,000 
acres of fertile land in the heart of Dry Val- 
ley. Among his children was John (II), 
born in 1792, who married Elizabeth Rough- 
ert, daughter of Anthony Roughert, a native 
of Bucks County. This John Stetler, who was 
the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was a Whig in politics, taking an active in- 
terest in public affairs, and a deacon in the 
Albright church. He died September 9, 
1868 ; his wife in October, 1876. They were 
the parents of nine children : William, 
Daniel, Mary (married Thomas Pursel), 
John, Isaac, Charles, Thomas, Andrew and 
Elizabeth. 

William Stetler, son of John and father of 
James A. Stetler, was born in Union County, 
Pennsylvania, October 10, 1816. He was 
educated in the district schools, and remained 
on the farm until reaching the age of fifteen 
years. After working for some three years 
in a brick yard, he obtained employment on 
the construction of the public dams on the 
Susquehanna, at which he continued for five 
years, during the winters being occupied in 
shoemaking. He also ran a boat from 
Northumberland to Philadelphia. In 1846 
he became superintendent of wood-work on 
the dams, which position he filled until 1848. 
In the fall of that year he removed to Summit 
County, making the journey in a covered 
wagon over the mountains, and by way of 
Pittsburg. Settling in Green Township on 
a farm now owned by his son James, he lived 
there until about 1891, when he moved to 
Stark County. He returned, however, and is 
now making his home with his son, the sub- 
ject of this seketch. Formerly a Whig in 
politics, he became a Democrat in 1844. Mr. 



Stetler is now ninety-one years old, but is well 
preserved for a man of his great age. He 
has always been a man of much personal force, 
and has held at different times various town- 
ship offices. He is a member and strong sup- 
porter of the Methodist Church, giving to it 
ifreely of his ample means, acquired by a long 
life of industry. His marriage to Salome 
Reichley took place November 2, 1838. She 
was born in Union County, Pennsylvania^ 
February 10, 1815, a daughter of William and 
Mary (Sausaman) Reichley, lifelong resident 
of that county. Her father was a soldier in 
the war of 1812, and was at Cleveland, within 
hearing distance of the battle, when Perry 
obtained his great naval victory over the 
British flotilla under Commodore Barclay. 
Mrs. William Settler died in February, 1904, 
at the advanced age of eighty-nine years and 
one week. 

James A. Stetler was the only child of his 
parents, and was eight years old when they 
settled in Summit County. In his youth he 
attended the old log school-house, with its 
slab benches, and was later sent to a good 
select school, where he improved his oppor- 
tunities for gaining further knowledge. In 
the meanwhile his industrial education was 
not neglected, as he was early initiated, on 
his father's farm into the various methods and 
operations pertaining to agricultural life. 

On September 2, 1860, he was married to 
Lovina Koons, who was born in Bloomsburg, 
Columbia Coimty, Pennsylvania, November 
29, 1841. Her parents — Henry and Esther 
(Rough) Koon.s — were natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, and for many years farmers in Norton 
Township, Summit County. Mrs. Stetler was 
about ten years old when she accompanied lier 
parents to this State. She has borne her hus- 
band four children: William H., Charles E., 
Marvin T., and Clarence 0. ; all of whom have 
been given a sound practical education. Wil- 
liam H. Stetler, after attending the common 
schools, completed his literary studies in the 
Academy at Uniontown, Stark County, Ohio. 
He followed farming in Green Township for 
a number of years, l)ut now resides in Akron. 
He married Rose Belle Haggerty, and has 



566 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



three children : Roscoe, who married Mary 
Weise; Harry, and Lucille. Charles E. Stet- 
ler, after passing through the common schools 
and graduating from Mogadore High school, 
became a student at Buchtel college. He be- 
came a practical telegrapher, and afterwards 
a commercial traveler, in which business he is 
now engaged. He married Ada Rhodes, and 
now resides in Dayton, Ohio. Marvin T. 
Stetler was educated in the Mogadore High 
School and at Uniontown Academy. He is 
now a resident of Kansas City, Mii5,souri. He 
married Maud Morton, and has two childien 
— Warren and Russel. Clarence 0. Stetler 
graduated from the Academy at Uniontown, 
and later as an accountant and bookkeeper 
from the Business College at Akron. He re- 
sides in Delaware, Ohio. He married Minnie 
Harmon. 

James A. Stetler is now the owner of 303 
acres of farm land in Summit County — 147 
acres in Green Township and 156 acres in 
Springfield. He moved to the latter township 
after a residence of thirty years in Green. He 
lived in Springfield twenty-five years. Fifteen 
acres of his farm there consisted of a valuable 
deposit of vitrified clay, which for a number 
of years he was engaged in excavating, with 
the result of developing it into a valuable and 
important industry. In 1904 he left his 
Springfield farm and came to Uniontown to 
assume the care of his aged father. 

Mr. Stetler is a Democrat in politics, and has 
served in the offices of tiiistee, justice of the 
peace, treasurer, assessor, and township clerk. 
His first presidential vote was cast for Gen. 
George B. McClellan. He and his wife are 
earnest and active workers in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, which he has serv'ed as 
trustee. He is an Odd Fellow, belonging to 
Apollo Lodge, No. 61, of Akron, also to the 
Encampment No. 18, also of Akron; and to 
the Patrons of Husbandry, being past State 
deputy ma.ster of that order, and a leading 
member of Lodge No. 1323. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stetler have always been 
numbered among the respected and honored 
residents of the county, and it Ls the universal 
■wish that their days may be still further pro- 



longed in the land in which Providence has 
cast their lot. 

WILLIAM E. ETLING, owner and pro- 
prietor of the Etling Coal and Ice Company, 
of Barberton, has been interested in this line 
of business since 1903, and has been a resident 
of this city since 1896. Mr. Etling was born 
in Wayne County, Ohio, July 21, 1876, and is 
a son of Abraham and Ada (Mclntire) Et- 
ling.^ 

William E. Etling was reared on the old 
home farm in Wayne County, on which his 
parents still re.side. Until he was nineteen 
years of age he alternated working on the 
farm and going to school, and then learned 
the carpenter trade, coming to Barberton for 
that purpose and entering the employ of 
Charles Lutz. After four years of instruc- 
tion and practice with Mr. Lutz, Mr. Etling 
started into contracting for himself,- for the 
first three years doing contracting only, then 
for two years engaged in contracting and deal- 
ing in coal, and since the spring of 1905, 
when he bought out the Barberton Ice Com- 
pany, has added ice to his business interests. 
He also handles cement and lime and with 
his three teams does a large amount of team- 
ing, giving employment to from three to 
twelve men according to the season. Mr. Et- 
ling owns his own buildings and bought the 
land on which the are standing when it was 
vacant property. 

Mr. Etling married Jennie G. Santrock, 
who was reared in Wayne County, and is a 
daughter of John A. Santrock, and they have 
had four children, namely : Edna, who died 
aged eleven months and fifteen days; Mabel; 
Elmer W. and Esther Lucile. Mr. Etling is 
a member of the Odd Fellows. 

C. H. MORTON, president of the Ohio and 
Penn.sylvania Base Ball League, with offices 
in the Central office building, at Akron, was 
born in Asthabula County, Ohio, October 12, 
1854, and is a son of Rev. A. D. Morton. 

C. H. Morton inherits a name which has 
been a very prominent one in this Nation's 
history. The name of his great-grandfather, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



567 



John T. Morton is appended to that immortal 
document, the Declaration of Independence. 
His father is a son of John Morton who was 
a member of the same branch of the family 
which produced those statesman, the late Hon. 
Oliver P. Morton, formerly governor of In- 
diana, and Hon. Levi P. Morton, who was 
vice-president of the United States. Mr. Mor- 
ton's father. Rev. A. D. Morton, at one time 
was presiding elder of the Akron District of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which re- 
ligious body he was long a distinguished min- 
ister. 

C. H. Morton's early life was passed on the 
shore of Lake Erie and in Cleveland, and 
after completing his education he entered into 
the grocery business in which he continued 
until failing health warned him that he would 
be obliged to seek more of an out-door exist- 
ence. He had been interested in base ball 
prior to this and had been a player of some 
merit before entering into the sport in a busi- 
ness way. For the past sixteen years he has 
been the manager of different ball teams, and 
is now serving in his third year as president of 
the Ohio and Pennsylvania League of profes- 
sional players, a body which has won many 
triumph on the Diamond. Their success in 
no small degree has resulted from the excel- 
lent management of Mr. Morton. 

In 1883, Mr. Morton was married to Mar- 
garet Laber, who was born near Heidelberg, 
Germany. They have two children, Edna 
Ruth and Frederick William, the latter of 
whom is a bright student in the Akron High 
School. 

DAVID A. McCOLGAN, who for twelve 
successive years has been a member of the 
Board of Education, and for six years one of 
the trustees of Springfield Township, resides 
on his farm of 132 acres, which he has placed 
under fine cultivation. He was born in Sum- 
mit County. Ohio, June 6, 1854. and is a son 
of James and Nancy (Moore) McColgan. 

The father of Mr. McColgan was born in 
Ireland and came to America in 1885 at the 
age of twenty-five years, subsequently coming 
to Springfield Town.?hip, Summit County, 



Ohio. He was married at Trenton, New 
Jersey, to Nancy Moore, who was also born in 
Ireland, where her parents died. She died in 
1857. The grandparents of Mr. McColgan, 
Michael and Martha McColgan, followed their 
son Janics to America some five years after he 
had emigrated, and they both died in Spring- 
field Township, and were buried at Springfield 
Center. James McColgan died in 1870, hav- 
ing survived his first wife for thirteen years. 
There were four sons born to his first mar- 
riage, namely : William John, deceased, who 
married in Michigan, left two children ; James 
Shannon, resides in Northampton Township, 
engaged in farming, married Susan Adams 
and they have three children ; Charles Henry, 
who is deceased, and David A. There were 
three children born to a second marriage, all 
of whom survive. 

David A. McColgan obtained his education 
in the district schools and was reared on a 
farm near Pleasant Valley, where his father 
first settled. For six years he resided in 
Portage County, but in 1884 he settled on his 
present farm, since which time he has been en- 
gaged in growing grain and stock. His land 
is fertile and under his excellent management, 
is very productive. 

In 1878 Mr. McColgan was married to Jen- 
nie Grotz, who is a daughter of John and 
Elmira (Martin) Grotz. The grandmother 
of Mrs. McColgan was the first white child 
born in Suffield Township, Portage County, 
and her mother can remember the time when 
Indians would frequently be seen in the 
neighborhood of her home. Mr. and Mrs. 
McColgan have had two children, namely: 
Bertie, who died aged nine months; and 
Claude, who was born July 12, 1882. and re- 
sides on the home farm. He married Elma 
Spade, who is a daughter of Henry and 
Louisa Spade, and they have a little two- 
year-old daughter, Mabel. 

Mr. McColgan was reared a Republican, 
but for the past fifteen years he has been 
identified with the Democratic party. He 
has ser\'ed for six years as township trustee 
and for twelve years as a member of the 
Board of Education, having a remarkable 



568 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



recoid in connection with both offices, that of 
never having missed a single official meet- 
ing in the whole period. He has been par- 
ticularly active in politics since 1890, and has 
been sent as a delegate to two State conven- 
tions. Both he and wife are active members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
stands as one of Springfield Township's rep- 
resentative citizens. 

CLARK E. WOOLF, residing on his finely 
developed farm of fifty-nine acres, situated in 
Springfield Township, is one of the leading 
men of this section. He was born at At- 
water. Portage County, Ohio, October 2, 1856, 
and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Baum) 
Woolf. 

Mr. Woolf comes of old pioneer families 
of Ohio, on both sides, his ancestors having 
come to their respective settlements, from east- 
ern homes, in the days when Indians still 
roamed through the trackless forests and Na- 
ture had been practically undisturbed. 
Family records do not tell how early the pa- 
ternal grandparents settled in Columbiana 
County, but there they reared a family and 
both died M'hen George AVoolf, father of Clark 
E., was small. Of the twelve other children 
this biography does not treat, but all through 
this part of the State, their representatives 
may be found, usually among the respected 
and useful citizens. The maternal grand- 
parents, the Baums, were equally early set- 
tlers in Trumbull County, where the mother 
of Clark E. Woolf was born. It is related of 
Grandmother Bauni, as indicative of her en- 
ergy and courage, that she made a trip on 
horseback from Salem to Ravenna, through 
the forests, following only blazed paths, car- 
rying with her the products of her own dairy 
for the purchase of warp for the weaving, 
which her busy hands carried on in the long 
winter evenings. She was the first white woman 
who ever faced the dangers of such a journey 
over that ground, and she accomplished it 
in one day. She was the mother of a numer- 
ous and sturdy family. Left a widow, she re- 
mained on her farm near North Benton, Ma- 
honing County, a number of years and then 



moved to the home of her son-in-law, George 
Woolf, at Atwater, where she died. 

After George Woolf left Columbiana 
County, he settled for a few years at Ellsworth, 
Mahoning County, and then moved to At- 
water, Portage County, removing from there 
to the farm of Grandmother Baum, on which 
he remained for some years, subsequently re- 
turning to Atwater. He died in the fall of 
1904, at the age of eighty-four years. He 
married Elizabeth Baum, who died December 
2, 1880, aged fifty-nine years. They had six 
children, namely: Elizabeth, who died aged 
six years, and Preston G., Homer H., Morris 
0., Clark E., Wilson W. Preston G. Woolf, 
residing at Atwater, Ohio, owns and operates 
a large flour and chop mill. He married 
Amelia Luke, of Edinburg, Portage County, 
and thej^ have had two children, a daughter, 
deceased, and a .son, Merritt. The latter is an 
expert electrician and is foreman of a shop in 
one of the largest manufacturing centers of 
Indiana. Homer H. Woolf, residing at At- 
water, where he conducts the largest hardware 
business in Portage County, having been in 
busin&ss there for thirty-four years, occupies 
one of the largest store rooms in the city, hav- 
ing a space of seventy feet square. He mar- 
ried Carrie Crumrine, of Goshen Township, 
Mahoning County, and they have two daugh- 
ters and one son : Edith, Elsie and Leslie, the 
latter of whom is a physician at Ravenna. 
The elder daughter is bookkeeper in her fath- 
er's store, and the younger is a teacher in the 
public schools of Hudson. Morris 0. Woolf 
resides near Rootstown, Portage County, 
where he owns a small farm, and a lake where 
he has made a summer resort, which is liber- 
ally patronized. He married Rhoda Harding, 
who was born on that farm, and they have 
had two children a daughter and son, the 
latter of whom died at the age of nineteen 
years. The daughter married Carl Brown. Wil- 
son W. Woolf, a mechanic by trade, resides ai 
Atwater and has been in the employ of a rail- 
road company for sixteen years. He married 
Anna Baith, who was born at Atwater, and 
they have one son and three daughters : Her- 
bert, Rena, Leta and Ethel. The son fills a 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



569 



responsible position in one of the banks of 
Alliance, having been appointed to the place 
on acount of the recommendations presented 
to the president of the bank, by the principal 
of the school in which the young man was 
educated. 

Clark E. Woolf was the fourth member of 
the above family. He was reared on the 
homestead at Atwater where he remained un- 
til twenty-eight years of age, and was educated 
in the local schools. In 1885, he moved to 
Springfield Township, Summit County, set- 
tling first in the southeastern part, where he 
lived for ten years, since when he has resided 
on his present farm, which he purchased in 
1896. It had been improved to a considerable 
degree and under Mr. Woolf's management 
has continued to increase in value. He car- 
ries on general farming and keeps a few cows, 
but makes no special effort at dairying. 

On October 9, 1879, Mr. Woolf was married 
to Alice Hart, who is a daughter of Benjamin 
and Mary (Meacham) Hart. The mother 
of Mrs.Woolf was born in Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio. Her parents 
died when she was young and she was reared 
by a family named Kent. J&ssie Hart, the 
grandfather of Mrs. Woolf, came to Summit 
County, in 1812, making the journey from 
Connecticut in an ox-cart, and living to see 
the time when he could have purchased many 
of the fertile acres which were wild and un- 
cultivated when he first saw them. He lived 
to the unusual age of ninety-four years. Mrs. 
Woolf was born on the farm on which Grand- 
father Hart settled, as had been her father. 
The early log house gave way to a fine brick 
dwelling, the bricks for its construction hav- 
ing been burned on the farm. The family re- 
tained this property until within recent years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Woolf have had three chil- 
dren, one son and two daughters, namely: 
Mary, Mahlon and Bessie. Mary was educated 
in the public schools of Suffield, and Bessie 
is a student in the schools of Springfield Town- 
ship. The son, Mahlon Woolf, has made a 
brilliant record at school. From the public 
schools of Springfield Township, he entered 
the High School at Akron, where he was 



creditably graduated in the class of 1904, 
after which he took a commercial course in 
an Akron Business College. For the past two 
years he has been a student at Wooster Uni- 
versity, and after completing a very thorough 
literary education, he proposes to study theol- 
ogy and subsequently enter the ministry of 
the Presbyterian Church. 

Mr. Woolf has always been noted for good 
citizenship, attending carefully to the duties 
pertaining thereto. He is not closely identi- 
fied with either great political party, prefer- 
ring to keep free to vote more for the man 
of high principles than to support blindly any 
organization. He is a strict temperance man 
and naturallj- favors legislation along that 
line. In 1906, his fellow-citizens elected him 
to the office of township treasurer. On Novem- 
ber 5, 1907, he was elected for another term, 
an honor he never sought, but a position he 
had filled with fidelity to the public's interest. 
With his wife and children, Mr. Woolf be- 
longs to the Prasbyterian Church and is a 
liberal supporter of its various benevolent 
projects. 

REV. A. B. CHURCH, D. D. LL. D., the 

scholarly president of Buchtel College, came to 
this noted institution of learning from a suc- 
cessful ministerial career, and has been iden- 
tified with it since September 1, 1897. This 
decade has been one of remarkable growth 
for the college, and to Dr. Church's scholar- 
ship, devotion and executive ability much of 
this progress must be attributed. 

Dr. Church was born January 11, 1858, at 
North Norwich, New York, and is a son of the 
late A. William Church. The latter resided 
during the whole of his life on the same 
farm and was so talented a musician that he 
adopted music as a profession. On the pa- 
ternal farm. Dr. Church was reared and re- 
mained until he was twenty-one years of age. 
In the district school he developed an unusual 
boyish love of his books and he entered the 
Union schools at Sherburne. From there he 
went to the Clinton Liberal Institute, at Fort 
Plain, New York, and in 1882, he entered St. 
Lawrence University, at Canton, New York, 



570 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



where he was graduated with the degree of A. 
B. in 1886. He took the theological course 
in the same institution and was there gradu- 
ated in 1888, immediately entering the active 
work of the ministry. His first charge was 
the church at South Berwick, Maine, where he 
served from July, 1888, to September, 1890, 
when he accepted the pastorate of the North 
Adams, Massachusetts, church where he con- 
tinued until 1897. In that year he was of- 
fered and accepted the pastorate of the First 
Universalist Church of Akron, in which he 
labored until his appointment as president of 
Buchtel College, in 1901. Prior to this he 
had been identified with the faculty of the col- 
lege, teaching mental and moral philosophy, 
and entered upon his still more responsible 
duties with full comprehension of what they 
included. As a student, scholar and theo- 
logian. Dr. Church has been recognized' hon- 
orably by many institutions of learning. In 
1892 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him 
by his alma mater, in 1899 Buchtel College 
conferred the A. M. degree, and in 1904, Tufts 
College, of Boston, conferred the LL. D. de- 
gree. 

On September 10, 1899, Dr. Church was 
married to Anne Attwood, who is a daughter 
of Rev. Dr. I. M. Attwood, then president of 
the Theological School of St. Lawrence Uni- 
versity. Dr. and Mrs. Church have four 
children : Evelyn, John Attwood, Harold and 
Dorothy. 

FRANK J. SHAW, who is serving in his 
second term as treasurer of Norton Township, 
in which he is a leading citizen and successful 
farmer, was born in Summit County, Ohio, 
June 7, 1850, and is a son of Merwin and 
Emily (Betz) Shaw. 

Merwin Shaw, father of Frank J., was born 
ill Wadsworth Township, Medina County, 
Ohio, and was a son of Joshua F. Shaw, who 
came to Ohio from New York at a very early 
date, and settled first in Wadsworth Township 
but later removed to Norton Township, and 
was the first owner of the farm which is now 
the property of his grandson, Frank J. Shaw. 
Ill' (lied at Johnson's Corners. Merwin Shaw 



followed agricultural pursuits through life. 
He married Emily Betz, who still survives at 
the age of seventy-three years and resides in 
California. She is a daughter of Abraham 
Betz, who was a pioneer from Pennsylvania, 
to Medina County. Merwin Shaw died on the 
present farm of his son, in 1903, in the old 
home built by his father. The four children 
of the family all survive, namely : Frank J., 
George A., Ella and Hattie, the older daugh- 
ter being the wife of William Yoder of Wads- 
worth, and the younger, the wife of William 
Shafer, of Akron. 

Frank J. Shaw has always lived on the 
homestead farm and in addition to following 
agricultural pursuits here, he has operated a 
portable sawmill for about thirty years, and 
for the same length of time engaged in thresh- 
ing, owning an outfit. He still continues to 
run his mill, it being the only one in the vi- 
cinity nearer than Wadsworth. His farm in- 
cludes a little over 100 acres of excellent land. 
For several years after his marriage he lived 
on the part of the farm which contained the 
old home, and then moved to another part on 
which he had built a house and barn and 
made many improvements. Still later as his 
children grew up and married, he built houses 
and barns for his sons, and also purchased a 
small property with comfortable residence, 
for his son-in-law. Ward Ware. Mr. Shaw 
has thus shown his regard for the happinesss 
and welfare of his family and enjoys seeing 
their prosperity. He is a well-educated man 
himself, being a graduate of the High School 
of Seville, Medina County, and has given his 
two sons and two daughters many advan- 
tages. 

On December 25, 1879, Mr. Shaw was mar- 
ried to Ruth Wilder, who is a daughter of 
Wells Wilder, of Medina County, Ohio, and 
they have the following descendants : Frank 
M., residing on a part of the home farm, is 
employed at the Stirling Works at Barberton, 
as a patternmaker, married Delia Fending- 
ham and they have three children: Ruth, 
Gladys and Paul; Daisy A., who married 
Ward Ware, who follows the carpenter trade 
in Norton Township, has three children: 




MR. AND MRS. HARVEY A. WISE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



573 



Ruisell, Ilai'uld aud Delight; Dora, who mar- 
ried \\ illiam Weaver, who io a retail milk 
dealer at Barberton, has one child, Clara; and 
Eruest W., recsiding ou a part of the home 
farm, married Dora tipecht. 

Mr. Shaw has never desired political office 
but has consented to serve when his fellow 
citizens liave honored him. He was elected 
township treasurer in 1903, the only member 
of the Republican party to receive the elective 
vote in Norton Township, for many years, 
aud approval of his service was shown by his 
re-electiou for a second term. He has also 
beeu a member of the township School Board. 
He is one of the leading members of the 
Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church. Eor 
a long period he served as class leader and in 
all the offices of the Sunday-school in the old 
church at Johnson's Corners. 

HARVEY A. WISE, a highly esteemed 
citizen and practical fai'mer of Franklin 
Township, residing on his excellent farm of 
160 acres, was born June 6, 1871, in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and on the 
same farm and in the same house in which 
he now resides. He is a son of Henry and 
Elizabeth (Kepler) Wi^e. 

Henry Wise was a native of Pennsylvania, 
where in his younger days he was engaged in 
oil drilling and farming. As a young man 
he came to Ohio, and after his marriage set- 
tled on the present farm of his son Harvey, 
in Franklin Township, from which they sub- 
sequently removed to near Kenmore. Here 
Henry Wise died in November, 1905, aged 
62 years, his wife still surviving him. Henry 
Wise was married to Elizabeth Kepler, who 
is a daughter of Jacolj Kepler, and to this 
union there were born four children : Charles ; 
Harvey Allen ; Ida, who married Martin 
Ling; and Ollie, who died young. 

Harvey A. Wise received his education in 
the schools of his native district, and he has 
always been engaged in agricultural pursuits 
in Franklin Township, with the exception of 
three years when he carried on a livery busi- 
nes.s at Barberton, and two years spent on his 
father's farm near Kenmore. He inherited 



his present property from his father — a fertile 
tract of 1(30 acres on which stands a large 
brick residence, one of the first in the locality. 
In December, 1901, Mr. Wise was married 
to Mattie Snyder, who is a daughter of Isaac 
Snyder. Four children have been born to 
this union : Jesse, Lloyd, Grace and Howard. 
Mr. Wise, with his family, belongs to the Re- 
formed Church. Plis portrait may be seen 
on an adjacent page. 

FRANK PFEIFFER, a prominent and 
substantial citizen of Springfield Township, re- 
siding on his well-improved farm of 145 acres, 
was born November 3, 1860, in Portage Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is the only 
child of Irederick and Catherine (Grohe) 
Pfeiffer. 

The paternal grandparents of Mr. Pfeiffer 
were George and Catherine (Bank) Pfeiffer, 
the latter of whom was a daughter of John 
Bank, and a sister to two ministers of the 
Lutheran Church, John, who had a charge at 
Buffalo, New York, and Charles, who was 
pastor of a large church at New Brunswick, 
New Jersey. The children of George and 
Catherine Pfeiffer were: Frederick; George, 
who died in California, after residing there 
many years; Catherine, deceased, who mar- 
ried Rev. George Rettig, resided at Monticel- 
lo, Iowa; Jacob, who resides at Akron; Louisa, 
who died in 1902, in Medina County, married 
Mr. Monsmith ; and Charles, residing at 
Akron, married Catherine Brown. 

Frederick Pfeiffer, father of Frank, was 
born January 17, 1829, in Oldenburg, Ger- 
many, and came to America in 1848. Prior 
to reaching Akron, in the same year, he had 
resided for short seasons, in Pennsylvania and 
New York. He was variously engaged in 
his earlier years, at Akron, working in the 
Christy leather store and also in the flour 
mills. In 1856, he settled on the George 
Miller farm, of Western Star, from which he 
moved to a farm near Clinton, which he 
operated for one year, and then purchased a 
farm of sixty-one acres in Sharon Township, 
Medina County, which he sold after living 
there for eiglit vears. From there he moved to 



574 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Akron and bought ti house and lot, but after 
six- months of town life, he decided to return 
to farming and bought eighty-five acres of 
land north of Akron, on which he lived for 
fourteen years. After selling that property 
he bought 180 acres at Uniontown, Stark 
County, Ohio, on which he has resided since 
the fall of 1887. Frederick Pfeififer married 
Catherine Grohe, who was born in Germany, 
April 23, 1829, and is a daughter of Adam 
and Catherine Grohe, both of whom died in 
the old home in Hemsbach, Baden, Germany. 
Mrs. Pfeiffer came to America in 1852, locat- 
ing at Randolph, Portage County Ohio. 
Both Frederick Pfeiffer and wife have 
reached the age of seventy-nine years, enjoy- 
ing excellent health and possessing all their 
faculties. They are valued members of the 
"First Reformed German Church at Akron. 
Mr. Pfeiffer is a Democrat. 

Frank Pfeift'er remained with his parents 
until after his own marriage. After com- 
pleting the public school course, he en- 
tered Buchtel College, where he spent two 
years. About 1881, he became the operator 
of his father's farm, north of Akron, and 
later conducted the home farm in Stark 
County, for eighteen years. He has always 
taken a great deal of interest in agricultural 
pursuits and entertains justifiable pride in his 
present fine, well-ordered farm, which he pur- 
chased in 1898, of the King Ellet heirs. He 
has made many fine improvement* here, not 
the least of which is his elegant home, re- 
centl}^ completed. It contains eight rooms, is of 
modern architecture, and is beautifully fin- 
ished inside in red and white oak, while its 
furnLshings and surroundings are all that good 
ta.st€ demands. 

Mr. Pfeiffer was married October 8, 1885, 
to Lydia Hawk, who Ls a daughter of Michael 
and Albertina Hawk, both of whom were 
born in Germany, and a granddaughter of 
Philip and Margaret Hawk, who came to 
Portage County, Ohio, in 1849, and lived on 
their farm there until death. Philip Hawk 
died in 1862, and his widow in 1874. They 
had five children, Michael being the young- 
est. 



Michael Hawk Wiis born in Germany, Sep- 
tember 27, 1835, and accompanied his parents 
to Portage County. He entered manhood with- 
out financial resources, but his industry and 
perseverance brought their own reward, and 
by 1870 he was able to purchase a farm of 
his own. He is now seventy-three yeai-s of 
age and owns an excellent farm of 144 acres, 
in Tallmadge Township, Sunnnit Count}'. Ho 
married Albertina Bletzer, a daughter of 
Michael Bletzer, of Randolph, Portage County, 
where stie was bom in 1840. She died in 
1893, aged fifty-two years. They had two 
children, namely: Lydia and Albert, the lat- 
ter of whom resides in the West. Michael 
Hawk is a member of Grace Reformed 
Church, at Akron, to which his first wife also 
Itelonged. Mr. Hawk contracted a second 
marriage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pfeift'er have three children: 
George Frederick, Raymond Arthur and Clara 
May. The daughter was born November 30, 
1892, and is a student in the public schools. 
The older son, George Frederick, was born 
August 28, 188'6. He took a scientific course 
at Buchtel College and a course in the Scran- 
ton School of Civil Engineering, and is a civil 
engineer with the N. 0. T. Company. The 
second son, Raymond Arthur, was born Au- 
gust 28, 1890, and is a bright student at 
Buchtel College. Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer are 
members of the Reformed Church on East 
Market Street, Akron, in which he is an 
elder and secretarj' of the church Consistory. 

In politics, Mr. Pfeiffer is a Democrat and 
tor a number of years has been active in poli- 
tics. While never pressing his claim to po- 
litical honors, he has frequently been chosen 
by his party for responsible offices. He served 
several terms as treasurer of Lake Township, 
Stark County, and also as justice of the peace. 
He was appointed a notary public first by Gov- 
ernor Bushnell, and has commissions which 
were subsequently issued by Gov. George K. 
Nash and also by Governor Herrick. For a 
number of ja^ars he served as central commit- 
teeman in Lake Township, and frequently has 
attended the important Democratic conven- 
tions a.s a delegate. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



515 



JOHN G. OLIN for many years was one 
of the sterling men of Stow Township, a man 
whose integrity was never questioned, whose 
influence was felt in the practical development 
of his neighborhood and whose advice and 
judgment were sought by his fellow-citizens. 
He was born at Streetsboro, Portage County, 
Ohio, October 17, 1851, and died on the prop- 
erty which he had acquired through indus- 
try and frugality, on April 1, 1900. The par- 
ents of John G. Olin were Alonzo and Elmira 
B. (Squires) Olin, and his grandparents were 
Samuel and Betsey (Green) Olin. 

Samuel Olin, the grandfather, was the 
pioneer of the family to Ohio. He was born 
July, 1793, at Shaftsbury, Vermont, and there 
and at St. Albans, his early life w-as spent, 
helping his father until he was of legal age. 
He then went to Whitestown, Oneida County, 
New York, and assisted his uncle, Silas Raw- 
son, who ke^Dt a public inn at that place, and 
while there, in December, 1815, he married 
his cousin, Betsey Green. She was born in 
April 1797. In 1818, Samuel Olin and wife 
moved to Perry, New York, w'here two of his 
brothers had previously settled, and all farmed 
in partnership until the spring of 1822, when 
Samuel returned to Whitestown and remained 
two years with his uncle, who needed his as- 
sistance, after which he returned to his farm. 
Later he bought another farm on which he 
lived until February 28, 1839, when he left 
there for Ohio. His household goods were 
packed in three great wagons, for he was a 
man of at least $10,000 of capital and prop- 
erty, and tlie first season after reaching Streets- 
boro, he built a fine brick house for hotel pur- 
poses, which was long known as Olin's Inn. 
He carried on his hotel for eleven years with 
profit, having had the necessary training with 
his uncle to make the business part of hotel- 
keeping a succe.5.«, while his genial nature and 
hearty good fellowship made his companion- 
ship agreeable to travelers. The building of 
the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad deflect- 
ed trade and thiis practically ruined his busi- 
ness. He spent the remainder of his life en- 
gaged in farming. At the time of his death. 



ni 1874, his property was estimated to be 
worthy $60,000. 

Alonzo h. Oliu, father of the late John G. 
Olin, was born May 18, 1820, at Perry, Wy- 
oming County, New York, and died Novem- 
ber 14, 1885. He had but meager educational 
advantages in his youth, partly because of 
the few schoolhouses in his vicinity, in 
boyhood, and partly because his services 
as a sturdy, robust youth, were demanded 
to assist in the pressing work on the 
farm. He accompanied his father to Ohio 
and remained with him until his marriage, 
on October 12, 1842, to Elmira B. Squires, 
who was born also at Perry, New Y'ork, July 
17, 1824. She still resides on the home farm 
in Portage County. After marriage, Alonzo 
B. Olin rented land of his father for a few 
years, but soon purchased land for himself 
and at the time of his death, by the exerci.se 
of the thrift taught him by his parents and 
natural to one who felt the responsibility of a 
growing family, he owned 224 acres of valu- 
able land. He passed away after a busy and 
useful life, leaving behind the record which 
a family preserves as one of its best treasures. 

Of such honorable ancestry came the late 
John G. Olin. He remained at home until 
he w.as twenty-three years old. His attendance 
in the district schools was followed by two 
terms in the High School and one term at 
Mt. Union College. He worked for his father 
and was justly remunerated as long as he re- 
mained. In the spring following his marriage 
Mr. Olin settled on his brother Arthur's 
farm, in Franklin Township, Portage County, 
where he lived for five years, and then re- 
turned to Streetsboro and worked a rented 
farm for two years. In the meanwhile, he 
had been looking for a suitable investment 
and finally decided to come to Summit County 
and on March 10, 1882, purchased the farm of 
eighty acres, on which his widow still resides. 
He engaged in mixed farming, and his esti- 
mable wife capably managed the home dairy, 
and for twenty-two years made butter to sup- 
ply customers who were particularly choice 
about this table necessity. Among the mod- 
ern changes which have contributed largely 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



to ease the heavy duties falling on the fann- 
ers' wives, has been the establishing of cream- 
eries, and Mr. Oliu was one of the first in his 
neighborhood to recognize the value of such 
an enterprise. He was one of the founders 
of the Co-operative Creamery, now a very suc- 
cessful industry at Stow. 

On November 4, 1874, Mr. Olin was mar- 
ried to the esteemed lady who still survives 
him, dearly cherishing his memory. She 
was Julia Ellsworth, who is a daughter of 
Rufus G. and Wealthy (Wilcox) Ellsworth, 
of Streetsboro. For six years prior to her 
marriage she resided in the family of Samuel 
Olin. Mr. and Mrs. Olin had one daughter, 
Hattie E., who was born January 29, 1879. 
She was given many advantages and grew to 
attractive voung womanhood. She was mar- 
ried March 26, 1902, to George Miller. Mr. 
and Mrs. Miller have had two children, twins. 
One of these, Helen, who was born April 10, 
1907, survives. Mr. and Mrs. Miller reside 
on the homestead, Mrs. Olin having retained 
but twenty acres of the same for her own use, 
hiring a tenant to operate it for her. Mrs. 
Olin is a valued member of the Disciples 
Church. 

The sudden death of John G. Olin was a 
shock not only to his family but to the whole 
community where lie was so highly esteemed. 
He was a man of genial presence, and the 
hearty good will he entertained for all who 
came within the paths of his daily life, was 
warmly reciprocated, and it is doubtful if he 
had a real enemy in the world. No man en- 
joyed the ordinary pleasures of life more than 
he, and in every circle in which he moved 
his presence was welcome. In his political 
choice he was a Democrat, and many offices 
of local importance were pressed on him. his 
upright character and evident fitness making 
him popular with the majority of his fellow- 
citizens, irrespective of differing political 
faiths. For a number of years he filled the 
office of township trustee and supervisor, and 
at the time of his death was officiating in the 
former capacity. In all the different agencies 
established to improve his section, he was al- 
ways consulted as to their utility, and he lent 



his influence uniformly to all movements 
which he believed would add to the general 
welfare and to the continued prosperity of 
Stow Township. 

FREDERICK WUNDERLICH, whose 
fine farm of sixty acres in Norton Township 
is one on which he has lived almost contin- 
uously since 1857, is one of the best known 
and most highly respected citizens of this sec- 
tion. Mr. W'Underlich was born in Prussia- 
Germany, November 19, 183T, and is a son 
of John and Margaret (Kisfert) Wunderlich. 

The father of Mr. Wunderlich was a silk 
weaver in liis own land, but wages were small 
even for this difficult kind of work, and when 
Frederick was two and one-half years of age, 
he decided to try farming in the great coun- 
try across the sea. Hence, the year 1839 
found the German family safely established 
in Ohio. After a short residence at Cleve- 
land, John Wunderlich moved his wife and 
children to a farm he had rented in Summit 
County, where he set up his weaving looms 
and also cultivated the land. The Wunder- 
lichs lived for six years on Summit Hill, 
Coventry Township, and then moved to the 
neighborhood of Johnson's Comers, Norton 
Township, where he purchased forty acres of 
land. Here he resided until his death, never 
giving up his work at his trade. 

Frederick Wunderlich went to school at 
Johnson's Corners and worked for four years 
with his father at the weaving trade and then 
went to farming, which has been his main oc- 
cupation ever .since. For a number of years 
he also ran a cider press. When he married 
he came to his present farm, which is lo- 
cated about one-half mile south of .Johnson's 
Corners. With the exception of two years 
.spent in Indiana, Mr. Wunderlich has re- 
mained on this farm ever since, a period of 
almost fifty years. In 1878 he erected the 
present large, comfort.able residence. He lost 
his barn from, a stroke of lightning, but re- 
built in a more suKstantial way in 1890. 

On July 27, 1857, Mr. Wunderlich was 
married to Lavina Huvler, who is a daugh- 
ter of John and Elizabeth Huvler, who were 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



577 



born in Pennsylvania, and came to Stark 
County, Ohio, where Mrs. Wunderlich was 
born. When she was fifteen years of age, her 
father bouglit the farm on which slie lias lived 
ever since, with the exception of two years. 
It is a fine old place and is endeared to her 
with nieanories of her girlhood and almost all 
of her married life. Mr. and ilrs. Wunder- 
lich have two sons, John H. and Arthur. 
John H. has been married twice and has two 
children, born to his first union, Frederick 
and Henry. Arthur also married and has 
one daughter, Inez. Both sons are pattern- 
makers. Mr. and Mrs. AVunderlich are 
among the oldest and most esteemed members 
of the Lutheran Church in this section. 

J. F. BETZLER, senior member of the firm 
of Betzler and Wilson, manufacturers of 
fountain pens, at Akron, has been a resident 
of Summit County, Ohio, for twenty-nine 
yeai-s. Mr. Betzler was born in Germany, in 
1868, and was fourteen years of age when he 
came to America. 

The young German boy came directly to 
Summit County, and at Akron he found em- 
ployment with the Summit Hard Rubber 
Company, which was then a branch of the B. 
F. Goodrich Company, and his worth and 
efficiency were pi'oved bv his being retained 
by them for six years. He then became con- 
nected with the fountain pen manufacturing 
industry, working both in Chicago and Cin- 
cinnati, and subsequently returning to Akron, 
where, in 1892, in association with W. E. 
Wilson, he embarked in the business of man- 
ufacturing fountain pens. The firm of Betz- 
ler and Wilson have since put upon the mar- 
ket a pen bearing their name, which has stood 
the most thorough tests, and is handled all 
over the country, four men being required to 
visit the trade in the United States. Employ- 
ment is given fifteen men in the factory. 

Mr. Betzler is the inventor and patentee of 
the Betzler and AVilson self-filled pen, which is 
the firm's leader of their 100 different styles 
of manufacture. The business has made a 
rapid and wonderful growth, and each season 
sees it still further expanded. In addition to 



his interest in this business, Mr. Betzler is a 
director in the Dollar Savings Bank. 

In 1896, Mr. Betzler was married to Eliza- 
beth Kipp, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they have 
one child, Alma. Mr. Betzler is a 32nd degree 
Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, 
Council and Commandery at Akron, and to 
the Shrine and Lake Erie Consistory at Cleve- 
land. He is a past grand in the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. A man of recognized 
business enterprise, he enjoys a high commer- 
cial rating in the city which has witnessed the 
successful development of this business. 

J. M. DAVIDSON, one of Akron's leading 
citizens, who has been identified with her im- 
portant enterprises for the past twenty-eight 
years, is one of the best known general con- 
tractors here and has had much to do in build- 
ing up and improving the city. Mr. David- 
son was born in 1858, in Scotland, where he 
remained until twenty years of age. 

In 1878 Mr. Davidson came to America, 
having completed his apprenticeship to the 
machinist trade prior to thi.«, and in 1879 he 
reached Akron, where he entered the .shops of 
the Taplin-Rice Company. He remained 
with the above firm for one and one-half 
years and then went to the Akron Iron Com- 
pany, where he continued for some fifteen 
years. Mr. Davidson then entered into busi- 
ness for himself as a general contractor and 
coal dealer, doing all kinds of paving and 
sewer building, and having an extensive trade 
in coal, both wholesale and retail. Mr. 
Davidson has been awarded a number of very 
heavy contracts and has just completed over 
a mile of paving and sewer building at Ash- 
land, Ohio. He has his large force of men 
at work at present on a contract that calls for 
the building of 2,300 feet of rock sewer. Mr. 
Davidson is a good business man and has 
made a number of judicious investments since 
locating at Akron and he owns considerable 
stock in a number of the city's most prosper- 
ous enterprises. 

In November, 1890, Mr. Davidson was 
married to Emma Beck, who is a daughter 
of William Beck, and thev have two children 



578 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



living: William James and Ethel Ruth. One 
daughter, Rhoda, was killed during the riot of 
1900. With his family, Mr. Davidson be- 
longs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Davidson has never been very active 
politically and has never consented to be a 
candidate for office. He belongs to the or- 
der of Modern ^Voodmen. He is known to his 
fellow.-citizens as a man of biLsiness capac- 
ity and integrity, one who in every way de- 
sen'es the high regard in which he is held. 

WILLIAM N. PALMER, a.ssistant gen- 
eral .superintendent of the Diamond Match 
Company, at Barberton, was born at Middle- 
bury, now Akron, Ohio, December 9, 1855, 
and is a son of Albert and Ann Elizabeth 
(Haughey) Palmer. 

Albert Palmer, father of William N., was 
born at Lyons, New York, in 182.S, and is a 
son of Stephen Palmer, who brought his fam- 
ily to Akron in 1837. The latter was a man- 
ufacturer of fanning mills and when his 
father died, Albert Palmer continued the bus- 
iness. Albert Palmer and his wife both sur- 
vive, after a happy married life of fifty-eight 
years, he having reached his eighty-fourth 
birthday, while .she is seventy-seven years of 
age. They had seven children, as follows: 
C. IT., who is vice-president of the Diamond 
Match Company; Kate, who is the wife of 
M. C. Lytle, residing at Wadsworth, Ohio; 
William N., whose name begins this sketch : 
Stephen ; Frances, a school teacher, residing 
at Akron; Nettie, who is the wife of Adolph 
Bonstead ; and .Je.«.sie. 

William N. Palmer has been more or less 
identified with the match indiLstry since boy- 
hood, beginning to work for 0. C. Barber, the 
pioneer match manufacturer, when but twelve 
years of age, the plant then being located at 
Middlebury, which is now a part of Akron. 
He attended school during the winter sessions 
for some years and also took a course in 
Wilder's Business College, but all .spare time, 
holidays, Saturdays and even many even- 
ings, were given to work for Mr. Barber. 
Gradually, from the humblest position, Mr. 
Palmer has advanced until he is now the as- 



sistant superintendent of this immense plant. 
Ilis knowledge is of a thoroughly practical 
nature, he having worked through the differ- 
ent departments in the factories. Mr. Pal- 
mer married Emma Tweed and they have one 
daught«r, Mabel. 

GEORGE S. DAVIS, an extensive farmer 
and stock-raiser of Bath Township, and one 
of the most influential and widely respected 
citizens of Summit County, was born in New 
York state, November 21, 1845. son of A\'il- 
liam and Ann (Sewell) Davis. Williixm 
Davis was born in Burns, Lincolnshire, 
England, April 14, 1809, and on May 16, 
1833, was married to Ann Sewell, who was 
born at the same place about 1814. They 
came to this country in July, 1845, locating 
in New York state. They were the parents 
of a large family, of whom the following 
children were born to them in England: 
Jane, April 10, 1843, wife of I. S. King; 
Marv, February 16, 1836, who married S. E. 
Tavior; John, January 21, 1838; William, 
October 27, 1839; Thomas, December 2, 
1841 ; Ann, November 15, 1843, widow of I. 
H. Miller, and now widow of L. V. AVychoff. 
The American-born children are: George S., 
the subject of this sketch; Sarah D., Decem- 
ber 13. 1847, wife of George Bisl^ee; Eliza- 
beth, December 25, 1849, wife of Abraham 
Spencer; Emma E., September 6, 1852, wife 
of Sylvester Vallen ; Alpha, December 3, 
1854,' wife of Frank Pierson; Clara B., Jan- 
uary 6, 1857, wife of Charies Dietz. Of the 
above-mentioned family, Thomas was killed 
in the service of his country at the battle 
Pine Knob, Gcoruia. June 15. 1864, aftc 
having served faithfully under Sherman in 
all his battles up to that time. 

A year aft-er their arrival in this country 
the family came to Summit County and pur- 
chased a farm in Bath Town.ship, which was 
partly cleared. On this Mr. Davis erected a 
new house and barn and made a comfortable 
home for his family. In politics he affiliated 
with the Republican party. He was a inem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows, both in England and 
America, and he and his wife were earnest 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



579 



members of the Disciples' Church. Mr. 
Davis died August 14, 1888, his wife hav- 
ing preceded him to the grave nearly twenty 
years, dying March 12, 1867. They were 
most worthy people, active in advancing the 
social and moral welfare of the community, 
and their memories will live long after them. 

George S. Davis was reared on the farm, 
and acquired his education in the common 
schools. As a yoimg man he worked at the 
carpenter's trade, in which occupation he con- 
tinued for six years. After his marriage he 
abandoned it and began farming, which has 
since been his occupation. He now owns 
one of the best farn^s in the county, compris- 
ing 300 acres, and improved in the most 
thorough and up-to-date manner. He gives a 
large share of his attention to the breeding 
of fine cattle and sheep, the excellence of 
which have become widely recognized. To 
facilitate this industry he has on his farm 
five large barns, arranged with every con- 
venience for the care and proper raising of 
stock. He has also for some years past been 
engaged in raising horses, and now has some 
very fine Morgan and English coach horses. 
It may be still said of him today, as it was 
some years ago, that he probably owns more 
fine stock than any man in Bath Township. 

Mr. Davis was married Febmary 12, 1873, 
to Miss IMars' Barker, who was born Septem- 
ber 10, 1S48, daughter of Jared and Eleanor 
(Munson) Barker, well known residents of 
Bath Township. He and his wife have been 
the parents of the following children : Eleanor 
Belle, born Januarv 30, 1874, died October 
30, 1883; .lav. December 31, 1879; Tared. 
April 21, 1882; Mar>% February 27, 1884: 
Oreorge, September 15, 1885 ; Anna, August 
10, 1887 ; Paul, May 2, 1889. 

Mr. Davis is a strong Republican and cast 
his first presidential vote for General Grant. 
Of a retiring disposition, however, he takes 
but little part in politics, though in response 
to the desires of his fellow citizens he has 
served the town as a member of the Board 
nf Education. He and his wife are both 
members of the Congregational Church at 
Bath. 



FREDERICK J. BAUER, M. D., a lead- 
ing physician at Mogadore, who has been lo- 
cated here for the past twenty-seven years, is, 
with one exception, the oldest continuous 
medical practitioner in the place. Dr. Bauer 
was born in Sufiield Township, Portage Coun- 
ty, Ohio, March 5, 1854, and is a son of 
Jacob and Christiana (Holzworth) Bauer. 

The parents of Dr. Bauer were born in 
Wurtemberg, Germany, and they came to 
America in 1839, settling on a farm of 100 
acres, which then was located about a mile 
from the village of Erie, Pennsylvania, but 
is now included in the corporate limits of 
that city. At that time the land could have 
been purchased for thirty dollars an acre, but 
.Jacob Bauer could not command that much 
capital at the time and the opportunity was 
lost for the making of an indepejident for- 
tune. He removed from Pennsylvania and 
settled in Suffield Township, Portage County, 
Ohio, between 1840 and 1845, on a farm two 
miles southeast of Suffield. He died about 
1887, aged eighty-one years. He married 
Christiana Holzworth, who died in 1882, at 
the age of sixty years. They were the parents 
of nine children, namely: Rudolph, George, 
Sophia. Mary, Odelia, Frederick J., Lena, 
Lucinda and .Jacob. Rudolph Bauer died in 
1905, and George died at the age of two years. 
Sophia, who died in 1859, was the wife of 
William Wilson, who was a soldier in the 
Union army during the Civil War. They left 
one son, Charles Wilson, who is a prominent 
citizen of Lamar, Missouri, of which village 
he has been mayor, and is now serving as 
night telegraph agent for the Missouri & Pa- 
cific Railroad. Mary, who is the widow of 
George Price, resides, with her eight chil- 
dren, on her farm adjoining the old home- 
stead. Odelia, who is the widow of Newi.on 
StaufFer, resides with her daughter and 
granddaughter northea.«t of Tallmadge. Lena, 
who married .John Peterson, resides in Jas- 
per County, Missouri. Lucinda married John 
May and they reside with their children on 
the old Bauer homestead. Jacob W., the 
yoimgest member of this family, has charge 
of the United States Weather Bureau at Co- 



580 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



lumbia, South Carolina, where he has been 
located gmce 1893, having served at various 
points since 1881. He was educated at Mt. 
Union College. He married Esther Wash- 
burn, of Brooklyn, New York, and they have 
one son and several daughters. 

The boyhood of Dr. Bauer was spent on his 
father's farm and his early education was ob- 
tained in the district schools. He secured 
better educational advantages after he had 
earned the money by teaching, to pay for 
them, and he spent three years at Mt. Union 
College. In 1876 he left school and in the 
following year began to read medicine with 
Dr. Ferguson, of Mogadore, and later entered 
the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, for 
one year, going from there to the medical de- 
partment of the Wooster University, which 
is now the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, of Cleveland, where he was graduated 
in the class of 1880. 

Dr. Bauer returned to Mogadore and en- 
tered into partnership with his old preceptor, 
Dr. Ferguson, and this association continued 
until the death of the latter in January, 1886, 
since which time Dr. Bauer has been alone. 
During his twenty-seven years of professional 
work in this place. Dr. Bauer has so demon- 
strated his ability that he has gained the con- 
fidence of the public and the respect of his 
associates in the practice of medicine. He 
has taken an active part in public affairs, par- 
ticularly in those concerning his own state, 
coimty and city, and has shown his sincerity 
by lending his influence to many public-spirit- 
ed movement*. He owns considerable real es- 
tate at Mogadore and is a stockholder in the 
Colonial Brick Company. 

In 1885 Dr. Bauer was married to Cath- 
erine S. Rubbins, who was born in the state 
of New York, and is a daughter of .John 
and Lydia M. (01d«) Rubbins, the former of 
whom was born in England, and the latter 
in New York, where .she was one of a family 
of twelve children. Dr. and Mrs. Bauer have 
two sons, Fred Otis and Carl Hnltzworth, the 
former of whom i= a student at Mt. Union 
College, and the latter of whom graduated in 
the class of 1907, from the Mogadore High 



School. Both fine types of young American 
youths. The residence in which Dr. Bauer 
and family reside and which he owns, was 
built by the Kents, very early settlers here. 
It has a historic interest from the fact that 
when it was completed, one of the workmen 
broke over its roof a bottle of liquor and 
christened the village of Mogadore, from the 
town of that name in Africa, where he had 
once been a prisoner. 

Dr. Bauer is one of the leading Democrats 
of this section, and on one occasion was 
chosen by his party as its candidate for coun- 
ty auditor. He has served a number of times 
as a delegate to the state conventions and for 
many years has been a regular delegate to 
the county conventions. Since 1885, Dr. 
Bauer has been a Mason, and in 1891 he be- 
came a charter member of Lodge No. 482, 
Knights of Pythias, at Mogadore. 

JOHN A. WHITMAN, who resides on a 
well-improved farm of three and one-half 
acres in Chippewa Township, Wayne County, 
Ohio, owns also eighty-seven acres in Norton 
Township, Summit County, and eight acres 
in Wadsworth Township, Medina County, 
this property being all in one body. Mr. 
Whitman was born June 24, 1857, in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, and 
is a son of .John and Jane (Allerding) Whit- 
man. 

Andrew Whitman, the grandfather of John 
A., was a native of Pennsylvania, and at an 
early day came to Chippewa Township, where 
he was married to Margaret IMarshall, who 
was a native of Knox County, Ohio. He pur- 
chased the farms on which both his son John 
and his grandson. .John A., were born. He 
acquired considerable property, and, in addi- 
tion to farming, he operated a cider mill and 
also engaged in threshing. 

John Whitman was born on a farm located 
south of Doylestown in Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, and subsequently purchased 
the present farm of John A. AVhitmnn, from 
his father. He became thresher, miller and 
eeneral farmer. He was married in Knox 
County. Ohio, to Jane Allerding. who came 




JOSEPH CO()P]i;R 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



583 



from France when aged sixteen years. To 
them were born eight children, as follows: 
Caroline, who is the widow of Frank Stotler, 
John A. ; Ella, deceased, who was the wife of 
Bartley Lynch; Mary, who died at the age 
of thirteen years; Lawrence and Josephine, 
both of whom died of diphtheria, the last 
three named children dying within six 
weeks; Clara, who is a graduate nurse, re- 
siding at Cleveland, Ohio; and Matilda, who 
resides at Doylestown. The mother of these 
children died September 30, 1904. The 
father died in 1876. 

John A. Whitman was reared on the home 
farm, and attended the country school. When 
aged nineteen years liLs father's death oc- 
curred and the main duties of the farm thus 
fell upon his shoulders. He has always car- 
ried on general farming, and, in addition, is 
now making a specialty of raising Durham 
cattle. A rather unusual circumstance is that 
his excellent farm lies in three counties, his 
residence being on the Wayne County por- 
tion, while his barn is situated in Summit 
County. 

Mr. Whitman was married in 1885 to Jo- 
hanna Schmitz, whose death occurred April 
16, 1902, and to them there were born eight 
children, namely: Lawrence, Mary, Clara, 
John, Lucy, Herman, Leo and Cecelia. 

Mr. Whitman is a member of the Catholic 
Mutual Benefit Association. With his fam- 
ily he attends the Doylestown Catholic 
Church. 

JOSEPH COOPER, of the brick manufac- 
turing firm of Cooper Brothers, at Akron, has 
been a resident of this city and identified with 
its business interests for the ]iast forty years. 
Mr. Cooper was born in Staffordshire, Eng- 
land, in 1847, and was reared, and educated, 
and learned his trade in his native land. 

At the age of twenty years, Mr. Cooper 
came to America, settling in Akron, and work- 
ing the first year for the firm of Kent & Bald- 
win in their machine shops. He subsequently 
entered the employ of Byron Allison, in the 
brick business, with whom he remained for 
about ten years. Then, in partner.-ihip with 



his brother, Sanuiel Cooper, he leased the old 
Briggs brick plant, and" the firm, under the 
name of Cooper Brothers, have been engaged 
since in manufacturing and deliverng all 
kinds of building brick. Their plant is lo- 
cated at No. 573 Spicer Street. They give 
employment to a number of skilled workers, 
and the industry is one of the substantial ones 
of the city. 

In 1869, Joseph Cooper was nuirried (first) 
to Agnes Lang, who died soon after marriage. 
He married (second) Mary Palmer, of which 
union there is one daughter, Emily, who mar- 
ried Samuel Crisp, and resides at home, with 
her parents. Mr. Cooper is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to 
the English Society, known as the Sons of 
St. George. In politics he is a republican. 

HIRAM F. SNYDER, who owns an excel- 
lent farm of 104 acres in Franklin Town- 
ship, was born on the old Snyder homestead, 
in Franklin Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, August 10, 1859, and is a son of Mich- 
ael and Nancy (Marsh) Snyder. 

Michael Snyder, father of Hiram F., was 
born in Alsace, France, and accompanied his 
parents, Michael and Barbara (Weimer) 
Snyder to America. They came to Spring- 
field Township, Summit County, by way of 
the canal, and when they passed through Ak- 
ron, in 1838, there was but one .store in the 
village. Mr. Snyder was looking for land on 
which to establish a home and he was offered 
100 acres on the site of Akron for the sum 
of $600. He con.?idered the soil there too 
light for deep cultivation and purchased a 
farm in Springfield Township, from which 
he moved, eight years later, to another near 
that on which his grandson, Pliram F., re- 
sid&s. He died in 1897, aged ninety-two 
years, his wife having pa.ssed away in 1876, 
aged seventy years. In France he engaged 
in milling, but confined himself to farming 
after coming to Ohio. Michael and Barbara 
Snyder, or Schneider as the name was spelled 
in their day, had the following children: 
George; Michael; Frederick, residing at Bar- 
berton; Eve, who married John Dailey; and 



584 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Julia, who married David Steel. Frederick 
Snyder is the only survivor of this family. 

Michael Snyder, father of Hiram F., was 
six years old when his parents emigrated, 
and as he grew to youth and manhood, found 
much hard work in assisting in the clearing 
up of his father's property. He accumu- 
lated land of his own and at the time of his 
death in 1893, he owned 246 acres. He mar- 
ried Nancy Marsh, who was born in Franklin 
Township, and they had a family of ten chil- 
dren, two of whom died in infancy. Those 
who reached mature age were: Milton, re- 
siding at Barberton ; Hiram F. ; Samuel ; 
Louisa, who married James Henry; Amanda, 
who married C. Blough; William E., resid- 
ing at Akron, where he is a well-lcnown attor- 
ney; Elliott; and Ida, who died at the age of 
nineteen years. 

Hiram F. Snyder was fourteen years old 
when the family moved to a place near the 
one he owns, and he remained at home until 
his twenty-third year, when he secured his 
present farm from the family estate. In ISliG 
coal was found on this farm and rich veins 
have been opened, many tons having been 
excavated by the Franklin Coal Company 
and the C. F. Wagoner Company. Mr. Sny- 
der was employed by the coal company for 
eighteen months, but with this exception, has 
devoted himself entirely to farming. He ha.'? 
served as a member of the School Board for 
several terms. 

On December 12, 1882, Mr. Snyder wa< 
married (first) to Elizabeth Keller, wlio died 
in the spring of 1894, leaving three children: 
Eva, Frank and Howard. In 189(5 he was 
married (second) to Mary Limbaugh, and 
they have four children: Henry, Martha, and 
Paul and Ruth, the latter twins. Mr. Snyder 
and family belong to the Reformed Church. 

G. LEE BRTGGS, one of Akron's enter- 
prising young b\asine.s.s men, engaged in gen- 
eral contracting, was born in Medina County, 
Ohio, in 1871, and is a son of Thomas G. 
Briggs, a prominent farmer, and a grandson 
of Daniel G. Briggs. who settled in Medina 
County in 1852. 



C. Lee Briggs was reared in Medina County 
and, after completing the common school 
course, entered Buchtel College. After leav- 
ing college he made his home for some five 
years at Springfield, Missouri, where he was 
first employed in the office of a street railway 
and later in the Bank of Springfield. Since 
1898 he has been engaged in a general con- 
tracting business, but for eighteen months 
previously he had served as secretary of the 
Builders' Exchange. In 1905 he erected a 
fine home at Akron and this city has been 
his place of residence up to the present time. 
In 1895 Mr. Briggs was married to Mary 
Brown, of Akron, and they have one son, 
Clifton. Mr. Briggs is interested in a num- 
ber of organizations at Akron, is a director 
in the Dollar Savings Bank, is a member of 
the Masonic club and the Portage Country 
club, and of the Builders' Exchange of Cleve- 
land. 

IRVIN H. SPANGLER, residing on his 
farm of forty-seven acres, which is situated 
in Franklin Township and is a part of the 
old Spangler homestead, was born on this 
farm in Summit County, Ohio, August 4, 
• 1870, and is a son of Joseph and Adaline 
(Hoy) Spangler. 

Joseph Spangler was born in Franklin 
Tmvnship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of David Spangler, who settled here at an 
early day. Joseph Spangler was married 
(fir.st) to Caroline Smith, who also was reared 
in Franklin Township, and the four chil- 
dren born to that marriage were: Adam, 
John, Charles and Jennie, the latter of whom 
married 0. W. Baum. Mr. Spangler was 
married (.second) to Adaline Hoy, who died 
.July 4, 1904. She was a daughter of David 
Hoy, of Hocking County, Ohio. Three chil- 
dren were born to the second union, as fol- 
lows: David E., Irvin H. and Joseph. The 
father still survives, having reached the age 
of eighty-seven years, and is a resident of 
Akron. 

Irvin H. Spangler was reared on the home 
farm and attended the local schools. With 
the exception of six years spent at Manches- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



585 



ter, in boyhood, he has lived continuously on 
the present farm, having purchased forty- 
seven acres from his father. He cultivates 
both his own fann and the one his father 
retains, which is also situated in Franklin 
Township. 

On December 18, 1890, Mr. Spangler was 
married to Laura Bender, who is a daughter 
of Hai'vey F. Bender, and they have had six 
children, namely: Florence, Robert, Lydia, 
Burdette, Irene and Ira, all of whom ai'e liv- 
ing, with the exception of Lydia, who died 
aged four months. Mr. Spangler is a mem- 
ber of the order of Maccabees. 

HARVEY A. MYERS, a well known 
farmer and stock dealer of Norton Town- 
ship, was born on the excellent farm of 
eighty acres on which he now resides, De- 
cember 29, 1853, son of Alpheus and Salome 
(Myers) Myers. 

Alpheus Myers was born in Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, July 10, 1818, and in boy- 
hood accompanied his father, Henry Myers, 
to a farm near Wooster, Ohio. Tjater, TIenr\- 
Myers, with all his family except Alpheus, 
removed to Indiana, where he died. Alpheus 
Myers came to Sunnnit County April, 1846, 
where he purcha.sed the 80-acre farm now 
owned and operated by his son, Harvey. He 
later bought the Sherman farm of 140 acres, 
.and during the Civil War he further increased 
the extent of his property by purchasing a 
farm of 100 acres situated across the road 
from where he lived and which was called 
the Mazier farm. In addition to these farms 
he owned one of 140 acres in Missouri. He 
also drilled and found coal and opened the 
mine, known as the Myers mine in Wad.s- 
worth Township, Medina County. He was 
a man of excellent business qualifications, 
and during the Civil war made a large amoinit 
of money in buying and shipping horses for 
the government. He was a highly respected 
citizen of Norton Township and died March 
1, 1878. His death was the result of an ac- 
cident. He was about to make a bu.sines3 
trip to the west and also visit his aged mother. 
While waiting at the Wadsworth station, en- 



gaged in cofiversation with a friend, he ac- 
cidentally stepped in front of a moving train 
and was instantly killed. 

Alpheus Myers married Salome Myers, who 
sun'ived him many years, dying in October, 
1900. They had six children, the young- 
et^t of whom, Owen, died October 7, 1905. The 
others were as follows: William H., resid- 
ing in Akron; Mary, wife of Isaac Tinsman, 
and a resident of Akron; Lavina, who mar- 
ried Solomon Kraver, and resides in Medina 
County ; Josepha, residing in Medina County, 
who married (fir.st) Septimius Siberling, and 
moved to Iowa, where he died, and (.second) 
Jacob Slamker, whom she survives; and Har- 
vey A., of Norton Township. 

Har\'ey A. Myers was reared in his native 
place and has always resided on this fine, old 
farm, where he successfully carries on gen- 
eral farming and stock-dealing, making n, 
specialty of cows. He attended the district 
schools during his boyhood, and is a nian of 
Tnuch general information, keeping himself 
abreast of the times, as the modern farmer 
has to do to enjoy a full measure of pros- 
perity. 

Mr. Myers married Alice B. Miller, a 
daughter of Frank Miller, of Norton Town- 
ship, and they have a family of eight chil- 
dren, namely: Frank, married and re.siding 
in Akron; Fred, who married Emma Weaver 
and resides at home with his parents; Sadie, 
who is the wife of Charles Messner, and ha? 
one child, Florence; Mattie, who married 
William Helmick, and has one child, Floy; 
Hattie. who married Elmer Hall and has one 
child, Harold; and Elsie, Vernie and Chloe. 
Mr. and Mrs. Myers have their children set- 
fled around them, or still remaining under 
the home roof, and have never yet been 
called on to part with any of them. The 
family is one well known all through Norton 
Township. 

'C. W. MOORE, president of the Union 
Printing Ink Company, one of Akron's u.se- 
ful indu.stries, with a plant located at 1031 
South High Street., has been a resident of 
this city for over a quarter of a century, and 



5S() 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



from boj'hood has been identified with niiuiy 
of its various interests. Mr. Moore was born 
April 10, 1866, at Erie, Pennsylvania, and 
when fifteen yeai's old came to Akron, where 
he attended school for a time. He then went 
to work for the Thomas Phillips Paper Com- 
pany, with which he remained for nine years, 
being for six years afterwards with the Akron 
Chemical Company. He then became one of 
tho organizers of the Union Printing Ink 
Companj', wliich enterprise was incorporated 
April 27, 1901, with a capital stock of $10,- 
000. Mr. Moore has been president of the 
company since its incorporation. The com- 
pany manufactures all kinds of ink, and its 
field of trade is constantly widening. Mr. 
Moore has that practical knowledge of the 
business, combined with executive ability, 
which enables him to direct its course suc- 
cessfully in the face of competition. 

On June 30, 1896, Mr. Moore was mar- 
ried to Louise E. Meir, who was born in Ak- 
ron. He and his wife are members of Grace 
Reformed Church, and he belongs to the 
Board of Deacons. His fraternal connections 
include membership in Nemo Lodge, and the 
Encampment, I. 0. 0. F. 

WEBSTER FRANKLIN CARMANY, 
an enterprising and progressive agriculturist 
of Stow Town.ship, who is engaged in the 
cultivation of a farm of 108 acres, was born 
on his present farm July 18, 1878, son of 
Isaac and Ellen (Durstein) Carmany. 

Isaac Carmany was born in Manchester, 
Franklin Township, Summit County, where 
he now carries on extensive farming opera- 
tions. His wife, Ellen, wlio was the daughter 
of Jacob Durstein, died in July, 1903, aged 
forty-eight years. She professed the faith of 
the Evangelical Church of the local organiza- 
tion, of which Mr. Carmany is treasurer. An 
earnest Christian woman, she wa'' active in 
church and charitable work. Three children 
were born to I\Ir. and Mrs. Carmany — Coi-a 
Elnora, who is deceased ; Webster Franklin ; 
and Rus.sell Glennard, who lives at home. 

Webster Franklin Carmany was educated 
in the common schools and at the age of 



eighteen years received a teacher's certificate 
in Manchester, to which place he had come 
in 1887. He never engaged in 'teaching, 
however, but learned the trade of drafting 
and patternmaking in Franz Body's shop in 
Akron, which he followed for ten or twelve 
years at different places. In 1904, on ac- 
count of ill health, he was forced to give up 
this occupation, and purchased his present 
farm from his father, it having been former- 
ly the property of his mother. Mr. Carmany 
cultivates seventy-five acres of this tract, rais- 
ing oats, wheat, corn and potatoes, and his 
farm is one of the most highly cultivated in 
this section of the township. In the win- 
ter months he keeps seven or eight head of 
cattle and disposes of his milk to the Co- 
operative Creamery at Stow Corners. 

Mr. Carmany was married to Amelia Shu- 
maeher, who is a daughter of Charles Shu- 
macher of Akron, and four children have 
been born to them : Florence Blanche, 
Helen May, Mabel Celia and Charles Isaac. 
Mr. Carmany is a member of the Macca- 
bees at Elkhart, and in politics Ls independ- 
ent. With his family he attends the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Carmany's 
father was born in Germany, coming to 
America at twenty-one years of age, in 1865. 
He married Celia Ilerbruck, of Stark Coun- 
ty, Ohio. Both parents are now living. 

GEORGE H. COWLING, residing on a 
very valuable farm of eighty-four acres, 
which was formerly known as the old Lin- 
ford Surfass farm, in Norton Township, was 
bom in what is now known as Barberton, on 
the farm of his nncle, Abraham Betz, March 
27, 1861, and is a son of Joseph and Cath- 
erine (Betz) Cowling. 

The father of Mr. Cowling was born in 
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, where he 
learned the trade of weaving woolen blank- 
ets, at which he worked until about thirty 
years of age, when he went to farming. 
When he came first to Summit County he 
.settled at Middlebury and operated a weaving 
factory for a time and then moved to the 
present site of Barberton, from which point, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



587 



in 1865, he moved to the Jacob Wise farm, 
we.st of Norton Center. After living there for 
six yeare he moved to the J. F. Seiberhng 
farm, which he rented for twenty-one years. 
Mr. Cowling then moved to Nebraska, ac- 
companied by all of his family except George 
H., Avhere he bought a farm of 300 acres. He 
lived there for seven years, but sold on ac- 
count of the climate not agreeing with his 
wife, and returned to Ohio in the hope of 
restoring her to health. He settled in Me- 
dina County in 1893, where she died in 
1894. Mr. Cowling still survives, aged eighty 
years, residing on his farm in Wadsworth 
Township. 

George H. Cowling wa« reared in Norton 
Township and has made farming his main 
business in life. In 1884 he was married 
to Mary Baughman, who died April 20, 1905. 
She was a daughter of James Baughman, a 
tanner by trade, who formerly lived at West- 
ern Star. Two children were born to this 
marriage, Be-ssie and William. 

For sixteen years Mr. Cowling and family 
lived in Wadsworth Township, moving from 
there to Sharon Town.sihip for four years, and 
then came to Norton Township. Summit 
County. He purchased the present farm of 
George Dreisbach, January 6, 1903, and 
moved to it on March 7, 1904. He sold the 
property on May 28, 1907. to 0. C. Barber. 
Mr. Cowling is a well known and highly re- 
.•^pect'Cd citizen. 

FRANK SPRIGGLE, the owner and op- 
erator of the old Chamberlin mill, a land- 
mark in Summit County, which is situated 
in Springfield Town.?hip, as is also Mr. Sprig- 
gle's truck farm of seventeen acres, is a well- 
known and re.=pected citizen of this section, 
where he has spent the whole of his life. He 
wa* born in Summit County, Ohio, May 18, 
1856. and is a son of Jacob and Christina 
(Pontius) Spriggle. 

The first of the Spriggle family to locate 
in Summit County was Emanuel Spriggle, 
who caame from Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and settled on the Rudy farm, one 
mile ea.=;t of Uniontown, but a few acres of 



which had yet been cleared, the rest of the 
land being covered with a heavy growth of 
timber. Emanuel Spriggle lived into his 
ninety -ninth year, and never moved beyond 
the radius of twenty miles from the place on 
which he fir.st settled. Jacob Spriggle, father 
of Frank, was born in Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1827, and accompanied his 
parents to Summit County in 1833. He often 
told his children, in later days, of the wild 
conditions that prevailed in his boyhood, 
where thej^ only saw cultivated land and a 
comfortable home. There were many deer 
in this .section and it was no unusual event 
to find them hiding in various places al)out 
the farm, sometimes in a hollow tree and at 
other' times under a shock of grain. They 
had not yet learned their later fear of hu- 
man beings and at that time were not diffi- 
cult of capture. Jacob Spriggle learned the 
blacksmith trade at Uniontown, which he 
followed more or less for forty-five years in 
Coventry Township. He retired from work 
by order of his physician, who had discov- 
ered heart, trouble, and he now resides at 
Monroe Falls. During his active years he 
built hundreds of coal cars for Brewster 
Brothers and the Steese Coal Banks. He 
was married (first) to Elizabeth Pontius, a 
native of Ohio and a member of a prominent 
old family. She died in 1865, the mother 
of two .sons and two daughters, namely: 
Monia, w-ho died at the age of twelve years : 
Frank ; Amanda, who married Cyrus Kepler, 
and Malinda, who married Philip Danner, 
now deceased. The second marriage of Jacob 
Spriggle was to Elizabeth Spitler, and they 
had the following children: Allen, residing 
between Monroe and Cuyahoga Falls, married 
Emma Myers; Jacob, residing on the old 
home with his father and sister, operates the 
farm and also works in the adjacent paper 
mill; Jeremiah, residing at Cuyahoga Falk, 
engaged in a grocery business, married Ad- 
die Huron ; Jacob, residing a few miles west 
of Winnipeg, Canada; Barbara, re5iding near 
Monroe Falls, is the widow of Frank Donald- 
.son, who died in 1904: PTenry, who lives at 
home; Sarah, who married William Ritzman. 



588 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



residing between Tallmadge and Monroe 
Falls, and Mary, who married Isah Beclitel, 
residing in Monroe Falls. 

Frank Spriggle was reared a farmer and 
all his mature life has been devoted to tilling 
the soil and milling. He owns seventeen 
acres of very valuable, productive land, and 
this tract he devotes to truck purposes, mak- 
ing it very profitable through his excellent 
methods. He divides his time between his 
farm and the mill, having acquired the latter 
property in 1896. He makes here only Gra- 
ham and rye flour and chops and has a steady 
run of custom. This mill was built sixty-five 
years ago by James Chamberlin, who oper- 
ated it for a number of years. Later it was 
the property of AVilliam Buchtel and still 
later of John Hosier, who made the last flour 
produced here. After his death the property 
was disposed of at the administrator's sale, 
and was purchased by Mr. Spriggle. 

In 1881 Mr. Spriggle wa.s married to Sa- 
villa Grable, who is a daughter of Jonathan 
Grahle, a substantial farmer of Green Town- 
ship, Summit County, and they have had two 
sons and two daughters born to them, 
namely: Delia, who married William Bri- 
ner, residing in Copley Town.ship, has two 
children, Frank and Margaret ; Susie, who 
married Frank Gougler, residing in Spring- 
field Township, has three children, Park, 
Pearl and Dayton ; NcAvton, residing at home 
and working in the mill, and Earl, residing 
at home and working on a railroad. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Spriggle is 
nominally a Democrat, but he reserves the 
right to cast his vote independently. Re- 
ligiously, he is a member of the Reorganized 
Church of Jesus Christ, the Saints and the 
Last Days. There are many lessons to be 
learned in considering the life of Mr. Sprig- 
gle. He left home in boyhood after the 
death of his mother, and without the slight- 
est assistance in the way of counsel or finan- 
cial help, has acquired valuable property and 
has gained a place in the commimity where 
he commands the respect and enjoys the es- 
teem of his fellow-citizens. His success is 
the direct result of his own unassisted efforts. 



ABRAHAM SNYDER, a leading citizen 
of Springfield Township, who is engaged in 
threshing and operating both a grain and 
sawmill, was born May 7, 1833, on a farm 
but one and a quarter miles distant from 
the one on which he lives, in Springfield 
Townsliip, Summit County, Ohio. His par- 
ents were Jost A. and Salome (Baughman) . 
Snyder. 

The father of Mr. Snvder was born August 
25, 1791,- in Low Hill Township, Lehigh 
County, Pennsylvania, and came to Green 
Township, Summit County, which was then a 
part of Stark County, after his marriage. He 
served under General Jackson in the War 
of 1812, and participated in the battle of 
New Orleans. When he settled in Summit 
County he had a wagon and two horses, by 
means of which he had tran.^ported his family 
and possessions over the 500 miles between 
the old home and the new, and a money 
capital of $105, all but five dollars of which 
he paid for twenty acres of land. To this 
first purchase he made seven additions of 
adjoining land, and at his death owned sixty- 
three acres. He built first a cabin of logs. 
10 by 15 feet in dimensions, which was sup- 
planted by a larger cabin having a board 
roof, and this in turn was followed Ijy a 
hewed-log house, two and one-half stories in 
height, its dimensions being 30 by 20 feet, 
and his fourth house and the last one which 
he erected was also of logs, framed about. 
24 by 16 feet in dimensions, with a kitchen 
attached -which was 10 by 12 feet. 

Mr. Snyder was a man of pioneer robust- 
ness and was reasonably proud of his prowess 
in hunting bear, and frequently shot wolves 
and deer on the very land on which Akron 
now .stands. He never forgot the friends of 
his youth, and during his subsequent resi- 
dence in Ohio, walked the distance of 500 
miles back to Pennsylvania to visit those left 
behind, on three occa.sions. He was welcome 
wherever he went, being a man of kindly na- 
ture, jovial spirit and great native intelli- 
gence. He married Salome Baughman and 
they had fifteen children, namely: Jo.shua, 
Elizabeth, George, Joel, Isaiah, Jacob, So- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



589 



pihia, Daiiiel, Paul, Ezra, Jonas, Abraham, 
Nathan and Peter, all surviving to a good 
age except two, one of these being an \xa- 
named infant born next to the youngest. They 
grew up resembling their father, large, fine 
appearing men and women. The survivors 
are: Nathan, residing in Brimfield Town- 
ship, Portage County; Paul, residing in 
West Township, Marshall County, Indiana, 
and Abraham, of Springfield Township. 

Abraham Snyder had few educational ad- 
vantages in his youth, his real school attend- 
ance being covered by two months, but he has 
always made the most of his opportunities 
and is able to write intelligently in both the 
English and German languages, something 
very many of the younger generation cannot 
accomplish . He thinks he is probably one 
of the oldest threshers in all this section, as 
he w'as not more than ten years of age when 
he began feeding a threshing machine. Dur- 
ing his boyhood he worked in the mill in 
his neighborhood, during a large part of the 
time when not threshing, and during the 
winter seasons helped operate the old loom 
in the kitchen, where all the cloth for (he 
big family was woven. He grew to manhood 
with ingrained habits of industry and thrift. 

AVhen the Civil War broke out, Mr. Snyder 
commenced to consider the subject of enlist- 
ing, but like many others, private duties and' 
responsibilities stood in the way. He had 
been reared a Democrat by a stanch Demo- 
cratic father, but both were men of loyal 
sentiment and, in 1863, Abraham Snyder 
proved that his patriotism was more than 
mere talk by ofi'ering his services and enlist- 
ing in Company F, Third Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and .served until the 
close of the war, with the rank of first lieu- 
tenant. He participated in many important 
battles and traveled thousands of miles on 
long and weary marches. 

After the close of the Civil War, Mr. Sny- 
der returned to his home and engaged in 
farming and his previous occupations until 
1888, when he moved on his present farm, 
where he is still engaged in milling and also 
in threshing. Snyder's mill at Millheim is 



a historic landmark. The dam was built 
in 1817 and the mill constructed shortly 
afterward, and it is the oldest mill in Sum- 
mit County. In 1828 it was rebuilt by Mi- 
chael Myers and is situated on a part of lot 
7, tract 6, on the banks of Tuscarawas Creek. 
Mr. Snyder purchased the mill from H. J. 
Kreighbaum in 1899, he being the assignee 
of its former owner, William C. Shook. The 
stanch old frame work is of hewed timber. 
A sawmill formerly stood near, but the grain 
mill was built soon after the first settlement. 
It is a paying property under Mr. Snyder's 
excellent management. He grinds chop and 
feed and has all he can do, keeping the mill 
running both day and night. 

On June 19, 1858, Mr. Snyder was mar- 
ried to Catherine Cranoble, who is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Elizabeth Cranoble. She 
was born in Grote Township, Center County, 
Pennsylvania, January 8, 1831, and accom- 
]>anied her parents to Suffield Townshi]), Por- 
tage County, where they settled on the farm 
now owned by Jacob Mishler. 

Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have had born to 
them four sons and one daughter, the sur- 
vivors being: William, Stephen Douglas, 
Sarali and George Pendleton. William 
Snyder, residing at Millheim, married Mary 
Rodenbaugh, who is now deceased. She left 
two sons and one daughter, Curtis, Oscar W. 
and Sadie. Stephen Douglas Snyder married 
Marj' Ellen Tritt, who is a daughter of Jo- 
seph Tritt, and they reside in the brick house 
near Tritt mill. They have six children, 
namely: Agnes, Frank, George, Stanley, 
Harry and Anna. Sarah Snyder married 
William Tritt, who has a farm and owns a 
home at Middlebury. He is engaged in the 
rural mail delivery ser\'ice. Their children 
are: Norman, Hugh, Elton, Wilbur and Net- 
tie, George, the youngest of Mr. Synder's fam- 
ily, is unmarried, and resides at home assist- 
ing his father. Both Mr. Snyder and his wife 
remain hale and hearty, and they both con- 
tinue their usual avocations and enjoy the 
pleasant social life of the neighborhood with 
as much ease and zest as they did many 
years ago. They are people who stand very 



590 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



high in the esteem of the community and 
iire known from one end of the township to 
the other. 

All his mature life, Mr. Snyder has taken 
an interest in seeing his neighborhood ad- 
vance with the rest of the world and he has 
willingly done his share in develoi>ing it. 
He has been liberal in his contributions to 
schools, churches and public-spirited enter- 
prises of various kinds, while he is noted for 
his many acts of benevolence which he never 
discusses. For the past fifteen years he has 
served as township assessor, and in keeping 
his records he has preserved the ages of all 
the taxpayers in the township, finding it to 
sum up at present to 18,671 years. He is a 
faithful and efficient official. 

THE COLUMBIA CHEMICAL COM- 
PANY, manufacturers of soda ash, caustic 
soda and sulphate of ammonia, with exten- 
sive works located at Barberton, is one of the 
most important industries of Summit County. 
The plant of this great company covers more 
than fifteen acras, and the factories are en- 
tirely of modern construction and equip- 
ment. The location of the plant is on the 
old Baughman farm, which was devoted to 
agriculture for many years. The company 
owns also some 300 acres of land, from 
which source are obtained a large part of 
the material consumed in the manufacture of 
their products. The trade field is not confined 
to the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, al- 
though that mighty corporation uses the bulk 
of their goods. Employment is given to 
from 400 to 500 men and boys, many of the 
former being expert chemists. 

The Columbia Chemical Company was or- 
ganized and incorporated in Pennsylvania in 
1899, beginning operations in 1900. Its capi- 
tal stock was placed at $1,500,000. The 
works of this company were built at Barber- 
ton, but the main offices of the company have 
always remained at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 
The officers of the Columbia Chemical Com- 
pany are all men of experience, enterprise 
and large capital. They are: W. L. Clause, 
president; William D. Hartupee, vice presi- 



dent; Charles W. Brown, secretary; Edward 
Pitcairn, treasurer, and H. A. Gait, general 
manager, the officers making up the Board 
of Directors. 

EPHRAIM STUMP, a highly respected re- 
tired resident of Franklin Township, residing 
on his farm of nineteen acres near Jlanches- 
ter, which is particularly valuable on account 
of several fine veins of coal having been 
opened on it, was born on the old homestead 
north of Manchester, Franklin Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, May 28, 1842, and is 
a son of Jacob and Catherine (Sorrick) 
Stump. 

John Stump, the grandfather of Ephraim, 
was born in Pennsylvania, from whence he 
came to Ohio, settling west of Manchester, in 
Franklin Township, Summit County, locat- 
ing on a farm which was but partly cleared. 
In 1841 he replaced the original log cabin 
with a stone house, which is still standing, 
it being about the only one left of the many 
stone houses of the '40's. Wild game was 
jjlentiful in those . days, and Mr. Stump has 
in his possession some turkey feet, the birds 
having been .shot in 1850, by his grand- 
father. The Indians had not yet left this 
locality, and Mr. Stump recalls numerous in- 
teresting experiences with them. Here John 
Stump and his wife, Elizabeth (Grove) 
Stump, lived for the remainder of their lives. 
They had eight children, four sons, namely: 
Jacob, David, John and Levi; and four 
daughters, namely: Catherine, who married 
William Kauffman; Eliza, who married 
Samuel Grove ; Mary, who married P. Myers, 
and Sarah, who married J. W. Swigart. 

Jacob Stump was about ten years old when 
the family journeyed from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio. In his youth, when not engaged in 
farming, he frequently filled the family 
larder with game. After his marriage he 
settled on a farm near which the Brewster 
mines were later opened, although this did 
not take place vmtil after his death. He 
married Catherine Sorrick, who was a daugh- 
ter of Adam and Elizabeth (Raber) Sorrick, 
who came to Ohio from Pennsvlvania. Five 




GEORGE W. HART 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



593 



children were born to this marriage, as fol- 
lows: Ephraim, Matilda, who married 
George Donnenwith; Nathaniel, William, 
who is deceased, and Amos, who died in in- 
fancy. Jacob Stump died at the age of sixty- 
seven years and the death of his widow fol- 
lowed a few years later. 

Ephraim Stump had but limited educa- 
tional opportunities, as his services were re- 
required on the home farm, where he chopped 
wood, picked stones and threshed rye. From 
his sixteenth year until he was married he 
worked his father's farm, and thereafter 
operated rented farms until 1873, when he 
purchased his present farm in Manchester, a 
tract of nineteen acres, from the Hamm 
heirs. He located on this place in 1884, and 
until 1903 was engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. In that year coal was discovered on 
his property, which has since been mined 
by the Beachwood Company of Cleveland, 
the output of the mines being from 300 to 
400 tons daily. Mr. Stump is now living 
in quiet retirement. In his political views he 
is a Democrat and supports that party's can- 
didates on every occasion, but he has never 
cared for public life nor held oflfice. His 
fraternal connection is with the Knights of 
Maccabees. 

On November 29, 1870, Mr. Stump was 
united in marriage with Louisa Smith, who 
is a daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Diehl) 
Smith, and to this union there were, bom 
three children, namely: Bertie, Clarence and 
Frederick. Bertie married William Sissler, 
and they have three children : Gerrold, Don- 
ovan and John. Mr. and Mrs. Stump are 
consi.«tent members and liberal supporters of 
the Reformed Church. 

GEORGE W. HART, who, for twenty 
years was a highly respected resident of 
Cuyahoga Falls, and formerly a succes.sful 
agriculturi.st of Stow Townsihip, was born at 
Middleburg, Summit County, Ohio, July 12, 
1832. and died at Cnvahoga Falls, December 
ir>. 1900. He wa=! a son of Colonel John C. 
and Margaret (Steriing) Hart. 

The Hart family originated in England 



and came to Connecticut among tlie early 
colonists. Rufus Hart, the grandfather of 
George W., was born at Goshen, Connecticut, 
in 1771, and in 1795 he married Esther Cot- 
ter. In 1802 he moved to Genasee County, 
New York, and in May, 1815, to Middle- 
bury, Ohio, which is now the Sixth Ward of 
Akron, which city was then represented by 
less than a half dozen log cabins, the whole 
surroimding country being then covered by 
a heavy forest growth. As an officer in the 
War of 1812, he participated in the battles 
of Chippewa and Limdy's I-ane, and the 
burning of Buffalo. 

Colonel John C. Hart, father of George 
W., was born at Cornwall, Litchfield County, 
Connecticut, April 17, 1798, and was only 
fourteen years of age when he joined Captain 
Stone's company of cavalry. He was in his 
father's regiment at various points and 
Ijravely faced hardships with the veterans at 
the evacuation of Fort George. He continued 
in the service until the close of the war, and 
then accompanied his father to New York 
and subsequently to Ohio. When he was 
twenty-one years old he left the paternal roof 
and started out to seek the proverbial for- 
tune, incidentally to find employment. He 
was of robust constitution, and the mere fact 
of being obliged to walk a hundred miles or 
so probably did not discourage him to any 
great degree. When he reached Steul>enville 
he boarded a lumber raft and floated a dis- 
tance down the river; from that point he 
walked to Cincinnati, and from there made 
his way to St. Louis. For about two inonths 
he worked in a mill in that city and later 
engaged in the manufacture of brick at a 
small place where malarial conditions pre- 
vailed to such an extent that he was taken ill 
with chills and fever, and his adventure,* 
abroad were brought to a close. Pie managed 
to return home, and when he regained his 
health purchased a farm of fifty acres ju.<t 
south of Middlebury, and there pa«.sed the 
re.«it of his active life, dying Au,gust 20, 1880. 
He always remained interested in military' 
affairs and late in life he raised a regiment of 
cavalrv of which he was elected colonel. 



594 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



On February 23, 1831, John C. Hart was 
married to Mrs. Margaret A. Sterling, and 
they became the parents of the following 
children: George W., John S., Charles S., 
Hiram, Elizabeth and Fannie A. The last 
mentioned married Clinton Ruckel. Hiram 
died from disease contracted in the Civil 
War. 

The late George W. Hart was reared and 
educated in his native township and attended 
the local schools, in the meanwhile a-sisting 
on the home farm. After his marriage he 
settled on a farm of 160 acres situated in 
Stow Township, where he resided until he 
retired to Cuyalioga Falls in 1880. He made 
his main interest dairying and sheep grow- 
ing. He was a man of sterling character, 
strong in the advocacy of what he believed to 
be right, but just in his dealings with all 
men. For many years he was a vastryman 
of St. John's Episcopal Church at Cuyahoga 
Falls. In his political life he was a stanch 
supporter of the Republican party and was a 
man particularly well fitted for public office, 
but his ambitions were not in that direction. 
He served as township commLssioner and al- 
ways, took an interest in the public schools. 
He was connected M'ith the Masonic frater- 
nity, belonging to Star Lodge, No. 187, at 
Cuyahoga Falls. 

On August 18, 1853, George W. Hart was 
married to Anna H. Beardsley, who was born 
in Middlebury (Akron) July 18, 1832, and 
is a daughter of Talman and Temperance 
(Spicer) Beardsley. To this marriage six 
children were born, the two who reached ma- 
turity being: Emma F. and Clarissa. The 
latter married R. D. Morgan, and resides at 
Cleveland. Mrs. Hart and her daughters are 
members of the Episcopal Church. 

Talman Beardsley, father of Mrs. Hart, 
was born December 23, 1799, in Delhi, Dela- 
ware County, New York, and accompanied 
his father's family to Tjicking County, Ohio, 
in 1810, and to Middlebury in 1818, where 
he worked for a short time in a foundry, and 
then bought a farm which is the present site 
of the Leggett school. He disposed of that 
property and boTight another in Coventry 



Township on which he lived for thirty years. 
He became a leading citizen in this part of 
Summit County, was a prominent Repub- 
lican, and served many years as a justice of 
the peace and also as township clerk. His 
parents were Daniel and Hannah (Bailey) 
Beardsley. 

In 1831, Talman Beardsley married Tem- 
perance Spicer, who was a daughter of Major 
Minor and Cynthia (Allen) Spicer. Major 
Spicer was a native of Connecticut and a sol- 
dier in the War of the Revolution. He was 
a very early pioneer in Summit County, 
where he acquired large tracts of land. He 
donated the land on which Buchtel College 
now stands, it formerly having been his pri- 
vate burying ground. He was twice mar- 
ried, Mrs. Beardsley being a child of his first 
union. 

The children of Talman Beardsley and 
wife were: Anna H. (Mrs. Hart) ; Emily, 
Mills and Avery, all of whom are deceased; 
and Avery, second, residing at Adrian, Mich- 
igan. The family were reared in the Uni- 
versalist faith. Talman Beardsley died July 
18, 1891, surviving his wife by but three 
months, her death having taken place March 
22, earlier dn the same year. Mrs. Hart was 
reared at Akron and was one of the first 
students of the Akron High School when it 
was under the direction of M. D. Leggett. 

F. LAHMERS, M. D., physician and sur- 
geon, at Barberton, has built up a large and 
lucrative practice during his residence here 
of nine years, and he has also become one 
of the leading citizens of the town. Dr. Lah- 
mers was bom in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, 
August 23, 1872, and is a son of Charles 
I^ahmers, for many years a substantial farmer 
of that county. His boyhood was spent on 
his father's farm, and his early education 
acquired in the coimtry schools. Later he 
attended the Normal College at New Phila- 
delphia, and subsequently Scio College, at 
Scio, Ohio, for one year, his collegiate course 
extending from his seventeenth to hLs nine- 
teenth year, after which he began to teach 
school in the vicinitv of his home. During 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



595 



the three years he was so engaged, he began 
to read medicine, and in 1894 was prepared 
to enter the Baltimore Medical College, where 
he was graduated in 1898. 

Dr. Lah'mers immediately located at Beach 
City, Ohio, where he practiced medicine for 
six months, then coming to Barberton. In 
1907 he took a post-graduate cdurse in the 
New York Post-Graduate Jledical School. 
His reputation as to professional ability ex- 
tends beyond the town, and his practice re- 
quires the larger part of his time and atten- 
tion. Nevertheless he finds time to show in- 
terest in matters pertaining to the general 
welfare of the community, and formerly 
served as health officer. 

In the spring of 1899, Dr. Lahmers was 
married to Florence C. Peters, who is a daugh- 
ter of Dr. H. J. Pet«rs, of Ragersville, Ohio. 
He is a member of the Reformed Church, 
having been reared in that faith. He is con- 
nected wath several medical organizations, 
and with the frat^ernal orders of Elks, Mac- 
cabees and Pathfinders. 

JOHN W. WHITE, manager of the White 
Lumber Company, which is engaged in a 
retail lumber and repair business, and also 
does general contracting, with a plant on 
the corner of Case and River Streets, Akron, 
is one of the old and reliable business men of 
this city, one who has watched its growth for 
the past forty years. He was born in 1854, 
at Brooklyn, New York. 

Mr. AA^hite was thirteen years of age when 
he came to Akron, and in boyhood began to 
work in the box factory of Ohio Barber, 
where he remained employed for thirteen 
years. Later he was with the Aultman-Mil- 
ler Company for fifteen years. In 1891 he 
embarked in a lumber business, and since 
that date has been manager of the White 
Lumber Company. He is interested also in 
real estate and does a good business in the 
buying, building and selling of houses. In 
1876 Mr. White married Kate Johnston, a 
daughter of Thomas Johnston, who was for- 
merly a large manufacturer of sewer pipe at 
Akron. Mr. AATiite is a member of Grace 



Methodist Episcopal Church, and for thirty- 
five years he has belonged to its official 
board. He is a man widely known and re- 
spected. 

CLARK A. SACKETT, a leading citizen 
of Tallmadge Township, residing on his 
farm of 136 acres, was born on this farni; 
in Summit County, Ohio, May 15, 1837, and 
is a son of Clark and Laura (Aiken) Sack- 
ett. 

The Sackett family is an old colonial one 
of New England. Benjamin Sackett, the 
grandfather of Clark A., died in Connecti- 
cut. His children w-ere as follows: Simeon, 
who lived and died at Canfield, Mahoning 
County, Ohio; Myron, who died in Connec- 
ticut; Salmon, who died in Summit County; 
Moses and Benjamin, who lived in Connecti- 
cut; Clark and Aaron. 

Clark Sackett, father of Clark A., was born 
at AVarren, Connecticut, in 1793. He was 
still a young man when he joined a colony 
of pioneer settlers who came wath their pos- 
sessions to make early settlement and secure 
homes in Summit County, driving their ox- 
teams through forests where they had to cut 
a path. They purchased lands of the great 
Connecticut Land Company, which, at that 
time, had control of the lands of a large part 
of the Western Reserve. Clark Sackett was 
a true pioneer, accepting all the hardships 
incident to establishing himself in a new 
country, and through his industry and ster- 
ling virtues, becoming a man of substance 
and prominence. He lived to advanced age. 
He first secured 100 acres of land in Tall- 
madge Township, to which he later added 
seventy-five acres, lying just west of his first 
purchase. He put up a log house which 
stood for a number of years, but was later 
replaced by the substantial residence which 
is occupied by his son, Clark A. A portion 
of the old house Mr. Sackett utilized to house 
his bees, as he took a great deal of interest 
in the bee indust,ry for many years. He 
cleared all his land, and also assisted greatly 
in promoting the civilizing agencies of this 
section. 



596 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



In 1816 Clark Sackett was married (first) 
to Cynthia Preston. He was married (sec- 
ond) to Laura Aiken, and (third) to Jane 
Pierce. The mother of Clai'k A. Sackett, 
Laura Aiken, was born in 1800, at Norwalk, 
Connecticut, and was married in the fall of 
1822. She was six years old when her father, 
Asher Aiken, removed to Vernon, Ohio. 
There were the following children bom to 
Clark and Laura Sackett: Hiram, who died 
in Tallmadge Township, married (first) 
Eliza Treat, and (.second) Mabel Fenn; Cyn- 
thia, who married Luther Heath, is survived 
by children residing at Genesee, New York, 
and also a son, Theodore, residing at Cuya- 
hoga Falls; Edwin, residing at Genesee, New 
York, married Sasan Pierce; Amelia, de- 
ceased, who married the late Dr. George 
Chapman, of New York; Benjamin, who died 
in infancy; Benjamin (2), who died in in- 
fancy; Clark A., residing in Tallmadge 
Township ; Charles, who married Flora Treat, 
and Darius. 

Clark A. Sackett attended the local schools 
and subsequently taught three terms, after 
which he engaged in farming and in operat- 
ing a threshing machine. He owns a valu- 
able farm of 136 acres on which he carries 
on a general line of agriculture, meeting with 
the success which has placed him among the 
substantial men of his section. Politically, 
he is a Republican and has always been a 
loyal supporter of the Government. During 
the Civil War he served through an enlist- 
ment in Company D, 164th Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, which was mustered in 
at Cleveland. The services of this comi)any 
were utilized around the city of Wa.shington 
and when they were no longer needed, the 
regiment was honorablv discharged at Cleve- 
land. 

Clark A. Sackett was married (first) to 
Kate Avshmun, who was a daughter of M. 
Ashmun. He was married (second) to Lot- 
tie Austin, who was born at Newton Falls, 
Ohio, and is a daughter of Enos and Sarah 
(Sackett) Austin. The father of Mrs. Sack- 
ett was born in 1809, at Warren, Ohio, and 
died at Ymmgstown, in 1886. The mother 



of Mrs. Sackett was born in 1820, at Can- 
field, Mahoning County, Ohio, was married 
in 1840, and died at Youngstown, in 1883. 
Enos Austin and wife had three children, 
two daughters and one son, the latter of 
whom died in infancy. The daughters are: 
Phidelia, who married Frank Stiles, a resi- 
dent of Youngstown, and Mrs. Sackett. The 
maternal grandparents of Mrs. Sackett were 
Myron aud Orpha (Dean) Sackett, the for- 
mer of whom was born at Warren, Connec- 
ticut, and the latter at Cornwall, Connecticut. 
This branch of the Sackett family can be 
traced to Simon and Isabella Sackett, mem- 
bers of the Pilgrim colony. 

Prior to her marriage, Mrs. Clark A. 
Sackett taught for a number of years, first 
in the public schools of Youngstown and 
later in the Blind Asylum, at Columbus. She 
is an accomplished lady. Both she and her 
sister were teachers, the latter for a period of 
twenty-five years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sack- 
ett belong to the Congregational Church at 
Tallmadge, in which Mrs. Sackett is the or- 
ganist. Mr. Sackett has served in a number 
of public positions, and has been both siiper- 
visor and tru.stee of Tallmadge Township. 

CHARLES H. SWIGART, one of the 
be.sit known and most popular citizens of 
Franklin Town.ship, the talented teacher of 
music in the rural schools, was born on the 
old family homestead in Summit County, 
Ohio, .Ltiiuary 9, 1863, and is a son of Jn- 
sopii and Sarah (Haring) Swigart. 

The Swigart family is an old settled one 
of this .section of Ohio, Joseph Swigart-, the 
great-grandfather, having brought the family 
from Pennsylvania. George Swigart, the 
grandfather, was born in Cumberland County, 
Pennsylvania, and was a boy when his par- 
ents made the long overland journey, set- 
tling first near Canton, but removing later 
to Canal Fulton, where Joseph Swigart se- 
cured the farm now owned by Isaiah Swi- 
gart. On that farm the great-grandfather 
died a.t the age of forty-eight years. George 
Swigart married Elizabeth Daily and they 
spent their lives in Franklin Town.ship, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



597 



where he owned 206 acres of land. They 
died aged about eighty-two years. Their 
children were fifteen in number and those 
wiio survive are: Mrs. Caroline J. Corinany, 
Mrs. Catherine D. Grill, Mrs. Susan S. Kep- 
ler, ilrs. Elizabeth P. Surfass, George A., 
Henry, Jacob, Hiram and Daniel. Those 
deceased were: John, Joseph, David, Anna, 
Sarah and Margaret. 

Joseph Swigart ■ wiL< born on his father's 
farm in Franklin Township, which is now 
owned by Aaron A. Swigart. He married 
Sarah Haring, who was also born in Frank- 
lin Townshij), where she still survives, liv- 
ing on the old hom&stead. Joseph Swigart 
died in 1895, aged .seventy years. He had 
two children: Aaron A. and Charles Hirain. 

Charles Hiram Swigart attended the dis- 
trict schools and supplemented the instruc- 
tion so obtained by a period in the graded 
schools of Manchester and Clinton, complet- 
ing his education with two year.--' attendance 
at the Normal University at Ada, Ohio. 
Gifted with mu.sical talent, Mr. Swigart has 
spent quite a large amount of time and 
money in developing and perfecting it, and 
has done a great deal of musical in.structing. 
He has also taught school in various .sections. 
He owns a one-half interest in the old home- 
stead place of 201 acre.*, which he and his 
brother operate together, and he also carries 
on general farming on the old Diehl farm. 

On April 19, 1894, Mr. Swigart was mar- 
ried to Hattie Mav Diehl, who is a daughter 
of William and Eliza (Diehl) Diehl. They 
have two children, Hallie and Gladys. 

Mr. Swigart- is a member of the Lutheran 
Church. He belongs to the order of Mac- 
cabees. 

MADISON WALTZ, a succassful agricul- 
turist of Franklin Township, where he is 
operating the old Dice property, wa.s born 
November 2, 1855, at Sharon, Copley Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Elias and Lucetta (Kintz) Waltz. 

David Waltz, the grandfather of Madison, 
was one of the early settlers of Wayne 
Countv, Ohio, where he followed the trade 



of a gunsmith. He died at Wadsworth, aged 
eighty-six years. He was married three 
times. His first marriage -was to a Miss 
Baughman, and all but one of his sixteen 
children were born to the first union. 

Elias Waltz, father of Madi.son, was bom 
and reared near Wadsworth, Wayne County, 
Ohio. Like other members of his family, 
he was musically gifted. He became an in- 
.-^tnictor on the violin and a member of the 
famous Waltz Band, a musical organization 
which was made np of Elias Waltz and two 
of his brothers, with nine cousins, who were 
lirothers. At the outbreak of the Civil War, 
he entered the army as a musician. He was 
prostrated with typhoid fever shortly after- 
ward and died in the South, where his burial 
took place, being then in this thirtieth year. 
He married Lucetta Kintz, who died in 
1866, aged thirty-six years. They had eight 
children, namely: Sylvester, residing at To- 
ledo, Ohio; Madison, Wilson, residing in 
Summit County; Luvander, residing at Ak- 
ron, and four who died young. 

Madi.son Waltz began to attend school at 
Sharon, where his father was there operating 
an old-fa.<hioned "up and down" sawmill, 
and from that place went to his grandfather 
Kintz's farm, in Wayne County. After his 
father's death he accompanied his mother to 
Hametown, where she soon died, leaving him 
an orphan when ten years of age. He was 
bound out to Ben Richel, north of Johnson's 
Corner, with whom he remained a short time, 
and for six and one-half years was with C. F. 
Meese. During this time he had little or no 
school advantages. For five years thereafter 
he worked as a hired man on different farms 
in that section, and after his marriage he 
conducted the David Pow farm for a short 
time. In 1881 he located at Akron, where 
he followed teaming and was in the employ 
of the owners of the stone mill for five years. 
The following four years were spent in car- 
penter work, with his brothers, Sylvester and 
Luvander. Mr. Waltz then engaged in con- 
tracting on his own account, which he fol- 
lowed imtil 190.S, in which year he removed 
to his present place, the property of his wife's 



598 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



mother and the heirs of Jeremiah Dice. Al- 
though Mr. Waltz spent a number of years 
in the city, he by no means forgot how to 
farm, and was credited in the Akron papers 
of 1907 with having the finest wheat field 
in Suinmit County. 

On December 25, 1878, Mr. Waltz was 
united in marriage with Mary A. Dice, who 
is a daughter of Jeremiah and Caroline E. 
Dice. One child has been born to this union, 
Delbert Ellsworth, who resides at home and 
a.ssist>s his father. Mr. Waltz is a Democrat 
in politics. He and his wife and son attend 
the Reformed Church, of which they are lib- 
eral supporters. 

LOUIS LOEB, president of the J. Koch 
Company, which is the largest clothing house 
at Akron, has been a resident of this city 
for almost forty years and is a man of promi- 
nence in its commercial life. Mr. Loeb was 
born in Germany, in 1853, and remained in 
his own land until he was seveteen years of 
age. securing there a good education. 

Mr. Loeb located at Akron after reaching 
the United States, entering the employ of 
the reliable old firm of Koch & Levi, from 
which Mr. Levi retired in 1878, Mr. Loeb 
purchasing his interest, and he remained a.s- 
sociated with Mr. Koch, until January 1, 
1907, when the latter retired. After the re- 
tirement of Mr. Koch, the business was in- 
corporated as the J. Koch Company, with 
a capital stock of $50,000. the officers being; 
Lnuis Loeb, president: Philip Huber, vice 
president, and Solomon Goldsmith, secretary 
and treasurer. This is not only one of the 
oldest but one of the largest and most sub- 
stantial houses in its line in this section of 
Ohio. 

In 1882 Mr. Loeb was married to Alice 
M6.SS, who is a daughter of H. W. Mass, of 
Akron, and they have three children, 
namely: Edna, who is the wife of Arthur 
L. Abt, one of the leading business men of 
Canton'; Joy T., who is in charge of the 
o'ffice of the J. Koch Company, and Irene, 
Residing at home. Mr. Loeb and family be- 
long to the Akron Hebrew Congregation, and 



he has served in various church offices. Mr. 
Loeb is a member of the Masonic lodge, of 
the Royal Arcanum, the National Union and 
the Elks club. 



I. F. ALLEN, vice president and treasurer 
of the R. & A. Supply Company, wholesale 
and retail dealers in hardware, located at No. 
66 South Howard Street, is also vice presi- 
dent and secretary of another large basiness 
enterprise of Akron, the Jahant Heating 
Company. He was born in 1868, in Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and is a son of John 
Allen, a retired resident of Akron. Mr. Al- 
len's father was born in 1829, on the same 
farm in Summit County on which his son 
was burn thirty -nine years later. He is a son 
of Jonah Allen, who came to this section of 
Ohio from Connecticut in 1811. The fam- 
ily is one of the most respected and substan- 
tial ones of the county. 

After completing his education, which in- 
cluded a full commercial course at Ham- 
mel's Business College, I. F. Allen went to 
Cleveland, and for seven years was connected 
with the George Worthington Llardware 
Company, of that city. In 1891 he came 
back to Akron and bought the interest of 
Mr. Williams in the hardware firm of Wil- 
liams & Rohrbacher, the firm of Rohrbacher 
& Allen being then established. In October, 
1907, the business was incorporated as the 
R. & A. Supplv Companv with a capital 
stock of $50,000. The officers are: A. C. 
Rohrbacher, president; T. F. Allen, vice 
president and treasurer, and Mr. . Hawkins, 
.secretarv. The members of the finn are all 
practical hardware men and the business is 
one which extend? over a wide extent and 
does a large amount of annual trading. 

In 1891 Mr. Allen was married to Eva 
May Geddes, of Cleveland, and they have 
one child, Clifford I., who is a bright student 
in the Akron public schools. Mr. and Mrs. 
Allen are members of the First Church of 
Christ, Akron. Fraternally, Mr. Allen is a 
Knight Templar Mason, affiliated with the 
Masonic cliib, al-^o an Odd Fellow. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



599 



ALFRED WOOD, a leading citizen of 
Northfield Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
who owns a farm of fifty-six acres, about 
thirty of which are under cultivation, was 
born October 23, 1842, at Independence, 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and is a son of Ben- 
jamin and Charlotte (Belden) Wood. 

Benjamin Wood Avas born in 1816 on the 
Strand, London, England, where he attended 
boarding school until fourteen years of age, 
and at the age of twenty-one years came to 
America. He had learned the tailor's trade 
in his native land, but did not follow it to 
any extent, after a short residence at Cleve- 
land settling on a farm in Independence. 
From 1862 until 1900 he was connected with 
the firm of Benjamin Stair and Son, at 
Cleveland, and became a man of some means, 
making three trips to his native country. Mr. 
Wood was possessed of scholarly attainments, 
and was elected to a number of township 
offices, including that of trustee. His death 
occurred in August., 1905. Mr. Wood was 
married to Charlotte Belden, -who-se ancestry 
dates Vjack to colonial days, and they had 
three children : Norman, who died Novem- 
ber 18, 1907; Alfred, subject of this sketch, 
and Martha, who is the widow of John R. 
Richardson, of Cleveland. Benjamin Wood 
was reared in the faith of the Episcopal 
Church, Init there being no churches in In- 
dependence when he located there, he be- 
came a Presbyterian, and paid nearly half of 
the co.st of erecting there the church of that 
denomination. 

Alfred Wood received a common school 
education in Independence, and in youth se- 
cured employment with the firm of Benja- 
min Stair & Son, at Cleveland, for whom 
he worked for a year and a half. At the 
end of this time he rented a farm at St. 
Mary's, Canada, where he remained for five 
years, and then located at Akron, being em- 
ployed in the Buckeye shops for sixteen 
years. Subsequently he became foreman of 
the Lamson and Session shops at Cleveland, 
but in 1893 purchased the Charles Vders 
•farm, a tract of fifty-six acres in lot 65, 
about thirtv acres of which Mr. Wood ha? 



under cultivation. He keeps about eight 
head of cattle, is largely interested in bee 
culture, and raises blooded. horses. His prin- 
cipal crops are oats, wheat, hay and corn, 
and he has a fine orchard of apple, peach, 
pear and plum trees. 

Mr. Wood has given much attention to 
horticulture and was one of the charter 
members of the Summit County Horticul- 
tural Society. He has been very active in 
scientific work, being associated with Prof. 
Claypole of Buchtel College, his studies em- 
bracing all the natural sciences. On one oc- 
casion he read a paper before the Scientific 
Society of Buchtel College, setting forth the 
theory that the Cuyahoga River has always 
flowed north as at present, the accepted the- 
ory at that time (Newberry's), being that in 
prehistoric times the river flowed south. Mr. 
Wood's paper aroused wide discussion, but 
his theory was finally accepted, and was in- 
corporated in the reports of the State De- 
partment of Geology. Fraternally, Mr. Wood 
is connected with Hesperion Lodge No. 281, 
Knights of Pythias, of Cleveland, and he was 
a charter member of Etolia Lodge No. 24, 
Knights of Pythias, of Akron, of which he 
was secretary and treasurer. 

Mr. AVood was married to Sarah J. Johns, 
who is the daughter of James Johns, and to 
this union there were born six children : 
Mary, who is the wife of F. H. Fanning, of 
Cleveland: Charlotte, who is a well-known 
artist of Cleveland; Norman B., who lives at 
Pititsburg, Pennsylvania; Robert J., William 
H. and Amelia B., who reside in Cleveland. 
The family is connected with the Episcopal 
Church. 

The Johns family, which is an old one 
of Hatherly, Devonshire, England, was 
founded in America by the parents of Mrs. 
Woods, who came to Canada when she was 
a child of three years, in 1843. James 
Johns, Mrs. Wood's father, was a machinist 
by trade, an occupation w-hich he followed 
at Darlington. Ontario, until 1860. and then 
for a few years at Cleveland, Ohio. Later 
he removed to Independence, where he car- 
ried on farming for two years, but he sub- 



600 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sequently sold his fai^m and returned to his 
trade at Cleveland. Thence he went to Strat- 
ford, Ontario, in which place he established 
a machine shop. His death occurred in 
1893, -when he was in his eighty-ninth year; 
his wife, Mary (Bourne) James, died in 
1891, when eighty-two years old. Mrs. Wood 
was the seventh of a family of sixteen chil- 
dren. 

ARTHUR A. MOORE, president of the 
People's Savings and Banking Compaaiy, at 
Barberton, and also interested in a real estate 
and insnrajice business, was bom in Ashta- 
bula County, Ohio, September 15, 1857, and 
is a son of Reuben and Lavantia (Adams) 
Moore. 

For a number of years Reuben Moore, 
father of Arthur . A., conducted a general 
mercantile business at Leon, Ohio, and was 
concerned to a considerable extent in the 
lumber industry of Ashtabula County, where 
he owned mills. He al.so owned and operated 
mills in Florida. Both he and wife are re.?i- 
dents of Barberton. 

Arthur A. Moore in boyhood attended the 
countn- schools near his home, and later the 
Grand River Tn.stitute at Austinburg. When 
eighteen year.s of age he started into busi- 
ness w'ith his father with whom he remained 
two years. On attaining his majority, he 
decided to go into business for himself, hav- 
ing his own ideas concerning its develop- 
ment. Lacking, capital to purchase a horse 
and wagon, he hired them, bought a stock 
of seasonable goods, and started out through 
the country to .sell them. He met with ex- 
cellent .success, and soon established a store 
of his own at Leon, Ohio, keeping a man 
on the road, and was thus engaged for about 
thirteen years. When he came to Barljerton 
he immediately .showed hL< enter]')rise by the 
erection of the fii-st brick block in the place, 
a substantial building, in which he estab- 
lished a general .store. He was appointed 
the first postmaster of the village, serving in 
this office for two years. Closing out his 
mercantile interests, Mr. Moore, in 1901, en- 
tered into the insurance and real estate busi- 



ne.«, in which he is now the leader in this 
place. AA'lien the People's Savings and Bank- 
ing Company was organized, Mr. Moore was 
elected presddent of this financial institution, 
which enjoys the confidence of the public. 
In many ways he has shown his public .spirit 
and demonstrated his progressive ideas, and 
he ranks among the most prominent citizens 
of Barljcrton. 

In 1879 Mr. Moore was married to Dora 
N. Bailey, and they have three children, 
namely: Nellie, Lena and Hattie. For five 
years Mr. Moore served as a member of the 
Barberton Board of Education, all his influ- 
ence being given to encouraging good schools 
and other uplifting agencies. Mr. Moore is 
a member of the U. B. Church, of Barber- 
ton, and one of its mo.«t liberal supporters. 
Fraternally, he is a Mason. 

NOAH ERASE, a prominent citizen of 
Franklin Township, Avho is engaged in agri- 
cultural operations on a well-cultivated tract 
of 100 acres, was born December 23, 1850, 
at the family home in Wayne County, Ohio, 
known as the Frase Settlement, and is a son 
of .lohn A. and Mary (Ettling) Frase. 

.lolin A. Erase, the grandfather of Noah, 
wa-^ a native of Pennsylvania, and a tailor 
by trade. From Pennsjdvania the trip to 
Obid was made in wagons by Noah Frase, 
with Ills wife and five children. When John 
A., was about two years old. They at once 
■settled on a lOO-acre tract of land, which was 
sulisequently mainly cleared and operated by 
the children, Mr. Frase continuing with his 
tailoring until his death. 

John A. Enise, Jr., father of Noah, was 
reared upon the home farm, and there re- 
sided until about five years after his mar- 
riage, when he p^irchased a tract of eighty 
acres in the northeastern corner of Wayne 
County, and al?o acquired land in Summit 
County so that he was considered a man of 
.some wealth. He married Mary Ettling, 
who survived him twelve years. To them 
were born eight children : Noah, William, 
who resides at Ashtabula; Catherine, who 
married William Deckerhoof; Peter M., who 




ROBERT S. PAUL 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



803 



is an employe in a bank at Clinton; John 
W., who resides on the old home place in 
Wayne County; Mary, who married Charles 
Opplinger; Emma, who married Henry Slee, 
and Ida, who married Christopher Albrecht. 
The father died in Wayne County in 1888. 

Noah Erase was reared on the home farm 
and attended the district schools until he 
reached his twenty-first year, when he went 
to work in the coal banks, where he contin- 
ued for about ten years. He then worked 
for John Grill, at farming, and also in a 
sawmill for three years, at the end of which 
time he came to his present property, which 
he purchased from the old estate. Mr. Erase 
has been engaged in general farming here 
since 1887. and has proven himself a good, 
practical agriculturist. For the past seven 
years he has been a director in the Norton 
Mutual Insurance Company, of which he 
served two terms as treasurer. In jx>litical 
matters he is a Democrat. 

On October 28, 1880, Mr. Erase wa* mar- 
ried to iVmanda Grill, who is a daughter of 
John and Maiy (Snyder) Grill, and to this 
union there have been born six children : 
Elmer, who married Elizabeth Oar, has one 
child. May; Oscar, Ida, who died at the age 
of nineteen years; Clayton, Doyle and Eliza- 
beth. Mr. Erase, wiih his family, belongs 
to the Reformed Church, in which he serves 
as deacon. 

ROBERT S. PAUL, third son of Ho.sea 
and Ellen Gamble Paul, was born at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, Ohio, October 3, 1842, and died 
at Akron, Ohio, May 23, 1905. Pie received 
his a.cadeariical e-ducation at home, it being 
extended by attendance at the Lebanon, Ohio, 
Institute and at Oberlin, and later by an en- 
gineering course at the Pennsylvania Poly- 
technic at Philadelphia. He l>ecame practi- 
cally familiar with surveying operations and 
computations at an early age by reason of 
a«si.sting his father, who was county surveyor 
and town engineer of Akron ; his youthful 
activities, wnth the exception of a couple of 
terms teaching school, being thus quite ex- 
clusivelv in the line of service in later vears. 



During the Civil ^^'a^, he spent about 
three years (1862-1865) with the Engineer 
Department, Army of the Cumberland, a part 
of which time was devoted to laying out the 
earthwork defenses for the city of Cincinnati. 

He spent the years 1865 and 1866 sur- 
veying on Oil and Pithole Creeks, in Ve- 
nango County, Pennsylvania. He was then 
over two years in Cleveland with the engi- 
neering firm of Sargent & Hartnell, and re- 
turned to Akron in 1869 to reside perma- 
nently. 

Upon the death of his father in 1870, he 
became county surveyor, and held the office 
three terms. From 1874 to 1877 he Ava.« en- 
gaged in surveying and was the chief en- 
gineer of the 6. & T. R. R. He was the 
chief engineer of the Valley Railway in 1887 
and 1888. He was president for two terms of 
the Ohio County Surveyors' Association, and 
was secretary and treasurer of the Ohio In- 
.stitute of Mining Engineers, and was a mem- 
ber of the I. 0. 0. F., K. of P., F. of A. and 
I. O. R. M. 

He was a member of the firm of Paul 
Brothers, civil and mining engineers and 
surveyors, one of the oldest and best known 
firms in the state. His written records, gen- 
erally full and definite, were supplemented 
and illuminated by a marvelous memory, 
which could recall every tradition, fact or 
circumsitance. His knowledge of titles and 
land law was extensive and accurate. He had 
a wide acquaintance, and his advice and 
counsel were sought not only by his profes- 
sional brethren but in many other directions. 
He was well equipped in mathematics, and a 
wide reader of the best literature, and gave 
much serious thought to deep problems. 

Mr. Paul married Sarah M. Romig. July 
25, 1872, and of this union there were seven 
children, four of whom are now living — 
Ellen Paul Nice, Ada Paul Bordner, Mary 
Paul and Edward W. Paul. 

Robert S. Paul had five brothers: Harri- 
son D. (deceased), George (deceased), Ho- 
sea, Jr., T. D wight and Edward J., all of 
whom were or are now engaged in surwy- 
ing and civil engineering. He had one sia- 



004 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ter, Mary (deceased), w^ho was an expert 
draftsman and helped extensively in both the 
business of her father and of her brothers. 

EDWARD W. PAUL, of the firm of Paul 
Brothers, civil and mining engineers and sur- 
veyors, at Akron, has been identified with 
this kind of work ever since he entered into 
business life. He was born at Akron, Ohio, 
August 23, 1880, and is a son of Robert S. 
and Sarah M. (Romig) Paul. His father 
was one of the county's most prominent men 
for many years and was a son of Hosea Paul, 
one of the first surveyors of Summit County. 

Edward W. Paul was reared and educated 
in Akron, graduating from the Akron High 
School in 1898, and received his knoAvledge 
of surveying and civil engineering from his 
father, having assisted him for many yeare. 
He has had considerable experience in the 
line of railroad engineering, having served 
in the engineering department of the Erie 
Railroad in New York State in 1897: with 
the N. 0. T. & L. Co. in 1898 and 1901 ; 
with the Chootaw, Oklahoma & Gulf R. R. 
Co., in Indian Territory and Texas in 1902, 
and has charge of several railroad surveys 
in this section. He does a considerable 
amo\int of coal mine surveying and engineer- 
ing and is considered an expert in thi.-; line. 
He was married December 31, 1903, to Agnos 
M. Burman, and they have one child, Wini- 
fred Mary. 

HARRY D. TODD, M. D.. a well-known 
physician and surgeon of Akron, belonging 
to Uie Eclectic School of Medicine, was born 
and reared at Springfield, Ohio, and in 1895 
was graduated from Wittenberg College. He 
then entered the Eclectic Medical Institute 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was graduated 
in 1898. Dr. Todd immediately located at 
Akron, where he has been singularly suc- 
cessful in his practice. He is an enthusiast 
in his profession and keeps thoroughly posted 
on all matters pertaining to the scientific dis- 
coveries of the day; is a thoughtful student 
and a frequent contributor to medical litera- 
ture. He is a member of the most promi- 



nent organizations of his school, including 
the Summit County and the Ohio State As- 
sociations, and is visiting physician of the 
Akron City Hospital staff. In 1900 Dr. Todd 
was married to Margery B. Pottenger, of Lib- 
erty, Indiana, and they have one child, 
James W. Fraternally, Dr. Todd is asso- 
ciated with the Elks and he belongs also to 
the Elks' club. 

W^ILLIAM W. ROETHIG, a well known 
and respected citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, now 
retired from active business life, was born 
February 22, 1858, in this place, son of Fer- 
dinand Julius and Sarah J. (Faze) Roethig. 
He is of Iliuigarian ancestry, his father hav- 
ing been born at Krakow, Austro-Hungary, 
February 24, 1825. When Ferdinand J. 
Roethig was five years old his father died 
and he was taken by his mother — a woman 
of some means — -to Germany. He was edu- 
cated in the schools of Leipsig, in which city 
he learned the trade of tinner and copper- 
.smith. His heart remained true, however, 
to his native land, and he was one of the 
young men who fought nobly for Hungarian 
freedom under Louis Kossuth, whose for- 
tunes he followed for three years. On the 
defeat of the great leader, at Temesvar, Au- 
gust 9, 1849, most of the men in the regi- 
ment to which Mr. Roethig belonged escaped 
to the United States, he among them. Here 
he fell back on his trade a? a means of sup- 
port. After working at it in New Orleans 
for a year, he ascended the Mississippi River 
to St. Paul, thence going to Chicago, where 
he remained a year. He then came to Cuya- 
hoga Falls, where he worked at his trade for 
many years, a part of the time for himself 
and for the reniiiinder in the shops of L. W. 
Loomis and Parks and Gillette. After com- 
ing to Ohio he enlisted for service in the 
Civil War, but was stricken with illness at 
Massillon. which occasioned his dii'charge. 
He died April 17, 1886. He married Au- 
gust 30, 1852, Sarah J. Faze, who survived 
him and is now a resident of Cuyahoga Falls. 
She was born at Manchester, Carroll County, 
Maryland, February 24, 1832, and accom- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



605 



paiiied hor parents to Cuyahoga Falls when 
she was but five years old, the family taking 
three weeks to make the trip with wagons. 
Her father, Peter Faze, a native of Germany, 
came to this country with his parents at the 
age of five years. He was a paper-maker by 
trade and was accidentally killed in a paper- 
mill in April, 1852, being then fifty-nine 
years old. Of Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand J. 
Roethig's nine children, the following arrived 
at matui'ity: Ferdinand J., deceased; Julia 
Sarah, afterwards Mrs. C. W. Moon, who, 
W'ith her husband, is deceased ; Charles 
B., a resident of Cortland, New^ York; Wil- 
liam Washington, w'hose name appears at the 
head of this sketch; Edward Loon, Lillian, 
Alfred Herman and Harrison T., all of whom 
reside in Cuyahoga Falls. All the members 
of this family Avere reared in the German 
Lutheran faith. 

William W. Roethig, after attending the 
common and high schools until he had ac- 
quired a sound practical education, began in- 
dustrial life as an employe of Isaac Lewis 
in the grocery business, in which occupation 
he continued from 1867 until 1888. On 
January Ifith of the year last mentioned he 
went into business for himself wath his 
brotlier, Edward, they opening a meat mar- 
ket under the firm name of Roethig Bros. 
This partnership lasted for ninetteen years, 
being discontinued January Ifi, 1907, when 
they sold out to their brother Fred. In 1899 
Mr. William Roethig built the Roethig block 
on Front Street, which is now occupied by 
a meat market and the Post Office, with bu-si- 
ness ofhces on the second floor. Mr. Roethig 
is a member of Howard Lodge, No. 162, 
I. 0. 0. F., of Cuyahoga Falls'. He is well 
knoTvn as a substantial citizen and successful 
busin&ss man, and his aid and influence can 
usually be counted upon in behalf of any 
worthy cause. 

HOWARD W. HAUPT, superintendent 
of the Klages Coal & Ice Company at Akron, 
has been connected with this concern since 
he was twenty years of age. He was born 
in 1870, at Loyal Oak, Summit Comity, Ohio. 



His father, William F. Haupt, has long been 
one of the leading citizens of Loyal Oak, 
where he lives retired after a successful agri- 
cultural life. He has served as trustee of 
Norton Township and in other local offices. 
He came to that Township in early man- 
hood, and has had much to do with its sub- 
sequent progress and development. 

Howard W. Haupt went from the local 
schools to the Normal Schools at Wadsworth 
and his course there was supplemented by one 
at the Spencerian Commercial College at 
Cleveland. In 1890 he entered the employ of 
the Klages Company as assistant bookkeeper, 
later became bookkeeper, and .still later was 
admitted to partnership. For the last six 
years he has been superintendent of the com- 
pany. He is interested also in other pros- 
pering concerns. 

In 1897 Mr. Haupt was married to Nellie 
Murphy, who was born at Mt. Gilead, Ohio. 
He is a member of the Lutheran Church at 
Loyal Oak. He is prominent in the brother- 
hood of Odd Fellows, being a trustee of 
Lodge No. 50 of Summit County and a mem- 
ber of the Board of Directors of the Odd Fel- 
lows' Temple at Akron. He belongs also to 
the order of Modern Woodmen and the 
Knights of Pythias. 

FRANK E. AVERILL, one of Summit 
County's representative agriculturists, whose 
farm of 100 acres is situated in the south- 
west corner of Bath Township, adjoining 
Copley on the south and Granger Township, 
Medina Coimty on the west, was born No- 
vember 17, 1861, in Bath Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and is a son of Benjamin 
and Louisa (Harvey) Averill. 

Benjamin Averill and his wife were both 
born and reared in New York State, where 
they married, and soon thereafter came to 
Ohio and settled on a farm in Bath Town- 
ship, about four miles east of Frank E. 
Averill's present home. In 1867 they re- 
moved to the present property, which then 
consisted of 105 acres, five acres having been 
sold. Mr. and Mrs. Averill both died on this 
farm. They were> the parents of ten chil- 



606 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dren, tlie survivors being: Ellen, who mar- 
ried ]). L. Parker, of Copley Township; 
Ohaxles, who is a stock dealer of Granger 
Township, Medina County, Ohio; Perry, wlio 
also resides in Granger Township; Frank E. 
Those dec-eased were: Mary E., Welthia A., 
Alice A., Clara A., Henry W. and Minnie L. 

Frank E. Averill has resided on his pres- 
ent farm since his sixth year, and has always 
engaged in general farming, stock-raising 
and dairying. His property is finely culti- 
vated, his buildings of the most substantial 
kind, and his farming machinery the best to 
be secured. He is known as a good, practi- 
cal farmer, and his reputation as a citizen 
is beyond reproach. 

In 1881 Mr. Averill was married to Anna 
A. McMillen, who is a daughter of James 
and Amanda (Peckham) McMillen, and to 
them there have been born three children, 
namely: William, who is an engineer and 
machinist, married Iva Hammond; Mary, 
w^ho is the wife of Paul C. Crosier, lives in 
Granger Township, Medina County, and 
Earl, who resides at home. 

Mr. Averill is a member of the Knights 
of the Maccabees and the National Protective 
Legion. In political matters he i? a Repub- 
lican, and has 9er\'ed as chairman of the Bath 
Township Board of Election, and has been a 
school director for the pa.st ten years. With 
his family he attends the East Granger Dis- 
ciple Church. 

JOEL MYERS, residing on his 100 acres 
of valualjle land which is situated on the old 
Smith road, in Bath Township, was born in 
Springfield Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, April 15. 1848, and is a son of Sarn- 
uel and Mary (Paulus) Myers. 

Samuel Myers accompanied his father, Ja- 
cob Myers, from Snyder County. Pennsyl- 
vania. The family settled near Uniontown, 
Springfield Township, in 1805, in fact the 
greater part of that village is built on the 
old Myers farm. Sanniel was at that time 
a strong lad of twelve years and he learned 
the stone-^mason trade, at which he worked 
on the construction of the old canal. He 



died on the farm in Springfield Township 
in 1883. He married Mary Paulus, who was 
born in Jackson Township, Stark County, 
Ohio, and died in 1868, the mother of ten 
children. Samuel Myers married a second 
time and had two more children. 

Joel Myers was reared in Springfield 
Township and attended the district schools. 
His main business in life has been farming, 
stock-raising and manufacturing brooms. He 
was married May 30, 1869, to Elizabeth 
Schnee, who is a daughter of John and Han- 
nah (Young) Schnee. They were natives of 
Snyder County, Pennsylvania, and were of 
German extraction, Great-grandfather Schnee 
having come from Germany to America on 
the good .ship Phoenix, in 1746. Mrs. Myers 
was born within a half-mile of the old Myers 
homestead in Pennsylvania, in 1852, and 
accompanied her parents to Springfield 
Township in 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have 
had eight children : Lydia, John, William 
F., Frederick, Ira, Robert, J. Park and an 
infant, the babe and John being deceased. 
Lydia married Charles Boltz and they live 
in Bath Town.ship and have three children: 
Edith, aged sixteen years; Harley, aged 
twelve years, and Irma, aged eight years. 
William F. married Dottie Martin, who died 
Augu.st 23, 1907, her infant son dying on 
the previous day. She is survived by her 
bereaved hu.sband and little Eva, three years 
old, who will find a home with her grand- 
parents. Frederick married Amanda Sny- 
der and they have a bright little three-year- 
old son, Floyd, and reside at Akron. Ira, 
wiho was born in 1881, operates the home 
farm. Robert, who is a graduate of the Bath 
High School, is successfully teaching the 
Maple Valley, the largesTt country school in 
Summit County, where he has fifty-two pu- 
pils. J. Park resides at Cleveland, where he 
is employed as a bookkeeper. 

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Myers lived 
on the Myers home place until 1875, where 
Mr. Myers carried on farming in the summer 
and engaged in making brooms in the win- 
ter. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Myers purchased 
the present place, in which they settled in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



607 



the following year. He has made many im- 
provements here, including the building of 
a substantial barn in 1881. The commodious 
frame residence in which the Myers family 
reside, was built by a Mr. Meridith and was 
the first frame one erected in Bath Town- 
ship. The Meridiths were great entertainers 
and were somew^hat given to frivolity, and on 
many occasions countrj^ dances were held in 
the big rooms of the upper portions of the 
house. Prior to coming to tliis farm, Mr. 
Myers bought one of eighty acres in Indiana, 
but sold it before moving to it. This is one 
of the old. substantial and representative 
families of this section. 

COL. THOMAS E. MAJOR, who is now 
engaged in general farming and dairying, in 
Boston Township, was born in Paint Town- 
ship, Highland County, Ohio, September 19, 
1849, and is a son of Rev. Thomas and Sarah 
(Righter) Major. 

Thomas Major, the colonel's great-great- 
grandfather, was born in Ireland, County 
Londonderry-, and in early manhood emi- 
grated to America, settling four miles north- 
west of Xorristown, Pennsylvania. He was 
accompanied by a son, John. John Major 
learned the tailor's trade and later became 
proprietor of the Blue Ball tavern, near A^'al- 
ley Forge, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. 
He married Jane Adams, who was born near 
Norristown, and who died June 14, 1813, aged 
fifty-four years. He died June 17. 1819. 
aged over sixty-one years. 

Thomas Major, son of John and grand- 
son of Thomas, the original settler, was born 
in Pennsylvania, and pa.ssed the larger part 
of his life in Noriton Township. Montgom- 
ery County, where he died December 5, 1823, 
aged forty years, two months and twenty-one 
days. He followed the trade of shoemaker. 
He married Catherine Curry, who died Febm- 
ary 27, 1863, aged eighty-one years. Her 
whole life was .spent in Pennsylvania. Her 
father, James Currv*. was born September 25. 
1755, in Montgomery- County. His services 
in the Revolutionary- War may be briefly 
summed as follows : "Volunteered in Captain 



Archibald Thompson's rifle company in 
1775; was a member of Captain John Hamil- 
ton's company. Major John Berry's battalion, 
in 1776; member of Captain Stephen Por- 
ter's rifle company, in 1776 ; adjutant to Gen- 
erals Potter and Heiston, 1776-1777; served 
as express rider for General "Washington, in 
1777, and in 1778, while encamped at Val- 
ley Forge; member of Captain Pitts' com- 
pany. Colonel Thomp.son's regiment, in 1777 ; 
adjutant to General Potter and Colonel 
Moore, 1777-1779. He w^as pensioned as cap- 
tain." 

The father of Captain James Curry was 
also James Curry, -who came to America from 
County Londonderry, Ireland, and became an 
officer also in the Patriot army in tlie Revo- 
lutionary War. He settled one mile west of 
Norristown, where he engaged in farming. 
He died April 8, 1788, and was buried at 
Norton Church cemetery, where many of the 
ancestors of Colonel Thomas E. Major lie. 
AVhen the Pennsylvania Legislature met at 
Pliiladelphia, Colonel Currv^ serv^ed as clerk 
of that body. Like other members of his 
own and the Major family, he lived and died 
in the faith of the Presbyterian Church. 
Revolutionary records give much space to the 
loyalty and bravery of both Colonel and Cap- 
tain Curr}^ 

Rev. Thomas Major, father of Colonel 
Thomas E. Major, was one of six chil- 
dren, and wa« born September 19, 1811. He 
was ed\icated in the common schools and 
learned the carpenter's trade in Philadelphia, 
which he followed there until he came to 
Ohio. He married in that city, Sarah 
Righter, who was born August 29, 1808, and 
died September 18, 1884. She was a daugh- 
ter of John Righter. She wa« converted to 
the faith of the German Baptist Church when 
she was nineteen years of age. under the 
preaching of the famous Harriet Livermore, 
who was the only woman for whom the Pres- 
ident of the United State* ever requested ad- 
journment of Congress, which he did in or- 
der that she might be given an opportunity to 
addre.«s that body. For fifty years thereafter 
Mrs. Major was a preacher in the German Bap- 



608 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tist faith, and, in 1840, both her husband and 
father took up the same work. They had 
three children, namely: Samuel, who was 
born February 23, 1847, graduated from Del- 
aware College, and at the time of his death 
in 1894 was superintendent of schools at 
HilLsborough, Ohio; Thomas E. and Annie 
M., the latter of whom was born December 
13, 1852, married Aaron Johns, and resides at 
Washington, D. C, with her husband. 

After marriage, Rev. Thomas Major and 
his wife came to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he 
bought a farm, subsisting by its cultivation, 
as neither he nor his wife accepted any re- 
muneration for their ministerial work. Some- 
time between 1847 and 1849 they removed to 
Highland County, where they lived until 
their retirement from active life. For a num- 
ber of years before his death Rev. Major 
resided at Greenfield, Ohio, but after the death 
of his wife he made his home with his daugh- 
ter in ^^'a.shington city, where he passed away 
April 17, 1888. During his residence in 
Highland County he carried on his agricul- 
tural work on his 135 acres. The ministerial 
labors of Thomas Major and wife were a 
heavy drain upon their time, resources and 
sympathy. Each Sunday they held from one 
to three services, often traveling a distance of 
from ten to fifteen miles over poor roads to 
meet thase who eagerly gathered to listen to 
them. Their joint efforts resulted ultimate- 
ly in the building of a church at what was 
then called New Lexington, in Highland 
County. They have long since gone to their 
final reward, but the influences of their 
worthy, virtuous, unselfish lives go on and 
on. 

Thomas E. Major attended the public 
schools of Paint Township and the Southwest 
Norma] School at Lebanon, Ohio. AVhile he 
was living on the farm his parents received 
some literature sent by Harriet Livermore, 
and among the books there chanced to be an 
old Pitman manual of phonography. What 
a find this was to the eager, ambitious farmer 
boy, and to mastering its contents he applied 
himself every moment that he could secure 
from the farm duties, which were heavy on 



account of the frequent absences of his father. 
On January 7, 1870, he received an appoint- 
ment as clerk in the office of the Comptroller 
of Currency in the Treasury Depiixtment at 
Washington, a position he could never have 
aspired to without a knowledge of the art of 
stenography. He satisfactorily filled positions 
of this nature in different departments of 
government work for a number of years and 
became recognized as one of the best stenog- 
raphers in the service, .so much so, that on 
the reconunendation of Assistant Secretary of 
the Treasurer, C. E. Conant, he was invited to 
become the private secretary of General B. 
F. Butler. Pie entered upon the duties of this 
position in April, 1875, and remained in the 
■most intimate and confidential relations with 
this soldier-statesman \intil the lafter's death 
in 1893. During the period that General 
Butler -was governor of Mas!5achusetts Mr. 
Major served as the governor's private secre- 
tarv and also A^ith the rank of colonel on his 
staff. 

While thus closely associated with General 
Butler, Colonel Major became acquainted, and 
on terms of friendship with many of the lead- 
ing men in public life, men of large affairs 
and weighty deeds. He studied law during 
this time, and not only overlooked the steno- 
graphic work, but also a.«sisted General But- 
ler in his professional labors. In 1895 he 
was admitted to the bar of Suffolk County, 
Massachusetts, and practiced his profession in 
the city of Boston until 1901. Failing health 
warned him to give up office work and hence 
his removal to the healthful air and simple 
life of the farm. He purchased 208 acres in 
Boston Township, and here, far removed from 
the complex problems of politics and law, he 
oversees his agricultural operations, and has 
recovered an excellent state of health. He 
makes a specialty of dairying, sending his 
milk to the cheese factory at Richfield. 

On April 16, 1873, Colonel Major married 
Virginia P. Berkley, of Washington, D. C, 
and they have three children : Sarah Avan- 
elle, who married Dr. Joseph W. Proctor, re- 
siding at Maiden, Mass; Syhna Pearl, residing 
at Maiden, and holding an important pon- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



609 



tion in the office of the Massachusetts Com- 
missioner of Corporations, at Boston; and 
Selwj-n Berkley, who resides at home mth 
her parents. Mrs. Major and her daughters 
axe artists of acknowledged ability. 

Colonel Major resided at Baston until 1884 
and taught shorthand in the Boston evening 
classes in the High School for several years, 
having the reputation of being one of the 
most expert stenographers of the day. In 
1884 he established his home in Maiden, one 
of Boston's most agreeable suburbs, and while 
living there served on the School Board as 
its chairman ; also as a member of the Board 
of Park Commissioners, and in other public 
capacities. While living there he also took 
an active interest in the order of Knights of 
Pythias, was pa-st chancellor of the IMalden 
lodge and served on the judiciary committee 
of the Grand Lodge. He is a member of Ri.?- 
ing Sun Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Richfield, 
and has taken the Royal Arch and Knight 
Templar degrees. Politically, he is an ardent 
Republican ; personally, a cultivated gentle- 



LYNN WORDEN, a prominent citizen of 
Bath Township, proprietor of the well-knowTi 
place of business, which, in a large measure, 
supplies the needs of households for miles 
around, known as the Worden Grocery Store, 
has been established here since 1897. It is lo- 
cated about two and one-fourth miles north of 
the Smith road, on the county line highway 
which divides Medina from Summit. Mr. 
Worden wa« born in Hinklev Township. 
Medina County, Ohio, April 23, 1860, and is 
a son of Hiram and Melissa (Bissell) Worden, 

The father of Mr. Worden was bom at 
Broome, Schoharie County, New York, and 
■accompanied his parents to Richfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, in boyhood, and later 
removed to Hinkley Township, Medina 
County, where both he and wife died. 

Mrs. Worden was bom at Granger, Medina 
County, Ohio. 

Lynn Worden was reared in Medina County, 
attended the country schools and remained at 
home until about nineteen years of age. and 



then went to Medina village, where he worked 
three years. For several years he was tele- 
graph operator for the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, working in various places. He 
married Anna Speneer, who is a daughter of 
Abijah and Mary Spencer, old residents of 
Bath Township, who formerly owned the 
farm which belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Worden. 
Two children have been born to Mr. Worden 
and wife, namely: Ethel M. and Esther. The 
family belong to Moore's Chapel, IMethodist 
Episcopal Church. 

In 1897, when Mr. Worden established his 
store at its present location, he had it made 
a postoffice, which, on account of the intro- 
duction of the riiral mail delivery service, was 
discontinued July 31, 1903. Mr. Worden 
takes a great deal of interest in all matters 
pertaiiung to his end of Bath Town.?hip and 
since 1898 he has served on the School Board. 

JOSEPH DANGEL, superintendent of the 
American Hard Rubber Company, at Akron. 
is a thoroughly experienced man in the rub- 
ber industiy, and a leading business citizen. 
Mr. Dangel was born in Germany, Decem- 
ber 19, 1860, and remained in his own coim- 
try until he was twenty years of age. 

Equipped with an excellent education, Mr. 
Dangel came to America to enter into busi- 
ness, locating first at Butler, New Jersey, 
where he entered the plant of the Butler Hard 
Rubber Company, beginning at the bottom, 
in order to learn the business in all its de- 
tails. From Butler one year later he went to 
Hoboken wnth the LTniversal Rubber Com- 
pany, and in the following year he was in the 
employ of the Keystone Rubber Company, at 
Morrisville, Pennsvlvania. where he remained 
from 1883 until 1887. In the latter year he 
came to Akron, being connected with the 
Goodrich Hard Rubber Company, which had 
just been organized. In 1898 the Goodrich 
Hard- Rubber Company became the Akron 
factory of the American Hard Rubber Com- 
pany, and Mr. Dangel was made superintend- 
ent of the plant, having its whole operation 
under his charge. 

Thus his intere.sts have been centered in the 



610 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



rubber business from the beginning of his 
business life, and he has advanced from one 
position to another with the sureness that 
marks hds abiHty. He is also a stockholder 
in several other enterprises which are pros- 
pering. In addition to his absorbing business 
resjionsibilities, Mr. Dangel has somehow 
found time to show an active interest in civic 
affairs, being elected councilman-at-large in 
1903. In this capacity he has served as 
chairman of the Finance Committee of the 
City Council, proving a competent and val- 
uable official. 

In 1887 Mr. Dangel was married to Amelia 
Schafer, residing in New York, but a native 
of Germany. They have five children: 
Emily, an accomplished young lady, who has 
just graduated from the Sacred Heart Acad- 
emy ; Lena D., who is a graduate of St. Mary's 
school ; Marie D., who is a student at the 
Sacred Heart; and Rosa and Joseph, Jr., who 
a.re students at St. Mary's. Mr. Dangel is a 
prominent Catholic, one of the leading mem- 
he.Ts, and a trustee of St.. Mary's Catholic 
Church since its organization in 1887. He 
belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to 
other Catholic organizations of a benevolent 
character. 

WILLIAM A. SEARL, M. D., one of the 
founders and medical director of Fair Oaks 
Villa, a sanitai'iimi for the treatment of ner- 
vous disorders at. Cuyahoga Falls, is a gen- 
tleman of broad experience in this line of 
medical practice, and as such is well known 
to the profession all over the state. Dr. 
Searl was born at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus 
County, New York, March 25, 1864, and is a 
son of Alonzo and Jessie (Vaughn) Searl. 
His father is still a resident of Cattaraugus. 
County, New York, where he was engaged 
in farming and lumbering for many years 
prior to his retirement. Arza Searl, the doc- 
tor's grandfather, was a pioneer settler of 
Western New York, coming from New Eng- 
land. The family, including the doctor's one 
living si.«ter, are identified with the Methodist 
Episcojial Church. 

\\'il]iain A. Searl attended the common and 



high schools in his native town, and prepared 
for college with Dr. Stephen Spencer, from 
whose tutorship he entered the medical de- 
partment of Buffalo University. After one 
year's study there he entered the Alexis Hos- 
pital, where his duties were such as now fall 
to an interne, although at that time there 
was no organization of the hospital work that 
exactly corresponded- to the present system. 
With the added experience thus gained he en- 
tered the medical department of Wooster Uni- 
versity, where he was graduated in 1890. For 
three years subsequently he was engaged in 
general practice in Cleveland, later becoming 
assistant physician at the Cleveland State 
Hospital, and then going to Yankton, South 
Dakota, where he was superintendent of the 
Yankton State Hospital. 

In July, 1894, Dr. Searl came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, and in association with Dr. A. B. How- 
ard, established Fair Oaks Villa, for the treat- 
ment of nervous and mental diseases. For 
the first four years Dr. Howard was in charge 
of the sanitarium, and then Dr. Searl had 
the management until 1904, when Dr. H. I. 
Cozad becanie associated with him. The build- 
ing, which is a large, elegant brown stone 
structure, steam heated and illuminated by 
electricit^^ was originally erected and occupied 
by the wealthy Newbury family, who were 
among the notable pioneer settlers of Cuya- 
hoga Falls. It is particularly well adapted to 
the purpose to which it is now applied, the 
surroundings, atmosphere and internal econ- 
omy of the institution having a domestic and 
home-like flavor very favorable to the class 
of patients herein treated, and which is doubt- 
less responsible in part for the very success- 
ful rasults which have been attained. Dr. 
Searl is a member of the Summit County and 
Ohio State Medical Societies, the Academy of 
Medicine, the Medical Library Association of 
Cleveland, and the American IMedical Psycho- 
logical Association. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican. He is a Free Mason, belonging to 
Star Lodge, No. 187, P. & A. M., of Cuya- 
hoga Falls and to Lake Erie Consistory. 

Dr. Searl was married, at Cleveland, to 
.\nna Dalrymple of that city. He and his 




IIKXDERSOX STEELE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



()1 3 



wife are the parents of three sons: Howard 
A., Miller V., and William A. With his fam- 
ily the doctor belongs to the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, which he is serving oificially 
as a meml>er of the Board of Stewards. 

HENDERSON STEELE, whose recent 
death, at the age of sixty-two years, removed 
one of the best knowm and most highly re- 
spected citizens of Cuyahoga Falls, was born 
in Stmv Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
November 15, 1845, son of Isaac and Mar- 
garet C. Steele. 

His paternal grandfather was Isaac Steele, 
■who was a son of Adam Steele. Adam w-as 
a pioneer farmer of Fayette County. Penn- 
sylvania, and also fought for American in- 
dependence in the Revolutionarj' War. Af- 
ter the war he moved with his family to 
Stow Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
where he died in July, 1811, aged about six- 
ty-seven yeairs. He was buried in Hud.son 
Cemetery. 

His son, Lmac. grandfather of the direct 
subject of thi- sketch, upheld the military 
traditions of the family, participating in the 
War of 1812. He had first come to Stow Town- 
."^hip in 1804, but had returned to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he remained until 1820, except 
during the period of his military .service. Re- 
turning to Stow Township in the year last 
mentioned, he located here permanently, his 
death occurring here in 1845. He was one 
of the .sturdy agriculturist of the county, and 
a man well respected. He married, in Penn- 
sylvania, Bet,?ey Galloway, and they had six 
children — .John, Isaac, Mars', Eliza, Anna 
and Margaret. 

Henderson Steele was reared on the home 
farm in Stow Township, of which he subse- 
quently became the owner, and to which he 
added seventy-four acres. In his latter years 
he ceased to operate this property him.self. 
renting it on sliares to two men, one of whom 
carries on general farming and the other con- 
ducts the celery garden, con.=isting of four- 
teen acres. Dairying is also carried on largely 
on the farm, fourteen cows being kept for 
this purpose, and the milk being shipped to 



Akron. On the fiurm is .some excellent stock. 
In the .spring of 1906 Mr. Steele retired from 
active work and purchased a home in Cuya- 
hoga Falls, where he died. 

In 1877 Mr. Steel, in partnership with his 
brothei-s, Thomas and St. Clair, started in 
the lumbering business under the firm name 
of Steele Broithers. Purchasing a portable 
sawmill, they operated it all through this sec- 
tion of the State, Mr. Henderson Steele hav- 
ing charge of the business for many years. 
For a quarter of a century the firm also did 
an exten.sive thre-shing bu.siness. In 1906 the 
firm was incorporated as The Steele Brothers 
Hardwood Lumber Company. The company 
buys the standing timber and sells the rough 
lumber locally. Mr. Steele's death occurred 
suddenly at his home, on Sunday evening, 
September 29, 1907, and was due to heart 
failure. His end was peaceful, and on the 
morrow the connmunity of Cuyahoga Falls 
knew that a good man and sterling citizen 
had passed from among them. 

In 1885 Mr. Steele was married to Mrs. 
Emily J. (Malone) Carr, wJio w'as the widow 
of William L. Carr, of Northampton Town- 
^-hip, and a daughter of Thomas JL and Lucy 
A. (Rice) Malone. 

Thomas H. Malone was born in Stow 
Town.ship. November 20, 1815, and died 
February 4, 1852. In hi.s younger days he 
taught school, and at the time of his death 
he was overseer of the Ohio Canal, having 
succeeded his father in that position. The 
greater part, of his life was spent at Akron. 
He w^ a son of Patrick Malone, who came 
to America from Ireland with his parents 
when about five years old. They settled in 
Stow Township. 

Mrs. Steele's maternal grandfather was 
Lewis Rice, a Revolutionary soldier, whose 
gun, u.sed in the cau.se of American free- 
dom, is .still preserved in the family. He 
owned a farm in Northampton Township, 
and w\as also a physician of prominence in 
his dav. Mrs. Steele's mother was born Mav 
15, 1817, and died September 15, 1898. Mrs. 
Steele had two brothers who ser\'ed in the 
Civil War — .James M., born Deceml>er 18, 



t}14 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



1843, who died October 25, 1902, and Vin- 
cent, born November 7, 18-17, who is a resi- 
dent of CuyaJioga Falls. 

Mrs. Steele was born at Akron, January 
17, 1846, and was educated in the schools of 
that oitj'. By her marriage with Mr. Carr 
she had two sons — Frank B., a resident of 
Cleveland, and Claude L. of Reading, Penn- 
sylvania. Of her marriage with Mr. Steele 
there is one son, Lester H., who was bom 
February 21, 1887. He is now a bright stu- 
dent in Buchtel College, having previously 
graduated from the Cuyahoga Falls High 
Scliool and Hammel's Business College. Mrs. 
St-eele is a member of the Episcopal Churcli, 
while her husband was reared in the Presby- 
terian faith. 

In politics Mr. Steele was a Democrat, vot- 
ing for the candidates of that party in Na- 
tional elections, but in local politics some- 
times placing the man before the party when 
in his opinion there was sufficient reason. 
Though he never sought public office, he took 
a warm interest in the caaise of education, 
and had served as school director. He was 
also for six years a township trustee. His 
fellow citizens knew that whatever matters 
were entrusted to his hands would be well 
taken care of. He was a prominent member 
of the I. 0. 0. F., holding membership in 
Howard Lodge, Cuyahoga Falls, and he was 
laid to rest by that body. 

ISAAC SHANNON McCONNELL, who 
cultivates a valuable farm in Northfield Town- 
ship, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, 
December 14, 1854, son of John and Jane L. 
(Shannon) McConnell. 

The grandparents of Mr. McConnell came 
to America from Coiinty Donegal, Ireland, 
when thedr son John was a child of eight 
years, settling in Coshocton County, Ohio. 
There John McConnell remained until 1864, 
when he came to Northfield Township, Sum- 
mit County, and here, in the course of time, 
through his industry and good management, 
he acquired B67 acres of land, which he and 
his sons farmed in common. He was a high- 
ly respected man and lived a long and useful 



life, dying March 6, 1905, when almost eighty 
years of age. He married Jane Ij. Shannon, 
who died March 30, 1896. They had the fol- 
lowing children : John, deceased ; Isaac, whose 
name begins this sketch; George A., resid- 
ing in Northfield Township; Hervey A., a 
present justice of the peace in Northfield 
Townsliip-; Dr. LaGrande, deceased; James 
and Albert, deceased; Sarah, who married H. 
R. Royden, of Northfield; and Charles, of 
Magnolia, Colorado. 

Isaac S. McConnell was ten years old when 
his parents moved to Northfield. AVith the 
exception of nine summers, during which 
period Mr. McConnell worked at cheese-mak- 
ing, he has followed farming ever since old 
enough to handle farm implements. In the 
spring of 1894 he came to his present farm, 
of which he became the owner at the time of 
his father's death. It contained originally 156 
acres, but sixteen acras have been 
taken by the Lake Erie and Penn- 
.'^ylvania Railroad. Thirty-nine acres and 
a fraction of the original farm belongs to 
Charles E. Mr. McConnell has seventy-five 
acres of his land under cultivation, his crops 
being hay, com, wheat and oats. He keeps 
on an average fourteen head of cattle and 
forty head of sheep. 

Mr. McConnell is one of the most modern 
farmers of this section. He makes use of 
the best machinery, keeps a man all the year 
around and makes his business a thorough 
success. 

Mr. McConnell married Ella H. Ne.-ibit, 
who was a daughter of James Nesbit, of 
Northfield, and they had two children: Myrtle 
Louis and Rebecca. Mrs. McConnell died 
December 19, 1904, at the age of. thirty-seven 
years. This was a heavy affliction from which 
her family have not yet recovered. She was 
a lovely Christian woman, a devoted mem- 
ber of the United Presbyterian Church, to 
which religious body Mr. McConnell also be- 
longs. 

A. J. PAUL, .secretary of the Akron Sella 
Company, at Akron, has been identified with 
the interests of this city and Summit County 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



615 



throughout the whole period of his business 
Hfe. He wa.? born in 1863 at AUentown, Penn- 
sylvania, where he remained until twenty 
■years of age, enjoying in the meanwhile the 
advantage.-; offered by the public schools. 

From AUentown Mr. Paul came to Akron, 
where he was employed for one year in the 
county recorder's office, during the adminis- 
tration of Recorder A. A. Bartlett, following 
which he was in the office of Auditor Aaron 
Wagoner, working on the tax duplicate for a 
year. He then entered the employ of the C. A. 
& C. Railroad, and remained with that corpo- 
ration for fourteen years, as agent and tele- 
graph operator. For three years more he 
was connected with the American Cereal Com- 
pany, for one year he was with the Whitman- 
Barnes Companj', and then he worked for a 
year for the Diamond Rubber Company. For 
the pa.st three years has been secretary of 
the Akron Selle Company. Mr. Paul has 
thus been associated with a number of Ak- 
ron's leading business houses, and the knowl- 
edge and experience he has gained have broad- 
ened his commercial views and increased his 
capacity for work. He is interested in the 
Selle Company as a member of its Board of 
Directors, in addition to being its secretary. 

In 1889 Mr. Paul was married to Mary A. 
Wolf, who was born in AUentown, Pennsyl- 
vania. He and his wife have two children: 
Ruth V. and Earl R. With hi? family, Mr. 
Paul belongs to Grace Reformed Church. In 
political sentiment Mr. Paul is a Republican. 
He is pre-eminently public-spirited and enter- 
prising, and all that pertains to advancing 
the public welfare, receives his hearty endorse- 
ment. He is a leading member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity at Akron, belonging to the 
Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Command- 



RAMUEL S. CARPER, a leading citizen of 
Springfield Township, residing on his well- 
improved farm of ninety-seven acres, was 
bom in Springfield Township. Summit Ooun- 
tv, Ohio. October 27. 1873, and is a son of 
Oeorge and Elizabeth (Young") Carper. 

The Carper family came to Ohio from 



Penn.-^yhania, Samuel Carper, the grand- 
father, being the first one of the name to set- 
tle in Stark County, where he and wife both 
died. They had four sons and four daugh- 
ters, namely: John, Andrew, Samuel, 
George, Catherine, Elizabeth, Susan and 
Sarah. 

George Carper, father of Samuel S., was 
born in Stark County, Ohio, April 15, 1838, 
and grew to manhood on his father's farm, 
which was situated two and one-half miles 
south of Hartville, and was educated in the 
district, schools. In the fall of 1860 he was 
married in Springfield Township to Eliza- 
beth Young, who was born in 1843, and was 
the only child of Henry and Margaret (Mish- 
ler) Young. Henry Young was born in 
Pennsylvania and lived to the age of eighty- 
five years. His widow still survives, aged six- 
ty-nine years. There were five children born to 
George Carper and wife, as follows: Henr>', 
who died, aged nine years; Amanda, who 
married Alvin Holl, resides with her hus- 
band and two daughters, Lorena and Elvina, 
one-half mile south of Mogadore; Margaret., 
decea.sed, who married Frank Cordier, left two 
daughters, Lizzie and Amanda: and Samuel 
S. and Reuben F. The latter was born in 
1877 and resides on and farms the homestead 
for his mother. He owns .sixty acres of fine 
land. He married Flora Hall, who is a daugh- 
ter of Alonzo Hall, of Stark County, and they 
had one child that died in infancy. 

After his marriage, George S. Carper, then 
a poor young man, settled first in his wife's 
old home and a.ssLsted his father-in-law. but 
later bought a farm of 142 acres. While he 
operated his farm he was also in partnership 
with his father-in-law for about eighteen years 
in the stoneware clay industry', a business 
which was ver\^ remunerative at that period. 
Subsequently he acquired different tracts of 
land which made him one of the most sub- 
stantial men of the township. He purchased 
172 acres north of Mogadore and later the 
farm on which his .son. Samuel S., resides, 
which was known as the John B. Mishler 
farm, the latter having built the old house 
and barn. This residence was the first frame 



616 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



house ever erected in Springfield Township, 
and is still in an excellent state of preserva- 
tion. George Carper later bought the John 
Rover farm of sixty acres, and at the time of 
the death of Henry Young he acquired the 
old Young homestead of eighty acres, to- 
gether with eig'hty more acres in SufReld 
Township. At the time of his death, October 
27, 1905, George Carper was the largest land- 
owner in Summit County, being possessed 
of more than 732 acres. He was a man of 
great business capacity. He was widely 
known also for his sterling traits of character 
and enjoyed the respect and esteem of his 
fellow citizens. For twenty-eight years he 
was a minister in the German Bapti.«it Church 
and for a long period was pastor of the church 
of this body in Springfield Township. 

Samuel S. Carper wa.« roared in his native 
township and attended the district schools. 
He was taught habiits of industry and fru- 
gality in his youth and had the advantages 
resulting from the religious teaching of 
Christian parents. He has devoted his atten- 
tion through mature life to farming and 
stock-raising and some eight years since pur- 
chased his present farm of ninety-seven acres 
from his late father. The remainder of his 
father's large estate has not been divided. Mr. 
Carper has a very valuable property, which, 
under his careful management, is probably 
one of the most produobive in Springfield 
Township. 

On October 2, 1894, Mr. Carper was mar- 
ried to Lillie E. Kurtz, who is the youngest 
daughter of Eli and Catherine (Koones) 
Kurtz, and they have had three children : 
Geo'rge, who was born January 7, 1896, died 
March 11, 1896; Eunice, who was born May 
31, 1898; and Clarice, who was born July 22. 
1903. These littk daughters are particular- 
ly attractive children and give promise of 
amiable and beautiful womanhood. 

In politics, like his father, Mr. Carper is 
a stanch Democrat. He is a good citizen, but 
he has no desire to hold public office. He 
and wife are members of the German Bap- 
ti.st Church and he is a liberal supporter of 
the same. 



JOHN W. CLAPPER, whose magnificent 
fiU'm of 175 acres, all in one body, lies three 
and one-half miles north of the Smith road, 
on the line road separating Medina and Sum- 
mit Counties, is one of Bath Township's lead- 
ing citizens, and is also a veteran of the Civil 
War. Mr. Clapper was born in Baughman 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, February 
12, 1845, and is a son of John and Lydia Ann 
(Beers) Clapper. 

Jacob Clapper, the grandfather, was the 
first of the family to come from Pennsylvania 
and settle in Baughman Township, where he 
secured several hundred acres of land. There 
his son, John Clapper, the father of John W., 
was born and he died three months previous 
to John W.'s birth. Mrs. Clapper subsequent- 
ly married Abraliam Zimmerman and had 
four more children. The two born to her 
first marriage were: Sarah Ann, who is the 
widow of R. Y. Robinson, residing in Bath 
Township; and John W. Those of her sec- 
ond marriage were: Mahala, who married 
Adam Cook, of Baughman Township; Wes- 
ley, who died in boyhood; Jesse B., who lives 
in Bath Township; and Laura Elizabeth, de- 
ceased, who married Thomas Welsh. 

During his boyhood, the mother and step- 
father of John "\A'. Clapper, moved to Chip- 
pewa Township, and took up land in the 
woods, and there the boy grew to nineteen 
yemrs, when he enlisted for ser\'ice in the Civil 
War. He entered Company I, Fifth Regi- 
ment, Ohio Cavalry, in the winter of 1864. 
He remained in the army until the close of 
the war, performing the duties and bearing 
the hard.ships of a soldier all through Georgia, 
North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Vir- 
.ginia and Kentucky. 

When his army service was over, Mr. Clap- 
per returned to his home in Chippewa Town- 
ship and worked by the month for different 
farmers mitil the fall of 1867, when he was 
married to Mary Martha Huston, who is a 
daughter of William Hu.ston, of Baughman 
Township. Mr. Huston formerly owned the 
farm which is now the property of Mr. Clap- 
per. The latter bought first a one-third in- 
terest in 102 acres and in 1906, bought sev- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



617 



enty-two acres of land adjoining on tlio .^ontli, 
and on this purchase he has built a very fine 
barn. He is nialiing plans to build a nice 
residence here also, which will be for rental. 
On the older part of his farm he has put up 
all the buildings, except the house, which has 
been completely remodeled. Formerly, Mr. 
Clapper wa< a \"ery large raiser of stock and 
still keeps many sheep, hogs, cattle and hoi-ses, 
but not to the extent that he once did. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clapper have four children : 
Emma, who married John Wilson, has one 
child, Georgia; William, who married Edith 
Swigart, a paper-hanger and painter, at Bar- 
berton, has three children, Earl, Ellen and 
Lucille; and Sadie and Ross, residing at 
home. 

Mr. Clapper is a member of the Grange 
and he belongs also to the Grand Army of 
the Republic. 

MILAN TRE:\IAN, whose well-cultivated 
farm of 118 acres lies in Bath Township, one 
mile west of Montrose, on the Smith road, hns 
owned his property and carried on gen- 
eral farming and stockraising here since the 
fall of 1880. Mr. Treman was born in De- 
Kalb County, Indiana, October 8. 1844. and 
is a son of Edgar and Laura (Spencer) Tre- 
man. 

Edgar Treman, father of Milan, was born 
in Granger Town.ship, Medina County, Ohio, 
and is a son of John Treman, who came to 
Medina County, from New York, in pioneer 
days. Later, John Treman moved to In- 
diana, accompanied by his three sons, and 
settled on the farm in DeKalb County, on 
which Milan Treman was subsequently born. 
.'\t. the age of nineteen years, Edgar Treman 
was married to Laura Spencer, who was reared 
in Granger Town.ship, Medina County, Ohio, 
and died in Indiana. Her father, Nathaniel 
Spencer, came to Ohio from the same section 
as did John Treman, the latter of whom died 
in Indiana. 

Milan Treman was reared in DeKalb Coun- 
ty and attended school until about eighteen 
years of age. when he came to Ohio to visit 
relatives in Medina County and was .=o pleased 



with the country and people that when he was 
twenty-one and at liberty, he left home and 
returned to Ohio. For several years he 
worked on various farms, and on October 7, 
1869, was married to Sarah Arnold, wlio was 
born in Copley Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, September 8, 1843. She is a daughter 
of Daniel and Sophia (Porter) Arnold, the 
former of whom was born in Wayne County, 
Ohio, and was a son of Daniel Arnold who 
came to Summit County from Maryland. His 
wife came also from a Maryland family that 
settled in Medina County. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Treman went 
to live on the old Seth Dye farm, in Granger 
Township, where he had worked for thre3 
years previously, and he spent foTirteen years 
in all on that farm. In 1879 he bought his 
present farm in Bath Township, settling on it 
in the following year. He has made many 
fine improvements here and among thase is 
his substantial barn, 40 by 80 feet in dimen- 
.sions. which he erected in 1886. 

CLARENCE D. CRUMB, of the sales de- 
partment of the Falls Rivet and Machine 
Company, of Cuyahoga Falls, has been an ac- 
tive citizen of this place for a number of 
years, during which period he has ser\'ed as 
mayor and in other public offices. He was 
born at Canastota, Madison County, New 
York, December 7, 1855, and ls a son of .Jo- 
seph D. and Nancy H. (Hale) Crumb. 

The father of Mr. Crumb was born in Che- 
mung County, New York, and followed car- 
penter work all his life. He died in 1899, 
aged .seventy-four years. He was connected 
fraternally both with the Masons and the Odd 
Fellows. In politics he was a Republican. 
HLs wife, Nancy, died in 1864, aged thirty- 
three years. They had four children, of whom 
there now are two sun-ivors: Clarence D. 
and Nettie, the latter of whom married W. H. 
Stanley and resides at Cuyahoga Falls. 

Clarence D. Crumb attended school in th:' 
old Cuyahoga Falls High School, having 
come first to this section when thirteen years 
of age. and his finst industrial employment 
was as a clerk in the general store of Samuel 



Q18 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Conistock, where he remained for three years, 
and during the next three years he carried on 
a hardware business for himself. For five 
years subsequently he was with the firm of 
Snyder and Blood, who were succeeded by 
Harvey Snyder, and in turn by the Phoenix 
Hardware Company, and diiring this period 
Mr. Crumb served as bookkeeper and a part 
of the time as secretary. In 1885 he was ap- 
pointed deputy revenue collector and served 
as such until 1889, following which he was 
engaged for four years in the in.suranoe busi- 
ness. In 1885 Mr. Crumb located at Akron, 
where he resided until 1890, moving then to 
Cleveland, and from there in 1894 back to 
Akron, his business demanding these change*. 
Until 1898, Mr. Cnimb was engaged as book- 
keeper with the Akron Iron and Steel Com- 
pany, and when that organization retired 
from business, he -was in the accounting de- 
partment of the Whitman-Barnes Company 
for ahout two years. The Falls "Wire Works 
tiien secured him in their auditing departr 
mont. where he continued for three years, 
coming back to Cuyalioga Falls in 1902. In 
1905 he accepted his present responsible po- 
.sition in tlie sales department. 

Mr. Crumb married Ella ITaynes, who is a 
daughter of John N. and Martha Haynes, of 
Cuyahoga Falls, and they have two children, 
namely: Mabel M., who married Ray C. 
TToilis. and resides at Alliance, and Metta. 
who is residing at home with her parents. 
The family belong to the Episcopal Church, 
in which Mr. Cramb is a vestryman. 

In politics, Mr. Crumb has always been 
a stanch Democrat, but, notwithstanding, in 
1895, he was elected mayor of the town, 
which is distinctively Republican. He made 
an admirable magistrate, but resigned hi-i 
honors when he was a'ljiointed a member of 
the revenue serWce. Since 190.S he has served 
a* village clerk. Fraternally, he is a Masort, 
belonging to Star Lodge, No. 187, and to 
Washington Chapter, R. A. M.. at Akron. 

JACOB HERMAN, one of Akron's leading 
general contractors in brick, stone and cement 
work, has been a resident of this city for the 



piist twenty-one years and during this time 
has been identified almost exclusively with the 
building trades. He was born June 21, 1858, 
in Wayne County, Ohio, and Ls a son of 
Henry and Elizabeth Felger Herman. The 
parents of Mr. Herman were old residents of 
Chester Township, Wayne County, where 
they engaged in farming. Of their family of 
nine children eight survive. 

In 1880 Jacob Herman came to Akron tmd 
for about ten years he worked as a journey- 
man bricklayer and mason, having learned 
his trade in Wayne County. He has carried 
on a general contracting business in Akron 
f(ir many years and has built a number of 
the most' substantial structures in this city. 
He gives employment to about ten men, in- 
creasing the number when the business de- 
mand.s it. He is a stockholder in the Odd 
Fellows' Temple and in other enterprises. In 
1886 Mr. Herman married Enmia M. Hoff, 
who was born at Sterling, Ohio, and they have 
five children — Verna, Ada, Leroy, Freda and 
Marguerite. Mr. Herman is identified fra- 
ternally with the Odd Fellows. He is one of 
Akron'> substantial and valued citizens. 

LANSON BARKER, a representative citi- 
zen of Bath Township, re.siding on his val- 
uable farm of 155 acres, which is favorably 
situated within three-quarters of a mile of 
Ghent, was born on this farm, in Summit 
County, Ohio, February 6, 1857, and is a son 
of William and Anna Eliza (Hutchinson) 
Barker. 

Mr. Barker is a member of a pioneer 
family of Ohio, of New England ancestry. 
The grandfather, Lanson Barker, whose hon- 
ored name has descended to the grandson, 
was born in Connecticut, in 1791, and his 
father, Jared Barker, wa.s born in England. 
Lanson Barker moved to New York and sub- 
sequently to Ohio, settling first in Holmes 
County, later in Medina County, and still 
later in Cuyahoga County, where he died in 
1855. His children were: Roxie A., Wil- 
liam, .Jared, Jolm. Lyman, Mary, Frances 
and Nelson. 

William Barker, the eldest of the above 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



P)19 



family, was born in New York, July 30, 
1817, and accompanied the family to Ohio. 
After a prospecting visit to California, in 
1849, he returned to the E;ist, and in 1853 he 
purchased a farm in Bath Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio. To the clearing and de- 
veloping of this farm he devoted practically 
the rest of his life, making of it some of the 
most valuable land of this section. He died 
February 10, 1896. He was a man of sterling 
character, honest and up'right in his deal- 
ings with his fellow-men and was entitled to 
the respect and esteem in which he was held. 
He was a .stanch Republican and at various 
times held public office. He married Anna 
Eliza Hutchinson, who was born April 3, 
1826, and died October 2, 1876. They had 
four children, the two survivors being: Lan- 
son and Jared, the latter of whom was former- 
ly sheriff of Summit County. 

Lanson Barker has always lived on his 
present farm, with the exception of three years 
of Vx)yhood spent at Ghent. His education 
was secured in the schools near his home. His 
occupation ha? been farming ever since he 
reached mature years and he is numbered 
with the progressive and succe-ssful a.gricul- 
turists of Bath Township. He cultivates 155 
acres, having recently sold sixty acres. 

Mr. Barker married Alice Behmer, who is 
a daughter of Moses and Mary Ann (Myers') 
Behmer. She was born in Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, but was reared in Rich- 
field Town.ship. They have three children : 
Anna, Frederick and Alba. The son is a 
."tudent in a bu.siness college at Akron. The 
family residence is a commodious and com- 
fortable frame building which Mr. Barker 
erected in 1895. He is a member of the Dis- 
ciples Church at Ghent and one of the trus- 
tees. He takes a deep interest in educational 
affairs and for several years was a member 
of the town.ohip School Board, and a director 
of District No. 4, one in which Bath Town- 
ship takes particular pride on account of the 
excellence of its schools. 

DURASTUS VALLEN. township trustee, 
and one of Bath Township's prominent and 



substantial citizens, resides on his valuable, 
well-improved farm of eighty acres, and owns 
an additional twenty-five acres, which is sit- 
uated in Northampton Township. Mr. Val- 
len was born in Northampton Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, December 16, 1840, 
and is a .son of William and Catherine (Chris- 
man) VaHen. 

Abel Vallen, the grandfather, came to 
Ohio with his family among the pioneers of 
Medina County, bringing his household goods 
from New York in huge ox-drawn wagons. 
The Vallens lived long enough in Medina 
County to prove that they were people of 
merit, but the grandfaither decided to move 
farther east, and later invested in a farm in 
Northampton Township, Summit County, 
where he lived until his death. His widow- 
spent her last years with a daughter at Nor- 
walk, Ohio. 

William Vallen was a boy when the fam- 
ily left New York and settled in Ohio. He 
remained at home assisting his father, and 
when he reached man's estate, the farm was 
divided, William taking the western portion, 
on the line separating Northampton and Bath 
Townships. He proved to be a good business 
man and from time to time kept adding to 
his land until he acquired 217 acres, which 
he owned at the time of his death, in 1878. 
He was a man who was highly respected by 
all who knew him and in every sense was a 
good citizen. 

William Vallen married Catherine Chris- 
man, who is a daughter of George Chrisman, 
who was a native of Pennsylvania. They had 
.■seven children, namely: Enos. re.«iding in 
Williams County, Ohio; Durastus: Sylvester, 
residing on the old homestead in Northamp- 
ton Township: Lavina, who married Perry 
Moore, residing in Bath Township : Adeline, 
who is the -n-idow of Charles Boies; and two 
deceased, O.scar, the eldest of the family, and 
Miranda, the voungest. The mother died in 
1858. 

Durastus Vallen remained at home work- 
ing for his father and attending the di.strict 
schools, until he was twentv-one years of age, 
at which time he owned his own team and 



820 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



went to farming by the month. After his 
marriage, when twenty-four years old, he 
settled for one year on a farm in Copley 
Township, axid spent two years on a farm in 
the wet^tern part of Bath Township, in 1871, 
moving to his present farm, one that his 
father had previously bought of J. Park and 
Joseph II. Alexander. It was not much im- 
proved and Mr. Vallen built a barn the same 
year that he came to the place, which he 
later rebuilt, a.nd in 1882, he erected his fine 
residence. 

In 1864 Mr. Vallen was married to Wealthy 
Averill, who died December 22, 1905, on the 
forty-first anniversary of her wedding. She 
was a daughter of Benjamin Averill, a na- 
tive of New York, and she was born in Cop- 
ley Township, but was living in Bath Town- 
ship at the time of her marriage. She was 
a kind and faithful wife and a devoted 
mother and her death left a sad vacancy. Mr. 
and Mrs. Vallen had four children, the only 
survivor being the youngest, Frank D., who 
operates the home farm. He married Eva 
Heller and they have one daughter, Fra.nc&s. 
Mr. Vallen's other children were daughters 
and all died in childhood : Jennie, aged four 
years, Ruby, aged sixteen months, and Nellie, 
aged two and one-half years. 

Mr. Vallen has carried on general farm- 
ing and has raised cattle, horses and hog? 
very profitably. Politically, he is a Repub- 
lican, and in 1900 he was elected township 
trustee and has been continued in office. He 
has also sen-ed on the School Board. 

JEREMIAH HARTER, residing in the 
pleasant village of Western Star, owns an ex- 
cellent farm of eighty acres, situated on the 
county line road, about one mile south of 
the town. He belongs to a pioneer family of 
Stark County, which was established there in 
the days of hi.? grandfather. Mr. Harter was 
born in Stark County, Ohio, on a farm one 
mile east of New Berlin, August 14, 1838, 
and is a son of Je.sse and Deborah (Essig) 
Harter. 

Jesse Harter was born al<o in Stark County 
on the farm on which his father, Jacob Har- 



ter, had settled wlien he came to Ohio from 
Pennsylvania, in 1812. Jacob Harter owned 
about 480 acres. Jesse Harter married De- 
1)0 rah Es.sdg, who was reared near Canton, 
in Stark County. They became the parents 
of twelve children, seven of whom still sur- 
vive. 

Jeremiah Harter was the eldest born of the 
family and on him fell the responsibilities at- 
tending thait position. He gave his father all 
the a.ssistance possible and remained on the 
homestead until he was almost forty years 
(if age, and during this time had acquired a 
part of the property. After selling this land 
he purchased a farm, in 1877, in Norton 
Township, Summit County, on which he 
moved in the spring of 1878, and there con- 
tinued to carry on general farming until 
1905, when he removed to Western Star, 
placing the Norton Township property under 
rental. 

Mr. Harter was married (first) to Harriet 
Schaar, who died July 23, 1889. She was a 
daughter of Daniel Schaar, who was a native 
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There 
were ten children born to this marriage, as 
follows: Laura, who mamed L. -0. Benner, 
resides at Akron, and they have seven chil- 
dren: Henry, married, resides at Akron; 
Nathan, married, resides at Akron; Mary 
Frances, who married Aaron Teeple, resides 
at Akron: Ede Rosanna, who married J. M. 
Swain; Clara, who married Fore-t Swain; 
Pearl May, who married Wallace San tee, re- 
sides at Wadsworth ; and three who are de- 
ceased, Harvey D., Alice D. and a child that 
died in infancy. Mr. Harter was married 
(second) to Lorinda R. Lautzenheiser, who is 
a daughter of John Lautzenheiser. 

Mr. Harter has always taken a good citi- 
zen's interest in public matters and political 
movements and he has frequently been called 
upon to officiate, in office. For three years 
he served as tn;stee of Plaine Township, 
Stark County, later .served two years as treas- 
WTcr of Norton Township, for ten years he 
was a member of the Western Star School 
Board, during the latter part of this period 
being its treasurer, and is now serving in the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



621 



town council of Western Star. He is a mem- 
ber of the Evangelical Church, in which he 
is serving as an elder. 

CURTIS FENTON, vice president, superin- 
tendent and general manager of the Akron 
Smoking Pipe Companj-, with main factory at 
Mogadore and branch factories at Point Pleas- 
ant, Clermont County, Ohio, and Hampton, 
Virginia, is one of the leading men in the clay 
industry, in this section, his experience cov- 
ering many years. Curtis Fenton was born at 
Mogadore, Summit County, Ohio, January 22, 
1S53, and he is a son of Almus and Susannah 
(Lee) Fenton. 

Almus Fenton was born at Ogdcusburg, 
New York, May 27, 1825, and he accom- 
panied his father, Alonzo Fenton, to Cleve- 
land, Ohio, where, prior to 1840, he was en- 
gaged in the red clay manufacturing business. 
Later he settled at ilogadore, and at the time 
of his death, in October, 1892, he was the 
oldest clay potter in the place. He married 
Susannah Lee, who died in July, 1906, and 
wa? buried on her eighty-fourth birthday. 
She 'was born in 1823 and was one of four- 
teen children. Her father was William and 
her grandfather was Alexander Lee and they 
came from Pennsylvania and settled at 
Greensburg, Ohio. The old Fenton farm on 
which Almus Fenton was bom, by the ero- 
sion of the water has all slipped into the St. 
Lawrence River. Almus Fenton and wife 
had four sons, namely: William and Thomas, 
twins, John Curtis, and Curtis. William Fen- 
ton is a resident of Mogadore. John Curtis 
died when two years old. 

Curtis Fenton attended the common schools 
at Mogadore and later took a course in the 
Spencerian Business College at Cleveland. 
After leaving school he was employed in a 
pottery and he has continued from that time 
to be connected with the clay industry. For 
eight years he was engaged in the manu- 
facture of stoneware at Tallmadge. He was a 
member of the firm of Baker and McMillan, 
which acquired the small pipe factory, which 
became the nucleus of the .-Vkron Smokinc; 
Pipe Company. Later it consolidated with 



another small firm and for the past eighteen 
years the Akron Smoking Pipe Company has 
been a very important factor in the industrial 
world in this section, and is the only tirni in 
the United States devoted exclusively to the 
manufacture of clay smoking pipes. 

The Akron Smoking Pipe Company was 
organized in 1889, with F. W. Butler as pres- 
ident, Curtis Fenton as vice president, and 
C. H. Palmer as treasurer. The board of di- 
rectors was made up of these leading citizens: 
C. H. Palmer, F. W. Butler, William H. Pal- 
mer, W. H. Merrill and Curtis Fenton. The 
capital stock was $70,000, which was later 
increased to $100,000. The branch factory 
at Hampton, Virginia, employs twenty-five 
workmen and is devoted exclusively to the 
manufacture of clay pipes, as is also the fac- 
tory at Point Pleasant. At the main factory 
the industry is now confined exclusively to the 
manufacture of insulators. More than 100 
men are given employment in the various 
plants and the value of the output is more 
than $100,000 per annum. 

Mr. Fenton manufactured the first third 
rail insulators ever v^sed for the equipping of 
the third rail system for the New York Cen- 
tral Railroad, in 1906, and manufactured also 
all of the insulators for the West Shore road 
of the same system. From Mr. Fenton's fac- 
tory 10,000 insulators for the General Electric 
Company, for export, have been shipped, and 
recently the fir.«t insulators for the California 
third rail system have been dispatched, mak- 
ing four carloads of finished products. This 
company's trade relations cover Canada, the 
T'nited States. Europe and other parts of the 
world, there being a demand for their goods 
at everv point where modern methods of trans- 
portation have been adopted. The company 
keeps abrea.st of the times and considers every 
new appliance in its line of manufacture, 
adopting it wherever it has proved to be of 
obvious utility. 

Mr. Fenton married Kate Louise Ferguson, 
who is a daughter of Dr. J. C. and Mary 
(Ward) Ferguson, and a granddaughter of 
Calvin and Lydia Ward, who were natives of 
Connecticut and were the first settlers in Ran- 



622 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dolpli Township, Portage County, Ohio, where 
they died. Dr. Ferguson was a well-known 
physician of Mogadore for many years. He 
was a graduate of the medical department of 
the University of Michigan, and of the Cleve- 
land Medical College and was a man who was 
largely self-educated. Prior to coming to Mo- 
gadore, he practiced at North Baltimore, Ohio, 
and after he located at this place he entered 
into partnership with Dr. Jewett. Dr. Fergu- 
son died in 188(3, aged sixty-six years. He 
married Mary Ward, who died at the age of 
forty years. Their sun'iving children are : Mrs. 
Fenton, George W., residing at Mogadore, who 
married Georgia Speora, and has five children ; 
and Mrs. Weimer, who is the wife of George 
C. Weimer, and for thirty-one years was a 
resident of Cincinnati. She now resides with 
her only daughter, Mrs. Wilson Cross, in Lon- 
don, England. Dr. Ferguson was identified 
with (he Masonic fraternity. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton have had four chil- 
dren, the eldest of whom, James T., was born 
October 12, 1875, and died January 7, 1877. 
The three survivors are: Mary Ferguson, who 
was born in November, 1879, was married 
January 25, 1905, and resides at Mogadore; 
Marjorio Ruth, who was born July 20, 1889 ; 
Harry AVeimer, who was born December 12, 
1880, all three children having enjoyed su- 
perior educational advantages. The family 
residence was built in 1899 and is one of the 
handsomest in Mogadore. 

Mr. Fenton does not consider him.-elf a 
politician but has ever taken an active inter- 
est in public affairs looking to good govern- 
ment. In political sentiment he is a Repub- 
lican. His only fraternal connection is with 
the order of Maccabees. Mr. Fenton has been 
a resident of Mogadore for the past twenty 



GEORGE W. BABB, one of Summit 
County's most substantial citizens, is proprie- 
tor and owner of the Cold Spring Farm, con- 
taining 155 acres, situated in Portage Town- 
ship, and also of a tract of 100 acres, situated 
in Stow Township, known a^^ the Springdale 
Celery Garden. Mr. Babb was born in Spring- 



field Township, Sununit County, Ohio, No- 
vember 5, 1850, and is a son of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Wise) Babb. 

The pioneer of the Babb family in Spring- 
field Township was the grandfather, George 
Babb, who came from Berks County, Penn- 
sylvania, settling among the early home-seek- 
ers of this section. His days were ended in 
Springfield Township. Joseph Babb was 
born in Berks County and he was a boy when 
he accompanied his father to Ohio. In early 
manhood he was married, at Greentown, Stark 
County, Ohio, to Elizabeth Wise, who was a 
daughter of George Wise, who was an early 
settler and became a large landholder in Por- 
tage Township. Joseph Babb and wife had 
the following children: Jacob, George W., 
Mrs. Amelia Camp, William J., Frank and 
Edwin, all surviving, and Charles, who died 
in infancy. 

George W. Babb was nine years old when 
his parents moved to the farm in Portage 
Township, on which he lives. Joseph Babb 
bought 350 acres of land, which became val- 
uable in every part, Mr. Babb's home farm 
being particularly so as it is located on the 
northeast corner of Portage Township, lying 
just outside the limits of Cuyahoga Falls and 
adjoining Northampton Township. In 1870, 
Joseph Babb built the large brick residence 
which Mr. Babb occupies. Joseph Babb and 
wife subsequently moved to North Hill, Ak- 
ron, where both died. They were people who 
were held in high esteem. 

This pleasant old farm has been the home 
of George W. Babb ever since he was nine 
years old with the exception of four years, 
three of which he spent on his farm in Stow 
Township; and one in Tallmadge Town- 
ship, where he formerly owned a farm 
of seventy-five acres. He carries on farming 
and dairying on his Portage Township land 
and devotes twenty acres of his Stow Town- 
ship land to the growing of celery. 

On July 28, 1880, Mr. Babb was married to 
Anna Kingsbury, w-ho is a daughter of Les- 
ter Wayne and Elizabeth (Fosdick) Kings- 
bury. Lester Wayne Kingsbury was a sewer- 
pipe maker by trade, and worked at this busi- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



623 



iiess first in Illinois, where Mrs. Babb wti3 
born. She was nine years old when he moved 
to Cuyahoga Falls. He entered the employ 
of H. B. Camp, where he remained for many 
years. During the Civil War he enlisted iu 
the army from Illinois and served three years, 
when he was discharged on account of sick- 
ness. His death occurred in August, 1884. 
His widow still survives, at the age of eighty- 
five years, and resides with her daughter, Mrs. 
Edwin Babb, of Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Kings- 
bury liad four children, namely: Elsie, Anna, 
Albert and Abbie. The three daughters all 
married Babbs, three brothers. Elsie, de- 
ceased, was the wife of William J. Babb. Ab- 
bie is the wife of Edwin Babb. Albert Kings- 
bury is a graduate of Cornell University and 
is a mechanical engineer for the great West- 
inghouse Company. His home is at Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania. For some years he taught 
school at Durham, New Ilampshire, and later 
was connected with a, college at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

Mr. and Mrs. Babb have five children, 
namely: Bessie, who married Harry Albers, 
resides at Cuyahoga Falls and they have two 
children, Wayne and Bertha; Lester, who 
married Bessie McDonald, has one child. 
Donna, and they reside on the Springdale 
farm: and Joseph, Hugo and Karl, all at 
home. 

HENRY VOGT, the capable superinTend- 
ent of the great park system of Akron, and 
one of the city's prominent and substantial 
citizens, was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 
7, 1838, and when young accompanied his 
father, John Vogt, to America, the family lo- 
cating in Springfield Township, Summit 
County, Ohio. He was reared on his father's 
farm in Springfield Township, and in his 
boyhood attended the district schools. In 
early youth he came to Akron and for five 
years was in the employ of Rus.-;ell Kent. H" 
then became connected with the Middlebury 
Coal Company and continued with that firm 
for eighteen years. Mr. Vogt was subsequent- 
ly appointed a member of the police force of 
Akron, serving one year, and was then ap- 



pointed by the park commissioners to the of- 
fice of superintendent of parks. At that time 
the position did not carry with it a large 
amount of responsibility, but during the 
twenty-five years that have since elapsed a very 
dift'erent condition of things has been brought 
about, chiefly through Mr. Vogt's own ef- 
forts. Probably Akron is now tis well equipped 
with public parks as any city in Ohio, and 
much of their beauty and general utility must 
be attributed to the efforts of Mr. Vogt. His 
conscientious performance of every duty in 
connection with this work, together with his 
natural love of beauty, and fine executive 
ability, have contributed to make him a most 
useful public officer, and have resulted in 
benefitting every resident of Akron. 

In 1861, Mr. Vogt was married to Lovina 
Walter, who was born in Summit County, 
Ohio. He has three childi"en — Frank, resid- 
ing in Akron ; Ella, who married William 
Wheeler, residing in Akron ; and Abbie, whc 
married Bert Taggart, and also a resident o1 
Akron. 

GEORGE ZELLER, one of Portage Town- 
ship's representative citizens and successful 
agriculturists, resides on his valuable farm 
of ninety-five acres, which he has placed un- 
der an excellent .state of cultivation George 
Zeller was born in Stark County, Ohio, March 
19, 1852. and is a son of William Zeller. 

The Zeller family originated on the farther 
side of the Atlantic ocean, its first members 
in America having come here from Germany. 
William Zeller came to Ohio and settled in 
Stark Connty, and in 1860 he came to Sum- 
mit County. He was a saddler by trade but 
turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
acquiring large tracts of valuable land and 
when he died, March 2, 1907, at the age of 
eighty-two years, he was a man of ample for- 
tune. 

Up to the age of twenty-four years George 
Zeller remained at home and assisted on the 
homestead farm, and then went to Akron for 
a few years and worked in the Buckeye shops; 
and then he worked as a steamfitter. Event- 
ually he returned to the country, purchas- 



624 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



iiig at that lime bis present farm, on wliicli 
he has since continuously resided. Formerly 
he raised many head of hogs, but now eon- 
tents himself with keeping about twelve head 
of cattle, shipping his milk to Akron, and 
to raising abundant crops of wheat, corn and 
oats. Mr. Zeller's farm is somewhat noted for 
the magnificent barn he put up in 1897, re- 
placing one that had been destroyed by fire 
in the previous year. Its dimensions are 70 
by 40 feet and the supports are 18-foot posts. 
The interior of this structure is well finished, 
and his cattle have clean and sanitary quar- 
ters. 

George Zeller's family is made up of wife 
and two children. He married Lenora Sharp, 
a lady who was born at Akron. Their son, 
Fred G., is a prominent farmer and stock- 
raiser, who owns 186 acres of land in North- 
ampton Township, Summit County. Their 
daughter, Clara, lives with her parents. 
Politically, Mr. Zeller is a Republican, but 
he is not an active politician. He is a good, 
reliable, straight-forward man, one whose 
neighbors know just where to find him on any 
question involving right and wrong. 

JOHN SMITH, a representative citizen and 
substantial resident of Tallmadge Township, 
owns two farms of sixty-five acres each, one 
of which is situated within the city limits of 
Akron. Mr. Smith was born about seventy- 
two years ago, in County Antrim, Ireland, 
and was fifteen years of age when his parents 
came to America. They were named Robert 
and Mary (McCracken) Smith, children res- 
spectively of Robert Smith and Patrick Mc- 
Cracken. 

In England, prior to his losses, which were 
caused by the murrain in his cattle, the father 
of John Smith was a successful raiser and 
dealer in stock. He was born in the north of 
Ireland, where he owned three farms at one 
time. After his losses he decided to come to 
America. He embarked on one of the frail 
old sailing ships, which required six weeks 
and three days to make the voyage which the 
latest ocean marvel has accomplished in about 
four days, but it landed the family safely on 



American soil and they came immediately to 
*Vkron. They lived first on Broad Street, re- 
moving later to Rubber Street. John and his 
brother went to work in the woolen mills of 
Rouse & Goodrich, where they remained for 
a number of years. In the meanwhile the 
father bought a farm of 160 acres from Ros- 
well Kent, a part of which he sold for city 
lots. 

The large family of Robert and Mary 
Smith included nine sons and three daughters. 
Joseph died in 1861. Robert died in the same 
year. Hugh married and moved to Missouri, 
where he died. William also died in Mis- 
souri. Samuel lived to within ten years ago. 
James, who lived on the homestead, died in 
the fall of 1906. Patrick married and is 
pro.spering in Arizona. John, as noted above, 
lives in Tallmadge. Eliza married John N. 
Hankey and died at Cleveland. Mary is the 
widow of John Honodle, who died in 1891. 
Margaret never married. 

John Smith has spent a large part of his 
active life at work in woolen mills, his last 
labor in this line having been in mills at 
Cleveland. He resides with his two sisters on 
the farm which the family has owned for the 
past fift}' years. Every acre of it is valuable. 
The Smith family belong to the Presbyterian 
Church, in which they were reared by their 
Christian parents. Politically, Mr. Smith is 
a stanch Republican and he cast his first pres- 
idential vote for Abraham Lincoln. 

CHRISTOPHER SCHECK, who operates 
a well-improved tract of farming land, con- 
sisting of fifty-five acres, in Portage Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, was born March 10, 
1851, in Germany, and is a son of Jacob and 
Frederica (Reichard) Scheck. 

When but one and one-half years of age 
Mr. Scheck was brought to America by his 
parents, who settled first at Liverpool, Me- 
dina County, Ohio, but after five years re- 
moved to Northampton Township, Summit 
County, where the father purchased twenty- 
five acres of land. Here he carried on farm- 
ing until about 1864 or 1865, when he bought 
the property now owned by Christopher 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



6:^5 



Scheck, on which was situated a log house. 
This ■ house originally stood near the river, 
but it was moved by the family to the loca- 
tion of the present home, which was erected 
by Christopher Scheck after his marriage. 
The farm wa^ cleared and gardening com- 
menced, and later the parents purchased 
forty-five acres of land, about one-quarter of 
a mile away, which land is now occupied by 
William and John Scheck, brothers of 
Christopher. Here Jacob and Frederiea 
Scheck spent the remainder of their lives. 

Christopher Sheck was married (first) to 
Louise Eberhart, who was born in New York, 
and was a daughter of George Eberhart. Four 
children were born to this union, namely : 
Fred, who died aged about seven years; Kate, 
who married Gus Schmeidel, of Akron, has 
two children, Gertrude and Margaret; and 
Clarence and George. Mrs. Scheck died in 
1887, and Mr. Scheck was married (second) 
to Mrs. Lena (Gestner) Rebaux. One child, 
Lillian, has been born to this union. Mrs. 
Scheck has a son by her first marriage, Cur- 
tiss A. Rebaux, who lives in New York City, 
where he is a mail carrier. He was in the 
Spanish-American War, in Company H, 
Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
during the whole period of war. 

After marriage Mv. and Mrs. Scheck lo- 
cated on their present farm, where Mr. Scheck 
has been engaged in raising vegetables, the 
larger amount of which he sells at wholesale. 
He is considered one of the reliable men of 
the township, and has served efficiently in 
the capacities of school director and supervisor. 
Mr. Scheck and family belong to the German 
Reform Church and Mrs. Scheck belongs to 
the German Lutheran Church. 

CORNELIUS ALEXANDER JOHNS- 
TON, a highly esteemed retired citizen of 
Tallmadge Township, was born in Green 
Township, Summit Couny, Ohio, July 16, 
LS42, and is a son of William and Elizabeth 
G. (Moore) Johnston. 

Cornelius Johnston, the grandfather of Cor- 
nelius A. Johnston, was one of the earliest 
settlers in Green Township. He was a native 



of Pennsylvania. He lived in Green Town- 
ship until his death when aged about eighty 
years. His birth is recorded in Center County, 
Pennsylvania, February 17, 1782. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Wilhelm, March 25, 1806, who 
was born June 18, 1787, a daughter of Abra- 
ham Wilhelm, who settled in Green Township 
in 1814. Cornelius Johnston entered 320 
acres of land on which the town of Greens- 
burg is now located. His children were as 
follows : Mary,' born March 3, 1807, resided 
at Akron until her death; Alexander; Abra- 
ham W. ; John, born February 11, 1813, mar- 
ried Elizabeth R. Newton, February 4, 1840, 
and died January 26, 1876 ; William, born 
in Green Township, August 3, 1815, and was 
the third white child born in the township 
in which his father had located in the pre- 
vious year. 

On April 22, 1841, William Johnston was 
married to Elizabeth G. Moore, who died in 
1894. They had two children : Cornelius 
Alexander, named for his grandfather and 
for an uncle, who was born in Center County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1808; and John M. The 
latter is a retired ciizen of Akron and one 
of the Board of Infirmary directors of Summit 
County. In 1844, William Johnston moved 
to Copley Township, settling on lot 15, where 
he resided initil his death, in 1886. He was 
a man of quiet tastes, a farmer and good citi- 
zen. He was identified with the Republican 
party. 

Cornelius Alexander Johnston was educated 
in the district schools and the Twinsburg In- 
stitute and also enjoyed two years at Union 
College, at Mt. Union, Ohio. When twenty- 
three years old he embarked in the coal busi- 
ness in Coventry Township, as a member of 
the Johnston Coal Mining Company, with 
which he remained connected for four years, 
and then sold his coal bank, purchasing an 
interest in an oil refinery at Akron. In 1874 
he disposed of this interest and purchased a 
farm of 104 acres, one miles south of Tall- 
madge, which was the old Alpha Wright farm. 
This farm Mr. .lohn.ston continued to operate 
until he retired in 1897. 

On October 22, 1869. Mr. Johnston was 



626 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



married to Sarah A. Swartz, who was a daugh- 
ter of Christian and Ehzabeth Swartz. She 
died December 8, 1894. They had three 
children ; Elizabeth May, Clara B., and one 
that died in infancy. 

Ever since attaining his majority Mr. John- 
ston has consistently supported the candidates 
and measures of the Republican party. He 
is not bigoted in his views, however, and has 
a kindly tolerance for those whose ideas con- 
flict with his own. This pleasant tempera- 
ment perhaps has something to do with mak- 
ing Mr. Johnston so universally esteemed in 
his community. He has been a progre.ssive, 
and intelligent promoter of public-spirited en- 
terprises and has shown that he has had the 
best interests of his neighborhood at he;irt. 

DANIEL P. STEIN, sheriff of Summit 
County, and a capable and conscientious pub- 
lic officer, was elected in the fall of 1906, and 
assumed the duties of this responsible office, 
January 7, 1907. He was born in Green 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 1859, 
and is a son of Henry and Mary E. (Cramer) 
Stein. 

Henry Stein was ).)orn iu Germany and set- 
tled in Green Township shortly after coming 
to America, but prior to his death removed 
to Springfield Township. Four of his six 
children still survive, namely : Amanda, who 
is the widow of Emanuel Killinger, residing 
at Akron, Emeline, who is the wife of Benja- 
min Hollen, residing in Marshall County, In- 
diana; William Henry, who is engaged in 
farming in Green Township; and Daniel P., 
whose name begins tliis sketch. 

Daniel P. Stein was reared and educated 
in Green Township and continued to farm 
there until 1890. He then became connected 
with the street railway business, in which he 
continued for thirteen years, when he turned 
his attention to the grocery business. In this 
latter btisiness he prospered and it was only 
given up in order that he might assume the 
duties of sheriff to which his fellow-citizens 
had elected him. For the past fifteen years 
he has been active in politics and has served 



as a member of the City Council from the 
Seventh Ward. 

Sheriff" Stein was married January 25, 1879, 
to Celia A. Hartong, who is a daughter of Al- 
lan Ilartong. Their family consists of five 
sons and five daughters. Fraternally, Sheriff 
Stein is an Encampment member of the Odd 
Fellows, is a Knight of Pythias, Uniform 
Rank, Company 21, and of the Modern Wood- 
men of America. He is one of Akron's repre- 
sentative men and is popular all over the 
county. 

RUFUS P. UPSON, a prominent citizen of 
Tallmadge Township, wdiere he owns two fine 
farms aggregating 175 acres, was born No- 
vember 23, 1834, iu Summit County, Ohio, 
and is a son of Anson and Polly (Upson) Up- 
son. 

The earliest ancestors of this family in 
America came from England in 1635, two 
brothers of the name being with the colonizing 
Puritans. Stephen Upson, the great-great- 
grandfather of Rufus P., was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War. The maternal Upson 
line follows: 

John Upson, the great-grandfather of Ru- 
fus P., lived in Connecticut. His children 
were: Stephen, Daniel, Horatio, John, Thur- 
man, Reuben, Iluldah, Sylvia and Lucinda. 
In 1810, when advanced in years, John Up- 
son came to Tallmadge Township and lived 
with his son Reuben until his death. He was 
a member of the Congregational Church. 

Reuben Upson, the grandfather of Rufus 
P., was born at Waterburj'', Connecticut, Au- 
gust 14, 1771. He received a good education 
for his time and taught school. On December 
25, 1798, he was married to Hannah Richard- 
son, who was born at Waterbury, October 18, 
1780, a daughter of Ebenezer Richardson. 
By trade, Reuben was a carpenter and joiner. 
In 1808 he came to Ohio with his brother 
Stephen and family, making the trip with a 
five-horse team, but even then the journej' re- 
quired six weeks of time as the road had to 
be cut through the forest. They settled in 
Portage County, where the brothers had 
bought land from the Connecticut Land Com- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



627 



pany, paying 75 cents an acre. The children 
of Reuben Upson and wife were: Phebe, 
Emma, Reuben and Polly, born in Connecti- 
cut. 

The land upon which Reuben Upson set- 
tled was heavily timbered and it required hard 
work to clear up even 60 acres, after which 
Mr. Upson sold that land and moved to Tall- 
made Township, Suniniit County, where he 
purchased a farm of Priest Leonard Bacon, a 
celebrated character of that day. Reuben Up- 
son cleared 100 acres of this land and lived 
on that farm until 1818, when he moved 
to the northeastern part of Tallmadge Town- 
ship, where he bought 300 acres. Not being 
able to secure a clear title to this land, he re- 
ceived in lieu of it, 100 acres in Tallmadge 
Township, 100 acres on the Cuyahoga River 
and 100 acres near by. Mr. Upson now 
worked to a large degree at his trade, and 
hired others to clear the farm and make im- 
provements. He died on this farm in 1844, 
aged 77 years. He was a strict member of 
the Congregational Church. In politics he 
was a Whig and later a Republican, having 
strong anti-slavery views. He was one of the 
earliest Masons in the Western Reserve and 
he belonged to Masonic Lodges at Canfield 
and Columbus. Four more children were born 
to him after he settled in Ohio, namely: Chloe, 
Hannah, Julius A. and George M. 

Tracing the Upson family back on the pa- 
ternal side, the ancestral record is as follows: 

Rufus P. Upson descends from Thomas Up- 
son, who came from England and settled at 
Hartford, Connecticut, at an early day, where 
it is on record that he enjoyed the right to 
get wood and keep his cows on the Common. 
About 1638 he is listed as one of the original 
proprietors of Farmington, Connecticut. He 
married Elizabeth Fuller, in 1646, and died 
July 19, 1655. His children were: Thomas, 
who died at Saybrook, Conneeticut; Stephen; 
Marv; Eliza, and Hannah, the latter of whom 
died\july 20, 1655. 

Stephen, second son of Thomas and Eliza- 
beth Upson, wa.s married December 29, 1682, 
to Mary, daughter of .John Lee, Sr. of Farm- 
ington, Connecticut, and died in 1735, aged 



85 years. His wife died February 15, 1715-16. 
Prior to his marriage he moved to Waterbury 
and became a proprietor December 29, 1679, 
to the amount of tifty pounds. He became & 
man of affairs there and was one of a com- 
mittee to settle bonds with Woodbury, in 
April, 1702, and was made surveyor, com- 
mitteeman and grand juror. He was three 
times deputy to the General Court, in May, 
1710, in October, 1712, and in October, 1729. 
In 1715 he was a sergeant and in 1729 he 
had a seat with the volunteers in the new 
meeting-house. His children were: Mary, 
born November 5, 1683, married Richard 
Welton, son of John; Stephen, born Septem- 
ber 30, 1686; Elizabeth, born February 14, 
1689; Hannah, born March 16, 1695, mar- 
ried (first) Thomas Richards, (second) John 
Bronson, and in 1751 was living a widow; 
Tabitha, born March 16, 1698, married John 
Scoville; John, born December 13, 1702; and 
Thankful, born March 14, 1706-7, married 
James Blakesley. 

Thomas Upson of the third American gen- 
eration, was a son of Stephen and Mary 
(Lee) Upson. He married Rachel, daughter 
of Thomas Judd, and they resided on Cole 
street, Waterbury, Connecticut, until 1732-3, 
when he sold and moved to Farminglon, later 
to Southington, where he died respected and 
esteemed. His wife Rachel died July 13, 
1750, aged 56 years, and he died September 
29, 1769, aged 68 years. The following chil- 
dren were born to Thomas and Rachel Upson : 
Thomas, born December 20, 1719; Mary and 
-Tohn, twins, the latter of whom died in 1741, 
the former of whom married Jo.siah Newell, 
of Southington ; Josiah, born January 28, 
1724, died in 1725; Asa, born November 30, 
1728; T. W., bom October 8, 1731; Amos, 
born March 17, 1734; Samuel, born in March, 
1737; Freeman, born July 24, 1739, died in 
1750. 

Thomas Upson, son of Thomas and Rachel 
(Judd) Upson, married Hannah Hopkins, 
daughter of Timothy Hopkins, of Waterbury, 
May 28, 1749, and settled one mile north of 
Wolcott Center, and died in 1798, aged 79 
vears. His wife died .Tune 6, 1757. Thev 



628 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



had the following children: Benoni, born 
February 14, 175U; Charles, born March 8, 
1752; Sylvia, born June 7, 1756, died in 1764. 

Charles Upson, known as 'Squire Upson, 
son of Thomas and Hannah Upson, married 
Wealthy Hopkins, March 26, 1773, who died 
I-)i'ceiuber 8, 178o. He uuirried (second) 
the Widow Mary Moulthrop, March 24, 1784. 
He resided on the homestead and was a man 
of considerable influence in the community, 
and in 1805 he had the largest tax list of any 
man there. He subscribed the largest sum 
for the settlement of Reverend Woodward in 
1792, and for many years he was a justice 
of the peace. He was accidentally killed when 
riding into his barn on a load of hay, April 
29, 1809, aged 57 years. His widow died 
March 30, 1826, aged 76 years. 

The children of Charles Upson by his first 
wife were: Washington, born September 2, 
1775; Lee, born May 7, 1778; and Gates, 
born July 18, 1780. By his second marriage 
he had the following children : Thomas, born 
September 23, 1785; Charles Hopkins, born 
July 18, 1788 ; Mark, born October 24, 1790 ; 
Wealthy H., born April 18, 1794, married 
March 30, 1817. 

Dr. Lee Upson, son of Charles and Wealthy 
(Hopkins) Upson, married Roxanna Lewis 
and they had the following children : Anson, 
Sarah, Israel and Olivia. All of the children 
remained in Connecticut except Anson. Dr. 
Upson and wife died in Connecticut, the 
former, February 7, 1851. He was a member 
of the Congregational Church. 

Anson Upson, son of Dr. Leo and Wealthy 
(Hopkins) Upson, was born at Walcott, Con- 
necticut, December 21, 1801. In 1825, prior 
to marriage, he came to Tallmadge township. 
Summit County, where he remained two years 
and then returned to Connecticut and worked 
in a cotton factory for Seth Thomas, who later 
became distinguished as a clock-maker. In 

1832 Anson Upson returned to Ohio, and in 

1833 he was married in Tallmadge Town.ship 
to Polly Upson, who was born at Waterbury, 
Connecticut, June 9, 1806, and died Novem- 
ber 1, 1884. She was a daughter of Reuben 
and Hannah (Richardson) Upson. Their 



chilch-en were: Rufus P.; Maria P., residing 
in Tallmadge, married George H. Root, and 
they have two children; and Helen L. and 
Harriet H., twins, born October 18, 1842. 
Helen L. married Roland Hough, of Roots- 
town, and they have five children. Harriet 
H. married Festus Sanford and they also re- 
side at Rootstown, Portage County, and have 
one child. 

Anson Upson settled in Tallmadge Town- 
ship, where he bought a farm of seventy-two 
acres, which was then all forest land, and 
there he lived until his death, February 7, 
1851, aged forty-nine years. He was a mem- 
ber of the Congregational Church and a trus- 
tee. In politics, he was first a Whig and later 
an Abolitionist. Like other members of his 
family, he was a man of unswerving integrity. 

Rufus P Upson attended the schools of 
Tallmadge Township in his boyhood, where 
he laid the foundations of his education 
which years of practical experience and con- 
tact with his fellow-men has widened and 
broadened. He was reared to agricultural 
pursuits and followed farming on his father's 
land until 1891, when he settled on the farm 
which he has operated ever since. This con- 
tains 100 acres of most excellent land and he 
has improved it greatly by erecting commo- 
dious and substantial buildings, fie carries 
on a general farming line and has been re- 
warded for his industry by continued pro.sper- 
ity. His second farm is equally valuable and 
he is .justly considered one of the subslantial 
as well as competent agriculturists of Tall- 
madge Township. 

On October 22, 1861, Rufus P. Upson was 
married to Mary Upson, who was born May 
20, 1836, in Tallmadge, and is a daughter of 
Edwin and Betsey (Blakesley) Upson. Ed- 
win Upson, father of Mrs. Rufus P. Upson, 
Ava? born May 21, 1804, at Waterbury, Con- 
necticut, and was a son of Horatio and Han- 
nah (Cook) Upson, who was a son of John 
Upson. 

Edwin Upson came to Tallmadge Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, a youth of twen- 
ty-two years, in 1822, accompanying his un- 
cle Reuben Up.^on, Calvin Treat and Abra- 




U. G. HIGH 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



631 



ham Hiae. The party came on foot, making 
the journey as far as Buffalo, New York, in 
eighteen days. Subsequently, Edwin Upson 
returned to Connecticut, where he married 
Betsey Blakesley and in 1833 he came with 
his family, to Tallmadge and settled on a part- 
ly improved tract of land in the north part 
of the township. The farm contained 107 
acres and fifteen had been cleared and a log 
house stood on the place. Mr. Upson cleared 
the remainder of the land and developed a 
fine property. His parents accompanied him 
when he settled permanently in Ohio and 
they died on this farm. Edwin Upson lived 
to the age of eighty-one years, dying May 1, 
1885. His wife lived many years longer, dy- 
ing May 4, 1902, aged eighty-four years. Up to 
the close of her life she retained remarkable 
eyesight, never having required the assistance 
of glasses until within a very few years of her 
death, although she delighted in fine sewing 
and embroidering. Both Edwin Upson and 
wife were members of the Congregational 
Church. The children of Edwin and Betsey 
Upson were: Mary M. ; Jacob E., who died 
aged five years and nine months; and Joseph 
E., residing at Cleveland, who married Cor- 
nelia Lyman. 

Rufus P. Upson and wife have had the fol- 
lowing children : Addie M. ; Amelia A., who 
married Walter L. Mallory, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, have had five children, Ruth, Ernest 
Leroy, Helen, Donald D., and Blanche, de- 
ceased: Edward A., residing in Tallmadge 
Township, engaged in farming, married Min- 
nie Skinner; Henry S., who died March 25, 
1887: George L., residing on the home farm 
with his parents, married Jessie Southmayd; 
and Be.ssie L., residing at home. 

Mr. Upson is one of the original Repub- 
licans of Tallmadge Township and voted for 
Abraham Lincoln when he was first the nomi- 
nee of this party, and he has never changed 
his political allegiance. For nine years he 
has served as township trustee and both in 
and out of office has taken pride in being a 
good citizen in all that the word implies. He 
is a useful member of the Tallmadge Histor- 
ical Societv. 



U. G. HICtH, county treasurer of Summit 
County, Ohio, and president of the Johnson 
Hardware Company, of Barberton, was born 
in 1868, in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, and is a son of Alem and Elizabeth 
High. 

The father of Mr. High has been a resi- 
dent of Coventry Township for the past sixty 
years and is still hale and hearty, although 
he has passed his eighty-fourth birthday. He 
accompanied his parents from Pennsylvania 
to Summit County in 1831, and can still re- 
call many of the incidents of the wagon jour- 
ney through the unsettled regions. He has 
followed agricultural pursuits all his life. 

U. G. High was educated in the local 
schools near his home and later at Lebanon, 
and then taught school for six years, when 
he was made deputy auditor of Summit 
County, serving in that office for five years. 
Mr. High resigned that position in order to 
become assistant cashier of the Barberton 
Savings Bank, where he remained for four 
years, resigning August 12, 1906, in order 
to again resume the duties of public office. 
He was appointed treasurer of the county to 
fill out the term of Treasurer F. E. Smith, 
who had resigned the office, and his efficiency 
has brought him many marks of public con- 
fidence and approval. Mr. High has always 
taken an active interest in public matters in 
his community, has served five yeare on the 
Barberton Board of Education, and has con- 
sistently promoted the movements which have 
been designed to be of benefit to this section. 
Pie was the first Republican clerk elected in 
Coventry Township in twenty years. His 
business interests are also important, and for 
a number of years he has been president of 
the Johnson Hardware Company. 

In 1899 Mr. High was married to Laura 
B. Miller, who is a daughter of John Miller, 
of Portage County, and they have two chil- 
dren : Laura Lucile and Wayne Miller. Fra- 
ternallv, Mr. High is identified wath National 
Lodge,' F. & A. M. ; Barberton Tent. K. 0. 
T. M., and Barberton Lodge, B. P. 0. E. He 
is a memher of the High Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of Barberton. 



632 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



W. G. ALLEN, general manager of the 
Niagara Fire Extinguisher Company, with of- 
tices in tlie Hamilton Building, Akron, is one 
of the city's capable business men, and has 
been a resident here since 1900. He was born 
at Dundee, Michigan, in 1872, and was reared 
and educated in his native state. During al- 
most the whole of his business life, he has 
been in his present line of business. For four- 
teen years he was connected with the Auto- 
matic Sprinkler Company, of Chicago, as de- 
partment manager, leaving there in 1900, in 
order to become general manager of the Niag- 
ara Fire Extinguisher Company, at Akron, 
where the company has a factory for the man- 
ufacture of automatic sprinkling appliances. 
The output of this factory is of standard ex- 
cellence and the sale of the company's goods, 
under Mr. ^VUen's progressive business meth- 
ods, is constantly increasing. 

In 1897 Mr. Allen was married to Jessie D. 
Bryden, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they 
have one child, Jeanette M. Mr. Allen is a 
man of social tastes and belongs to all of 
Akron's exclusive clubs. 



C. S. HIDDLESON, M. D., one of Akron's 
leading medical men, who located here after 
a number of years of professional experience 
in other places, was born at Randolph, 
Portage County, Ohio, in 1860, and there ob- 
tained his literary training to the extent of 
graduating from the Randolph High School. 

After some preliminary medical study, he 
entered the Western Reserve University at 
Cleveland, and in 1883 he received his medi- 
cal degree from the old Ohio Medical Col- 
lege at Cincinnati. Dr. Hiddleson then lo- 
cated at Randolph, where he practiced for four 
years. He subsequently went to Atwater, 
where he remained for seventeen years, and 
then took a post-graduate course in the New 
York Post Graduate School. Coming after- 
ward'^ to Akron, he has remained here since, 
taking a yirominent place among the skillful 
medical practitioners of this city. He is a 
member of the Summit County Sixth Coun- 
cilor District, and also of the Ohio State, the 



Northeastern and the American Medical So- 
cieties. 

In 1885 Dr. Hiddleson was married to Ella 
M. Mendenhall, of Randolph, Ohio. They 
have two children, Robert M. and Dorothy, 
both students, the former having just entered 
upon his second year in Western Reserve Uni- 
versity, after a vacation tour of Europe. The 
family belong to the West Hill Congregational 
Church of Akron. Dr. Hiddleson is a Royal 
Arch Alaaon, a Knight of Pythias and a Mac- 
cabee; he belongs also to the Masonic club of 
Akron. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOFFMAN, 

one of Portage Township's leading citizens, 
who has served as township trustee since 1901, 
resides on liLs well-improved farm of forty- 
two acres, which is situated on the North 
Howard Street extension, just north of the 
city limits of Akron, and which Mrs. Hoifman 
inherited through her mother. Mr. Hoffman 
was born in Norton Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, August 12, 1843, and is a son 
of Philip and Amelia (Feller) Hoffman. 

Philip Hoffman and wife were both born 
in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and were 
married at Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio. 
They went to hoasekeeping near Doylestown, 
Wayne County, but later moved to Norton 
Township, Summit County, where Philip 
Hoffman owned a small farm, and also carried 
on shoemaking. Both he and wife died on 
another farm, of eighty acres, to which they 
moved when Benjamin F. was twelve vears 
old. 

Benjamin F. Hoffman attended the country 
schools and worked in the neighborhood until 
he was eighteen years of age, when he went to 
work for Superintendent Frank T. Husong, 
at the Summit County Infirmary, where he 
remained until he was twenty-one. He was 
mainly engaged in teaming until 1870, when 
he went to work at the Excelsior Works and 
remained two years, after which he became 
an employe of the Buckeye Reaper and 
Mower Company, and continued with that 
concern for twenty years. In 1893, he pur- 
chased his present farm and has been con- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



033 



cerned in its cultivation and improvement 
ever since. Mr. Hoffman al^o owns four 
acres of very valuable land on the corner of 
Tallmadge and Schiller Avenues, Akron, 
which he is selling in town lots. In 1893 he 
erected his commodious frame residence and 
gradually has built all necessary farm build- 
ings. 

In 1865 Mr. Hoffman was married (first) 
to Clara Brumbaugh, who died in 1869, leav- 
ing no children. She was a daughter of 
David Brumbaugh. He was married (sec- 
ond), in 1870, to Almira Zeller, who is a 
daughter of William Zeller, and they have 
had eleven children, all of whom survive ex- 
cept Joseph, the next to the youngest, who 
died when two years old. Those living are : 
Charles W., residing at Akron, is engaged in 
the plumbing business; George P., residing at 
Akron, is in the plumbing and building 
block business; Frank P., residing at Akron, 
is a bookkeeper; Harry, residing at Detroit, 
is a baker by trade; Edward, residing at 
Akron, is collector for the People's Telephone 
Company; Oliver, residing at Akron, is a 
plumber by trade; and May, Clyde, Eli and 
Ruth, all residing at home. The older sons 
are all married, and all are doing well. 

Politically, Mr. Hoffman is a Democrat. 
He has always taken a good citizen's interest 
in public matters. In 1901 he was elected 
township trustee and has been continued in 
office to the present time, giving his fellow 
citizens careful and faithful service. 

A. LINCOLN CARPENTER, residing on 
North Howard Street, Akron, owns a fine 
farm of eighty acres, just outside the city lim- 
its, and is one of the substantial citizens of 
Portage Township. He was born on the old 
Judge Pitkin's farm, just east of his present 
one, August 15, 1863, and is a son of Abra- 
ham and Eliza (Wise) Carpenter. 

Abraham Carpenter was born in Lancaster 
Countv. Pennsylvania, and was a son of Ga- 
briel Carpenter, who came to Stark County, 
Ohio, when Abraham was about eight years 
of age. Gabriel Carpenter was a day laborer. 
His wife died in Stark Countv. He contin- 



ued to reside there until within five years of 
his death, when he took up his residence with 
his sons, Abraham and Jacob, in Summit 
County. 

Abraham Carpenter was reared in Stark 
County, and in early manhood married Eliza 
Wise, who was born in Stark County and was 
a daughter of George W. Wise. A few years 
later, Abraham Carpenter and wife came to 
Portage Township, his father-in-law having 
purchased a farm of 320 acres, which he 
farmed on shares for many years, a large part 
of the property subsequently coming into the 
posse&sion of his family. Mr. Wise died on 
the Wise farm, a part of which A. Lincoln 
now owns. The Carpenters had three chil- 
dren : Alfaretta, who married Levi A. Lancas- 
ter, resides at Akron ; Jennie, who married 
Joseph Schnee, resides at Akron ; and A. Lin- 
coln. The mother of the above family died 
at the age of seventy-five years. The father 
still survives, at the age of seventy-seven years. 

A. Lincoln Carpenter was reated on the 
home farm, and with the exception of the 
first four years of married life, when he rented 
a farm in Copley Township, he has never 
lived out of sight of his present farm. He 
attended the country schools near his home 
and when we was seventeen years of age, he 
entered the Empire Mower and Reaper Com- 
pany and worked in the blacksmith shop for 
eleven years. He was employed also, for one 
year, in the Buckeye Mower and Reaper 
Works. Leaving out these twelve years, Mr. 
Carpenter has devoted himself exclusively to 
farming and dairying. He has made a suc- 
cess of the latter industry through hard work. 
He started in with a milk route, buying his 
milk from other parties, and peddled it for 
some five years before he purchased any cows. 
He now own twenty-eight head and has a 
good business. In 1902 he moved to his 
present farm and in 1906, he built his hand- 
some and commodious cement-block house. 
His farm has an excellent tenant house on 
the place, that he built in 1902, and he has 
erected all the other substantial buildings, no 
improvements being here when he purchased 
the land. 'Mr. Carpenter has shown great 



634 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



good judgment in locating the site of his resi- 
dence. It overlooks the Cuyahoga Valley 
and on a clear day the view extends to West 
Richfield, seventeen miles away. His fertile 
land yields readily to culture and he makes 
something of a feature of gardening and 
growing choice berries. 

On April 29, 1886, Mr. Carpenter was mar- 
ried to Laura Viers, who is a daughter of B. 
J. Viers, and they have two children : Ford 
L. and Adele, both of whom are students at 
Buchtel College. 

JOHN W. SEWARD, a representative citi- 
zen, formerly county surveyor of Summit 
County, now living at Tallmadge Center, was 
born in Tallmadge Township, Summit Coun- 
ty, Ohio, October 14, 1826, and is a son of 
Amo.-3 and Asenath (Dudley) Seward. 

Mr. Seward traces his ancestry to an old 
English family which was first represented in 
New England by Lieut. William Seward, who 
was married to Grace Norton, April 2, 1651. 
He died March 22, 1689. John W. Seward is 
in the seventh generation from this ances- 
tor. 

Nathan Seward, the paternal grandfather, 
was born October 18, 1758, and married Mar- 
tha Gridley. They moved to New Hartford, 
Connecticut, where he died November 15, 
1815. He served for five years with the Con- 
tinental Army in the Revolutionary strug- 
gle, and was given a colonel's commission in 
the War of 1812, in which he served several 
months. 

Amos Seward, father of .John W., was born 
at Cornwall, Connecticut, February 19, 1786, 
and died in Tallmadge Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, November 12, 1859. He mar- 
ried Asenath Dudley, who was born at Mid- 
dletown. Connecticut, November 28, 1787, 
and died September 20, 1852. Her parents 
were Isaac and Anna (Woodhouse) Dudley, 
the former of whom was born April 8, 1761, 
and died September 9, 1843. He was a de- 
scendant of William and Jane (Lutman) 
Dudley, of Oakland, England, and came with 
the original colony that settled at Guilford, 
Connecticut, in 1639. 



In 1817 Amos Seward came to Tallmadge 
Township, Summit County, where, as the lay 
of the land suited his fancy, he bought a 
farm and then returned to his former home, 
Whitestown, New York, from which place he 
removed his family and established his home 
in the new location, March 10, 1818, where 
he spent the remainder of his life. Four of 
his children grew to maturity, John W. being 
the youngest and the only one born in Tall- 
madge Township, of which he is now the old- 
est sui-viving native-born resident. The other 
three children, all born at Whitestown, New 
York, were: Frederick, who was born in 
1811, married Nancy Carrell ; Amos, who was 
born April 19, 1815, married Pleiades Bar- 
ber, July 14, 1840, and they reside in Cali- 
fornia; and Sarah Abbott, who Avas born No- 
vember 5, 1817, married Rev. James Shaw, 
October 22, 1850, and died in December, 
1904. 

In many respects, Amos Seward was one 
of the most prominent men of his day in 
Tallmadge Township, and for years was a 
factor in the public and political life of Sum- 
mit County. About 1830 he was appointed 
on'e of the appraisers, at the time that Congress 
appropriated several thousand acres of school 
lands for the Western Reserve, these being 
mainly situated in Llolmes County. In 1835 
he was elected to the State Legislature from 
Portage County, and in 1842 was elected from 
Summit Count}-. In 1847 he was elected to 
this body from both Portage and Summit 
Counties. In the .spring of 1840, when Sum- 
mit County was formed, he was appointed 
county assessor and at the regular election in 
the fall of the year, he was elected for a period 
of two years and was the only man who ever 
held that office in the county, as the law was 
then changed, giving assessors to each town- 
ship. In the meanwhile he had been ap- 
pointed by the governor of the State to mem- 
bership on the State Board of Equalization. 
He was an active member of the Tallmadge 
Historical Society and was its first president. 
In all that pertained to his section he was ac- 
tivelv interested throughout his long and use- 
ful life. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



635 



John W. Seward attended the district 
schools of Talhnadge Township and enjoyed 
one term at Middlebury (now the Sixth Ward 
of Akron) and spent one term at the acad- 
emy at Tallmadge Center. He continued to 
assist on the home farm up to 1851, in the 
meanwliile teaching several sessions of the dis- 
trict school in his neighborhood. From No- 
vember, 1850, to June, 1851, he served as a 
guard in the Ohio Penitentiary at Columbus, 
when he resigned on account of his health. 
He had given some attention to the study of 
general surveying and when the C. A. & C. 
Railroad extended its survey through this 
section, Mr. Seward became a member of the 
engineering corps and continued with this 
body until the road was completed as far as 
Millcrsburg. After his marriage, in 1858, 
Mr. Seward continued on the home farm for 
several years, after which he engaged in a 
foundry business at Fredericksburg, "Wayne 
County, for almost five years. In 1864, he 
served four months in the Federal Army, as 
a member of Company G, 166th Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry-, and was honorably 
discharged in September of that year. 

On account of his father-in-law's feeble 
health, Mr. Seward then returned to Tall- 
madge, and he engaged in carpenter work 
and paid some attention to surveying, gradu- 
ally giving that calling the larger part of his 
attention. His capacity and efficiency were 
soon recognized, and in 1874 he was elected 
surveyor for Summit County, and during his 
three years in the oflfice did a large amount 
of important work. For a period of thirty 
years he did all the surveying for the Akron 
cemetery, and on account of his accuracy and 
experience, he was called upon to do a great 
deal of private work in this line. For some 
years Mr. Seward has been a notary public 
and for eighteen years he was a justice of the 
peace. 

On April 22, 1858, Mr. Seward was mar- 
ried to Urania D. Ashley, a daughter of An- 
son and Miranda (Fenn) Ashley. The .Ash- 
ley family can be traced back for many gen- 
erations. Oliver Ashley, paternal grandfather 
of Mrs. Seward, was a son of Oliver, son of 



David, son of David, son of David, son of 
Robert and was in the fifth generation from 
a daughter of Governor Robert Treat of Con- 
necticut. Oliver Ashley married, in 1793, 
Tabitha Baker. Pie was born at Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts, November 20, 1766, and died 
June 14, 1825. Anson Ashley, father of 
Mrs. Seward, was born in Massachusetts, in 
1796, and was married in Tallmadge Town- 
ship, Summit County, to Miranda Fenn, who 
was born June 1, 1798, and lived to the 
age of ninety-one years, within two years oi 
the limit of the lives of her mother and hei 
grandmother. Peck Fenn, the maternal 
grandfather of Mrs. Seward, was also in the 
fifth generation from Governor Robert Treat, 
of Connecticut. He came to Tallmadge Town- 
ship in 1818, one year later than Anson Ash- 
ley, his son-in-law. There were ten children 
born to Anson Ashley and wdfe, namely: 
Miranda, who was the wife of Edward C. 
Leach, of New York ; Sarah, who was the sec- 
ond wife of Edwin C. Leach, died in 1902 ; 
Anson, who lived to the age of seventy-nine 
years; Urania; Andrus; Lucretia; Anna, Ar- 
lington, residing in California; and two chil- 
dren died in infancy. 

Mr. and Mrs. Seward have three children: 
Myra, Anna Woodhouse and Henry Baldwin. 
Myra Seward was born July 24, 1859, and 
was married to William G. Pitkin, in 1880, 
and they have five children : Paul B., Fred- 
erick S., William Henderson, John Ashley 
iind Thomas Monroe. Anna Woodhouse 
Seward went out to China as a missionary, 
under the auspices of the Southern Baptist 
Association. In her field of work she met Rev. 
C. W. Pruitt, who was also a mi.ssionary. and 
they were married and are stationed in North 
China and have four children : .John and Ida, 
who are attending school at Atlanta. Geor- 
gia; and Robert and Dudley McClellan. Hen- 
ry Baldwin Seward w^is horn Augu.st 19, 1865, 
arid in 1892 he married May Avery. They 
reside at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, and have three 
children : Myra Rosalie, Laura May and Al- 
len Dudley. 

Mr. Seward is a member of Buckley Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic, at .\kron. For 



036 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



forty-two years he has belonged to the Tall- 
madge Historical Society and is an autliority 
on matters pertaining to its researches, and is 
treasurer of this organization. He is one of 
the leading members of the Congregational 
Church at Tallmadge, and has long been treas- 
urer of the church's private benefactions. For 
eighteen years he was registrar of the Puritan 
Conference of this religious body. The home 
of Mr. and Mrs. Seward, at Tallmadge Cen- 
ter, is the residence in which she was born, 
the old part of which is the oldest frame 
house in the town. 

JOSEPH WARBURTON, M. D., a well- 
known physician and surgeon, who has been 
established at Tallmadge since the spring of 
1902, was born October 17, 1874, at Green- 
town, Stark County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Richard and Sarah (Marsland) Warburton. 

The parents of Dr. Warburton were natives 
of England, where the father was born June 
3, 1835, and the mother, December 21, 1842, 
tlie latter at Hazel Grove, near Stockport, not 
far from Liverpool. Richard Warburton was 
a mining engineer and a superintendent and 
inspector of mines. He preceded his family 
to America and sent for them in 18G4. At the 
time of his death, October 5. 1895, he resided 
at New Berlin. The family of Richard and 
Sarah Warburton consisted of the following 
children : John Thoma.s, residing at New 
Berlin, Stark County, Ohio; David; Mar- 
garet, who married Henry Gladieux; Rich- 
ard ; Emma and Joseph. 

Dr. .Joseph Warburton was educated in the 
public scliools and in 1897 he graduated 
from the New Berlin High School, after 
which he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and 
spent one year in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, and following this, three years 
in the Ohio Medical I^niversity at Columbus, 
graduating in the class of 1901. For one 
year he served a,s house physician at the Dea- 
coness Hospital, at Dayton, Ohio, and in the 
spring of 1902 he located in Tallmadge, 
where he has enjoyed a large and lucrative 
practice and is recognized as a man of per- 
sonal high standine;. 



In 1901 Dr. Warburton was married 
(tirst) to Maude E. Wills, who died in the fol- 
lowing September. She was a trained nurse 
by profession. In October, 1903, Dr. War- 
burton was married (second) to Myrna 
Munn, of Macedonia, who is a daughter of 
Wesley and Mary Munn, and they have one 
child, Francis Munn, who was born at Tall- 
madge. He is an interesting child of three 
years. 

Mrs. Warburton's grandparents were Hiram 
and Esther Munn, who were pioneers in 
Summit County and early settlers at Mace- 
donia. Wesley Munn, father of Mrs. War- 
burton, married Mary Lanier, who was a na- 
tive of New York. They had the following 
children : Esther, who married Frank Wise, 
a prominent citizen of Macedonia, who was 
the first mayor there ; King, residing at Mace- 
donia; Myrna; and Gladys, residing at home. 
Mr. Munn died in 1891, aged fifty-eight 
years, and Mrs. Munn died in 1903, aged 
fifty-two years. 

Dr. Warburton is a member of the Summit 
County Medical and the State Medical So- 
cieties. Politically, he is a Republican, but is 
only active so far as becomes a good citizen. 
His fraternal connections are with the 
Knights of Pythias, No. 501 at Tallmadge, 
and the order of Maccabees, at New Berlin. 

THOMAS E. McSHAFFREY, of the firm 
of E. McShaffrey & Son, general contractors, 
doing a large business at Akron and at other 
points in Summit County, has been one of 
the partners in this firm for the past two years, 
and has been indirectly connected with the 
concern for the past ten years. He was born 
in 1876, at Akron, and is a son of Edward 
and Margaret (Magrath) McShaffrey. 

Edward McShaffrey was born in County 
Antrim. Ireland, in 1851, and came to Amer- 
ica at the age of sixteen years. He located at 
Akron, where, for the past quarter of a cen- 
tury, he has been engaged in general con- 
tracting, in 1905 admitting his son to part- 
nership. 

Thomas E. 'McShaffrcv was reared at Akron 
and attended the parocbial sclionls. later tak- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



637 



ing a course in Hanimel's Business College. 
Prior to entering into partnership with his 
father, he was foreman of the Whilman- 
Bai'ues Manufacturing Company for eight 
years, and was identified with that firm for 
seventeen years in all. The firm of E. Mc- 
Shaffrey & Son have done a large amount of 
street paving at Akron, with other work, and 
at present they are building a large sewerage 
disposal system at Ravenna, Ohio. They are 
practical men and their work gives universal 
satisfaction. 

On September 28, 1899, xMr. McShaffrey 
was married to Rose C. Gilbride, of Ravenna, 
and they have two children : Regina and 
Thoma-s Vincent. Both Mr. McShaffrey and 
wife are members of St. Vincent Catholic 
Church. 

Politically he is a Republican and takes an 
intelligent citizen's interest in public affairs. 
He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, 
the ancient order of Hibernians and the 
Whitman-Barnes Relief Association. 

J A RED BARKER, formerly sheriff of 
Summit County, resides on his farm of forty- 
four acres, situated in Portage Township, 
where he is engaged in making such im- 
provements a.s will make his one of the lead- 
ing dairy farms of this section. Neither time 
nor expense is being spared in the construc- 
tion of sanitary buildings and wholesome 
surroundings. Mr. Barker was born March 
14, 1861. at Bath, Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a son of William and Eliza (Hutchinson) 
Barker. 

Lanson Barker, the grandfather of Jared 
Barker, was born in Connecticut, November 
17, 1791. and he was a son of Jared Barker, 
who was born in England. Lanson Barker 
became a resident of the State of New York 
and, in 1809, he was married to Betsey 
Phelps, who was born in Connecticut. 
Augu.-t 15, 1791. They moved to Ohio and 
finsf bought land in Holmes County, remov- 
ing from it to Massillon, but soon after to 
Cranger Township. Medina County, where 
they resided a number of years. Still later, 
Lanson Barker bought land at Rovalton. 



Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where his wife died 
in 1847, his death following in 1855. They 
had eight children: Roxie A., William, 
Jared, John, Lyman, Mary, Frances and Nel- 
son. 

William Barker, father of Jared, was born 
in the State of New York, July 30, 1817, and 
accompanied his parents to Ohio. In 1849, 
he went to California but soon returned, ow- 
ing to poor health, and in 1853, he purchased 
the farm in Bath Township. At that time it 
was all covered with timber, which he cleared 
off and erected substantial buildings, devel- 
oping subsequently a good farm. He engaged 
also in manufacturing to some extent. In 
politics he was a strong suppporter of the Re- 
publican party and held manv offices of trust. 
He died February 10, 1898. In 1856 he mar- 
ried Eliza Hutchinson, who was born April 8, 
1826, who died-October 2, 1876. She was a 
daughter of Warren and Martha (Mc- 
Laughin) Hutchinson. Thej' had four chil- 
dren, namely; Alonzo, who was born in 
1857 ; Jared and a twin brother, the latter of 
whom died in infancy; and Bettie, who was 
born in 1867, died in infancy. 

Jared Barker was reared and educated in 
Bath Township, where he owns a magnificent 
farm of 267 acres, located in the Yellow 
Creek bottoms. In addition to farming and 
stock-raising, Mr. Barker engaged in lumber- 
ing, owning a planing mill and a sawmill. 
He purchased his dairy farm of forty-four 
acres, June 1, 1907. Until 1902, he con- 
tinued to live in Bath Township, when, hav- 
ing been elected sheriff of Summit County, 
he moved to Akron and resided there during 
his two terms in office. His administration of 
the responsible office of sheriff gave universal 
satisfaction to all law-abiding citizens and he 
retired with a fine record as to efficiency. 
Since then he has devoted a large part of his 
attention to developing his dairy farm along 
first-class lines, it being his idea to supply 
certified milk, absolutely inire. This is a laud- 
able enterprise w'hich engages the attention of 
the public at large. 

On September 13, 1883, Mr. Barker was 
married to Almira Mvers, who was born 



638 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



February 24, 1862, at Rome City, Indiana, 
and is a daughter of William and Sarah 
(Weikel) Myers. The parents of Mrs. 
Barker moved from Ohio to Indiana, in 1856, 
settling in Noble County, where they are 
prominent in every circle. Mr. Mj'ers is one 
of the largest agriculturists in that section. 
They had four children, namely: Samuel, 
born March 27, 1857; Ellen, born June 22, 
1858, who married R. Shroyer, of Indiana; 
Almira, Mrs. Barker; and Charles, who was 
born April 7, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Myers arj 
members of the German Lutheran Church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Barker have five children, 
namely: Pearl, born January 7, 1886; Bes- 
sie, born October 25, 1889; Marv, born Oc- 
tober 21, 1891 ; Sarah, born August 31, 1890; 
and William Barker, born July 7, 1898. 
Mrs. Barker and family are members of the 
Disciples Church. Politically, Mr. Barker is 
a stanch Republican, casting his first Presi- 
dential vote in support of Hon. James G. 
Blaine. Mr. Barker is one of the representa- 
tive men of Summit County. 

A. J. DIETRICH, senior member of the 
firm of Dietrich & Brunswick, proprietors of 
pattern works, located at No. 90 East South 
Street, Akron, is at the head of one of the 
prospering industries of the city. He was 
born in Akron, in 1872, and is a son of the 
late Anthony Dietrich, a native of Germany 
who came to America in 1861. The latter 
followed the trade of stone-mason until within 
a short time before his death, which occurred 
in 1891. 

A. J. Dietrich was reared and educated at 
Akron and is master of two distinct trades, 
those of cabinet-maker and mill-wright. For 
eight years he was connected with the Ameri- 
can Cereal Company's plant. Later he was 
employed in the pattern shops of the Taplin- 
Rice Company, for seven and a half year.a, 
for two years of this period being in charge 
of their pattern department. Having gained 
the necessary experience and possessing suffi- 
cient capital. Mr. Dietrich then entered into 
partnership with AVilliam F. Bnmswick, es- 
tablishing the pattern works of the Dietrich 



& Brunswick finn, which are fully equipped 
with all kinds of aj;)pliances and modern ma- 
chinery for every known kind of pattern 
work. 

In 1900 Mr. Dietrich was married to 
Louise Willenbacher, of Akron, and they have 
two interesting little sons, Carl Philip and 
Philip Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Dietrich are 
members of St. Bernard's Catholic Church. 
He belongs to the order of Knights of St. 
John. 

PETER SERFASS, a successful agricul- 
turist of Norton Township, residing on his 
valuable farm of seventy-six acres, was born 
in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, August 15, 
1826, and is a son of Peter and Eva (Hout- 
smith) Serfass. 

The i^arents of Peter Serfass came from 
Pennsylvania to Ohio, in 1838, and as they 
traveled by wagon their progress was slow and 
they were on the road nineteen days. The 
father bought eighty acres of land in Norton 
Township, which had been partly improved, 
but later he sold four acres, the remainder 
being the farm now owned by his son, Peter 
Serfass. The hoase that was standing on the 
place at that time still serves as a residence, 
although a large amount of money has been 
spent in remodeling it. The land was soon 
all cleared and orchards were set out and the 
parents lived to enjoy some years of comfort 
and ease on this farm before they passed 
away. Of their five children, three survive, 
namely: Ladina, who is the widow of Louis 
Mosier; Matilda, who is the wife of Jacob 
Boerstler ; and Peter, of Norton Township. 

Peter Serfass remained at home and as- 
sisted his father until he was twenty-one years 
of age, and for the following three years 
worked by the month on the home farm. At 
this time he was married to Ansaneta Seig- 
freid, who was born in Pennsylvania and 
came to Ohio in girlhood, accompanying her 
father, who was Louis Seigfried. They have 
had four children, namely: Clara, who is the 
wife of Dr. Joseph Wingerter, residing at 
Akron : Alice Viola, who died aged twenty- 




EGBERT J. RODD 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



(Ul 



one years; Cora May; and Elva, who died 
aged fourteen years. 

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Serfass set- 
tled on the farm, on which they have resided 
ever since, with the exception of fourteen 
years spent at Akron, during which time Mr. 
Serfass was employed by the liankey Lumber 
Company. He carries on a general farming 
line. Mr. Serfass and wife belong to the 
Lutheran Church. 



ROBERT JAMES RODD, superintendent 
of the rivet department of the Falls Rivet a,nd 
Machine Company's plant at Kent, Ohio, but 
a resident of Cuj'ahoga Falls, was born at 
London, England, May 29, 1854, and is a 
son of William James and Sarah (Ashby) 
Rodd. 

The father of Mr. Rodd was born in the 
great manufacturing city of Birmangham, 
but learned no trade, having been college- 
bred. He worked as an accountant until 
1875, when he crossed the ocean and settled 
in Canada, residing at Dundas until 1893. 
He then came to Cuyahoga Falls, where his 
death occin-red when he had reached the age 
of sixty-two years. He married Sarah 
Ashby, who resides with^ her daughter, Mrs. 
George Shannon. She is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, while her late 
husband belonged to the Episcopal com- 
munion. They were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, namely: Kate, who married John 
Morri.son, residing at .Jordan, Canada; Rosa, 
who married George Forester, and resides at 
Cleveland: Mary; Frederick, residing at 
Cleveland; Arthur; Charles, residing at 
Cleveland; and Esther, who married George 
Shannon, and resides at Cuyahoga Falls. 
Marj' and Arthur are deceased. 

Robert James Rodd enjoyed good educa- 
tional advantages, and before coming to Can- 
ada, was a.«.sociated with his father in office 
work. He then learned the machinist's trade 
and in 1877 became foreman for the Canada 
Screw' Company, with wihich concern he re- 
mained until it went out of business. In 
1879 Mr. Rodd came to Cuyahoga Falls, 



where he was employed by E. L. Babcock, 
then of the Falls Rivet and Machine Com- 
pany, to operate the cold headers, and has 
been identified with this business ever since. 
From 1888 until 1891 he was engaged as 
erecting engineer in the East and South; in 
the latter year he became assistant superin- 
tendent, and in the fall of 189.3 became su- 
perintendent of the rivet department, which 
wa.s then separate from the machinery de- 
partment. He remodeled the shops, and^the 
tvork has so increased that from a force of 
thirty-five men then required, he now em- 
ploys 150. 

In June, 1891, Mr. Rodd started to build 
machinery for making bolts. Prior to that 
time the company had made only rivets. By 
adding the manufacture of bolts, the output 
of the plant was doubled. Mr. Rodd has 
patents on machines for automatically tap- 
ping nuts, this being known as the Rodd's 
Automatic Nut Tapper. It is in use in all 
the leading factories of the United States and 
Canada, and sales have been made also in 
England and Germany. 

On January 4, 1881, Mr. Rodd was mar- 
ried to Katherine Cooper, who was born at 
Grantham, England, and is a daughter of 
William Cooper, who settled at Dundas, Can- 
ada, in 1859. They have one son, William 
Cooper, who learned the machinist's trade 
with hLs father and now fills the position of 
draughtsman, ■nith the International Har- 
vester Company, of Akron. Mr. Rodd and 
family belong to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

In 1901 Mr. Rodd built a fine residence 
on the comer of Broad and Third Streets. 
The land was secured from the Sill family, 
whose deed came from the Connecticut Land 
Company, its eai^liest owners, the Indians 
having sold it to that body of promoters. 

In politics Mr. Rodd is a Republican. He 
ha? never been anxious for political honors, 
but has served several years as a member of 
the Board of Education. He has been iden- 
tified with the Masons for a number of years, 
and is past master of Star Lodge, No. 187. 



642 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



L. W. CAMP, president of the L. W. Camp 
Company, is one of Akron's enterprising and 
progressive business men of the younger gen- 
eration, whose energy, in many instances, has 
infused new life into old and conservative 
houses. Mr. Camp was born in 1879, at 
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and is a son of H. B. 
Camp, one of Akron's prominent men. He 
was reared at Cuyahoga Falls and Akron, 
where he attended school. He then engaged 
in contracting, in association with his father, 
with whom he remained for three years in 
New York, where the father had at that time 
large business interests. In 1902 the L. W. 
Camp Company wa.s organized and incorpo- 
rated with a capital stock of $100,000, for the 
manufacture of fireproof clay products, with 
L. W. Camp as president and R. E. Arm- 
strong, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Camp 
has other business interests, being president 
of the Factory Oil Company and treasurer 
of the Akron Fire Proof Construction Com- 
pany. On June 18, 1904, he was married to 
Louise B. Wettach, who is a daughter of F. .J. 
Wettach, of Akron. 

GEORGE A. BISBEE, a veteran of the 
Civil War and a substantial business citizen of 
Akron, where he is engaged in a wholesale 
and retail feed business, at No. 127 South 
Main Street, was born in 1844, at Union 
Mills, Lagrange County, Indiana. 

Mr. Bisbee was but four years old when his 
parents died and he was taken into the family 
of a Mr. Capon, whom he subsequently ac- 
companied to Summit County. Here he was 
reared and attended the district schools. He 
learned the blacksmith trade and worked at 
it until 1864, when he enlisted in Company 
F, 164th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the 
100-day service in the Civil "War. During 
this enlistment he was stationed at Fort 
Cochran, near "Washington, D. C. In Feb- 
ruary, 1865, Mr. Bisbee re-enlisted, entering 
Company I, 188th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
which was sent first to Murfreesboro, and 
thence to Nashville, where it was stationed at 
the close of the war, being later mu.'tered out 
at Columbus. 



After the close of his military service, Mr. 
Bisbee went to work again at his trade, first 
in Michigan and later at Orland, Indiana, 
but in February, 1867, he returned to Sum- 
mit County and went into business at Ghent, 
where he lived until September 23, 1872. He 
then came to Akron, and for the succeeding 
seventeen years was an employee of the 
Whitman-Barnes Company. He next em- 
barked in his present business, in which he 
has met with very satisfactory success. 

In 1868 Mr. Bisbee was married to Sarah 
Davis, of Bath, Summit County, and they 
have one child, Adclia B., who is the wife of 
M. Janse, residing at Maple Creek, North- 
western Canada. Mr. Bisbee has an honorable 
record as a soldier, and is a valued member 
of Buckley Post, G. A. R. He belongs to the 
Knights of Honor, at Akron. 

WILSON F. SEIBERLING, a general 
farmer, residing on a part of the old Seiber- 
ling homestead farm, which is situated on 
the Norton Center road, just east of Western 
Star, was born on this farm, in Summit 
County, Ohio, September 24, 1876, and is a 
son of Gus and Julia (Kulp) Seiberling, the 
former of whom was one of the county's 
prominent men. 

Wilson F. Seiberling was reared and edu- 
cated in Norton Township and attended 
school at We«tern Star, completing his edu- 
cation at the Norton Center High School. 
From that time to the present he has given 
his attention to general farming and to the 
raising of fine horses. He settled on his pres- 
ent farm immediately after his marriage, and 
has continued to develop and improve the 
land ever since. 

On November 29, 1899, Mr. Seiberling was 
married to Kittle Marnin, who was reared in 
Chippawa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
and is a daughter of William Marnin. They 
have had two children, a babe that died in 
infancy, and Marcella Gertrude. 

Mr. Seiberling, like other members of this 
old Summit County family, is a member of 
the Lutheran Church. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



643 



JAMES B. CROSS, a well-known citizen of 
Tallniadge Township, where he owns a fertile 
farm uf sixteen and one-half acres, on which 
he carries on general fanning and poultry- 
raLsing, is a survivor of the great Civil War 
and a veteran of the same. He was born in 
Canil)ridgeshire, England, January 30, 1844, 
and is a son of Elijah and Hannah (Bidwell) 
Cross. 

The parents of Mr. Cross were natives of 
England and came to America in 1853. The 
father settled finst in Medina County, Ohio, 
where he engaged in business as a horticul- 
turist and tiorist, having served an apprentice- 
ship of seven years to this business in his na- 
tive land. He died in Medina County in 
1879, aged seventy-one years. His widow- 
died in the town of Medina, in 1861. The 
father wa.s married twice and to his first 
union there were born four children: Jo.seph, 
William, Mary and Elijah. To the second 
marriage four children were born, as follows: 
Sarah, who i.s the widow of Clarence Peck, 
resides in Lorain County, Ohio; Hannah, de- 
cea.sed, w^ho married Eudoris Stewart ; Henry 
B.. who was born in 1848, operates a broom 
factory in Akron, where he is a useful citizen, 
taking an interest in public affairs, and being 
the originator of the measure known a.s the 
Buchtel Bill for the Blind ; and James B. 

Jam'es B. Cross attended the district schools 
in ^Medina County and a.ssisted his father un- 
til he entered the service of the United States, 
becoming a member of Company G, 84th 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was 
enrolled June 2, 18G2, to serve three months, 
and was honorably discharged Septemljer 20, 
1862, at Camp Delaware. He re-enlisted May 
2, 1864, in Company B, 162nd Regiment, 
Ohio National Guards, to serve 100 days and 
was honorably discharged a second time, Sep- 
tember 4, 1864. at Camp Chase. A third time 
he enlisted, February 19, 1865, in Company 
T, 188th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
for one year. His first service was on the 
United States mail boat, taking prisoners from 
Covington, Kentucky, to Louisville, and the 
second was at Tullahoma, Tennessee; New- 
Creek, Virginia; Cumberland, Maryland, and 



at Nashville, Tennessee. He was at Tulla- 
homa at the time of General Lee's surrender, 
being so ill at the time that it required two 
men to bring him home. 

Following his return from the army, for 
forty-three years he worked in the gearing 
dejiarlment of the Aultman-Miller Company, 
at Akron, engaged in putting machinery to- 
gether, and remained until the business 
changed hands. For twenty-four years he 
resided at Akron, and has lived on the pres- 
ent place for the past nineteen years. On 
February 20, 1865, Mr. Cross was married to 
Almira Branch, who belongs to a very old 
pioneer family and is a daughter of Lawson 
and Cordelia Branch. Mrs. Cross is of Eng- 
lish descent on the paternal side. The grand- 
father, Levi Branch, with his brothers, Theo- 
dore, Edwin and Elisha, came to Ohio from 
Massachusetts, and they all settled in York 
Township, Medina County. The children of 
Levi Branch were: Lawson, Levi, Theodore, 
Elisha, Edwin and Mary. Levi Branch was 
born at Worthington, Massachusetts, Septem- 
ber 17, 1779, and died in York Township, 
Medina County, Ohio, in 1855. He came to 
that section from Sweden, New York, in 1830, 
accompanied by his wife and several children. 
He was a man of authority in York Town- 
ship. The first election was held in his barn 
and the first religious meeting was held in 
his house. The first educational institution 
the little community erected was named the 
Levi Branch school-house. For a time he 
owned the only team in the town and had the 
monopoly of hauling provisions from Wooster 
and Portage. For a long period he was the 
owner of the only stove in the township. 

The parents of Mrs. Cross lived and died 
in Medina County. Her mother came from 
Sweden," New York, and her father from 
Massachusetts. Mrs. Cross' eldest sister, Fan- 
nie, was born in 1831 and was the first white 
child born in York Township. She married 
C. B. Abbott and died aged seventy-six years. 
The other members of the family were: Eg- 
bert, .Julia and James, living, and Ellen, 
Miles, Almira, Levi and Evaline, deceased. 
In 1907 the survivors of this familv had their 



644 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



first reunion in fifty years and it was a nota- 
ble occasion. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Cross were born tlie fol- 
lowing children : Nellie, who married 
Charles Leonard, resides at Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, and they have one child, Blanche; 
Minnie, died in 1877, aged nine years ; Pearl, 
who married Lewis Frase of East Akron, has 
two children, Ruth and Ralph; Bertha, who 
married Arthur Warner, who is head chemist 
of the Goodrich Company, resides on Crosby 
Street, Akron, and they have one child, 
Helen ; and Roy, who is a bookkeeper in the 
office of the Goodrich Company, married 
Lorna Scott of Tallmadge, and they have one 
child, Winnifred. 

For thirty-five years Mr. Cro.ss has been a 
member of Summit Lodge No. 50, Odd Fel- 
lows, his membership dating from January 
16, 1871. Both he ami wife are members of 
Tallmadge Grange. They belong to the Uni- 
versalist Church. Politically, Mr. Cross is a 
Republican. 

LEVI BURROUGHS, general farmer and 
highly respected citizen of Northfield Town- 
ship, residing on his well-cultivated farm of 
thirty-eight acres, is a surviving veteran of 
the great Civil War, in which he served hon- 
orably from 1862 until 1865. Mr. Burroughs 
was born on the farm in Summit County, 
Ohio, on which he lives, June 15, 1843, and 
is a son of Allen and Betsey (Honey) Bur- 
roughs. 

Allen Burroughs was born in Vermont, in 
November, 1799, and was a son of David and 
Polly Burroughs, who founded the family in 
the Western Reserve. He was an early land- 
holder in Northfield Township; settling here 
when his land was still in the virgin state. He 
cleared a forty-acre farm, and continued to 
improve his property as long as he lived, in 
the meanwhile taking a good citizen's interest 
in the development of all this section. He was 
a man of exemplary life, and supported the 
public schools, contributed liberally also to re- 
ligious enterprises, and was a strong advocate 
of temperance. He lived respected, and died 
at the age of eighty-two years, esteemed by all 



who knew him. He married Betsey Honey, 
who was born in Connecticut, and of their 
children the following reached maturity: 
Tryphena, who married John Seidel, both be- 
ing now deceased; Dorsey W., also deceased; 
Sabrina, who married Aseph Thompson, and 
is deceased with her husband; Marinda, who 
is (he widow of Darius Wolcott, residing in 
Gueaga County; Wealthy (deceased) was the 
wife of A. J. Cross, of Michigan ; Mary, de- 
ceased; and Levi. The parents of the above 
mentioned family were members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

Levi Burroughs was reared on the home 
farm in Northfield Township, and his occu- 
pation in life has been agriculture. He was 
only nineteen years of age when, impelled by 
a sense of patriotism, he offered his services 
in defense of the nation. On July 30, 1862, 
he enlisted in Company G, 115th Regiment, 
Ohio Volimteer Infantry, under Capt. H. 
Fitch, contracting to serve three years or dur- 
ing the continuance of the war. Fresh from 
the healthy life of farm and field, Mr. Bur- 
roughs, in all the strength of vigorous youth 
entered the service of his country. 

During the first year of service. Mr. Bur- 
roughs was mainly kept on guard duty at 
Covington, Kentucky, and while endeavoring 
to protect a bridge on the Chattanooga Rail- 
road, he was captured, with his regiment, by 
a part of General Hood's army. For one 
month he was kept a prisoner at Meridian, 
Mississippi, where rations were issued oc- 
casionally, consisting of corn meal with a lit- 
tle beef. From there Mr. Burroughs with 
his comrades were transferred to Anderson- 
ville Prison, famous for the severity with 
which prisoners were treated, and the hard- 
.ships they were obliged to endure. Mr. Bur- 
roughs was incarcerated there February 3, 
1865, and remained until the middle of 
April, 1865. While his strong constitution 
enabled him to survive the semi-starvation 
that was usually the lot of prisoners at An- 
dersonville, many of his comrades succumbed. 
Mr. Burroughs was one of the last prisoners 
to be released from Andersonville. He was 
there at the time President Lincoln was as- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



045 



sassiuated. He was honorably discharged 
June 17, 1865, at Camp Chase, Columbus, 
Ohio. 

On November 20, 1867, Mr. Burroughs was 
married to Sarah F. Nichols, who was born in 
West Virginia, across the river from Wells- 
ville, Ohio, September 17, 1839. Mrs. Bur- 
roughs is a daughter of Harbin and Lorana 
(Viers) Nichols. Her father, a shoemaker 
by trade, settled in Northfield Township about 
1850, residing many years at Little York. 
He died at Northfield, in 1864, aged sixty- 
five years. His children were: Harriet M., 
Margaret V., Matilda N., McCourtuey B., 
Beersheba L., Sarah F. and Thomas Benton. 
Two brothers of Mrs. Burroughs served in the 
Civil War — McCourtney B. and Thomas Ben- 
ton. The former died from wounds received 
at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia. The 
latter served through the war, taking part in 
seventeen battles and being wounded at Get- 
tysburg. He. subsequently entered the regu- 
lar army and was sent to the western fron- 
tier. 

In 1877 Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs settled 
on the farm on which he has since resided. 
He carries on general farming, raising corn, 
oats, wheat and hay, and keeps about five 
head of cattle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs have four chil- 
dren, namely: Eva M.. Harvey A.. Thomas 
Benton and Sheppard H. The eldest daugh- 
ter is the widow of Frederick Plank and has 
two bright children. She is the popular 
teacher at Northfield Center, and resides at 
home with her parents. Harvey A., who re- 
sides at Cuyahoga Falls, married Beatrice 
Burns. Thomas Benton lives in Northfield 
Township. He married Lillian Burns. Shep- 
pard H. is one of the leading surgeons in the 
State of Ohio and is filling the responsible po- 
sition of surgeon in chief at the Ashtabula 
General Hospital. He married Elizabeth 
Baker. 

Mr. Burroughs cast his first Presidential 
vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has been iden- 
tified with the Republican party ever since. 
He has been affiliated with the Royal Dun- 
ham Post, Grand Army of the Republic, No. 



177, at Bedford. With his estimable wife he 
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JACOB J. KRISHER, superintendent of 
the Akron Foundry Company, is one of the 
city's successful, self-made men — one who has 
had a large amount of practical experience in 
his present line of business. He was born in 
1850, at Massillon, Ohio, where he attended 
school up to the age of eighteen years. He 
subsequently learned the molder's trade with 
Russell & Company, and after completing 
the necessary apprenticeship in the foundry, 
worked in different establishments at many 
different places, until 1876, when he came to 
Akron, which city has been his home since. 
He was engaged as a molder by the Buckeye 
Company, with which he remained for five 
years, and then spent four years with the 
Empire Company. Later he became con- 
nected with Schumacher's Gymnasium, where 
he remained until 1893. In that year, with 
J. K. Williams, John C. Weber and Jahant 
and Charles Stores, he built the Akron foun- 
dry, or which he has since had charge. This 
foundry turns out a large variety of manu- 
factured goods, and gives work to eighty- 
eight employes. Mr. Krisher is a very com- 
petent superintendent, having the fact to man- 
age large bodies of men to good advantage, 
without friction. 

Mr. Krisher was married at Massillon to 
Frances F. Rhoadbaugh, who died January 
11. 1904, leaving three children, namely: 
Nellie E., who married Henry Brooks, of 
Akron; Kate S., who married J. F. McGov- 
ern, of Akron; and Perry A., who is proprie- 
tor of the Krisher Brass Foundry. Mr. Kris- 
her was married (second), on January 24, 
1907, to Mrs. L. M. Higy, of Akron. For a 
number of years he has been an active Odd 
Fellow. 

L. H. SCOTT, residing on his well-im- 
proved farm of 114 acres, which is situated 
one-fourth mile from the eastern limit," of 
the city of Akron, is one of the well-known, 
highly respected and substantial citizens of 
this quarter. 



646 



HISTOEY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The parents of Mr. Scott were married at 
Bufiulo, New York. The mother was born in 
England and accompanied her parents in 
childhood to America, where her father died 
one year hxter. Her mother returned to Eng- 
hmd for a short period, but decided to make 
her permanent home ni America and after 
coming back wiis married to a Mr. Kendricks, 
and one child was born to this second union. 
Three of the five children of her first mar- 
riage still survive, namely: L. H., of Tall- 
madge Township; Mary, residing at Buffalo, 
where she married Harris Wilkins; and 
Charles. The hitter, when eighteen years of 
age, entered the regular army of the United 
States and has served both in Cuba and in 
the Phillipine Islands. He is still a United 
States soldier. The father of Mr. Scott had 
one brother, Zenas, and one sister, Lucretia. 
Zenas Scott served all through the Civil War, 
in the Union army. Lucretia Scott married 
a Mr. Cook. After the death of her first hus- 
band, the grandmother of Mr. Scott married 
a Mr. Green, and children were born to them 
of whom we have no record. Mr. Green was 
the only father known to the father of L. H. 
Scott. 

L. H. Scott was reared Ijv his mother's peo- 
ple and was educated in public school No. 
19, on North Washington Street, Buffalo, 
New York. When he had reached the age 
of twenty-one years, Mr. Scott went to Pitts- 
burg, where he remained four months and 
then worked for a time in a rolling mill at 
Girard, Ohio, subsequently traveling to a 
number of cities, including Cincinnati, New- 
port, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Marquette, 
Michigan ; and then back to Pittsburg, work- 
ing for a time in each place and remaining 
for two years in the latter city, engaged as a 
structural iron worker. From Pittsburg, Mr. 
Scott came to Akron, where he engaged in 
the bu-siness of kiln burning sewer pipe. 

On May 11, 1881, Mr. Scott was married 
to Adelaide Denmead, who is a daughter of 
James and Mary Ann Denmead. They came 
from England to America, about 1860, set- 
tling on the present Scott farm .shortly after- 
ward, on which they re.sided until death. 



Mrs. Scott was born in America, one of three 
children. She has one surviving sister, Mary 
Ann, who married Charles Pennington, and 
they reside in the State of Washington, where 
he engages in farming. The mother of Mrs. 
Scott died soon after coming to America and 
the father was married (second) to a Mrs. 
Sands. Mr. Denmead lived to the age of 
seventy-two years. His second wife, who died 
two weeks previous to his demise, was eighty- 
four years of age. 

Mr. and Mrs. Scott have had four children : 
Lois Lucretia, who died aged nineteen years, 
from the cffect^s of an accident on a railroad; 
Earl J., who operates the pumping station for 
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, at Akron; 
Robert Clyde, a potter by trade, residing tem- 
porarily in Minnesota; and Vera, who is a 
student in the school at South West Six Cor- 
ners. 

For nine years Mr. Scott has been success- 
fully engaged in farming on this place. He 
.«old one acre after erecting a house on it, to 
a Mr. Evvart. The present residence was built 
by Mrs. Scott's father. Mr. Scott is an inde- 
pendent voter, declining to be identified with 
any political party. In religious belief he is 
a Spiritualist. 

DANIEL HAWK, one of Summit County's 
most re-spected citizens, has been a resident of 
Tallmadge Township for more than twenty 
years. He was born in Suffield Township, 
Portage County, Ohio, November 14, 1848, 
and is a son of Philip and Lena (Dock) 
Hawk. 

Philip Hawk, father of Daniel, was born in 
Germany, and was twenty-one years of age 
when he accompanied his parents to America. 
Grandfather Philip Hawk purchased 150 
acres of land in the soiitheastern part of Suf- 
field Township, where he spent the rest of his 
life. His widow died at the home of their 
son, Michael Hawk, in Tallmadge Township, 
Summit County. The children born to the 
grandparents of Daniel Hawk w-ere: Philip, 
Abbie, Catherine, Daniel and Michael. Of 
this family, Abbie married John Guenther 
and both are deceased; Catherine married 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



647 



Henry Swartz and she died iu Portage County. 
Daniel was a prominent citizen of Akron, 
from which place he moved to Grand Rapids, 
Michigan, and thence to Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, where he has lived for the jjast ten 
years. Michael is a resident of Tailmadge 
Township. 

Philip Hawk (2), father of Daniel, also 
bought a farm in Sutheld Township, situated 
just north of his father's land, but sold this 
about the close of the Civil War and purchased 
a farm in Springfield Township, Summit 
County, where he died in 189G, in his seventy- 
ninth year. He married Lena Dock, who still 
survives, being now iu her eighty-fifth year. 
The children born to Philip and Lena (Dock) 
Hawk were the following: Daniel, Philip, 
Frederick, and Lewis. Philip Hawk, the 
third of the name, resides east of Mogadore, 
but in Portage County. He married a Miss 
Guenther, of Hartville, Stark County. Fred- 
erick Hawk is a successful farmer of Brom- 
field Township, Portage County. He married a 
daughter of Peter Lepper, of Springfield 
Township. Summit County. Lewis Hawk i.<' 
employed in tlie rural mail service. He mar- 
ried Margaret Kobinstine, of Logtown. 

Daniel Hawk attended the district schools 
of Suffield Township and grew to manhood 
(in his father's farm, where he was trained in 
agricultural pursuits. After his marriage he 
.-ettled in Portage County, where he farmed 
on share* for one year, and then moved south 
of Kent, purcha.sing a farm in Bromfield 
Town.ship, the .same on which his eldest son 
now lives. In 1883 he bought the farm of 
128 acres on which he has resided ever .since, 
which he devotes to general farming and 
dairying. He gives considerable attention to 
raising hor.ses, his method being to purchase 
when young, break and then sell, and he has 
been very successful in this line. In all he 
owns 420 acres of most excellent land and 
is one of the township's most substantial men. 
He has practically made his own way in the 
world, acquiring his ample fortune by hard 
work and close attention to business. 

In 1872. Mr. Hawk was married to Cather- 
ine Fulnier. who was born in Green Town- 



ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a daughter 
of Adam Fulmer. Her father was born in 
Germany and her mother iu j\.lsace, France, 
the latter coming to America when eighteen 
years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fulmer settled 
first iu Suffield Township, Portage County, 
but later moved to Jay County, Indiana, 
where they died. 

To Daniel Hawk and wife have been born 
eight children, namely: Lewis, Ellen, Adam, 
(irant, Clyde, Frederick, Bertha and Grace. 
Lewus Hawk is engaged in farming on his 
father's land near Kent. He married Delia 
Brumbaugh. Ellen, an educated young lady, 
is bookkeeper for a business firm at Kent, 
Ohio. Adam Hawk is engaged in farming 
on the family property, in Tailmadge Town- 
ship. Grant, residing at home, carries on the 
dairying interests. The other members of the 
family reside at home. 

Mr. Hawk has shown his interest in the de- 
velopment of his section in many ways, ac- 
cording to his convictions of the duties of a 
good citizen. Politically, he is a Democrat, 
but he is no aspirant for office. Both he and 
wife belong to the local Grange and enjoy its 
meetings. He is one of the leading members 
of the East Akron Reformed Church and he 
was one of the most liberal contributors to 
the building fvuul when the present edifice 
was put up. 

OLIVER HARTER, who owns eighty- 
three acres of some of the finest farming land 
in Norton Township, resides on this property, 
which is situated on tlie East and West road, 
eight and one-fourth miles west of Akron and 
about one-half mile east of the Medina County 
line. Mr. Harter was born in Norton Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, July 25, 1851, 
and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Baugh- 
man) Harter. 

John Harter was born in Green Township, 
Summit County, and was a son of .Jacob Har- 
ter, who was a native of Pennsylvania and a 
veteran of the War of 1812 as well as a pio- 
neer settler in this section. When John Har- 
ter was ten years of age, his father moved 
from Green to Coventry Township, where he 



648 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



settled in a wild region, in the midst of the 
woods. There he cleared up a farm on which 
he lived until the age of ninety-two years. 
John Harter grew to young manhood in Cov- 
entry Township and then went to Wisconsin, 
where he remained for eighteen months work- 
ing in a lumber camp. There are many ac- 
cidents in the life of a woodsman and fre- 
quently they prove as serious as the one which 
befell Mr. Harter and his companions. A raft 
of logs which it had taken hard work to se- 
cure, went to pieces in the river when they 
started to float it. With difficulty they saved 
enough of the valuable logs to make a second 
but much smaller raft on which the party 
floated to St. Louis, where is was sold for only 
about enough to take the party to their dif- 
ferent homes. This adventure seems to have 
satisfied Mr. Harter as to the safety and sta- 
bility of an agricultural life and after his 
return home he soon married and moved to 
Norton Township. He died Februarv 20, 
1905. 

John Harter married Elizabeth Baugh- 
man, who was born in Pennsylvania and died ^ 
in Norton Township, August 18, 1881. She 
was a daughter of Theobold Baughman, who 
came from Westmoreland County, Pennsyl- 
vania, to Summit County, when Mrs. Harter 
was three years old. The children born to 
John and Elizabeth Harter were: George; 
Oliver; AVilliam, who died in Illinois; Theo- 
bald ; Melvina, who married Wilson Waltz, of 
Tallmadge Township; Eli; Mary, who mar- 
ried Frank Waltenberger ; and Otis, who is a 
Presbyterian minister located at Fredericks- 
town, Knox County, Ohio. 

Oliver Harter was reared on the farm which 
is now owned by R. B. Baughman and which 
is situated just west of Johnson's Corners, 
which was then his father's property, and 
there he was trained to be a farmer and has 
followed agricultural pursuits ever since. He 
continued to reside in Norton Township until 
October 11, 1871. when he removed with his 
family, to Illinois, where he acquired a farm 
of eighty acres in Fayette County, on which 
he lived for ten and one-half years. In 1882 
he sold that farm and returned to Ohio, set- 



tling on the farm of his father-in-law, west 
of Johnson's corners, and lived there for 
eleven years. During this period he was 
elected township trustee on the Democratic 
ticket and served three years. Mr. Harter in 
the meanwhile, bought his present excellent 
farm to which he came, March 28, 1893. He 
has recently completed a fine seven-room resi- 
dence, modern in constiiiction and full of con- 
veniences and comforts. He has taken an 
active interest in township matters, being an 
intelligent, thoughtful man, and for the past 
eleven years has been serving in the office 
of assessor. 

Mr. Harter was married to Mary S. Wey- 
gandt, who is a daughter of Elias Weygandt. 
She was born in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio. Her parents lived for two 
years in Ashland County and then came to 
Norton Township and settled near Johnson's 
Corners. Mr. and Mrs. Harter have had seven 
children, the survivors being: Clara Olive, 
who taught school for five years after gradu- 
ating from the Norton High School, later mar- 
ried Henry W. Mong and they have one son, 
Roy ; Emma, who married George Young, 
resides with her father, and they have three 
children, Mary Lavina, Gertrude and Marcus 
Oliver; Ada Blanche, who married Clyde S. 
Burgner, resides at Cleveland, and they have 
one child. Earl Raymond; and Earl Monroe, 
residing at Loyal Oak, married Minnie Bauer. 
Mr. Barter's youngest daughter, Mrs. Burg- 
ner, graduated from the Norton High School, 
then taught school one year, then took a 
couree in the Spencerian Business College at 
Cleveland, after which she worked as a sten- 
ographer for eighteen months. She was mar- 
ried at Cleveland to a gentleman who had 
been a childhood companion in Norton Town- 
ship. Three children of Mr. and Mrs. Har- 
ter are deceased, namely: an unnamed in- 
fant; John Edmund, who died aged eleven 
montlis; and Anna, who died February 17, 
1902. 

Mr. Harter has always favored popular ed- 
ucation and for twelve years served on the 
School Board. He is a leading member of 
the Lutheran Church. 




MR. AND MRS. JOHN M. HOERTZ AND FAMILY 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



051 



JOHN M. HOERTZ, one of the leading 
men of Norton Township, residing on his 
well-improved farm of forty-eight and a 
quarter acres, was born October 22, 1852, in 
Independence Township, Cuyahoga County, 
Ohio, and is a son of Philip Ploertz. 

The mother of Mr. Hoertz died when he 
was an infant, and his father passed away 
when he was a boy of ten years. He there- 
upon went to the home of his uncle, John 
Hoertz, who was a farmer of Cuyahoga 
County, and remained with him, working on 
the farm for seven years. After this he 
worked on farms in the neighborhood until 
1875, when he rented a farm, after his mar- 
riage, and his family lived on it until 1882, 
when he purchased his present farm in Nor- 
ton Township. He has done a large amount 
of improving here in the way of building 
and remodeling, and has a very comfortable 
home. He grows fine fruits and vegetables. 

On April -1, 1875, Mr. Hoertz was married 
to Maiy L. Harris, who is a daughter of Vin- 
cent G. and Magdalena (Long) Harris. 
Vincent G. Harris was born in Wayne 
County, Ohio, February 7, 1826. and died at 
his home in Copley, November 14, 1905, 
lacking but a few months of being eighty 
years of age. He was a .son of Aaron and' 
Ellen Harris. He secured such educational 
training as was afforded in the schools of his 
day, and after his marriage settled on a farm 
of fifty acres, one mile north of the center of 
Copley. To this land he added until he 
owned 210 acres, all in one body. He was _ 
a loyal supporter of the Government during 
the Civil War and when Governor Tod called 
on the patriots of Ohio to suppre.s.s the raids 
of the guerrilla, Morgan, in the State, he was 
one that immediately responded and re- 
mained in the ser\'ice until all danger was 
over, when he was honorably discharged. 
Mrs. Harris still survives, having passed her 
seventy-eighth birthday on March 1, 1907, 
and she resides in the fine home which her 
husband built at Copley. 

Mrs. Harris was married September 14, 
1849. and her happy married life covered 
fiftv-six vears. The familv consisted of nine 



children, namely: Mrs. Belle Unger, resid- 
ing at Averill, Michigan: Mrs. Mary Hoertz; 
Rev. Joseph J., who is pastor of the Dis- 
ciples Church at Marion, Illinois; John, de- 
ceased in infancy; Mrs. Elizabeth Shook, re- 
siding at Helena, Montana; Eliza J., residing 
at Copley with her mother; Charles F., re- 
siding at Loyal Oak; Mrs. Alice S. Fried, 
rcisiding at Blake, Ohio, and Andrew J., re- 
siding at Copley. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hoertz have two children, 
Ada Alljerta and Harry Ernest. Ada Al- 
berta married Carman Seiberling of Wads- 
worth, where he operates a grocery store. 
They have four children— Ernest Allen, 
Harold Robert, Helen Mary and James 
Larin. Mrs. Seiberling is an educated, cul- 
tured lady. She graduated from the Nortnn 
Center High School and sub.sequently taught 
school for two years, one term in' Norton and 
the rest at Kruinroy, Springfield Township. 
Harry Ernest also graduated from the Nor- 
ton Center High School and the Actual 
Business College, at Akron, and is a member 
of the office force of the Goodrich Rubber 
Company, at Akron. 

To dispose of the products of his farm , Mr. 
Hoertz runs a wagon to Barberton at stated 
intervals, and sometimes even sells at Akron. 
He is an active, interested citizen and has 
served as a member of the School Board of 
Norton Township. He is a member of the 
Pathfinders. Mr. and Mrs. Hoertz belong to 
the Wabash Avenue Disciples Church, at 
Akron. 

W. H. HUNT, of the firm of Hunt & AVig- 
lej', general contractors, at Akron, is a man 
of large experience in his line of work and 
hiis been a resident of the city in which so 
much of it is in evidence, for the past twenty- 
eight years. Mr. Hunt was born in Lanca.stcr- 
shire, England, in 1860, and lived there un- 
til he was eighteen years of age. In 1878, he 
came to America, settling in Akron, where 
he thoroughly learned the brick- and stone- 
mason's trade. He was located for some five 
years subsequently in New York city, during 
which time he was engaged in general con- 



652 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tracting. After his return to Akron he con- 
tinued in the same line of industry, working 
alone for some years, and later admitting J. 
Wigley to partnership, the firm name of Hunt 
& Wigley then being assumed. During his 
nearly twenty years of contracting at Alcron, 
he has executed a large amount of important 
work, including the erection of great build- 
ings used for business, school and residence 
purposes His first large contract was the 
Doyle Block, which was followed by the 
Walsh Block and by other buildings of a sub- 
stantial character, more or less ornate as their 
uses demanded. His work has stood the most 
satisfactory tests, and each succeeding job has 
added to his reputation as an honorable and 
capable business man. He is the owner of 
the National Biscuit Block, which he leases 
to the National Biscuit Company, and of the 
Hardware & Supply Warehouse, Avhich he 
leases to the Hardware & Supply Company. 
He also owns a block at No. 63 Market Street. 
In 1880, Mr. Hunt was married to Mary 
McGowan, of Akron, and they have seven 
surviving children, namely: Annie, who mar- 
ried Arthur Wales, residing at Akron ; and 
Mary, .James, William, Margaret, Edward 
and Ellen, all residing at home. Mr. Hunt's 
business address is No. 35 North Maple Street, 
Akron. 

NELSON W. FENN, a prominent farmer 
and dairyman of Tallmadge Township, was 
born October 23, 1847, in Tallmadge Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Treat and Harriet (Bierce) Fenn. 

In 1818, Richard Fenn, the grandfather of 
Nelson W., brought his family from Connect- 
icut and purchased a farm of 200 1-2 acres 
in Tallmadge Township, now in Summit but 
then in Portage County. The maternal grand- 
father, Philo Bierce, was an early settler in 
Nelson Township, Portage County, coming 
there also from Connecticut. 

Tieat Fenn was born in Connecticut and 
\.as about fourteen years of age when his }iar- 
ents came to Ohio, and he was reared on the 
home farm in Tallmadge Township. He was 
married three times, (first) to Harriet Bierce, 



who died when Nelson W. was an infant, and 
(second) to Rachel Fuller Baldwin, who died 
in 1856. In 1861 he was married (third) 
to Florilla Wright, who is also deceived. Mr. 
Fenn died November 24, 1886, aged eighty- 
two years. Of his eight children, seven were 
born to his first marriage. 

Nelson W. Fenn has resided all his life 
on the present farm, which is a part of the 
old homestead purchased by his grandfather. 
He attended the local schools and has made 
farming and dairying his main occupations, 
and keeps from eighteen to twenty cows to 
carry on the latter industry. He is numbered 
with the township's substantial and represent- 
ative citizens. 

In 1885, Mr. Fenn was married to Mary 
Gunsualis, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and 
they have one daughter, Irene. They have 
an adopted son, Oliver Fenn. 

In politics Mr. Fenn is identified with the 
Republican party. He and wife are members 
of the Congregational Church. 

HARVEY THORNTON, a representative 
agriculturalist who is carrying on farming 
on a part of the old Thornton homestead, a 
100-aere tract of fine land situated in the 
northeastern corner of Franklin Township, 
was born in the brick house located just across 
the channel from his present residence, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, March 20, 1876, and is a 
son of Aaron Thornton. 

Samuel Thornton, the grandfather of Har- 
vey, was one of the first settlers of this dis- 
trict, where at one time he owned 800 acres 
of land, 200 of which is now South Akron. 
He donated a large amount of land to Ak- 
ron, including Thornton Street and Pleasant 
Park. In his latter years he removed from 
his farm in Franklin Township to Akron, 
where his death took place. His widow re- 
sides at Akron, aged eighty years. 

Aaron Thornton, father of Harvey, was born 
in Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
on his father's farm, which he made his home 
until 1893, when he removed to Akron. His 
wife, who is a native of Snyder County, Penn- 
,sylvania, came to Franklin Township, in girl- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



653 



liuudj oil u visil tu litT sister. Her father died 
wheu she was an infant. Here she met Mr. 
Thornton, wlioni she later married. Three 
children were born to this union: May, who 
died in childhood; Harvey; and Bessie, who 
married Russell Robison of Akron. 

Harvey Thornton remained on the home, 
farm in Franklin Township until he was six- 
teen years of age, when he removed with the 
family to Akron, where he assisted his fath- 
er in a coal business, until his marriage. He 
then settled on his present farm, where he 
has followed farming and threshing ever 
since, with the exception of a short period, 
when he engaged in a grocery business at Ak- 
ron. He has been an active citizen and tak- 
en an interest in township affairs. In 1901 
he served in the office of road supervisor and 
at present is a school director. Mr. Thornton 
and family belong to the Lutheran Church. 

On January 5, 1898, Mr. Thornton mar- 
ried Bertha Diehl, and they have three chil- 
dren, namely; Floyd, Fern and Robert. The 
parents of Mrs. Thornton are AVilliam and 
Eliza (Diehl) Diehl, residents of Barberton. 
They have the following children : Hattie, 
who married Charles Swigart, residing in 
Franklin Township ; Edward, who resides at 
East Liberty ; Curtis, who resides at Barber- 
ton ; Bertha, who is the wife of Harvey Thorn- 
ton ; and Wallace, who lives at Barberton. 
William Diehl was born in Pennsylvania and 
his wife in Stark County, Ohio. They were 
prominent residents of Franklin Township for 
many years, Imt in 1904 removed to Barber- 
ton. 

.T. V. CLEAVER, M. D., physician and sur- 
geon, of Akron, who probably stands at the 
head of the medical profession in Summit 
County, and whose reputation as a surgeon ex- 
tends all over Ohio, was born June 13, 1858, 
at East Bethlehem, Washington County, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of John T. and 
Pleasant H. (Hill) Cleaver. 

The Cleavers have been known in Penn^vl- 
vania .since 1682, when the German founder 
of the family settled there. John Cleaver, 
grandfather of the doctor, was a pioneer of 



Washington County, Pennsylvania. He 
reared a large family, some members of which 
became distniguished. One of his sons, 
Hiram, became a professor in the medical 
college at Keokuk, Iowa, and his son, John, 
a physician. James IL, another grandson, 
also a physician, was elected to the office of 
mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and a third 
son, Eli B., served in the Ohio State Legisla- 
ture. 

John I. Cleaver, father of Dr. Cleaver, spent 
his whole life as an agriculturist and sheep- 
raiser in Washington County. He married 
Pleasant Hill, whose ancestor.-; — paternal and 
maternal — came from Ireland and Scotland 
respectively, and they had four children, 
namely: Etta, Avho died in childhood; J. V. 
Cleaver, M. D., whose name begins this sketch; 
Solon H., who died in childhood; and Isaac 
N., who is in business at Indianapolis, In- 
diana, in the Archibald Cleaver Companj*. 

After finishing the public school course in 
Washington County, the subject of this sketch 
took a course in the Southwest Normal School 
in the same county. He then spent four years 
in teaching. During this time he was quietly 
reading medicine under the direction of Dr. 
Q. C. Farquhar, and also found time to serve 
as clerk to the county treasurer. He subse- 
(juently entered the medical department of 
the University of Pennsylvania, and had the 
advantage of receiving the special instruction 
of Dr. Agnew, who was probably one of the 
most skilled surgeons of the day. He was 
graduated from the LTniversity as M. D., May 
2, 1887. Deciding to locate in Akron, he 
came here and entered an office with Dr. 
Thomas McEbright, with whom he remained 
one year. Since then Dr. Cleaver has prac- 
ticed alone, and for some years has devoted 
himself mostly to surgery. He is a member 
of the American Medical A.ssociation, the 
State Medical Association, the Union Medical 
Association of the Sixth Councilor District, 
this state; the Mississippi Valley Medical As- 
sociation, and the Summit County Medical 
Society, to all of which he has contributed 
carefully prepared papers on medical and sur- 
gical subjects. Dr. Cleaver's modern-equipped 



654 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



offices are located in the Quaker OaU; Build- 
ing. 

On October 24, 1894, Dr. Cleaver was mar- 
ried at Akron to Mabel Wagoner, who i» a 
daughter of Captain xVaron Wagoner, and 
they have one child, Josephine. The family 
home is at No. 605 West Market Street. Politi- 
cally Br. Cleaver is a Republican. He ha^ 
served both as city physician and inlirmary 
physician. Fraternally he is ccnnected with 
the Odd Fellows. He is also a member of the 
Akron Medical Club. 

JOHN T. BRITTAIN, a leading citizen of 
Springfield Township, where he owns 135 
acres of valuable land, was born in Columbia 
County, Pennsylvania, August 6, 1823, and 
is a son of John and Margaret (Albertson) 
Brittain. 

The mother of Mr. Brittain died when he 
was eight years of age. In 1832 his father 
came to Summit County, Ohio, and settled on 
the farm on which his son, John T. Brittain, 
resides, a property which has been owned by 
father and son for seventy-five years. At the 
time John Brittain located in Springfield, not 
a house had yet been built at Akron, and only 
a sparse population was scattered over the 
township. Neither schools nor churdies had 
been established, but Mr. Brittain and his 
brother soon aroused enough interest to have 
a schoolhouse erected, this being the first one 
in Springfield Township. The first house 
built on the Brittain farm was destroyed by 
fire, and was replaced by 'the one which still 
stands, in which John Brittain died in 1857. 

There were eight children born to John and 
Margaret Brittain, four sons and four daugh- 
ters, namely: Henry, Zebrith, Jane, Eliza- 
beth, Margaret, John T., Matilda, and a son 
that died in infancy, in Pennsylvania. All 
the other members of the family reached ma- 
turity. John T. Brittain is the only survivor. 
John Brittain was married (second) in 1834, 
to a member of the Gaynor family, which was 
one of the first to settle in Springfield Town- 
ship. 

John T. Brittain ha.- had possession of his 
present farm since the dcnlli nf hi- father. 



His life has been mainly devoted to agricul- 
tural pursuits and his industry has brought 
him independence. For some yeai's he oper- 
ated a blacksmith's shop and for three years 
was in the fire clay industry, carrying on these 
industries on his farm. He retains 135 acres 
of the original farm, having disposed of fifty- 
six acres some time since. 

Mr. Brittain has been married twice (first), 
to Hannah Rodgers, who was born in Geauga 
County, Ohio, whose parents were natives of 
Connecticut. To this union were born four 
children: Amanda, John G., Sarah and Han- 
nali. The eldest daughter married Wesley 
Corp, of Northampton, and all of their four 
children have married. John G., named for 
both father and grandfather, married Au- 
gusta Dennis and they reside in the Sixth 
Ward, East Akron. During the Civil War 
he served as a member of the Fourth Ohio 
Battery. Sarah married Herman Newbower 
and they have two children. Hannah mar- 
ried Thomas Gilcrist, and they reside at Hart- 
ville, where he is engaged in celery growing. 

Mr. Brittain w"as married (second) to Cath- 
erine Potts, who died June 22, 1906, aged 
seventy-four years. She was a daughter of 
Israel Potts and was a woman of most estima- 
ble character, one who was much beloved by 
all who came within her kindly ministrations. 
There were six children born to this marriage, 
as follows: Olive, who married W. S. Rhodes, 
residing at Kent ; Lemuel, who married Carrie 
Brunil)augh, residing with Mr. Brittain; 
Alice, who married Charles Kohler, residing 
in Indiana ; Cora, who married Harry Har- 
rington, residing at Twin Lakes ; and Edith, 
who married L. Ewart. Mrs. Ewart is the 
only one of Mr. Brittain's children who is 
decea.sed. His family record is a very re- 
markable one, as he has thirty grandchildren 
and forty great-grandchildren and death has 
invaded the family but once. 

Mr. Brittain cast his first presidential vote 
for Henry Clay, in 1844, and has supported 
every candidate of the Republican party since 
the birth of this organization. He has al- 
ways taken a deep interest in national affairs 
and in local good government and has been 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



(355 



ready to do hirf full duty ou every occasion. 
For about thirty years lie served as a member 
of the township School Board, and for a num- 
ber of years as township trustee. 

THOMAS HALE,, one of Springfield Town- 
ship's substantial men and leading citizens, 
residing on his well-improved farm of 110 
acres, has lived on this place for the past forty- 
two years and has acquired property at other 
points, including thirty-five acres near Moga- 
dore and 111 acre.s in Suflield Township, Por- 
tage County. 

Thomas Hale was born in Springfield 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 22, 
1839, and is a son of Austin M. and Samantha 
(Bellows) Hale. Austin M. Hale was born 
also in Springfield Township, in 1814, on 
what was known as the Christ place, and was 
a son of Thomas and Laura (Moore) Hale. 
The Hale family is of Welsh extraction, but 
the first Samuel Hale of whom there is record, 
settled at Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1637, 
sailing from an English port as a resident 
of Glastonbury. He acquired nmch land and 
a part of it has always remained in the Hale 
family. The old homestead which has been 
kept for 250 years is the property of J. H. 
Hale, who also owns great peach orchards in 
Georgia, and is a man of large capital. 

The Samuel Hale who came to the Western 
Resen'e from Groton, Connecticut, was the 
great-grandfather of Thomas Hale of Spring- 
field Township. He was a member of the 
Connecticut Land Company and owned as his 
share, 5.000 acres of land and there are mem- 
bers of the family in the fifth generation, who 
still possess a portion of this. Great-grand- 
father Samuel Hale married Abigail Austin, 
who belonged to the old Austin family of 
Connecticut, which subsequently established 
great powder mills at Akron and Cleveland. 
Samuel and Abigail Hale had four sons and 
one daughter, the latter of whom became the 
wife of Martin Kent, who was one of the 
earliest settlers of Suffield Township, Portage 
County. The four sons were: Samuel, who 
married a member of the old Gaylord fam- 
ily: Thomas, who married Laura Moore; 



Orestes and Josiah, both of whom were acci- 
dentally killed. 

Thomas Hale, grandfather of Thomas Hale 
of Springfield Township, lived on what was 
known as the Kent farm. He died in 1839, 
aged fifty-six years. He married Laura 
Moore, who died in 1864, aged seventy-three 
years. They had one son, Austin M., who 
died in 1889, aged seventy-four years. He 
married Samantha Bellows, who was born in 
Albany County, New York, and came to Ohio 
with her father, Ephraim Bellows, who was 
born at Groton, Connecticut. The mother of 
Mrs. Hale died when she was only eleven days 
old. The surviving children of Austin M. 
and Samantha Hale are: Thomas; Laura, 
who married Henry Stahl, residing at Hud- 
son, have two surviving children, Howard, 
who is engaged in the banking business at 
Cleveland; and Mary, who married Frank 
Huff, residing at Mogadore, has two children. 
Albert, of the above family, died in October, 
1903, aged fifty-eight years. He maried Ella 
Smith, of Suffield Tow-nship, and they had 
a family of five children. Austin M. Hale 
was married (second) to Laura Brown, a 
daughter of one of the early settlers, and they 
had one daughter, Nellie, who married Rev. 
J). D. Fennel, a minister of the Disciples 
Church, and they live on the old homestead 
in Springfield Township, Summit County, 
where Samuel Hale, the great-grandfather set- 
tled when an old man and where he died in 
1809. 

In 1827, his son Thomas Hale removed to 
Springfield Township, Summit County, this 
being two years after the great wind storm 
which had swept through Springfield and in- 
to Brimfield Township, Portage County. It 
cut a swath one-quarter of a mile in width, 
practically destroying miles of valuable tim- 
ber. Great barricades of logs lay in this path 
for the following fifty years and Mr. Hale has 
seen these logs and has also conversed with 
the venerable Mr?. Sax, who witnessed the 
havoc made by this unusual deinonstration 
of nature's forces. No one was seriously in- 
jured, this being easily explained by the fact 
that the country was then so sparsely settled. 



05(i 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



but iiiaiiy historic events are dated "from the 
year of the great storm." Mr. Hale has seen 
one of the great forest trees which escaped 
destruction, on which his grandfather, 
Thomas Hale, had carved his name and the 
date of 1828. 

Thomas Hale, of Springfield Township, 
was reared among pioneer conditions. He at- 
tended school sixty-three years ago in a lit- 
tle house in Mogadore, which was subsequent- 
ly moved to a farm to do duty as a barn, and 
the old door, which so often opened to admit 
the );are-footed little boys and girls of his child- 
hood to their more or less unwelcome ta.sks over 
book and slate, still swings true on its hinges. 
In 1847-8 a new schoolhoiLse was built at Mo- 
gadore, and it probably was considered the 
acme of modern construction and convenience, 
and Mr. Hale remembers being on hand 
bright and early on the morning of the first 
session, in 1848, in order to have a first choice 
of seat. This schoolhouse still stands. 

Mr. Hale assisted his father on the farm 
and in setting out a large amount of nursery 
stock. Austin M. Hale took a great deal of 
interest in growing fruit and for a number 
of years conducted a business which was con- 
sidered a satisfactory one at that time, in the 
line of raising fruit and other trees, imder 
the firm name of A. M. Hale & Sons. When 
he married he was residing on the farm on 
which he was born, on the Akron and Moga- 
dore road, but afterward moved to the farm 
on which, as mentioned above, he has lived 
for forty-two years. This land was the old 
Sax farm, Martin Sax, the first settler, having 
lived here all his life. The residence, which 
Mr. Hale has remodeled and added to, was 
built by the son of Mr. Sax. Mr. Hale has 
continued to make improvements and in 1892 
he completed the erection of his substantial 
barn, which has dimensions of 40 l)y 60 feet. 
He retains 110 acres in his home farm, which 
he devotes mainly to wheat growing, and has 
sold thirty-two acres to the Granite Clay Com- 
pany and some land to the Colonial Brick 
Company. His other land, in Mogadore and 
in Portage County, i.= all very valuable. 

In 186.'), Mr. Hale married Emilv HufT. 



who is a daugliter of James and ^^'ilhelmina 
(Erdley) Hutf, who came from Pennsylvania 
and settled in the southern part of Springfield 
Township, moving later to the Siix farm, 
which they purchased. Mr. and Mrs. Hale 
have two children, Alice and Frederick. The 
former married Rev. G. T. Norris and they 
reside "at Marlboro and have two sons, Wen- 
dell and Paul. Frederick Hale is a mechan- 
ical engineer in the employ of the Westing- 
house Company and is stationed at Wilkins- 
burg, Pennsylvania. Pie received his primary 
education at Mogadore and then entered the 
Ohio University and took a course in mechan- 
ical engineering, making a specialty of gas 
engines. He is still a young man but has 
attained to a fine position with the Westing- 
house people. He married Jennie Hartman. 
of Ashtabula County, and they have had four 
children : Genevieve, Marguerite, Harriet, 
and a son, who is deceased. In politics, 
Thomas Hale was reared a Republican, but 
in local matters, votes independently. With 
his wife he belongs to the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church at Mogadore. 

HIRAM C. HENRY, senior member of the 
firm of Henry & Patterson, dealers in lumber 
and general contractors, at Akron, with busi- 
ness location at No. 282 Torrey Street, has 
been engaged in contracting for the past 
twenty-six years and is generally recognized 
as one of the ablest and most reliable men in 
his line, in this city. Mr. Henry was born 
in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1848, was 
reared and educated in his native place and 
learned the carpenter and mill-wright trade 
with his father, the late Samuel Henry. 

In 1871 he 'came to Akron and for some 
eight years worked as a mill-wright, building 
mills for the Schumackers, and paper mills 
for other parties, continuing work also as a 
carpenter, and gradually drifting into con- 
tracting, which later became his main inter- 
est. It is estimated that Mr. Henry has pro- 
ably done a larger amount of building here 
than any other individual contractor, For 
the past fourteen vears he has also been han- 
dling lumber, and tlH> firm of ITenrv & Patter- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



657 



son operates a planing mill in connection with 
their other work. The firm wa^ established 
in February, 1907. Mr. Henry employs from 
twelve to twenty men and divides them into 
three gangs. He gives his personal attention 
to all his contracts and has been careful to 
keep up the standard which he established 
when he first started into bu.siness. 

In 1873, Mr. Henrj* was married to Eliza- 
beth Weeks, of Trumbull .County. He and 
his wife have two children : Carrie, who mar- 
ried P. H. Baldwin, of Newark, New Jersey ; 
and Bertha M., who married Arthur Richards, 
of Akron, Ohio. Mr. Henry is a member of 
the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Ak- 
ron, and for twenty years has served on its 
official board. 

BENJAMIN HART, a representative citi- 
zen of Springfield Township, where he owns 
a fine, well-improved farm of -eighty acres, 
has been a resident of the village of Moga- 
dore since 1902. Mr. Hart was born June 5, 
1832, and is a son of Jesse and Freelove 
(Ive.s) Hart. 

Mr. Hart belongs to an old and honorable 
pioneer family of New England stock, his 
ancestors having been among the first settlers 
of Springfield Township and among the very 
early residents of Summit County, coming 
here a few years after the admission of Ohio 
as a .state. 

Jesse Hart, father of Benjamin, was born 
in Connecticut, in 1773, and died in Summit 
County, Ohio, July 18, 1868, aged ninety- 
four years. When twenty-eight years of age 
he married Esther Warner, in Connecticut, 
and they had the following children : Worthy, 
who wa« born March 12, 1808 ; Amy, who was 
born January 29, 1805; Esther, who was born 
•Tanuary 15, 1808 ; Patience, who was born 
April 10, 1809 ; and Welcome, who was born 
February 19, 1811. The mother of these 
children died March 28, 1811. Jesse Hart 
was married (second) also in Connecticut to 
Freelove Ives, September 15, 1811. She wa.s 
born in Vermont and died in Summit Countv. 
Ohio. November 7, 1863, The children of 
Je.sse and Freelove Hart were: Louisa, who 



was born August 2, 1812, married Homer 
Root; Jesse, who was born April 27, 1813, 
married Rachel Richards; Phoebe, who was 
born September 17, 1816, married Otis Merri- 
man ; George, who was born October 22, 1818, 
married (first) Eliza Nelson, and (second) 
Mrs. Lizzie (Hile) Bean; Elizabeth, who was 
born October 18, 1821, married John Hixon; 
Amos, who was born April 28, 1824, died 
from an accident, when two years of age; 
Harriet, who was born August 27, 1826, mar- 
ried (first) William Chapman, and (second) 
John Smith ; Sarah, who was born August 1, 
1828, married (first) Joseph Conrad, and 
(second) Robert Fisher; and Benjamin, who 
was born June 5, 1832, the youngest of a fam- 
ily of fourteen children. 

"^In 1812, Jesse Hart left Conecticut with 
his family and made the journey to Summit 
County, Ohio, in covered wagons, bringing 
along many household treasures, and probably, 
as did many other early settlers, his cows and 
horses. He settled on what became known 
as the Hart homestead, in Springfield Town- 
ship, west of Logtown, where the remainder 
of his life was pa.ssed. He found only a small 
portion of the land cleared, heavy timber cov- 
ering the balance, and it required years for 
himself and sons to cut down this timber, 
blacken and then grub out the stumps and 
I)lace it all under cultivation. His experience 
was that of other pioneer settlers, a little easier 
in his case because he possessed more ample 
means than many others. His older chil- 
dren, however, were all daughters and years 
I)assed before his sons could materiallj' assist 
in the heavy labor. He first erected a log 
house of fair dimensions, and in this the fam- 
ily lived and increa.sed for ten years. About 
1822. he erected a .substantial brick house, in 
which he lived until he died and which still 
remains on the farm in habitable condition. 
In all that went to promote the civilization 
of this section and to advance the welfare of 
the community in which he had been an 
early pioneer. -lesse Hart was a man to be de- 
f>ended upon. He lived to witness wonderful 
changes in tlie country to which he had come 
so early, and on which he left an imj)ress on 



658 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



account of his sterling character. The Hart 
connections are found all over this section, 
almost all of his children having married and 
left descendants. 

Benjamin Hart was born in the brick house 
above mentioned and resided in it until 1892. 
His education was obtained in the early dis- 
trict schools near his home and he enjoyed 
one term's instruction at a private school in 
Mogadore. He continued to cultivate the 
patrimonial farm until 1892, when he passed 
it on to his children and grandchildren and 
at last the old place was sold, but it is still 
called the old Hart homestead. In 1892, Mr. 
Hart moved from the old farm, which con- 
tained 150 acres, to a farm of eighty acres, 
which he purchased of R. L. Ewart, and that 
farm he occupied and operated until he 
moved to Mogadore, in 1902. 

On November 15, 1855, Benjamin Hart 
was married to Mary L. Meacham, who is a 
daughter of Benjamin and Prudence (Force) 
Meacham. Benjamin Meacham was born in 
Connecticut, came as an early settler to Sum- 
mit County, and lived in both Tallmadge and 
Springfield Townships. The mother of Mrs. 
Hart died when she was two years old, but 
her father survived some forty years. The 
children born to Benjamin and Mary L, Hart 
were the following: Alice, Clara, Mary L., 
Sarah L., Wilbur Judd, and Raymond, Alice, 
who married Clark AVoolf, resides in Spring- 
field Township, and they have three children. 
May, Mahlon and Bessie. Clara, deceased, 
married Edward Daugherty, and at death, 
December 12. 1886, left two sons, James Ben- 
jamin, who has become a prominent citizen 
of New Berlin, and Irvin Garfield, who is a 
succes.«ful dentist residing at New Berlin. 
May L., who married Homer L. Hudson, 
October 7, 1882, died September 7, 1888, 
leaving one daughter. Clara Louise; Sarah L., 
was married August 27, 1885, to Amos K. 
Douglas and they have four children, Rosa- 
mond. Ray Hayes, Ethel and Helen. Wilbur 
,Tudd Hart was married .Tune 3. 1890, to Viola 
Funt, and they have eight children, Jennie, 
James, Edith, Clara, Gertrude. Trvin (de- 
ceased), Elwood. and Florence V, Wilbur 



Judd Hart is engaged in farming in Tall- 
madge Township, Raymond Hart, the 
youngest member of the family, conducts a 
meat-market at Mogadore, On October 14, 
1900, he married Mrs, Maggie (Flick) Kline. 

Benjamin Hart has been a life-long Repub- 
lican and was a strong supporter of the policies 
of the late Governor Pattison. He has always 
been a vigorous fighter for the cause of tem- 
perance and lives up to his convictions. He 
has never used into.xicants nor tobacco, and in 
the vigor of his seventy-five years may be 
read an excellent and convincing temperance 
lecture. 

Mr. Hart is one of the prominent and sub- 
stantial men of this part of Summit County, 
not only on account of his material posses- 
sions, but for the sturdy qualities and sterling 
attributes which have marked the family 
name. The years have touched him kindly, 
silvering his hair but leaving his heart young. 
In the friendly clasp of his hand and the 
hearty sound of his voice is a cheer that 
speaks of a well regulated life, a clear past and 
a hopeful future. 

ROSSEAU HESS, proprietor of the Ak- 
ron Nurseries, which are located on B^itler 
.\ venue, North Hill, and include seven and 
on&-half acres, was bom in Guilford Town- 
ship, Medina County, Ohio, July .30, 1865, 
a.nd is a son of Henry and Charity (Howe) 
Hess. 

When Ro-;seau He.«s was eight years of age. 
his father, who was a blacksmith by trade, 
moved to Akron, and the son enjoyed excel- 
lent school advantages there. Subsequently, 
he attended Buchtel College and later en- 
gaged for some years in teaching school, be- 
ginning in Geiauga County, Later he became 
principal of the schools at Frontenac, Kan- 
sas, and from there went t-o Montana, where 
he taught school for three years on a govern- 
ment resen-ation. When Mr. Hess returned 
to .\kron, he became secretary and treas- 
urer of the Akron Soap Company for one 
year, and for two following years conducted 
a roofing bu.siness under the firm name of 
Kasch & He=s. When he .sold out his inter- 




DAVID J. THOMAS 



AND RErRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



661 



est in this concern, he embarked in his pres- 
ent line. Mr. Hess makes a specialty of or- 
namental trees, shrubbery of all kinds and 
perennial plants. He employs five agents and 
is doing a large business. His natural bent 
led him into landscape gardening, and dur- 
ing the eight years in which he has been in 
the nursery business, he has done a large 
amount of work in this line, being the only 
landscape gardener at Akron. He is frequent- 
ly called to different parts of the county to 
lav out grounds around country houses. 

On May 26, 1892, Mr. Hess was married 
to Mamie Rockwell, Miho is a daughter of 
Dr. J. W. and Elvira (Van Evera) Rockwell. 
Dr. Rockwell is one of the leading phvsicians 
of Akron. Mrs. Rockwell died July 20, 1907. 
Her father, Reinhardt ^^an Evera, operated 
for many years the old stage coach hotel at 
Copley Center. Later he became proprietor 
of the old E.rchanyi' Hotel, at Akron, and, 
after it Inirned down, he bought a farm in 
Tallmadge Township, but later returned to 
Akron. He died at the home of his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Peterson, who is the mother-in-law 
of Hon. Charles Dick. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hess have two children : 
Hazel R. and J. Ro.ss. Mr. He.ss belongs to 
the Modern Woodmen and the Odd Fellows. 

DAA'ID .1. THOMAS, coal dealer, at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, is an honored survivor of the 
great Civil War, from which he safely 
emerged after many thrilling adventures and 
innumerable dangers and hardships. Mr. 
Thomas was born at Palmyra, Portage 
County. Ohio, March 14, 1841, and is a son 
of .Tohn and Anna (Rees) Thomas. 

John Thoma«, his father, was born in 
Wales, came to America in 1835, and died 
on the farm which he had cleared from the 
\-irgin forest, in Portage County, when aged 
seventy years. Prior to emigrating he had 
met with an accident which nece.«sitated the ■ 
amputation of a leg, and, as typical of his 
character and showing his physical courage, 
lie calmly watched the surgeon at his work, 
disdaining to even deaden his sen.ses with the 
alcohol, which, at that time, was the only 



Tnerciful help known in surgery. Although 
disabled, he held his own with men who had 
more advantages, and in addition to clearing 
up his pioneer fai'm and carrying on its 
cultivation, he worked as a blacksmith and 
was employed in this line on the old Ohio 
and Pennsylvania Canal. After coming to 
America he became interested in politics, and 
up to the time of the formation of the Re- 
publican party, was a strong Whig, later giv- 
ing active supporti to the new organization, 
and for years was one of the two Repub- 
licans in his township. He married Anna 
Rees, who died in 1867, aged seventy-one 
years, and they had ten children, namely: 
Sarah, now deceased, who married Da\'id 
Williams; Rees, deceased; Ann, who married 
Henry Harris, both being now decea.sed; 
Margaret, who married Evan Hughes, of 
Braymer, Mi.ssouri ; David J., John, decea.sed; 
Martha, who married David Jenkins, both of 
whom are deceased, and three others that died 
in infancy. 

David J. Thomas remained at home assistr 
ing in the farming, until he was nineteen 
years of age. He attended the district school, 
had one year's instruction in the High 
School, and then went to Tallmadge, where 
he worked in the coal mines until 1862. 
Early in this year, Mr. Thomas enlisted for 
service in Company C, 115th Regiment. Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, with which organization 
he .«erved in the Civil War for three years, 
lacking a month. This re.giment was kept 
actively engaged and Mr. Thomas took part 
in all its movements until he was taken pris- 
oner at Lavergne, Tennessee, during Greneral 
Hood's raid on Nashville. After ten days, 
with two other members of the regiment, he 
escaped, and a recital of the way in which 
this was managed is very interesting. 

The weather at this time was very cold and 
the prisoners were guarded in the Court 
House at Columbia, Tennes.«ee, in which they 
huddled around one little fire which was to- 
tally inadequate for the .«pace it was supposed 
to heat. The Union prisoners were sent out 
to gather the wood to burn and these expe- 
ditions gave them the opportunity to learn 



062 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the lay of the land and to secure other in- 
formation necessary in effecting their escape, 
which was foremost in the minds of all. 

Mr. Thomas remembers saying to his fel- 
low prisoners, on the day of capture: "If 
tliey get me to Andersonville, they are 
smarter than I think they are," and to this 
significant remark Samuel Perry replied: 
"Davie, I am with you," and they shook 
hands on it, meaning that each one should 
watch for an opportunity and follow up any 
advantage gained. The other comrade, James 
Cassidy, soon joined in the compact, all three 
deciding to stand together. While the pris- 
oners were stamping about the room, in this 
way trying to keep up a circulation, Mr. 
Thomas and his companions were able to 
secretly remove the nails from a barricaded 
door, which happened to be imguarded, and 
they managed to place their blankets on the 
floor right by this door, pretending to go to 
sleep there, but they were never more wide 
awake. The night guard became drowsy, and 
Cassidy managed to slip the cap from his 
gun, in this way preventing his sihooting if 
he awakened while they were getting awaj'. 
As all preparations had been made to take 
the prisoners to Andersonville, Mr. Thomas 
and his comrades felt there was no time to 
be last. In the afternoon they had all been 
given full rations. As Mr. Thomas and his 
two friends slipped out, he threw his blanket, 
for which he had swapped his overcoat, over 
his .shoulders, a common practice among the 
thinly-clad Confederates, and picking up an 
old musket, which was really entirely use- 
less, he marched his two comrades, appar- 
ently prisoner.'^, down the street in front of 
him. It was a daring venture, the night be- 
ing one of bright moonlight, l)ut the ruse 
was never suspected by the many Confed- 
erate soldiers whom they passed, and on and 
on they went, cro-ssing rivers and barely es- 
caping capture on many occasions. Once 
they came face to face with a Confederate 
officer, .whom they had thought was a Union 
man, but escaped from him, although fired 
on a number of times. On another occasion 
they just, got over a fence in time to escape 



a marching regiment of Confederates. They 
suffered, greatly from the drenching rains 
and from fording creeks where the water 
came up to their armpits, the intensely cold 
weather hut adding to their misery. By 
means of a compass which they had secured 
through trading an overcoat, they were able 
to shape their course, traveling by night and 
secretiHg themselves by day. On one occar 
sion they overheard one man tell another, 
unconscious that three half-famished Union 
soldiers were lying behind the cedar log by 
the roadside, the good news that the Con- 
federates were retreating from Nashville. Be- 
fore the conversation ended, a third man 
joined the others, and the horse he rode came 
so near Mr. Thomas that the latter thought 
every moment his brains would be crushed 
out by his hoofs. Not daring to make a 
motion, Mr. Thomas thinks that ten or fif- 
teen minutes was about the most perilous of 
his life. Under such circumstances Mr. 
Thomas and his comradas managed to make 
their way to a point three miles back of La- 
vergne, where they met kind treatment from 
a Mr. Austin, who hid them for .several days, 
and in the meantime their locality was 
brought within the Union lines. Ever since 
the close of the war, these three old veterans 
have held an annual reunion, and it is a 
privilege indeed, when one of the younger 
generation is permitted to hear this story 
from the lips of the participants. Mr. 
Thomas is a member of Eddy Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic. 

After the close of his army service, Mr. 
Thomas returned to Tallmadge, where he 
lived until the fall of 1867, when he came 
to Cuyahoga Falls and embarked in the gro- 
cery business, in partnerehip mth John I. 
Jones, under the firm name of Jones and 
Thomas. Fourteen months later, Mr. 
Thomas sold his interest and started a pot- 
tery opposite his present coal office, where, 
in partnership wiih his brother, R. J. 
Thomas, he engaged in the manufacture of 
all kinds of stoneware, under the firm name 
of Thomas Bros. Until the plant was de- 
stroyed by fire, .several years later, the firm 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



663 



did a large business. Mr. Thomas then 
opened up his coal office, which is the oldest 
coal business in ithe town, and his yards are 
favorably located just opposite the wire mill. 

Mr. Thomas married Ruth Williams, who 
is a daughter of William H. Williams. She 
was born in Walas, where her mother died, 
and she was five years old when she and a sis- 
ter were brought to America by her brother- 
in-law and her sister. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
have had seven children, the four to reach 
maturity being: Ella, who married William 
Graham, residing at Akron; Elizabeth, who 
married Dr. L. J. Kehres, residing at Cleve- 
land; Sarah Jo.sephine, deceased, and Tracy 
David, residing at Ma.ssillon. Mrs. Thomas is 
a member of the Congregational Church. 

Politically, Mr. Thomas is identified with 
the Republican party, and he ha'* served some 
seven years as a member of the School Board 
at Cuyahoga Falls, and one term in the Town 
Council. He is one of the directoi-s of the 
Agricultural Society. 

JOHN GIRDEN BRITTAIN, a represent- 
ative member of one of the honorable old 
families of Springfield Township, which has 
been established here for a period of seventy- 
five years, was born .June 16, 1847, in Spring- 
field Township, Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a .son of John Thomas and Hannah 
(Rodgers) Brittain. 

John T. Brittain, residing on his farm of 
135 acres, in Springfield Township, wa.s born 
in Pennsylvania in 1823, and was about 
seven years of age when he accompanied his 
father, John Brittain, to Ohio. He has been 
married twice, and has had ten childi'en, 
thirty grand<^ihildren and forty great-grand- 
children, and in this large family, up to the 
present writing, there has been but one 
death, a remarkable proof of vitality. Mr. 
Brittain has long l)een regarded as one of the 
mast substantial men of his community. 

John G. Brittain was the second eldest and 
only son born to his father's fii^st man-iage, 
there being three daughters, all of whom sur- 
vive. His education ■was obtained in the dis- 
trict schools. - 



He was only sixteen years of age when he 
offered his services to his country, enlisting in 
Company D, First Ohio Regiment, Volun- 
teer Light Artillery, in February, 1864, the 
officers of which were: Captain Cockrell, 
First Lieutenant Reid and Second Lieutenant 
Palmer. After the company was mustered 
in at Cleveland, it proceeded to Columbus, 
and thence to Knoxville, Tennessee. It took 
part in the engagements from Chattanooga to 
Atlanta, participated in the battles of Resaca 
and Big Sandy, and at Atlanta assisted in cut- 
ting the railroad communication. From that 
city the regiment returned to Tennes.see, 
where Mr. Brittain was detained for a time by 
.sickness, but rejoined his regiment at Moore- 
head, North Carolina, and continued to per- 
form his duty as a brave and effective sol- 
dier until the expiration of his term of serv- 
ice, and in July, 1865, was mustered out at 
Cleveland. That was a very strenuous period 
for a youth of sixteen years, but Mr. Brit- 
tain has a record that would do credit to a 
seasoned veteran. 

In 1869 Mr. Brittain was married to 
Frances A. Dema.^s, who is a daughter of 
.Jacob and Lucy Demass. Jacob Demass was a 
soldier in the same regiment with Mr. Brit- 
tain and he sitill survives, aged seventy-eight 
years. Mrs. Brittain was reared in Portage 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Brittain have the fol- 
lowing children: Thomas R.. who married 
Minnie White, has five children; .Jud.son 
who married Margaret Selser, has three chil- 
dren : Dilla, who maried Clement Chew, has 
three children ; Mead, who married Lizzie 
Roberts, has four children: and John, who 
resides at home. 

Mr. Brittain owns a comfortable home in 
one of the allotments of 'East Akron, in 
Springfield Township. He is a carpenter by 
trade. He belongs to Buckley Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic, at Akron. In poli- 
tics," he is a Republican. 

ALBERT H. RUCKEL, general farmer, 
residing on his valuable farm "of fifty-one 
acres, is a well known citizen of Tallmadgo 
Towiiship, whore his father settled in 1849. 



('>64 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Albert 11. Ruckel was born on the Susqui'- 
liannah River, in Columbia County, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 4, 1843, and is a son of 
George and Hannah (Crivling) Ruckel. 

The father of Mr. Ruckel was also born in 
Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and resided 
there until after his marriage, when he and 
family started to Michigan in one of the 
great covered wagons of pioneer days. He 
proposed to huy 640 acres of land at $1.25 
per acre, but, after reaching Michigan, he 
found that climatic conditions were such that 
it would be difficult to establish .there a com- 
fortable home. In six weeks' time the wagon 
was again on its way in the direction of Me- 
dina County, Ohio. Mr. Ruckel settled in 
Sharon Township, Medina County, and lived 
there for three years, removing then to Tall- 
madge Townsihip, Summit County. Here all 
the five children were reared, namely: An- 
drew, W'ho die<i in 1856; Abner, who has re- 
sided at Whitehall, Illinois, for the past thir- 
ty-five years, engaged with his son in the 
manufacture of pottery, married Emma 
Adams of Akron; Clinton, who carries on 
farming on his property at Fairlawn, west of 
Akron, married Frances, a daughter of John 
Hart; Albert H. ; and Wa.^hington, the lat- 
ter being the only child born after the family 
eame to Ohio. He married Delia Baldwin 
and resides with his father-in-law at Akron, 
and is engaged in the mauufacture of sewer 
pipe. George Ruckel died August 25, 1878, 
in his .sixty-eighth year, having long suiTived 
his wife, wlio died in 1855, aged forty-four 
years. 

Albert Ruckel assisted his father in culti- 
vating his farm of 110 acres, and, after his 
marriage, he purchased fifty-one acres of the 
homestead. In addition to learning to be a 
first-class farmer, Albert H. Ruckel worked 
for some time at the carpenter trade, and also 
traveled for a pottery firm after finishing his 
education in the Sixth Ward School at 
Akron. However, for the past twenty-eight 
years he has devot-ed his attention to culti- 
vating and improving his land. Tn 1873 he 
built the comfortable farm residence and as 
they -were needed, has added the other sub- 



stantial liuiklings. Mr. Ruckel makes some- 
thing of a si>ecialty of growing potatoes and 
he iilso liaises timothy hay. 

On August 30, 1873, Mr. Ruckel was mar- 
ried to Mary Greenman, who was born at 
North East, Erie County, Pennsylvania, and 
is a daughter of Norton and Elizabeth (Irish) 
Greenman. Both parents of Mrs. Ruckel 
were born in ^^'ashingtoll County, New York. 
Her father died March 22, 1901^ aged eighty- 
five years, and the mother died February 
10, 1903, at the age of eighty-nine years. 
The four children of Norton Greenman and 
wife were: Cynthia, who is the widow of 
Leonard Cole; Mary, who is Mrs. Ruckel; 
Job, residing at Bradford, Pennsylvania, mar- 
ried Adell Cole; and Josephine Cole, who is 
deceased. The family record of Mrs. Ruckel 
can be traced far back. Her great-grand- 
father Ba.ssett followed the sea and lived at 
Martha's Vineyard. He was commander of 
a cocTsting ves,sel that touched many sihores 
in the course of his voyage. The paternal 
grandfather was Job Greenman, a farmer, 
and the grandfather on the mother's side was 
Charles Irish, who was also a farmer. All 
seem to have been men who left an impress 
that recalls them to their descendants. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ruckel have two daughter*. 
Nora and Edith. The former is employed in 
the office of the American Cereal mill. The 
latter married Harry Feudner. who is the son 
of the vice-prasident of the M. O'Neil Dry 
Goods Company, one- of the largest business 
houses of Summit County. Both daughters 
of ^Ir. Ruckel were educated at Akron. 

The Democratic partv claims Mr. Ruckel 
as a member, hut he is very liberal and 
broad-minded and usually exercises has right 
to support those candidates for office, who. in 
his judgment, will best provide good govern- 
ment and make wise laws. 

FRANCIS HANMER WRIGHT, a lead- 
ing citizen of TaJlmadge. was born in Tall- 
madge Township, Summit County. Ohio. July 
7. 1834. and is a .son of Francis H. and 
Clarinda (Fenn) Wright. 

In 1810 the grandparents of Francis Han- 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



mer Wright, Elizur and Rhoda (Hanmer) 
Wright, came to Suiniuit County. They set- 
tled on what was known as the Southwest 
road, along which Mr. Wright bought a large 
tract of land. He built here the first frame 
barn in Tallinadge Township, and this struc- 
ture was utilized for a time as a place in 
which lo hold religious exercises. He con- 
tinued to acquire land until he owned a large 
portion of the western half of the township, 
including the valuable property known as 
Coal Hill. He had been a pi'ominent man 
in both church and public affairs at Canaan, 
Connecticut, and he continued to be held in 
high esteem after .settling in Summit County. 
He reared a family of five daughters and 
four sons, all of whom became more or less 
noted in their various communities. They 
were: Philo, Elizur, Francis H., James, Pol- 
ly, Clarissa, Harriet, Amelia and Lucy. Philo 
Wright married Sally Owen and they resided 
in Tallmadge Township, where he practiced 
medicine for many j-ears. Elizur W^right (2) 
was a distinguished man. He resided for a 
time in the city of New York and was the 
able editor of a strong anti-slavery paper 
there. He became professor of mathematics 
at the Western Reserve University, at liud- 
son, which position he was obliged to resign 
on account of his radical views against slav- 
ery-. He then removed to Denham, Massa- 
chusetts, and had an office in Bo.ston, where 
he was an actuary of life insurance, and for 
several years was Commissioner of Insurance 
for the state. He died in 1890, aged eighty 
years, at which time a biographical sketch of 
bis life was produced in McClure's Magazine. 
James Wright became a minister of the Con- 
gregational Church. After a pa«<torate at Na- 
poleon, Henry County, Ohio, he went to Cal- 
ifornia and died there in 1900. Polly Wriglit 
married Dr. Daniel Upson, then of Worth- 
ington, Ohio, who later came to Tallmadge, 
and they were the parents of William, Daniel 
A., James AV. and Francis H., the latter of 
whom died in Cleveland, and left a family 
of children. Clari.ssa Wright married a Mr. 
Rurrell, of Elyria, Ohio. Harriet Wright 
married Rev. John Seward, who became a 



minister of the Congregational Church, who 
was stationed at Hudson and at other points. 
Amelia Wright married Rev. William Hana- 
ford, who entered the Congregational minis- 
try, and after serving pastorates at a num- 
ber of places, died at Tallmadge. 

Francis H. Wright, father of Francis Han- 
mer, was born at Canaan, Litchfield County, 
Connecticut, July 16, 1795, and died in Tall- 
madge, in 1886, aged ninety-one years. He 
accompanied his parents to Summit County 
and subsequently inherited a part of the val- 
uable Coal Hill property. In partnership 
with his brother-in-law. Dr. Daniel Upson, he 
was engaged for many years in developing 
coal mines here, shipments being made to 
Cleveland and Chicago, Mr. Wright accom- 
panying the first load of coal ever shipped to 
the latter city. He married Clarinda Fenn, 
who was born in 1802, and died in 1888. 

Francis Hanmer Wright was reared in 
Tallmadge, attended the Tallmadge Acad- 
emy and spent one year in the Cleveland Ag- 
ricultural College, leaving when nineteen 
years of age and teaching school for a year. 
He then .stalled to farm and subsequently 
went into a dairy business, which latter in- 
dustry he continued until the spring of 1897, 
supplying patrons at Akron for a period of 
twenty-two years. During the Civil War, 
when the governor of Ohio called out men to 
serve for 100 days, Mr. Wright responded and 
became a member of Company D, 164th Regi- 
ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was 
nuL*tered in as first lieutenant. He was mus- 
tered out at Cleveland, after assisting in the 
defense of the forts around Washington city. 
He is a member of Buckley Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic. He belongs to the 
Orange. 

Mr. Wright married Harriet Kilbourn, of 
Akron, who was a daughter of Lewis and 
Eliza Kilbourn. Mrs. Wright died July 27, 
1904, at the age of sixty-six years. They had 
four children, namely: Winnifred B., w-ho 
died in 1882, at the age of nineteen years; 
Elberta, who married E. R. Hine. died in 
1900, aged thirty-five years, leaving one son 
and two daughters, Leland W.. Winnifred 



666 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and Leora; Friincis H., who was born in 1868, 
married Fraaices Parnialee, a daughter of 
Chai'les P. Parmalee, and has five cliildreii, 
Julia, Geneva, Kathrj'n, Doi'othy and Francis 
H., resides with his father at Talhnadge; and 
Ida, who married W. A. Osborn, lives at Ak- 
ron, Ohio. 

CLARENCE M. ZWISLER, a leading 
citizen of Springfield Township, who is en- 
gaged in farming and also follows butchering, 
is a representative on the maternal side of 
one of the oldest families in Summit County. 
He was born in Summit County, Ohio, No- 
vember 2, 1867, and is a son of John and 
Irene (Norton) Zwisler. 

John Zwisler, father of Clarence M., was 
born in Wayne County, Ohio, and came to 
Summit when a young man, where he died 
in March, 1900, at the age of seventy years. 
He was a son of Charles and Rebecca Zwisler. 
He followed agricultural pursuits all his life 
On January 7, 1864, John Zwisler married 
Irene Norton, who w'as a daughter of Les- 
ter and Susan (Johnson) Norton. 

The earliest records of the Norton family 
trace to one De Norville, who was a soldier 
and wlio accompanied William the Con- 
queror to England in 1066. His descendants 
were early American colonists, coming from 
Bedfordshire to Cambridge and Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, to Guilford, Connecticut, and to 
points in New Hampshire. 

Tracing the generations back, it is found 
that from Richard Norton descended John 
(1), John (2), Ebenezer, Bethuel, Peter and 
Lester, the latter being the grandfather of 
Clarence M. Zw^sle^. 

Ebenezer Norton, son of John, had chil- 
dren: Christiana, Sarah, Freelove, Bethuel, 
Ebenezer, Isaac and A. Norton. 

Bethuel Norton, son of Ebenezer, had 
these children: Peter, Zena.s, Hart, Ashbel, 
James, Eunice and Sally. 

Peter Norton, son of Bethuel, had these 
children: Anna P., Anderson, Lester, Lois, 
Thomas and Seth D. 

Lester Norton, son of Peter, married Susan 
Johnson, in 1821, and thev had tlie follow- 



ing children : Lois, iVmanda, Perry, Lucinda, 
Harvey, George, Irene and Susan. The two 
survivore are Amanda and Mrs. Zwisler. Les- 
ter Norton accompanied his father to Ohio 
and they located first in Trumbull County 
and then came to Summit, Peter Norton pur- 
chasing the Thomas Cook place in Akron, 
where he died. In 1822, in the year follow- 
ing his marriage, Lester Norton .settled on 
the farm on which his grandson, Clarence M., 
now resides. In 1832 he built the house and 
made many improvements during his active 
years. He died in 1881 at the age of eighty- 
two years, survived by his widow until 1894, 
she dying aged ninety-two years and six 
months. 

John Zwisler and wife had two children, 
Lester N. and Clarence M. The former re- 
sides on Newton Street, Akron. He married 
Alice Hearty. 

Clarence M. Zwisler attended the district 
schools and applied himself to agricultural 
jnirsuits. With the exception of a short 
time pa.«,«pd in Tallmadge Township, he has 
lived his life on his present farm in Spring- 
field Township. In addition to farming he 
carries on a lucrative meat biisine.ss. 

Mr. Zwisler married Minnie Rhodes, who 
is a daughter of P'rederick and Louisa (Rep- 
rogle) Rhodes. Her father was born in Penn- 
sylvania, and her mother in Stark County. 
Mr. and Mrs. Zwisler have three interest- 
ing children : Esther L., who was born July 
22, 1900: Milford, who was born August 4, 
1903; and Herbert N., who was bom January 
7, 1907. 

Politically, Mr. Zwisler is an active mem- 
ber of the Democratic party. For seven years 
he has been a member of the School Board. 

JOHN L. CHAPMAN, president of the 
Tallmadge Township School Board and a 
prominent citizen of thLs section, resides on 
the old homestead farm of eighty-five acres 
and in the old brick residence which was built 
seventy-six years ago, all the material for its 
construction having been produced on the 
farm, with the exception of the lime. Mr. 
Chapman was born at Akron, Summit 



AND REPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



66- 



Ck)untj, Ohio, January 6, 1859, and is a son 
of John and Phoebe (Budd) Chapman. 

The Chapmfin family is of English extrac- 
tion. The paternal grandparents of Mr. 
Chapman were John and Elizabeth (Burt) 
Chapman. They came to America with their 
children and settled at Oswego, New York, 
where both died. They had the following 
children : Kichard, who lived and died near 
Bloomfield, New York; Mary, who married 
John Rowe, lived and died at Oswego, New 
York: Margaret, who died unmarried, in 
New York; William, who died at Wilton, 
Wisconsin, in 1875; Susan, who survived her 
husband, William Merchant, who disap- 
l>eared and was supposed to have been killed 
for a sum of money in his possession ; Charles, 
who died ait Oswego, and John. The sons 
all learned the milling business with their 
father and they ran the same mill, an old 
tide-water one, which had been in the pos- 
session of the family in Cornwall, England, 
for generations. As some families were 
farmers as far back as can be traced, the 
Chapmans were millers. 

John Chapman, father of John L. Chap- 
man, of Tallmadge, was born in Cornwall, 
England, in 1812, and was nineteen years 
of age when he left England, and with other 
members of his family, settled at Oswego, 
New York. Although little more than a boy 
in years, he had a good knowledge of his 
trade and found immediate employment in 
the flour mills of that place, where he re- 
mained until 1832, when he came to Akron. 
He was a pracitical mechanic, a natural one, 
and understood the wheelwright trade and 
ever\"thing concerning not only the operating 
but the consti-uction of mills and mill ma- 
chinery. He came to Akron at first to start 
in operation the old stone mill, which was 
then being erected, but it had not been com- 
pleted when he arrived, and he went to Mid- 
dlebim' and worked some time for the firm 
of McNorton & Noble. 

T\Tien the stone mill was completed, John 
Chapman took charge and he made the first 
flour ever ground in Akron proper, and con- 
tinued to operate that mill for one year. In 



1833 he returned to New York, and for one 
year operated a mill at Rochester and then 
came back to Akron, and for a sihort time 
resumed work at the stone mill. He was 
called to different points to superintend the 
building of mills and many of those scattered 
over Summit County, which, in their day, 
were valuable adjuncts to the comfort and 
convenience of se-ttlers, were either built by 
him or under his supervision. Mr. Chapman 
then bought a farm on which he lived for 
twenty-five years, and in 1872 he purchased 
the farm on which his widow and son still 
live. 

In 1857 John -Chapman married Phoebe 
Budd, who still sur\-ives, and . they had six 
children: John, Nellie, Carrie, Cora, Alva 
and Charles, the latter two dying in infancy. 
John Chapman died in April, 1881, after a 
.<hort. illness, from pneumonia. His age was 
sixty-nine years and ten months. He was 
a man who commanded the respect of all 
who knew him. 

The Budd family, of which Mrs. Chap- 
man is a member, is an old one of the Em- 
pire State. Her grandfather, Underbill 
Budd, is on record as being a highly respected 
resident of Ithaca, New York, which city he 
left to accompany his son, Solomon Budd, 
to Ohio. He married Rebecca Townsend, and 
both he and wife died at Akron, Ohio. They 
had the following children: Debby Ann, who 
is deceased: John, who dded in New York; 
Solomon, the father of Mrs. Chapman ; Phebc, 
who married William B. Doyle; Hannah, 
who married Daniel Teeter, both died at 
.Tones%alle, Michigan ; Elizabeth, who married 
Charles Stetson, died at Cleveland, and Eras- 
tus, who died at Akron, aged twenty years. 

Mrs. Phebe J. Chapman was born at El- 
mira. New York. June 15. 1838, and is a 
daughter of Solomon and Emmeline fJar- 
vis) Budd. The father of Mrs. Chapman was 
bom in New York, July 4, 1813. and died 
at Akron, Ohio. May 21, 1891. His wife was 
born in New York, April IB, 1816, and died 
at Akron. May 1. 1883. He was a manu- 
facturer of shingles, in the days when it was 
a hand indu.'^trs'. In 1839 he came tf) Ohio 



668 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and lived for one year at Canal Fulton, then 
returned to the East for a year. la 1842 he 
came back to Ohio with his wife and they 
lived at Akron during tlie remainder of their 
lives. 

The eliildren of Solomon Budd and wife 
were the following: Pliebe J., who became 
Mrs. Chapman ; Mary E., born September 19, 

1840, who died in childhood; Townsend C. 
born December 19, 1842, married Ellen 
Goodman, of Cleveland, and they reside at 
Akron ; William H., born November 10, 

1841, died in childhood; Aurelia A., born 
January 3, 1846, who is the widow of Jacob 
Denaple, who died in 1889, and Julia E., 
born Ai)ril 18, 1848, who resides at Akron. 

John L. Chapman, who bears his father's 
and gran df at her '.s name, lived in the city of 
Akron from his birth mitil 1872, when he 
removed with his parents to the present farm 
in Tallmadge Township. He was educated 
in the public schools of Akron, attended 
school in Tallmadge Township and spent 
several terms at Buchtel College, which in- 
stitution he left in 1878. 

Mr. Chapman engaged immediately in 
farming and hns made many improvements 
on the property. This farm is an old settled 
one, its first owner having be^n a pioneer 
named John Lane, who sold it to Samuel 
Keller, from whom John Chapman bought. 
It is good land and is favorably situated. Mr. 
Chapman raises grain, hay and potatoes and 
enough stock for his own use. He works 
along modern lines and meets with sittisfae- 
tory results. 

In June. 1901. Mr. Chapman was married 
to Emma Blackburn, who is a daughter of 
William T. and Mary (Hurst) Blackburn, 
of Berea, Ohio, William T. Blackburn was 
born at Kent and his wife at Ithaca, New 
Y'ork, and both are deceased, the mother dy- 
ing in 1900, aged sixty-eight years, and (he 
father in 1904, at the age of seventy-eight 
years. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Chapman have one son. 
Earl, who was born September 9, 1905. 

In political .sentiment. Mr. Chapman is a 
Kepublican and usually gives his support to 
candidates of thai parly, but in local mat- 



ters occasionally votes for the man he feels 
is best qualified for the otRce. He is no 
seeker for political honors for himself, lias 
tastes lying in a different direction. He is 
connected with several fraternal organiza- 
tions, belonging to Elm Grove Lodge, No. 
501, Tallmadge, formerly of the Aetolia 
Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Apollo Lodge, 
No. 61, Akron, of the Odd Fellows, and to 
the Pathfinders. In 1904 he was elected a 
member of the School Board under the new 
law, for a term of four years, and is its presi- 
dent. 

ZIMMERLY BROTHERS, the leading 
pork packers and dealers in choice meats, in 
Summit County, with a large retail establish- 
ment at Akron and a five-acre packing plant 
at Kenmore, have built up their business from 
a small beginning to the command of a mar- 
ket which covers all this section of Ohio. 
This success is a nionument to their business 
ability, clear foresight and unflagging indus- 
try. The firm of Zimmerly Brothers is made 
up of John, Jacob, Gottleib and Herman, all 
experts in the meat business. They were all 
born in Switzerland, and are sons of Samuel 
Zimmerly. who died in that land. 

John Zimmerly, the eldest member of the 
firm, was born in 1855 and was fifteen years 
of age Avhen he came to Summit Countv. 
From 1874 until 1878, he lived at Wads- 
worth, coming to Akron in the latter year. 
Here he worked for twelve months at the 
harness V)usine.ss. and for the same length of 
time at the marble business. From then un- 
til 1891 he was in the employ of the Ak- 
ron Iron Company, and in the year last men- 
tioned became associated with his brothers 
in the establi.shing of the meat business which 
has grown to such large proportions. In 
1905 John Zimmerly was married to Mrs. 
Augustus Reishler. He is a member of the 
German American club. With his brothers 
lie belong-s to the German Reformed Church. 

Jacob Zimmerly, of Zimmerly Brothers, 
wholesale and retail pork packers and meat 
dealers, was born in 1863, and remained in 
Switzerland until he had completed his edu- 




EDWIN SEEDHOUSE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



r>71 



cation. After reaching the United States he 
settled in Akron, and for seventeen years af- 
ter was employed in the Buckeye Works, in 
the meanwhile hecoming interested with his 
brothers in the founding of their present 
business, to which for the past seven years 
he has devoted his exclusive attention. He 
belong-s to the German Reformed Church, 
as above intimated, while his social connec- 
tions include a number of German societies. 

In 1904, Herman Ziinmerly w^as married 
to Emma Brodt. The brothers are intere.sted 
also in tlie Depositors Savings Bank and the 
Akron Brewery Company. 

The Zimmerly Bi-others' business, started 
in a small way, as above mentioned, .soon 
required additional buildings, and the 
brothers accordingly erected a brick struetxire 
20 by 50 feet, two stories iri height, at No. 
215 We*t Main Street, Akron. By 1904 the 
business had further increased to such an 
extent that the firm found it necessary to 
erect and equip a three-story brick building, 
30 by 62 1-2 feet, at the same time adding 
a story to their former structure. This firm 
was the first in Akron to put in a refrigerat- 
ing machine for the cooling of their meat. 
They own also five acres of land at Ken- 
more on which they have a pork-packing 
plant located, which is finely equipped, be- 
ing installed with all modern appliances. 
The main building is of brick, 100 by 40 
feet, and there are three refrigerating rooms 
attached. The thorough sanitary condition 
of all the surroundings ensures the wholc- 
someness of the meat, which has an extensive 
sale all over this section. The firm slaugh- 
ter 100 hogs a week and manufacture at 
least 3,000 pounds of Bolougna sausage. 
Their name i.* a .«atisfacfory guarantee of the 
quality and purity of their goods. 

EDWIN SEEDHOUSE, pre^^ident and 
general manager of the Palls Rivet and Ma- 
chine Company, of Cuyahoga Falls, one of 
its most important induf^tries, was bom at 
Birmingham, England, April 4, 1864, and 
is a son of .John and Mary (Cox) Seedhouse. 

The parents of Mr. Seedhouse came to 



America in 1868, and settled at Wadsworth, 
Ohio, Avhere ho attended the public schools. 
He afterward became station agent for the 
Erie Railroad Company, at Sherman, where 
he .'served from 1884 to" 1887. Mr. Seedhouse 
was then sliipping clerk for the Akron Iron 
Company, holding that position for two years 
and then becoming salesman for the branch 
of this company, at Boston, Ma.ssachusetts, 
where he remained until 1892. He occupied 
the same position in New York, for the New 
York branch, from 1892 until 1893. His 
return to Akron was in the capacity of con- 
tracting agent for the same concern, but in 
1897 he severed his relations with the above 
company, as it had been affected by the pre- 
vailing business depres.?ion, and went to New 
York as general ea.stern manager for the 
Falls Rivet and Machinery Company, where 
he continued until 1903. Then returning to 
Ohio, he became president and general man- 
ager of the Falls Rivet and Machine Com- 
pany, which was organized May 16, 1903. 
Tt succeeded the old Falls Rivet and Machin- 
ery Company, that had been in existence for 
thirty years. The business was incorporated 
by the present board of directors — Edwin 
Seedhouse, Charles H. Wells and Theophilus 
King. This concern is one of the largest of 
its kind in the whole country. One plant 
is located at Cuyahoga Falls, where it covers 
four acres, with its own foundry and build- 
ings of two, three and four .stories in height, 
where employment is given 250 men. Power 
is tran.smitted from the falls to the other 
plant, which is located at Kent, where em- 
ployment is afforded 150 men. The product 
— rivets and bolts — are sold all over the 
wortd. The management of this large indus- 
try requires the handling of a large amount 
of capital and the exercise of rare business 
capacity. In addition to his interests con- 
nected -n-ith the above business. Mr. Seed- 
house is vice president of the Cuyahoga Falls 
Savings Bank. 

Mr. Seedhouse married T.ucy M. Miller, 
who is a daughter of Jacob TT. Miller, of 
Norton Township, and their one child. Edna 
A., is decoa.^ed. Both ^fr. and Mrs. Seed- 



672 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



house ai'e laenibers of Trinity Lutheraxi 
Church, and he belongs to the Church Coun- 
cil and to the Music Committee, of which 
he is chairman. The family home of Mr. 
Seedhouse is a handsome residence situated 
on North Hill, Akron. He is a member of 
the Portage Country club. Mr. Seedhouse 
has been the architect of his own fortune. 
His parents returned to England when he 
was seven years of age, and the death of his 
mother following, he was reared by an uncle, 
and after maturity practically made his own 
way in the world. 

JOHN W. BRADY, who has resided m 
Tallmadge Township for many yeare and has 
lived on his present place for a half century, 
was born in Oi'ange County, New York, on 
the Hudson River, in December, 1831, and 
is a son of James and Elizabeth Brady. 

The father of Mr. Brady was born in the 
north of Ireland, and the mother was born 
in Scotland. They were married in Amer- 
ica and they had four children: Bennett, 
James, Elizabeth and John W. About 1850, 
James Brady went from Albany, New York, 
to St. Louis, by way of the Erie Canal, the 
trip consuming six weeks, including visits to 
Cleveland, Cincinnati and East St. Louis. He 
remained at the latter point, where he bought 
100 acres of land and engaged in gardening. 
From there he removed to Jonesboro, Illinois, 
where he bought a half section and made a 
business of raising peaches for a time, but later 
sold this land, the timber having been bought 
by the railroads, and moved then to Hamil- 
ton County, Ohio. The wife of James Brady 
died in Illinois, and he died in Hamilton 
County, Ohio. 

John W. Brady is the only survivor of his 
parents' family. He came to Akron prior to 
the Civil War, and worked at his trade of 
stone-mason until after his marriage in 1862, 
when he went to Pitt.sburg, where he was an 
employe of Andrew Carnegie for a time, and 
then returned to Akron. He served as a mem- 
ber of Company E, 50th Regiment. Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, under General Hayes, and 
remained in the service until after the battle 



uf Fort Donelson, in which he was severely 
injured. Owing to the disability thus caused, 
he was honorably discharged. He returned to 
Akron and purchased his present place on 
which he has lived for tifty years. 

In 1862, Mr. Brady was married to Ellen 
O'Neill, who died March 21, 1907. She was 
a daughter of John O'Neill. They had the 
following children ; John, who died in the 
far West; Lois, who is deceased; Chai'les; 
Grace, who married Ernest Crouse, resides 
at Massillon ; and Bennett and Agnes, both of 
\vhom are deceased. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Brady is a Re- 
publican. Among his many interesting rem- 
iniscences of the past, he recalls the time 
when the C. A. & C. 'Railroad was the only 
transportation line that entererd Akron. 

HIRAM F. KREIGHBAUM, sole owner 
of the Barberton Artificial Stone Company, 
and the People's Coal and Feed Company, at 
Barberton, was born in Green Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, November 29, 1850, and 
is a son of Levi and Nancy (Gayman) 
Kreighbaum. 

The father of Mr. Kreighbaum was also 
born in Green Township and both paternal 
and maternal grandparents settled there at 
an early day, when they came west from 
Pennsylvania. They were all people of solid 
character, honest and industrious and their 
descendants have been noted for the same vir- 
tues they possessed. They did much to hasten 
the development of the agricultural regions 
in the vicinity of Barberton. 

Hiram F. Kreighbaum attended the dis- 
trict school and helped on the home farm un- 
til h-e was fifteen years of age, when he learned 
the carpenter trade, and it is estimated that 
during the time he worked at the same he 
built a larger number of bank barns than any 
man in the town,«hip. They still stand strong 
and true to line and compass, testifying 
silently to Mr. Kreighbaum's mechanical 
.'^kill. He settled on his present home place 
in 1875 and for a number of years followed 
contracting. In August, 1905, he purchased 
the People's Coal and Feed yard, which had 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



673 



been the property of Mr. McDowell, aud has 
made a iuccesa of thii business. Since the 
spring of iyU4 he has been manufacturing 
artilicial stone, and he has built up a very 
large and important industry. 

ill l.b(4, -ur. Kreighbaum was married to 
Ann Louisa SlioUey, who was born in Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a daughter of Emanuel Sholly, vvho, with 
his wife, was born in Pennsylvania. Mr. 
and Mi-s. Kreighbaum have four children, 
namely: John Wesley, residing at Barber- 
ton, a contractor and builder; Louis Franklin, 
residing at Reno, Nevada, a cigannaker; 
Amos, residing at Elyria, Ohio; and Harry, 
who works as a carpenter for his eldest broth- 
er. Mr. Kreighbaum's sons are all practi- 
cal, successful business men. The family be- 
long to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

A. S. GREENBAUM, proprietor of the 
Greenbaum Foreign Exchange Bank and 
Steamship Agency, and a large real estate 
dealer, at Bai'berton, is one of the leading 
capitalists of the town and one of its enter- 
prising and progressive business men. Mr. 
Greenbaum was born October 14, 1877, in 
Austria-Hungary, where his parents still re- 
side. 

The story of Mr. Grenbaum's life is one 
of unusual interest, proving as it does, the 
intrinsic value of personal effort, for he has 
climbed from almost penurj' to affluence en- 
tirely through his own efforts and by steps 
which are everywhere recognized as entirely 
honorable. The old home in Hungary was 
a huinljle one and its resources so scant, that 
when the lonely boy was able to earn fifty 
cents a day, in a foreign land, he brought 
his own expenses down to five cente a day 
so that he could send the balance to help eke 
out the small amount his father was able 
to make by conducting a little store. He was 
about fourteen years of age when he left 
home, being the eldest of the family, and 
came to America, relying on himself to make 
his way in a country the language of which 
was even unknown to him. The courage of 
vouth is sometimes sublime. 



It was at Pittsburg that Mr. Greenbaum 
was able to find his first steady employment, 
but he desired to get farther west and after 
securing the means, he went to Akron, where 
he was engaged in the clothing house of 
Henry Krouse. His education, thus far, had 
been neglected, but he soon remedied this, at- 
tending night school and devoting every 
spare moment to study. Thus he not only 
educated himself in literature, but also in law 
and has practiced in the local courts for some 
years. While at Akron, his knowledge of 
different German dialects made him valuable 
as an interpreter. At present Mr. Greenbaum 
has command of six languages without includ- 
ing English, namely: Hungarian, German, 
Slavish, Croatian, Servian and Krainer. He 
continued to reside at Akron and be connected 
with clothing interests in that city until 1900, 
w'hen he came to Barberton, where he is, as 
above stated, a prominent and influential 
business man. 

Mr. Greenbaum is a very valuable assistant 
to his fellow-countrymen in their purchases 
of real estate, giving them legal advice and 
watching their investments, and there are now 
more than 200 foreign-born settlers in Sum- 
mit County, who own their farms and homes 
through Mr. Greenbaum's agency. Mr. 
Greenbaum recognized how easy it w-as for 
even hard-working people to spend their raon- 
ej' carelessly and heedlessly, and it has been 
his aim to show these how a small investment 
will result in later independence. 

On October 16, 1901, Mr. Greenbaum was 
married to Minnie Fuerst, who is a daughter 
of M. W. Fuerst, one of the pioneers of Ak- 
ron. Mr. Greenbaum is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias. He has served as a mem- 
ber of the Barberton Humane Society, having 
been one of its organizers. In a contest re- 
cently held by the Akron Beacon-Journal, the 
prize of a handsome gold watch was awarded 
to Mr. Greenbaum, as tlie most popular man 
of Barberton. 

Mr. Greenbaum resides at No. 616 Sixth 
Street, Barberton, one of the popular streets 
of this citv. 



674 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



WALTER C. HOLLINGER, secretary and 
treasurer of the HoUinger Company, at Bar- 
berton, which does a general real estate, in- 
vestment, loan, collection and insurance busi- 
ness, has his ottices at No. 209 North Second 
Street. Walter C. Hollinger was born May 
30, lyGo, at Clinton, Summit County, Ohio, 
and is a son of David D. and Mary N. (Hous- 
man) Hollinger. 

David Hollinger, father of Walter C, re- 
sides on the farm on which both he and his 
father, Jacob Hollinger, were born, in Frank- 
lin Township, Summit County, Ohio, the lat- 
ter's father having been a pioneer from Penn- 
sylvania. He took up 640 acres of govern- 
ment land and part of this property is now 
owned by his son, David D. Hollinger. It 
was bought for $1.25 an acre, but it would 
take a large amount of money to purchase it 
now. The mother of Walter C. Hollinger 
was also born in Franklin Township, and is a 
daughter of Jacob Ilousman, who was a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania and an early settler in 
Summit County. The three children of 
David D. tlollinger and wife are : Walter 0. ; 
Lloyd Jacob, residing on the home farm ; and 
Charles A., residing on a farm in Franklin 
Township. 

Walter C. Hollinger was reared on his fath- 
er's farm and attended the district schools of 
the neighborhood. He was about eighteen 
years of age when he began to teach school 
and for ten years spent his winters in teach- 
ing and his summers in farming. In Janu- 
ary, 1S94, he left the educational field to ac- 
cept an appointment as deputy .-sheriff vuider 
Sheriff Griffin, but returned to teaching after 
serving in that office for two years, but was 
subsequently reappointed deputy .sheriff and 
served under Sheriff Fn\nk G. Kelly, for four 
years. Mr. Hollinger then entered the Guard- 
ian Savings Bank at Akron, as bookkeeper, 
and upon the consolidation of that bank with 
the Ci'ntral Savings and Trust Company, he 
came to Barberton, and when the Hollinger 
Company was organized he wxis elected to his 
present position. This company was incor- 
porated under the laws of the State of Ohio, in 
1904. with a capital stock of $10,000, its of- 



ficer,> being; H. M. Hollinger, of Akron, 
jiresident ; C. A. Brouse, of Akron, vice presi- 
dent, and Walter C. Hollinger, secretary and 
treasurer. The board of directors is made up 
of tlie following leading men : Fred J. Stein- 
ert, of Akron, H. M. Hollinger, of Akron, 
Thomas Cleinenger, of Akron, Walter C. Holl- 
inger, of Barberton, L, N, Oberlin, of Clinton, 
Ohio, and C, A, Brouse, of Akron. The com- 
panv's books were open for business on Sep- 
tember 14, 1904. 

On July 11, 1907, Mr. Hollinger was united 
in marriage with Cora E. Grove, a native of 
Franklin Township, Summit County. Mrs. 
Hollinger taught school in Summit County 
for a period of fourteen years, seven of which 
was in the public schools of Barberton. Mr. 
Hollinger has many pleasant social connec- 
tions at Barberton, and he is fraternally asso- 
ciated with the Elks and the Odd Fellows. 

MTLLIAM II. LAHR, one of Norton 
Township's prominent citizens, and the owner 
and operator of ninety-three acres of excellent 
farming land, situated on the Wadsworth 
road, about one-quarter of a mile west of 
Norton Centre, was born April 16, 1850, on 
his present farm in Summit County, Ohio, 
and IS a son of Jolm and Mary Margaret 
(Miller) Lahr. 

John Lahr, who was a son of John Lahr, 
Sr., was born in Northampton County, Penn- 
sylvania, and came to Norton Township in 
1.S45 wlien a young man of twenty-three 
years. After his marriage for four years he 
resided at Norton Centre and then removed 
to the present farm of William H. Lahr, 
where his death occurred January 21. 1897. 
In 1846 John Lahr was married to Mary 
Margaret Miller, who was born October 19, 
1825, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 
and is a daughter of John and Susan (Bauer) 
Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had come to 
Summit County, Ohio, in 1853, with a party 
of fifty people, but eight of whom are now 
living, and settled on the farm now owned 
by Samuel Miller, Mrs. Lahr's brother. Mrs. 
Lahr still survives, and makes her home with 
her son, and although having reached ad- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



675 



vaoced years, her nieinorj- is excellent and 
she is well preserved both in body and mind. 
She has been a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church at Loyal Oak ever since its 
establishment, her father having assisted in 
the erection of the church building. To Mr. 
and Mrs. John Lahr there were born three 
children : Lucinda Elizabeth, who married 
Daniel Everhard, died in 1874; and Jonas 
Franklin and William H., twins, the former 
of whom died at the age of two years. 

William H. Lahr was educated in the 
schools of his native section and was reared 
to agricultural pursuits, which he has car- 
ried on all of his mature life. Since 1904, 
he has lived more or less retired from the ac- 
tive duties of the farm, but he still takes an 
earnest interest in its improvement. In addi- 
tion to two fine residences, there is a substan- 
tial barn on thi-^ propertv, which was built by 
Mr. Lahr in 1868. 

On December 1, 1870, Mr. Lahr was mar- 
ried to Sarah J. Lerch, who is a daughter of 
Peter Lerch, and to this union there were 
born two children : Charles H., and Aletta 
Pearl. Charles 11. is a graduate of the Ham- 
mel Business College, at Akron, and is auditor 
of the Northern Ohio Traction Company. He 
married Lizzie Sieger. Aletta Pearl is the 
wife of Carman Mj'ers, and they have one 
child, William A. 

DANIEL O'MARR, general contractor, and 
one of the best-known citizens of Akron, has 
been a resident of this city since 1881 and 
has been closely identified with its material 
upbuilding. He was born at Cleveland, in 
1849, but was reared at Independence, Ohio, 
where he learned the brick- and stone-ma- 
son's trade. 

Mr. O'Marr ha.s been interested in the 
stone business all his active life, with the ex- 
ce])tion of his school days and the period up 
to seventeen years when he worked on a 
farm, and even during that time he did some 
work in the stone quarries. Later he ac- 
quired an interest in the stone quarries at 
Independence and Clinton, Ohio, and opened 
up several quarries of his own, continuing in 



the quarry business for about fifteen years, at 
those points. He came to Akron, in 1881, 
and wa.s engaged as foreman of the repair 
work in the stone construction of the Ohio 
Canal from Cleveland to Clinton, for three 
years, and since closing that contract has been 
occupied with general contracting. His sub- 
stantial work may be seen in all parts of the 
city, his first structure being the big cereal 
mill on Howard Street, following which he 
built the foundation of the High School 
Building, and then erected the Baker-Mc- 
Millan Building, the National Citv Bank 
Building, the Gas Works of the Sixth Ward, 
a part of the Buckeye "Works, a part of 
Adamson's foundry, five buildings, for the 
Goodrich plant, and many others. For the 
past seventeen years he has also been engaged 
in street paving and has put down many 
miles of it in Akron, He estimates his pres- 
ent contracts as worth $30,000. He has al- 
ways been and still continues to be one of the 
busiest of busy men and has built up a repu- 
tation for thorough work and prompt service 
second to no contractor in this section, 

Mr. O'Marr was first married in 1873, to 
Mary Conners, who died in the fall of 1882. 
The four children of that marriage were: 
Jessie, deceased; Minnie, who married a Mr. 
Connelly, residing at Chicago, Illinois; Maud, 
who married Je&«e Jackson, residing at Buf- 
falo, New York; and William, a resident of 
Olio, New York, Mr. O'ilarr married, sec- 
ond, Kate Glennon, and they have three chil- 
dren : John, Paul and Elinor. With his 
family, Mr. O'Marr belongs to St. Vincent's 
Catholic Church. He takes a good citizen'.s 
interest in politics and was appointed sani- 
tary officer, but found the pre-ss of private 
bu.siness too heavy and be resigned tlie of- 
fice. 

JONAS BAUER, general farmer and suc- 
cessful grower of small fruit, who resides on 
his fertile farm of fifty-five acres, which ad- 
joins the Medina County line on the west, 
has been a resident of Norton Township 
since 1882. He was born in a section that 
has .sent manv excellent citizens to Summit 



(376 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



County, xs'ortliaiiipton County, Pennsylvaiiiu, 
July 18, 184G, aud is a sou of Jacob aud 
Mary (Mai'sh) Bauer. 

Jonas Bauer was reared on his father's 
farm and remained in Pennsylvania for ten 
years succeeding his marriage, when he came 
to Summit County aud rented farms in Nor- 
ton Township until 1895, when he purchased 
his present place. 

Mr. Bauer was married in Northampton 
County, Pennsylvania, to Amanda Oplinger, 
who is a daughter of Daniel and Catherine 
(RaiJt) Ojalinger. She was reared near Mr. 
Bauer's former home. To this marriage four 
children have been born, three sons and one 
daughter, namely : Owen, who is employed at 
Akron; Marcus, residing at Lafayette, In- 
diana, who married Grace Bryan; Oliver; 
and Minnie, who married Earl llarter. 

With his family, Mr. Bauer belongs to the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church at Loyal Oak, 
of which he is a trustee. 

J. A. GEHRES, surveyor of Summit Coun- 
ty, has been identified with this branch of the 
public service since 1884. He was born at 
Marshallville, Wayne County, Ohio, October 
2, 1861. After completing his education, he 
taught school at Marshallville up to 1882. 
During 1882-83 he was enrolled as a student 
at the O. S. U. College of Columbus, Ohio. 
He entered the surveyor's office as deputy, in 
1884. From 1892 imtil 1893, Mr. Gehres 
was engaged for the State in surveying the 
State i-ivers and canals, and for two years was 
engaged in platting for the city. With the 
excc]ition of these periods of special work, he 
has been occupied for the past eleveii years 
as county .surveyor. He was trained to the 
work in the Ohio State University, and with 
his public contract and extensive outside de- 
mands, has his time very fully occupied. In 
addition to his engineering and surveying he 
is interested in a number of the successful 
business enterprises of Akron, being a stock- 
holder in .several and one of the officials in 
the German-American Building and Loan 
Association. In 1888 Mr. Gehres was mar- 
ried to JcnTiie M. Ilartoncr. He is a member 



of the Lutheran Church, and belongs to the 
Ohio Engineering Society, the Elks, and the 
Liebertaufal, and to the German-American 
club. 

HARVEY A. SPARHAWK, whose sterling 
qualities and useful life made him a leading 
citizen of Tallmadge Township, was born in 
Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
July 25, 1844, and died in 1896, on the farm 
of 138 26-100 acres, in Tallmadge Township, 
on which he had lived from the age of four- 
teen years. Ilis parents were Henry G. and 
Lucy (Baker) Sparhawk. 

The Sparhawk family is of New England 
origin and was established in Ohio by the 
father of Harvey A. Sparhawk, who brought 
his family from Vermont. Henry G. Spar- 
hawk came to Norton Township on horseback, 
his possessions consisting of his saddle bags 
and an ax. He took up land in Norton 
Township which he cleared and developed 
and which is now known as the Jacob Bowers 
farm. He married Lucy Baker and of their 
large family five reached maturity, namely: 
Lucy, who married Rev. Henry Brown, re- 
siding at East Ninety-eight Street. Cleveland; 
Harvey A., who is dece'ased; Hattie, twin of 
Harvey A., who married Rev. Newton Brown, 
residing at Elliott, Maine; Melanchthon. who 
married Phebe Beebe, residing at Columbus, 
Nebraska ; and Martha, unmarried, residing at 
Columbus, Nebraska. Henry G. Sparhawk 
acquired the present home farm in Tallmadge 
Township about fifty years ago. and he died 
on it in 1870, at the age of sixty years. His 
widow died at Ol^erlin, Ohio. 

Harvey A. Sparhawk received his educa- 
tion in the public schools and subsequently 
attended school at Adrian, Michigan. He was 
fourteen years old when his father settled on 
the present family estate, and he continued to 
reside on it, managing and improving it, until 
the time of his death. He was a man of high 
character and was regarded with respect and 
esteem hv his fellow-citizens. He lielonged to 
Apollo Lodge. No. 51. Odd Fellows, at East 
Akron, and to Tallmadge Lodge of Knights 
of Pvthins, and wa- also a member of Tall- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



677 



madge Grange. For many years he was a 
leading member of the Congregational 
Church. 

In 1870 Harvey A. Sparhawk was married 
to Emma Wolf, who is a daughter of Aaron 
and Catherine Wolf. Mrs. Sparhawk was 
born in Pennsylvania and accompanied her 
parents when they moved finst, to Maryland, 
and later to Tallmadge, Summit County. 
They had the following children : Arthur, 
William, Frank 0., Mary Arvilla, Howard 
H., Ira, Elmer, and an infant, the two last 
named being deceased. 

Arthur Sparhawk was born April 1, 1872. 
He attended the schools of Tallmadge Town- 
ship and later took a course in Hammel's 
Business College, and still later spent a short 
time at Buchtel College. He is successfully 
engaged in farming. William Sparhawk 
was born February 20, 1874, and from the 
public schools entered the Ohio State Uni- 
versity at Columbus, and is now a resident of 
Cleveland, where he is employed as a meat 
inspector for the Government. He married 
Lulu Arbogast and they have three children : 
Theoron, Mildred and Evaline. Frank 0. 
Sparhawk was born February 27, 1876. He 
first attended the public schools of Tallmadge 
Township and then took a course in Forestry, 
at the University of Colorado, and is in the 
employe of the Government as forest ranger 
and owns a section of land at Rongis, Wyo- 
ming. Mary Arvilla Sparhawk was born 
May 29, 1880, and married Herman T. 
Schlegle, of East Akron, who is the general 
manager of the Akron Fertilizer Company. 
They have one child, Harold Howard. Dr. 
Howard H. Sparhawk was born March 19, 
1885, in the old family home in Tallmadge 
Town.ship and attended first the local schools 
and later the public schools of Akron. He 
then entered the Ohio State University and 
wa« graduated in the class of 1907, in the de- 
partment of veterinary medicine. Ira Spar- 
hawk was born July 24. 1886, was educated 
in the public school* of Tallmadge Township 
and later the common and High School at 
Akron. The mother of this family resides on 
the homestead. She is a valued member of 



the Congregational Church, and a lady who is 
highly esteemed for her many womanly qual- 
ities. The whole family ranks very high 
among the representative people of Tallmadge 
Township. 

ROSWELL HOPKINS, residing on his 
valuable farm of 100 acres,' which is situated 
in Bath Township, owns a second farm of 156 
acres, in the same township, and in addition 
to farming, has been interested in the lumber 
business since boyhood. Mr. Hopkins was 
born in the house in which he resides, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, in 1872, and is a son of 
Roswell and Emily (Briggs) (Case) Hop- 
kins. 

The grandparents of Mr. Hopkins, Isaac 
and Susannah (Harrison) Hopkins, were na- 
tives of Connecticut, from whence they moved 
to the State of New York, and removed from 
there to Summit Comity, Ohio, locating in 
Bath Township, September 10, 1814, where 
the grandfather later bought a farm on which 
they lived the rest of their lives. Roswell 
Hopkins, Sr., was born in Bath Township, 
and resided here until his death. In 1860 he 
went into the lumber business, in partnership 
with William Barker, .and they operated a 
sawmill and bending works. Mr. Hopkins 
sold his interest at a later date and com- 
menced to operate the sawmill near Ghent, 
which his son still conducts, this old mill hav- 
ing been in use over seventy-five years. He 
married Mrs. Emily (Briggs) Case, who is 
also deceased. 

Roswell Hopkins, son of Roswell, was 
reared on the home property, and ever since 
leaving school he has been engaged in the 
lumber busines.-s. In 1905 he bought the 
planing mill and lumber interests of former 
Sheriff Barker, and moved the mill to its 
present location on his own land, one mile 
west of Ghent. Here he has large lumber 
yards and does a great amount of business. 

Mr. Hopkins married Ossie Pierson and 
they have seven children, namely: Cecil, 
Ruth, Helen, Anna, Paul, .Juanita, and How- 
ard. Mr. Hopkins is one of the leadinig citi- 
zens of his community and is interested in 



678 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



all that i^LTtaiiis to its \\olfare. He is a mem- 
ber of the township Board of Education. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Masons 
and the Maccabees. 



LEVI ALLEN, formerly for many years 
a well-known and highly respected citizen of 
Akron, and a worthy repreisentative of several 
of the old and honored families, not only of 
this section of Ohio, but also of New^ Eng- 
land, was born February 10, 1799, in Tomp- 
kins County, New York, and was a. .son of 
Jesse and Catherine (Fiethrick) Allen. 

Jesse Allen, father of Levi, was born at 
Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 
1770. He Avas still in young manhood when 
he went to Tompkins County, New York, 
where he was married, in 1797, to Catherine 
Fiethrick, who was born at Trenton, New 
Jersey, in 177B, of Holland ancestry. Jesse 
Allen followed farming and shoemakmg un- 
til July, 1811, when he came to Ohio, trav- 
eling in a covered wagon and bringing along 
cattle and sheep with which tq stock the new 
farm in the wilderness. He bought land in 
Coventry Township. Summit County, and 
here developed a valuable farm on which he 
died September 12, 1837. He served in the 
War of 1812 under Maj. Miner Spicer. He 
was a consistent member of the Baptist 
Church, and in the early days, when the vis- 
its of the pioneer preachers were neces.sarily 
few and far between, he opened his log house 
to his neighbors and kept religious feeling 
alive. His ten children were: Jonah, de- 
ceased, whose wife was Cynthia Spicer ; Levi ; 
David, who married Beulah Jones ; Jacob, who 
married Catherine Van Sickle; John; Jesse; 
Catherine, who married Mills Thompson; 
Sarah, who married James M. Hale: Hiram; 
and Christiana, who married Charles Cald- 
well. 

Levi Allen was just twelve years old when 
his parents and other relatives came to Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and in the exodus from 
the Eastern home it fell to his lot to drive 
cattle and .sheep over the long route. LTntil 
his majority he remained assisting his father. 



but when his own marriage took place or was 
in contemplation, he purchased land of his 
own in Coventry Township, on which he re- 
sided vuitil 18(38, when he retired to Akron, 
where the rest of his life was passed, his 
death occurring May 11, 1887. 

On December 10, 182:1 Levi Allen was 
married to Phebe Spicer, who was a daughter 
of Major Miner and Cynthia (AUyn) Spicer, 
and who died January 10, 1879. Major 
Miner Spicer was born May 29, 1776, and in 
1798 married Cynthia Allyn, who died Sep- 
tember 10, 1828. In the following year he 
was married (second) to Mrs. Hannah (Al- 
lyn) Williams, a sister of his first wife and 
the widow of Barnabas Williams. Major 
Spicer served as a commander of militia dur- 
ing the War of 1812. He came to Summit 
County prospecting, in 1810, bought 260 acres 
of land in Portage Township and established 
his family on it in 1811. He was a promi- 
nent man in all the affairs of Portage Town- 
ship, and died September 11, 1855. 

The mother of Mrs. Levi Allen was a daugh- 
ter of Ephraim and Temperance (Morgan) 
Allyn, the latter of whom was a daughter of 
Captain William and Temperance (Avery) 
Morgan. These are old New England fami- 
lies of Welsh extraction. Captain William 
Morgan was a son of William and Mary 
(Axery) Morgan, the former of whom was a 
son of John and Elizabeth (Jone.s) Morgan, 
the latter of whom was a daughter of Lieu- 
tenant Governor Jones, who was governor of 
the New Haven Colony. The Morgans, also 
of Wales, were Puritans and from this same 
family came Edward D. Morgan, who be- 
came governor of the State of New York. 
Temperance .Vvery, wife of Captain Williain 
Morgan, was a daughter of Colonel Christ o- 
]iher and Prudence (Payson) .\very, and a 
granddaughter of James and Dcburali (Stel- 
lyon) Avery. Ca])tain William Morgan 
served \mder Colonel Parsons dvn-ing several 
years of the Revolutionary AVar. 

Levi Allen and wife had six ciiildrcn. iis 
follows: Levi, Miner S., .\\\>vi-[. Miner J., 
Walter S. and Cvntbia. 




GEORGE PAUL 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



681 



GEORGE PAUL, for many years a promi- 
nent citizen of Cuyaihoga Falls, and probably 
the most able civil engineer who ever claimed 
this section as his home, was born at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, Summit Countv, Ohio, September 
8, 1837, and died January 9, 1900. His par- 
ents were Hosea and Ellen (Gamber) Paul. 
He was educated in the common and High 
schools of his native place, and in 1857 be- 
gan to learn the machinist's trade. With 
him this natural leaning developed into 
something very nearly approaching genius. 
Going east he worked at his trade in early 
manhood at Boston and at Brooklyn, New 
York, in the meantime devoting his evenings 
and leisure time to the study of civil engineer- 
ing, under a private tutor. When the Civil 
War broke out he was working as a machinist 
at Wilmington, Delaware, and in 1862 he 
enli.sted in the Federal navy, as an engineer. 
For three years he sensed in the South At- 
lantic squadron under Admiral Dupont, and 
was attached to the "Nahant," the "Sonama," 
and to other monitors. At the close of the 
war he came back to Cuyalioga Falls, and 
in 1867 purchased a small shop, which, how- 
ever, he carried on but a short time, his sub- 
sequent work being all in the line of 'civil 
engineering. In 1871 he went to Waterloo, 
Iowa, where he designed the magnificent 
bridge across the Cedar River, which is 600 
feet long and one of the largest in the coun- 
try. Long before this he planned the first 
stoam canal boat that plied on the Ohio 
Canal. After the filling of his contract for 
the above mentioned bridge. Mv. Paul had 
many professional calls in Iowa, and did the 
surveying for a projected narrow-guage rail- 
road running north from Waterloo. Later 
he was engaged in laying the .grade of a 
road projected from Marion, Ohio, to Chi- 
cago, but this work was stopped on account 
of the panic of 1873. At this time Mr. Paul 
was residing at Kenton, Ohio, from which 
city he again returned to Cuyahoga Falls, 
where for many years he was engaged in 
the practice of his profession, frequently be- 
ing identified with notable feats of engineer- 
ing. At the time of his death. January 9, 



1900, ho had full charge of the work of con- 
structing the Akron, Bedford and Cleveland 
Railroad. He died just as he would have 
wished, still with full mental powers, and at 
the head of a work of great importance. His 
death left a void in his profession at it did 
in the family and social circles. For six years 
he had been a m-ei^iber of the State Board 
of Public Works, and one of its most valued 
advisors. 

On May 18, 1871, Mr. Paul was married to 
Olive A. Babcock, a member of an old Co- 
lonial family. She was bom at Cuyahoga 
Falls May 21, 1842, and is a daughter of 
Austin and Eliza (Taylor) Babcock, and a 
granddaughter of Chester Babcock, who was 
born June 9, 1781, and who lived and died 
at Tolland, Connecticut. 

Austin Babcock was born at Tolland, Con- 
necticut, October 28, 1810, and died in 1876. 
He married Eliza Taylor, who was born at 
Lee, Massachusetts, December 28, 1809, and 
who died in September, 1890. They had two 
children, Erskine L., residing at Springfield, 
Ohio, at time of his death, in June, 1907, 
and Olive A., who is the widow of George 
Paul. Both parents were members of the 
Wesleyan Methodist Church. In boyhood, 
Austin Babcock learned the trades of paper- 
malving and mill constniction. He came to 
Cuyahoga Falls in 1835, and was employed 
in the paper mill at this place for a number 
of years. In 1850 he made a trip to Cali- 
fornia, mainly for the benefit of his hesilth, 
and came back three years later much im- 
proved. Subsequently he became a member 
of the firm of J. M. Smith & Company, pa- 
per manufacturers, the firm later becoming 
Harrison, Hanford & Company. On this 
company's mills being burned he assisted in 
rebuilding them. At a still later date he 
and his son, Erskine, started into business 
as builders, and in connection with their 
1)uilding operations, they conducted a plan- 
ing mill. In the course of time he, with his 
son and several other business men, converted 
the planing mill into a rivet factory, and 
this was the first firm to manufacture riA'eta 
here. The old building is ."till utilized as 



682 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



a part of the present plant at Cuyahoga Falls. 
This was Mr. Babcock's last business connec- 
tion, and he wa^ associated with these works 
at the time of his death. In early life he 
was a Whig, but later became identified with 
the Republicans. 

Politically, Mr. Paul was a Republican, 
taking the interest of a ^ood citizen in pub- 
lic affairs. He always enjoyed his connection 
with Eddy Post, No. 137, Grand Army of 
the Republic, of which he was past com- 
mander. Mrs. Paul prizes very highly a 
number of historic relics which Mr. Paul 
gathered while in the service of liis country 
and not the least of these is a quaint little 
ginger jar that was picked up at Fort Sum- 
ter on the day after it was evacuated. Mr. 
Paul was a imember of Star Lodge, No. 187, 
F. & A. M., Cuyahoga Falls. Mrs. Paul is a 
member of the Congregational Church of 
this city, of which Mr. Paul was an attend- 
ant. He was a man of great mental equip- 
ment, brofld-minded in his views, and ehari- 
table in thought, word and action. 

H. G. MOON, one of Akron's retired capi- 
talists and leading citizens, was born Novem- 
ber 12, 1830, in Oswego County, New York, 
and is a son of Silas and Mary (Russell) 
Moon. His parents came to Northampton 
Town.ship, Summit County, about 1831, cross- 
ing the lakes and traveling by way of the 
canal to Old Portage. Their last years were 
spent with their el(lf'.-<t son, William Moon, in 
Wisconsin. 

Circumstances in Mr. Moons family in his 
boyhood made it neces.«ary for each member 
to contribute to his own support, and the first 
effort of the suljject of this .<ketch in this di- 
rection was working as a chore boy. lie 
learned the carpenter's trade and in following 
this, visited many different points, Vjut for 
years his industrial activities found 'their 
scope in Akron. 

Mr. Moon was married, first, July 16, 1853, 
to Fanny Cochran, who died in 1886, leaving 
two children, Mary E. and Alfred H. Mary E. 
was married (first) to Charles Pettit, and some 
years after his death became the wife of Wil- 



liam tiammond. Alfred H. resides in 
Portage County and is engaged in farming. 
Mr. Mooii was married, second, June 15, 1888, 
to Eveline W. Mallison, who was born and 
reared at Akron. She is a daughter of the 
late Albert G. Mallison, once one of Akron's 
most prominent men. lie came to Summit 
County as a civil engineer, in 1832, and did 
the greater part of the surveying and platting 
of a large part of that section of Akron which 
is now most closely built, notably Market and 
Howard Streets. The family has been one of 
much prominence in the city's social life. 
Since retiring from business, Mr. Moon has 
taken much pleasure in travel and for four 
winters he and wife have enjoyed the genial 
climate of California. 

DANIEL VOGT, an honorable, upright cit- 
izen of TallHiadge Township, who is suc- 
cessfully engaged in mixed farming on his 
valuable land consisting of eighty-one fertile 
acres, was born in Rheinish Bavaria, Ger- 
many, August 8, 1836. His parents were 
John and Margaret (Selzer) Vogt. 

The grandparents of Mr. Vogt were Daniel 
and Christiana (Hass) Vogt, and their whole 
live.? were passed in Germany. The grand- 
father was a man of some consequence, being 
postmaster of his native town for many years. 
He had two sons and three daughters. The 
Vogts came originally from Holland, prob- 
ably Daniel and his four brothers, and set- 
tled in the town of Freinsheim, in the 
province of Rhine Phals, Germany, where 
they became soldiers in the army, orje of 
them being formerly a guard to the king of 
Holland. He was embroiled in some trouble 
with another guard, which caused hi« leaving 
bis native land, and he subsequently entered 
the English army. One of the other brothers 
entered the Pnis.^ian army, where he was 
given charge of the commissary department 
and was killed while on duty. A third 
brother was an expert swordsman and was a 
teacher of fencing. 

The maternal grandfatlier of Daniel Vogt 
was George Selzer, who died at the age of 
eighty-five vears, living in the old home 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



683 



which belonged to the family for generations, 
at Frein.sheiin. He married a lady named 
More. The Selzer children were: Franz, 
George and Peter, sons; and the daughters 
were: Catherine, who married Jacob Baker, 
lived and died in Germany; Mrs. Barth; Mrs. 
Pleppihe, who came to America and in 1846 
lived in Philadelphia; and Margaret, who be- 
came the mother of Daniel \'ogt. The sons 
of Franz Selzer were bringing their parents 
to America, when he died on board the vessel 
and hi.-i widow died later at Cleveland. 

Both parents of Daniel Vogt were born in 
Bavaria, Germany. The}' left their native 
land and came to North Springfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, March 28, 1852, 
where they jnirchased twenty acres of land of 
Robert and .John Gilchrist, and they resided 
on this until death. The father lies buried 
in Springfield Township and the mother at 
Akron. To John and Margaret Vogt were 
born four sons and one daughter, all natives 
of Germany, as follows: Daniel; Plenry, who 
has had charge of the city parks of Akron 
for the past twenty-five years, married Lovina 
AV alters, of Clinton, Ohio; Christina, who 
married John Hebert, a carriage manufac- 
turer of Akron ; George, who was a victim of 
consumption, was a brave soldier during the 
Civil AVar, later an employe of the Collins & 
Fell carriage factory at Akron, married Miss 
Cvishman and left a son, Irvin, who has 
served as a member of the city council of 
Akron ; and Christian, who is a retired citizen 
of South Akron was formerly interested in 
carriage manufacturing. He married Mary 
McDonald. 

Daniel Vogt was sixteen years of age when 
his parents came to America and he continued 
to reside in Springfield Township until he 
enlisted, in 1864, for service in the Civil 
War. Prior to this he had joined a company 
of military called the Home Guards, and in 
1864 the Governor of Ohio called the men out 
for a service of 100 days. The mustering in 
was done at Cleveland, and the full quota of 
the 164th Regiment was filled out with a 
Tifiln company, after which the regiment 
was sent to Fort Cochran, later to Fort Wood- 



bury, and when the term of service wa^ over, 
returned to Cleveland to be mustered out. 

After his return from the army, Mr. Vogt 
resumed his business of weighing coal, on the 
farm which he now owns. The coal mine was 
the property of Dr. Amos Wright and James 
Chamberlin, and he was coal weigher here for 
fifteen years. In 1864 he purchased forty 
acres of his land from Mr. Chamberlin, thir- 
ty-five acres from Park Alexander at a later 
period, and now owns a total of eighty-one 
acres. He is justly proud of the fact that he 
has earned all he has through his own ef- 
forts, never having inherited a dollar from 
any one. He has made about all the improve- 
ments on his property, taking a great interest 
in its condition and appearance. In the spring 
of 1886 he built a fine modern residence con- 
taining nine rooms with slate roof, double 
siding and all of first-cla.ss material. It cost 
him $3,000, and could not be replaced now for 
$4,000. Its furnishings are tasteful and com- 
fortable and it stands as one of the most at- 
tractive and desirable homes of the town- 
ship. 

In 1860 Mr. \"ogt was married to Mary 
Hebert, who is a daughter of John and Cath- 
erine (Kinne) Hebert, both of whom were 
!)orn in Germany. The father was a black- 
smith by trade. In 1856 he came to America 
and located first in Coventry Township and 
then moved to Massillon, where he bought a 
flour mill, and both he and wife lived there 
until death, John Hebert dying in 1868, aged 
sixty-five years and his widow at the age of 
eighty-five. 

Mr. and Mrs. Vogt have had six children : 
William H., who was horn in March, 1861, 
h.os been married twice, first to Metta Fenn, 
daughter of F. F. and Julia (Treat) Fenn. 
They had one son, Lewis, who married Lois 
Johnson, daughter of Park Johnson, and they 
have one son, Mr. Vogt's great-grandson. 
Charles Vogt, the second son, married (first) 
Alice Honiwell, who died without i.ssue. He 
married (second) Mrs. Duncan. He is a 
traveling salesman for the Standard "\''arnish 
Company and is manager of the business at 
Toronto, Canada. Edward Vogt. the third son, 



684 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



is a carpenter by trade. He married Eliza- 
beth Seizor, vvlio is a daugliter of Lewis Sel- 
zer, and tliey have one son, Clarence. Their 
home is at Cleveland. Ella, Mr. ^'ogt's eld- 
est daugliter, married Frank Bear, of the lum- 
ber firm of Bear & Collier of Canal Dover. 
Louisa, the second daughter, married Fred- 
erick Ellet, and they have two children, Earl 
and Maud. Clara, the third daughter of Mr. 
Vogt, married William Kenwood, a builder 
and contractor of Columbus. 

Mr. Vogt was reared in the Protestant Re- 
formed Church of Germany and all of his 
brothers are members of the German Re- 
formed Church at the present time. Mr. Vogt, 
however, united with the Presbyterian 
Church and is one of the liberal supporters 
of the same at Tallmadge. He belongs to 
Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
at Akron, and enjoys talking over old times 
and joining in the various reunions of the 
veterans of the Civil War. In politics he has 
been identified with the Democratic party 
ever since he reached maturity and invariably 
supports its candidates. He is no seeker for 
political honors but takes a good citizen's in- 
terest in the election of responsible men who 
will carry out the laws of the land. Person- 
ally, Mr. Vogt is held in high esteem by 
those who have known him for many years. 

L. C. KOPLIN, who is superintendent of 
the factory department of The Thomas Phil- 
lips Company, manufacturers of bags, has 
been identified with this firm since he was 
seventeen years of age, working up from a 
humble position to one of importance. He was 
born April 11, 1869, in Norton Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, a member of an old 
family of that region. His father, .Joel C. 
Koplin, now a resident of Akron, was also 
born in the old Koplin homestead in Norton 
Township. 

L. C. Koplin completed his education in 
the schools of Norton Township and then en- 
tered the employ of the concern with which 
he has been since connected, his industry and 
fidelity to the interests of his employers hav- 
ing been rewarded with promotion. For the 



past two years, Mr. Koplin has been general 
superintendent of the bag factory, a position 
for which he is well fitted on account of his 
executive ability and his understanding of 
every detail connected with the satisfactory 
production of the firm's output. Mr. Koplin 
has also other business interests. In 189U he 
was married to Carrie M. Moore, of Akron. 
He is a member of Grace Reformed Church. 
For a luunber of years Mr. Koplin has been 
a prominent factor in Democratic politics, be- 
longing to the Democratic State Executive 
Committee, and the County Board of Elec- 
tions, and taking a very active part in all po- 
litical campaigns. He has served on the City 
Board of Health, and on various civic com- 
mittees of a public-spii-ited nature. Frater- 
nally he is an Odd Fellow, in which order he 
is far advanced. 

MILO CAIIOW, a prominent citizen of 
Norton Township, formerly president of the 
township School Board, was born in Coven- 
try Township, Summit County, Ohio, July 
8, 1842, and is a son of Robert and Maria 
Eva (Smith) Cahovv. 

Robert Cahow was born in Maryland and 
his wife in Westmoreland County. Pennsyl- 
vania. The grandfather of Milo Cahow was 
Basil Cahow, who was a very early settler in 
Coventry Township, where he died, leaving a 
farm of fifty acres, which was purchased from 
the other heirs by Robert Cahow. When the 
latter died, Milo Cahow bought the old place, 
and after living on it a number of years, he 
moved to Barberton, buying a farm in that 
neighborhood, on which he lived for three 
years. This land be sold to the syndicate of 
which 0. C. Barber is president and the plant 
of the American Sewer Pipe Company is lo- 
cated there. Subsequently, Mr. Cahow 
bought hi? present farm of 142 acres, which 
lie devotes to general agriculture. 

Mr. Cahow was married (first) to Amanda 
Dreisbach, who, at death, left one child, Har- 
vey A., who follows the carpenter trade at 
.'Vkron. Mr. Cahow was married (second) 
to Clarissa Dreisbach, a half-sister of his finst 
wife and thev have five children, namelv: 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



685, 



Iniu, who is superintendent of the work of 
construction of the big steel plant in the 
course of building for the Diamond Rubber 
Company at Akron ; Elva May, who married 
William Knecht, resides with Mr. Cahow; 
Clarence Elton, residing at Akron ; and Joyce 
Marie and Dorothy Mildred, both residing at 
home. 

Politically, Mr. Cahow is a Democrat. He 
served one term as township trustee and for 
ten years served continuously on the School 
Board, during three years of this time being 
president of this body. Mr. Cahow resigned 
from this board April 4, 1907. 

BERT L. SHAW, of the firm of Shaw 
Brothers, proprietors of the JPebble Rock stone 
quarries, which are situated on the old 
George Shaw farm, in Norton Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, has resided at John- 
son Center since hi^ birth, April 8, 1878. He 
is a son of George and Haretta (Douglas) 
Shaw, and a grandson of Joshua T. Shaw. 

Joshua T. Shaw was born in New York and 
came to Ohio from there in 1800, settling in 
Medina County, where his son George was 
born, April 13, 1835. When seven years of 
age, the family settled at Johnson's Corners. 
George Shaw married Haretta Douglas, who 
still survives. During the Civil War, Mr. 
Shaw enlisted for service and was detailed as a 
musician, being the leader of a brigade band 
for three years. He returned and engaged in 
farming in Norton Township, where he died 
on the old homestead, June 20, 1902. 

Bert Shaw, who, with his brother Arthur 
R., is interested in the Pebble Rock stone 
quarries, is well knwn as a citizen and busi- 
ness man, and has few equals as a musician 
in this section. His reputation in the musical 
field is more than local. He is the leader of 
the Johnson Military Band of Johnson's Cor- 
ners, which consists of an organization of 
twenty-five pieces. Mr. Shaw is a member of 
the Eighth Regiment Band, Ohio National 
Guards, and was in service almost a year dur- 
ing the Spanish-American AVar. In addition 
to his quarry interests, he owns a one-half in- 



terest in 30U acres of land, and a beautiful 
residence property. 

Mr. Shaw was married, August 15, 1903, to 
Anna Marie Christopher, of Ada, Hardin 
County, Ohio. Mrs. Shaw was a resident of 
that place for seventeen years and graduated 
from the High School in 1898. She was also 
a student at the Ohio Normal University, at 
Ada, Ohio. 

WILLIAM WINDSOR, JR., president and 
general manager of the Windsor Brick Com- 
pany, was born in 1860, in the pottery dis- 
trict of Staffordshire, England, and is a son 
of William Windsor, who is now a retired 
resident of Akron. 

William Windsor, Jr., was tw^enty years of 
age when he came to America, well equipped 
as to education, and trained in the brick-lay- 
ing trade. After coming to Akron he joined his 
brother John, who had reached this city a few 
months earlier, and the father joined his sons 
a short time afterw'ard. For some thirty 
years previously, William Windsor, Sr., had 
engaged in general contracting, and he now 
became the head of the firm of William 
Windsor & Sons, which secured a prominent 
position in the business life of this city. In 
1898, after seventeen years of activity, the 
father retired. He is a member of the sons of 
St. George. In 1896 the Windsor Brick Com- 
pany had been established. It was incor- 
porated in 1902, with a capital stock of $40,- 
000, its object being the manufacture of all 
kinds of building and repress paving brick. 
Of this company, William Windsor. Jr., is 
president and manager; Clarence W. Windsor 
i? vice president; and John T. Windsor is 
secretary and treasurer. 

The Windsor Brick Company does a gen- 
eral line of contracting in addition to brick 
manufacturing. This company has practi- 
cally built Barberton, erecting all the large 
plants there, and has laid from 35,000,000 
to 40,000,000 brick in that place alone. 
Among these are the Diamond Match Fac- 
tory; the Diamond Match Machine Shop; the 
National Sewer Pipe; the Carrara Paint Com- 
pany; the Barberton Electric Light Plant; 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the Sterling Boiler and Foundry ; the Barber- 
ton High School; the National Hotel; the 
National Sewer Pipe offiee; the Tracy Block; 
the Moore and St. John Block; the Welker 
Block and the Fraze Block. They built the 
Diamond Match plant at Liverpool, England, 
which contains y,UUU,OUO brick. This was a 
notable achievement and is typical of the en- 
ergy and capacity of this firm. No English 
contractor could be found to undertake the 
gigantic task under a two-year contract, but 
this firm went to England and completed the 
work in six months. This firm built the great 
City Ho.5pital at Akron, in addition to busi- 
ness blocks and private residences, and have 
done a large amount of superior work in 
other States and in Canada, supplying the 
material for the same. 

In 1881 Williain Windsor, Jr., was mar- 
ried to Sarah Hemming, who was born in 
England, and they have two children: Clar- 
ence AVilliam and Gordon Welford. Fra- 
ternally he is an Odd Fellow. 

John T. Windsor, secretary and treasurer 
of the Windsor Brick Company, was born in 
England, in 1862. He was the first of the 
family to come to Akron, and when his broth- 
ers and father joined him, all were concerned 
in the contracting business of William Wind- 
sor & Sons. Mr. Windsor has always shown 
an interest in the welfare and development of 
this city since he made it his home. He is 
president of the Windsor Land Company, and 
is vice president of the Akron Base Ball Com- 
pany, William Windsor, .Jr., being a director 
in both organizations. 

John T. Windsor married Mary Stubbs, 
who was born in England, and they have five 
children: William T., Mary, John, George 
and Ellen. Mr. Windsor is an Odd Fellow. 
The Windsors are all affiliated with the Epis- 
copal Chnrch. 

ORRIN ERASE, a representative citizen 
and prosperous farmer of Norton Township, 
and the owner of seventy-six and one-half 
acres of fine farming land situated on the 
East and AVest road, in Norton Township, and 
1R2 acres in Wayne County, was born in 



Chippewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
Novejuber 21, 1855, and is a son of Sameul 
and Elizabeth (Shoe) Erase, both of whom 
are deceased. 

Orrin Erase was reared on his father's 
farm in Chippewa Township, and obtained 
his education in the country schools. He en- 
gaged in farming in Wayne County, where 
he remained until November 1, 190IJ, when 
he moved to Norton Township, Summit 
County, purchasing his present farm, which 
he has been cultivating very profitably ever 
since. For twenty-seven years he has been 
engaged in Itreeding Shropshire registered 
sheep, and the strain produced has been of 
such excellent quality that a large demand 
has been made, and Mr. Erase has sold his 
sheep in eighteen "States and in Old Mexico. 

On March 10, 1876, Mr. Erase was mar- 
ried to Ella Baughman, who is a daughter of 
Israel and Anna (Weygandt) Baughman, 
who were farming people of Chipj)ewa Town- 
ship. Mrs. Frase's grandfather, Rev. Henry 
Weygandt, was a pioneer minister, who prob- 
ably helped to organize more Lutheran par- 
ishes in Wayne County, Ohio, than any other 
man of his time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frase have had the follow- 
ing children: Oliver M., Israel M., Cora E., 
Walter R., Elsie Murriel, Irene, Carl G., 
Florence, Ruby, Oral and Lucille. Oliver M., 
residing near Clinton, is a teacher and also 
farms. Israel M., residing at Barberton, is 
with the Sterling Companj-. Cora E. mar- 
ried Marvin Dice, of Akron. Walter resides 
on the old farm of 132 acres, in Wayne 
County, from which the family came to Sum- 
mit County. He has one daughter, Beatrice. 
The present fine home and all the substantial 
buildings were erected by Mr. Frase. He is 
a leading member of the Lutheran Church at 
Loyal Oak, being one of the deacons. 

WILLIAM KOONSE, who is the oldest 
native-born citizen of Green Township, resides 
on a farm of 100 acres and owns also a second 
farm, of 125 acres, situated in the same town- 
ship. Mr. Koonse was born on the farm on 
which he lives, in Green Township, Summit 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



687 



County, Oliio, Februray 26, 1838, and is a 
sou of Henry and Katherine (Gromoos) 
Koonse. 

John Koonse, the grandfather, was a farmer 
and weaver, and he passed his whole life near 
AUentown, Pennsylvania. He had a large 
family of children, Henry being one of the 
younger members. Henry Koonse learned 
the trade of weaver, which he followed for a 
time, but later became a. farmer. He was 
married tir.~t in Peinisylvania, to Katherine 
Gromous. and some of his elder children 
were born there. After leaving Pennsylvania, 
the family lived for one year at Buffalo, New 
York, and then made the journey to Summit 
County, Ohio, in wagons. They settled in 
Wild Cat Swamp,* on the present farm of Wil- 
liam Koonse. Henry Koonse cleared the 
land and lived on this farm until his death, 
in. 1885, when he was over eighty-three years 
of age. His first wife died many j'ears be- 
fore, and in 1874 he was married to Cath- 
erine Weaver. Ten children were born to the 
first union, a.? follows: Julia Ann, deceased, 
who married Samuel Klick ; Jonas ; Pollie, 
who married J. Burkett ; Reuben : ilaria, who 
married John Hildebrand; Susan, who mar- 
ried A. Belts; Henry; Catherine, who married 
J. Burkett; Sarah, who married M. Young; 
and AVilliam. 

William Koonse spent many boyhood days 
in the fields and woods, where he caught rac- 
coons and other small game. During the 
winter terms he attended the old log school- 
house, which had a desk on each side of the 
room. Since attaining his majority Mr. 
Koonse has always engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. He bought the old home place from 
his father, but the large brick house and other 
buildings have been erected by him. In ad- 
dition to the farm which he operates, he owns 
another in the northwestern corner of Green 
Township, which he purchased from David 
Thornton, and on which he lived for eight 
years. He is an active member of the Grange, 
and takes a lively interest in its welfare. 

Mr. Koonse was married (first) to Maria 
Thornton, who was born Aug\ist 24. 1S40. 
and was a daughter of David Thornton, one 



of the early pioneers of Summit County. 
She died May 17, 1878, having been the 
mother of nine children: Mary Ella, who 
married H. Killinger; Henry Calvin; David 
Nelson, who married Emma Putt; Isaiah M., 
who died young; Katie Ann, who married 
Rev. J. Prickett; Alice Alma, deceased, who 
married John McCoy; Marvin C, who mar- 
ried Mary Englehardt; Willis Wilson, who 
married Sarali Robart; and Emanuel, who 
married Ida Overhalt. After the death of his 
first wife, Mr. Koonse was married (second) 
May 29, 1879, to Alice Spidle, who is a 
daughter of John and Eliza (Werst) Spidle, 
natives of Pennsylvania. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Spidle died when Mrs. Koonse was a child of 
ten years, they having been the parents of 
eight children, namely: Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried S. Lilley; Naomi, who is single; Alice; 
Stacey; Dora, who is unmarried; EfJie, who 
married Edward Shellhouse; and Ezra and 
Ira, both deceased, both of whom served in 
the Union Army during the Civil War. Five 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Koonse, namely: Arlin; Lydia, who died 
aged five and one-half .years ; John, who died 
when fifteen and one-half years ; William ; 
and one who died in infancy. 

In political matters Mr. Koonse is a Re- 
publican, and his first vote was cast for 
Abraham Lincoln. With his family he at- 
tends the Evangelical Association Church, 
and he has served for forty years in the va- 
rious official positions of that denomination. 

HARVEY A. MARSH, who resides on the 
farm of 160 acres owned by the heirs of S. 
C. Marsh, in Franklin Township, was born 
in Springfield Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, September 18, 1862, and is a son of 
Samuel C. and Sarah (Spade) Marsh. 

The first member of the Marsh family to 
settle in Summit County was the great- 
grandfather, George A. Marsh, w-ho crossed 
the mountains from Pennsylvania, in an old 
covered wagon, which he later utilized in 
hauling hi? grain to Cleveland. That was 
many years later, for when he settled on the 
farm in Franklin Township, H was as the 



688 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



hand of Nature had left it and it required 
many toilsome years to bring it to a grain 
producing condition. He reared a large fam- 
ily, four of whom are still living, namely: 
Hiram, who resides in Franklin Township; 
Mrs. Dailey, residing at Akron; John, liv- 
ing at Kent; and Simon, who is a resident of 
Coventry. One of the sons, George L., who 
was born in Pennsylvania, accompanied his 
father to the wilds of Ohio and made his 
home in Franklin Township, all his life. A 
farm that he purchased toward its close be- 
longs now to Samuel Snyder. He had ten 
children and was the grandfather of Harvey 
A. I\Lirsh. 

Samuel C. Marsh, father of Harvey A., was 
a well-known resident of Franklin Township. 
He cultivated the old home farm and also 
worked for a short time in the old Excelsior 
shop, at Akron. During the days of the 
Civil War, when the call came for emer- 
gency men, he went out with the 100-day vol- 
unteei's, but with these exceptions never lived 
outside of Franklin Township. He was mar- 
ried (first) to Sarah Spade, who died in 1869, 
aged thirty-four years. She was a daughter 
of Samuel Spade, of Springfield Township. 
His second marriage was to a sister of his 
first wife, then a widow, Mrs. Matilda Hersh- 
berger, who at that time had one son, Nathan 
Hershberger. She died after the birth of one 
daughter. Laura, who married C. Stump. Mr. 
Marsh was married (third) to Mary Smith, 
who still survives, having had one daughter, 
Carrie. Tlie children born to the first mar- 
riage were: Harvey; Mary, who married 
George Becker; Madison; Jennie, who mar- 
ried E. Swigart; and Elma. who married A. 
Bexler. The second son, Madison, is de- 
ceased. Samuel Marsh died in October, 1906. 
After Harvey A. Marsh was born, his par- 
ents moved to Akron, and after a four years' 
residence there they came to the present farm, 
on which he was reared. His education was 
obtained in the country schools, and his oc- 
cupation has been farming. On November 
24, 1S,S7, Mr, Marsh was married to Emma 
Swigart, who is a daughter of John and Kath- 
erinp (Keller) Swigart, and they have had 



seven children, three of whom died young. 
The survivors are: Ray, George, Mabel and 
Berenice. Mrs. Marsh has one brother, Byron 
W. Swigart, residing at Kenmore. 

In politics Mr. Marsh is a Republican. 
Fraternally he is a Maccabee. With his fam- 
ily, he belongs to the Reformed Church. 

MILO WHITE, who resides on the old 
homestead farm in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, on which he was born, 
August 23, 1850, is a son of Abia and Martha 
(Hagenbaugh) White. 

Abia White, fait-her of Milo, was l:>orn in 
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, October 18, 
1816, and was a son of Jacob and Rachel 
(Brittain) White, who carne from Luzerne 
County to Summit County in 1824, making 
the long journey in wagons. They were na- 
tives of New England and possessed much of 
the jmidenee and thrift belonging to natives 
of that section. In 1827 they settled in 
Springfield Township on what is known as 
the Hilbish farm, removing later to the farm 
nO'W owned by Milo White, which contained 
at that time 150 acres. Jacob WTiite and 
wife both died in 1853, the former in May 
and the latter in April, aged about eighty-four 
years. 

Abia White was reared on the home farm 
and when twenty-one years of age learned the 
car{:ienter's trade, which he followed for a 
few years, and then engaged in farming 
through the rest of his active life. His death 
occurred May 16, 1893. He married Martha 
Hagenbaugh, who died December 24, 1893. 
She is a daughter of Christian Hagenbaugh, 
of Medina County, Ohio. There were five 
children horn to this marriage, and Milo is 
the only survivor. The others were: Mary 
Elizabeth, who died aged about seven years, 
and three others in infancy. 

Milo White gained his primary education 
in the di.strict schools near his home, and 
attended tln-ough one term, a school at Moga- 
dore, then spent two years at Oberlin College, 
and a short time at Buchtel College, at Akron. . 
After he left school he engaged in farming, 
and has proved the efficiency of an educated 




MR. AND MRS. ELMER A. GAULT 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



691 



man in agriculture. He has a valuable farm 
of 145 acres, admirably managed, on which 
he raises feed for liis cattle, a considerable 
amount of wheat, and inilks a number of 
high-grade cows. In addition to these inter- 
ests, he has been concerned for some time 
in handling estates, and has dealt to some ex- 
tent in realt}'. He has also given his atten- 
tion to public matters, having been elected 
township treasurer, trustee and assessor, and 
for more than twelve j^ears has been a jus- 
tice of the peace. His management of his 
various interests have made him a leader 
among the representative men of Springfield 
Township. 

Mr. White was married (first) to Mattie L. 
Ellet, who died November 7, 1891. She was 
a daugliter of Ki«g J. and Lucinda E. Ellet. 
King J. Ellet sensed two terms as commis- 
sioner of Summit County and was a man of 
much prominence. His parents, John and 
Elizabeth Ellet. were natives of Maryland, 
who settled in Springfield Township in 1810. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ellet had three' children : Mat- 
tie, who became Mrs. "\^%ite; Cora J., wlio 
married Frank Weston, of Springfield: and 
Fred K. Mr. Ellet retired from the office of 
county commissioner in 1889. and in March. 
1890, he was appointed a trustee of the Sum- 
mit County Children's Home, a position he 
filled in an able and efficient manner. Both 
he and wife died in 1896. 

Mr. and Mrs. White had a family of three 
sons aud three daughters born to them, name- 
ly: Addie M., who married Charles W. Sur- 
fass, a machini.?t, and the superintendent of 
an automobile garage, residing at Akron ; 
Frances L., who married Mark IMetzger, sii- 
perintendent of the Akron ]Mariufacturing 
Company, residing at Akron, have one daugh- 
ter, Mary; Roscoe A.. re.«iding in Chicago, 
connected with a large diamond importing 
hou.se. was educated at Buchtel College, and 
married Dorothy Butler, of Elkhart, Indiana; 
William R., residing on the home farm, is 
interested also in a milk business at Akron ; 
and Blanche Irene, re,<?iding at home. Two 
of the daughters of Mr. White were students 
at Buchtel and Wooster Colleges, and both 



were teachers in the public schools of Akron 
prior to marriage. Mr. White was married 
(second). May 24, 1894, to Mrs. Cordelia D. 
Surfass, who Ls a daugliter of the late John 
H. and Mary Foltz. 

Politioally Mr. White is stanch in his Re- 
publicanism and has long taken an active in- 
terest in party policies. Fraternally, he is an 
Odd Fellow, for the past thirty years having 
been a member of i\pollo Lodge, No. 61, East 
Akron. 

ELMER A. GAULT. wlio, for the past ten 
years has had charge of all the concessions of 
the Lake Side Park, at Akron, is one of the 
city's best known and substantial men. Mr. 
Gault was born in 1862 in Wisconsin, and in 
childhood accompanied his parents to Lodi, 
Ohio, growing to the age of sixteen years on a 
farm. 

At the above-mentioned age Mr. Gault went 
to Cleveland, where he learned the busine-s 
of manufacturing candy, and was engaged in 
the candy line at Lexington, Kentucky, for 
five years. Failing health caused his return 
to Ohio, where he was married to Ella A. 
Zarle, of Wooster, in 1894. After a year 
spent at Cleveland, Mr. Gault came to Akron 
and for one year conducted a pleasure resort 
at Chippewa Lake, and then embarked in his 
present enterprise. He has a lease extending 
for eight more years and has felt justified in 
making many improvements on these 
groimds, in the spring of 1907 completing a 
large baseball diamond here at a cost of 
$2,500. 

He has \'i.sited many parts of the ITnited 
States and understands how to secure the 
best attractions. He is one of the largest 
.stockholders in the East Market Street rink 
and owns other property, including a fine 
home at No. 936 South Main Street. 

The parents of Mr. Gault were Daniel and 
Sarah (Hutchin.?on) Gault. the latter of 
whom still survives, the father having died 
Febniary 17, 1906. Their children were: U. 
II. Gault, residing at Lodi, Ohio, and en- 
gaged in well drilling and coal pro.^pccting: 
S. L., a retired farmer, living near I^odi : E. 



692 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



A., of Akron; Mary, who married W. J. 
Feazel; Miller, of Lodi; Nellie, who married 
Edward Paden, an engineer, running the fi;\st 
express between Chieago and Pittsburg; 
Frederick, who is in the employ of the Bal- 
timore (i: Ohio Railroad as an electrical signal 
man; and Ida, who married William Bower, 
hose maker at the Diamond Rubber works, 
Akron. Mrs. E. A. Gault is a leading mem- 
ber of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church on 
West Thornton Street, Akron. 

GEORGE W. RUCKEL, a well known 
Akron citizen, superintendent of the Summit 
Sewer Pipe Company, was born in Medina 
County, Ohio, September 23, 1848. His 
father, George Ruckel, one of the leading 
farmers of Sunnnit County in hds day, and in 
politics a stanch Republican, died in 1878. 

At a very early date in the life of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, his parents moved to a 
farm near Tallmadge, Summit County, where 
he was reared and attended the district 
schools. Later he attended school at East 
Akron. His first indii.strial experience begun 
at an early age, was gained on the farm, and 
he followed his father's occupation on the 
home farm at Tallmadge until 1894. In that 
year his industrial activities underwent a rad- 
ical change, for he then came to Akron, from 
which place be went out to superintend the 
building of a paper-mill at Boston, this 
county. For the past eight years he has been 
superintendent of the Summit Sewer Pipe 
Company, a responsible position, calling for a 
thorough practical knowledge of the business 
and good managerial ability. He is financial- 
ly interested, bo^h in this concern and in the 
Cleveland-Akron Bag Company. In politics, 
Mr. Ruckel is a Republican. His fraternal 
affiliations are with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. 

He married, in 1878, Mass Delia Baldwin, 
daughter of Harvey Baldwin, the president of 
the Biickeyc Sewer Pipe Company, and one 
of Akron's best known and most respected 
citizen, further mention of whom may be 
found elsewhere in this work. 



MILTON OTIS HOWER, one of the fore- 
most business men of Akron, was born in 
Doylestown, Wayne County, Ohio, November 
25, 1859, son of John H. and Su.san (Young- 
ker) Hower. His eai'ly ancestors in this coun- 
try were of German origin. Removing with 
his parents to Akron in 1866, he was educated 
in the Akron Public Schools and Buchtel Col- 
lege, paying particular attention to those 
studies best calculated to equip him for a 
sueces.sfid business career. With his father 
and two brothers he was associated in the or- 
ganization of The Hower Company, oatmeal 
millers, of which company he was elected sec- 
retary. This company was, in June, 1891, 
merged with the American Cereal Company, 
and Mr. Hower was one of the directors, later 
filling the position of vice-president and chair- 
man of the Executive Connnittee. His active 
businass connections have extended until he 
is now a leading officer in some of the most 
important business ent/crprises of Akron and 
elsewhere. He is president and general man- 
■ ager of The Akron-Selle Company and The 
Akron Wood Working Company; vice-presi- 
dent of The Central Savings & Trust Com- 
pany; president of the Lombard & Replogie 
Engineering Company; president of the.Jahant 
Heating Company, president of the Bannock 
Coal Company; president of The Akron Hi- 
Potential Company, of Barberton ; president 
of the Akron Skating Rink Company and 
The Automol>ile Club. He is also a director 
of The Akron Gas Company and the Home 
Building it Loan A.ssociation, and is active in 
the promotion of all private and public en- 
terprises, having for their object the moral 
or material advancement of the commimity. 

Mr. Hower was married. November 16, 
1880, to Miss Blanche Eugenia Bruot, daugh- 
ter of James F. and Rosalie (Gressard) Bruot, 
of Akron. Of this marriage there are two 
children, Grace Susan Rosalie and John 
Bruot. Mr. Hower resides in the old Hower 
homestead. No. 60 Fir Street, one of the larg- 
est and most co^nnnodious residences in the 
city. He is an independent Republican and 
noted for his fight against corruption and 
graft in any party. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



693 



FOREST SWAIN, trustee of Norton Town- 
ship, and a substantial fanner residing on his 
valuable ninety -six acres, was boro October 4, 
1870, on the old Swain homestead, in Norton 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
i^on of Frederick and Rosanna (Roth) Swain. 

Jacob Swain, the grandfather of Fore.st 
Swain, was born in Germany, and, after com- 
ing to the United States, settled near Smith- 
\dlle, Wayne County, Ohio. There Frederick 
Swain was born aaid resided until he came to 
Su'onnit County, just prior to his marriage. 
He became one of the leading farmers of Nor- 
ton Townijhip. He was married (first) to 
Rosanna Roth, who died August 18, 1880. 
She was 'the mother of seven children ; of 
these, John, Forest and William axe surviv- 
ors, the latter living on the old Swain home- 
stead. Frederick Swain was married (sec- 
ond) to Ella Fisher, and they had two chil- 
dren, the older of these dying in infancy, and 
the younger, Grace, residing in the old home. 
Frederick Swain died February 20, 1902. 

Fore.st Swain has never lived outside of 
Norton Township. In boyhood he attended 
the neighborhood schools, and since attain- 
ing manhood he has devoted his attention to 
agricultural j)ursuits. In 1900 Mr. Swain, 
together with his brother John, purchased the 
present farm. Forest Swain bought his broth- 
er's interest and later the latter bought one of 
the father's fann.s of ninety acres and removed 
to it in 1905. John Swain erected a fine 
dwelling. 

The Swain brothers have always been 
bound by the closest of fraternal ties and they 
hold many interests together. They married 
sisteirs, both being daughters of Jeremiah 
Ilarter, a well-known resident of Norton 
Township. Fore.st Swain married Clara 
Ilarter, and they have one child, Harold. 
John Swain married Ede Harter, and they 
have four children: Paul, Rxith, Frederick 
and Clifford. Both brothers are leading mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church. For ten years 
■Tohn Swain has been a member of the School 
Board, and at present is president of this 
body. In 1903 Forest Swain wa« elected 
township tnistee on the Republican ticket. 



and has served as such ever since. In Forest 
and John Swain Norton Township has two 
honorable, intelligent, broad-minded citizens, 
men who exert a good influence in the com- 
munity and who command the respect of all 
who know them. 

CHARLES CALVIN EWART, a promi- 
nent -and suhstantial citizen of Springfield 
Town.ship, who is engaged in mixed farming 
and dairying on his fine estate of 200 acres, 
on which he was born, in Summit County, 
Ohio, July 13, 1850, is a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Ha.rris) Ewart. 

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Ewart was 
Joseph Ewart, who came with his wife to 
Summit County, in 1811. She was of Scotch 
descent, and was a girl of eleven yeare when 
the Revolutionary War closed. Joseph Ewart 
was born in the north of Ireland and Arhen 
he emigrated to America, located in Washing- 
ton County, Penn.syh^ania, where he married. 
After coming to Ohio, the Ewarts lived for 
one year at Tallmadge and then settled in 
Springfield Township, on the farm on w-hich 
their grand-Jon now lives. 

Joihn Ewart, was born in Butler County, 
Pennsylvania, December, 1809, and died in 
Augu.st, 1901. He was one of the following 
family of children : John ; James, who mar- 
ried Rebecca Babb, daughter of George Babb, 
died in Summit County; Campbell, who wa=: 
married (first) to a Miss McClelland and 
(.second) to Ann Adams, died in Wvandot 
County; Silas, who married a Miss Hile, 
moved to Clark County, Missouri, where he 
subsequently died; Robert, who married 
Martha Lemon, died in Springfield Town- 
ship; Polly, who married a ^Ir. Frederick- 
burg, moved to Tuscaraw-as County, but died 
in Summit County; and Nancy, who married 
Armstrong Thomas, died in Springfield 
Township. There arc numerous descendants 
of the above children of Joseph Ewart settled 
in different sections of this county. 

The parents of the mother of Mr. Ewart 
died when she was two years old and she was 
reared in the family of William Kranfzer. She 
still sun'ives, having reached her eightv- 



694 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



fourth year. There were five children born 
to John and Elizabeth Ewart, as follows: Jo- 
seph, who died in boyhood; Perry A., who 
resides in Springfield Township, married Jen- 
nie Schaffer; Charles Calvin; Mary B., who 
married John Sheppard, resides in Lake 
County; Ada, who married Hubert Wright, 
resides in Lake County. 

Charles Calvin Ewart obtained his early 
education in the district schools and spent a 
short season in academies at Darby and Moga- 
dore. With the exception of a period of four 
months, Mr. Ewart. has always lived on the 
present farm. It was first settled about 100 
years ago, the original owner being named 
De Haven. He was a blacksmith and had a 
shop on the farm. For many years Mr. Ewart 
was engaged in sheep-raising, but for some 
years past he has given the larger part of 
his attention to the dairy business. His beau- 
tiful herds of Guernsey cattle are of great 
value and at the present writing he has thir- 
ty-five head, milking twenty head. He feeds 
many hogs annually, and with the good man- 
agement which has made him a prosperous 
man; he watches his opportunity to make each 
line of agriculture profitable. 

On January 1, 1874, Mr. Ewart was mar- 
ried to Leora Weston, who is a daughter of 
Solomon and Mary Jane (Force) Weston, the 
former of whom died in Summit County in 
February, 1907, and the latter in July, 1905. 
Both were natives of Summit County and Mr. 
Weston died on the farm on which he was 
bom. Mr. and Mi-s. Ewart have had six 
children, the survivors being: Eva, who mar- 
ried Lewis Houseley, residing in Brooklyn, 
New York, has one son, Burton; Aurie, who 
married Curtis Ewart, residing at Pomona, 
California, has one .son, Robert Weston; and 
John and Elizabeth, both residing at home. 

In politics, Mr. Ewart is a Democrat. For 
the pa.st fifteen years he has served continu- 
ou.sly as a member of the School Board, his 
whole term of service covering twenty years. 
For a number of years this Township was the 
banner one of the county in relation to the 
number of graduates and it is only reasonable 
to suppose that the excellent control of the 



schools by an intelligent township l^oard had 
much to do with this. 

JAKE L. RANNEY, general merchant at 
Macedonia Village, was born in Northfield 
Townsliiip, Summit County, Ohio, July 10, 
1855, and is a son of Moses and Miranda 
(Rogers) Ranney. 

Moses Ranney was born in Hudson Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, August 12, 1819, 
and died June 24, 1895. After attending 
the district school through boyhood he 
learned the blacksmith trade at Little York 
and then opened a shop at Peninsula, which 
be ran for seven years. On May 1, 1851, he 
came to what is now Macedonia, where he 
established himself in business, where he re- 
mained active until within twenty years of 
his death. He took much interest in public 
aff'airs, was a Democrat in political belief, 
and served frequently in township offices. He 
was a valued member of the Masonic lodge at 
Hudson. He married Miranda Rogers and 
they had. the following children. Edward G., 
who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; 
Frank, residing at Akron ; J. L., residing at 
Macedonia; and Fred E., residing at Akron. 

Jake L. Ranney leaxned the blacksmith 
trade with his father and worked at it for 
some nine years and then embai'ked in a gen- 
eral mercantile business, in partnership with 
his brothers, under- the firm name of F. M. 
Ranney & Company. In 1888, after eight 
years of experience, Mr. Ranney sold his in- 
terest and learned the carpenter trade, but 
in 1892 he returned to merchandising. 

In 1904 he became manager of the Mace- 
donia Implement Company, handling all 
kinds of agricultural implements and feed, 
and making a sjiecialty of the manufacture of 
a can cleaner for the use of dairymen. It is 
a very u.«eful device and is in general de- 
mand, being much superior to any article of 
the kind ever before put on the market. 

Mr. Ranney married Pearl M. Clifford, who 
is a daughter of .Tame? C. Clifford, of North- 
field, and they have had two children, the 
one survivor bearing the name of Roger Clif- 
ford, and he was born April 6, 1897. Mr. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



695 



Rannej' owns considerable property at Mace- 
donia, including his own home, which is fur- 
nished with beauty and taste. 

When Mr. Ranney became a member of 
the Masonic fraternity there were about for- 
ty-eight members in Northfield. Previous to 
this time, township politics had been largely 
controlled by the United Presbyterian Church 
influences, inimical to the Masons, and this 
induced the Masonic people to get up a popu- 
lar ticket which would sweep the town. On 
this ticket they elected Mr. Ranney, who was 
then twenty-two years of age, constable, an 
otfice he soon resigned. He never con.sented 
to hold any other until he was elected to his 
present office of township trustee. In the 
fall of 1904, he w^as appointed a justice of 
'the peace, without being consulted, and he 
promptly declined the honor. Mr. Ranney is 
to some degree interested in opening up a 
giis well, in this section, which may prove 
of considerable value. He is one of the rep- 
resentative men of this part of Sunmiit 
County. 

JOSEPH BENSON CARTER, general 
farmer at Macedonia, Northfield Town.'ihip, 
was born in Twin.sburg Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, February 2S, 1839, and is a 
son of Thaddeus Andrews and Esther (Mar- 
shall ) Carter. 

The Carter family originated in southern 
England and probably the first settler in 
America was Robert Carter, who was the 
father of seven children, and who died at 
Killingsworth, Connecticut, in 1751. His 
son, William, was born in 1702, and joined 
the church at Killingsworth in 1725, soon 
after this removing to Guilford and thence 
to Wallingford. where, in 1733, he married 
Ann, daughter of Capt. Theophilus Yale. 

Thaddeus Carter, son of William, was born 
at Wallingford, in 1735. removed to Richfield, 
Connecticut, in 1783, and married Lucy, a 
daughter of Elisha Andrews. 

Noah Andrews Carter, son of Thaddeus, 
was born at Wallingford in 1777, removed 
to Richfield with his father, thence to Bris- 
tol. He was adopted by his nncle, Noah An- 



di-ews, one of the pioneer Methodist preachers 
of Connecticut. In 1815 he moved to Bark- 
hamstead, where he died in 1830. He mar- 
ried Lydia Gaylord, who was born in 1778. 

Thaddeus Andrews, father of Joseph B. 
Carter and second child and first son of Noah 
Andrews Carter and wife, was born at Bristol, 
Connecticut, March 24, 1902. In 1828 he 
married Esther Alford Marshall, who was 
born at Canton, Connecticut, December 9, 
1805. They probably came to Ohio soon 
after their marriage, locating two miles west 
of the center of Twinsburg, on a wild, unim- 
proved tract of land. On this farm Mrs. Car- 
ter died, September 1, 1845, leaving behind 
a record of a beauitiful, unselfish life and 
many heroic deeds, as fell to pioneer woman's 
lot. The father of Mr. Carter was married 
(second) December 28, 1845, to Margaret 
McKesson, who was born at Yorktown, Marv- 
land. May 6, 1812. He died October 22, 
1870. At one time he was a member of the 
Masonic lodge at Twinsburg. In early life 
he was a Whig and later a Republican, and 
frequently was elected to offices of responsi- 
bility, both in public affairs in the commu- 
nity and in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Joseph B. Carter remained assisting on the 
home farm until twenty-two years of age, 
hut when the Civil War Avas precipitated on 
the land, he determined to ofl^er his life and 
sendees in defen.se of his country. He enli.«ted 
Augu.st 26, 1861, in Company K, Nineteenth 
Regiment, Ohio Vohmteer Infantry, and was 
honorably discharged in the fall of 1864. He 
was oonnected with the Army of the Cum- 
berland and participated in all the battles in 
which his regiment took part, from Pittsburg 
Landing to Stone River, where he was 
w^ounded by a bullet in his knee. This injury 
confined him to the hospital and subsequently 
made his transfer nece^ssary to the invalid 
corps, in which he remained eight months. 
He barely escaped death on the same battle- 
field, as a bullet penetrated the buckle of his 
belt. This buckle is preserved as a very 
precious object by his family. 

After the honorable close of his military 
.service Mr. Carter returned to the Twinsburg 



696 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



farm and remained until 1870, and two years 
later bought a farm of K30 acres, which was 
the old homestead, which he still retains and 
has cultivated by a tenant. In 1889 Mr. Car- 
ter came to his present farm of 275 acres, 
on which his wife was born. Mr. Carter has 
100 acres under cultivation, and feeds all he 
grows except wheat and potatoes. He keeps 
forty head of cattle, ten horses and seventy- 
five sheep. He ships his milk to Cleveland. 
He has excellent, substantial buildings and 
has a silo 18 by 30 feet, 30 feet high. 

On December 24, 1873, Mr. Carter was 
married to Amarilla L. Spafford, who is a 
daughter of Jason M. Spafford, of Northfield, 
where she Avas born August 4, 1852. They 
have two children. Lena May and Thaddeus 
B. The family belong to the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, at Twinsiburg. Mr. Carter has 
l>een vice commander of Royal Dunn Post, 
No. 177, Grand Army of the Republic, at 
Bedford. 

The father of Mrs. Carter 'was born at Sa- 
lem, Ohio, September 13, 1831, and died May 
25, 1876. His parents mioved into Summit 
County when he was a small boy. Soon after 
bis marriage he bought the farm in lot 3, 
on which the Carter family now lives. He 
niarnied Philena Cranson, who was born in 
New York, and accompanied her parents to 
(ieauga County, Ohio, in childhood. She 
still survives. Mrs. Carter was an only child. 

MUNN BROTHERS, a firm made up of 
twin brothers, Abram Cranmer and Amos R. 
Muiiii, has been prominent in the business 
affairs of Macedonia for a number of years, 
and the two brothers, together and individ- 
ually, have been identified mth much of the 
public life and conmiercial concerns of this 
section. The brothers were born at Mace- 
donia, Northfield Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, May 6, 1840, and are sons of Hiram 
and Esther (Cranmer) Munn. 

Warner Munn, the grandfather, was a na- 
tive of New Jersey, and sei-ved in the Revolu- 
tionary War. For a number of years near 
the close of liis life he lived in Northfield 



Town.sliip, and his remains lie in Northfield 
Cemetery. 

Hiram Munn was born at Trenton, New 
Jersey, in January, 1800, and died in 1880. 
When he was still young his parents moved 
to the State of New York, and during the 
War of 1812 he served as a drammer boy at 
the battle of Sacketts Harbor. Subsequently 
he followed his trade of cabinetmaker at 
Cleveland for a few years, and then came to 
Northfield, where he followed carpentry dur- 
ing the remainder of his active life. He mar- 
ried E.sther Cranmer, who was a daughter of 
Abraham Cranmer, of Macedonia. She was 
ithe first school teacher in Northfield Town- 
ship. Hiram Munn and wife had eleven 
children, eight of whom reached maturity, 
as follows: Irene, who married J. J. Brit- 
tain, residing in Streetsboro Township ; Fran- 
cis Adelda, who is survived by her husband, 
J. W. Caldwell, residing at Macedonia ; John 
Wesley, who is decea.sed ; Abram C. and Amos 
R.; Zorada, who married Harry Brumley, re- 
siding at Cleveland, and Ferdinand Sylve.«ter, 
residing at Macedonia. The parents of the 
above family were most worthy people in 
every phase of life. They were active mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 
which the father was a local preacher, and 
they were largely instrumental in having 
erected the presenif Northfield Church. 

Abram C. Munn obtained a common schonl 
education at Macedonia, and after acting in 
the cafiacity of a clerk for several years, in 
the post-office, he learned the shoemaking 
trade, and in 1858 the firm name of Munn 
Brothers came into existence, the young men 
enitering into partnershi]), and they continued 
to carry on a shoemaking indu.stry for about 
ten years. In 1861 A. C. Munn was appointed 
post-master by President Lincoln, and in 
1863 he became local agent for the American 
Merchants I^nion Express Company, and con- 
tinued in that capacity iintil he went to 
Cleveland, where he fitted himself to be a 
practical .^team engineer. He was succeeded 
as agent by his brother, Amos R., who fills 
the po,-:ition for the Adams Express Com- 
pany at this point. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



697 



After closing out their first business entor- 
|)ri.se, the brothers engaged in a general mer- 
cantile ^business at Macedonia, which they 
continued as a partnership until 1885, when 
Abram C, went to Cleveland to accept the 
pasition of engineer of the waterworks depart- 
ment for the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany. Amos R. continued the business at 
Macedonia, changing its character somewhat, 
and has added notions and coal to the com- 
modities he handles. Abram C. Munn re- 
mained in the employ of the railroad com- 
pany until 1902, when he returned to Mace- 
donia, where he now lives partially retired, al- 
though the ibrothers still have business inter- 
ests in common. They are much alike in their 
niode<s of thought, and view public questions 
in the same light, hence, both are identified 
with the Republican party, both are Masons 
and both are Maccabees. For five years A. C. 
Munn ser\'ed as clerk of Northfield Townshij). 
Their Masonic connections are at Bedford, 
and A. C. Munn is also a member of Summit 
Chapter, Royal Arch. Of the Maccabees, A. 
C. Munn is past comuiander, and A. R. has 
served as trea.surer of the lodge. 

Abram C. Munn was married (first) to 
Mary S. McLaughlin, who died in 1898. 
She was a daughter of Robert McLaughlin of 
Corona, Michigan. No children were born to 
that niiirriage and Mr. and Mrs. Munn 
adopted a daughter, Grace A., who subse- 
quently became the wife of A. T. Brooks, 
(if Macedonia. Mr. Munn was married (sec- 
ond) July 8, 1904, to Mrs. Ella A. (Allen) 
AVadham. She is a member of the Disciples 
Church. 

In 1866, Amos R. Munn was married 
(firstt) to Sarah Ann DeHaven, of Northfield 
Township, and of their children, one sur- 
vives, Gertrude, who married Frederick .Ten- 
kins, of Macedonia. Mrs. Munn died in 1874. 
Mr. Munn was married (second) to .Johanna 
Havens, of Bedford, who formerly was a 
school teacher in Northfield Township. They 
have two daughters : Stella, who man-ied Al- 
bert Jenkins, residing at Macedonia, and 
Rada, who married Homer Armstrong, who 
is a teacher in the Akron High School. 



Amos R. j\Iunn resides on a farm which 
his grandfather Cranmer cleared. There are 
about twenty acres in the place and Mr. Munn 
cultivates about twelve. He has put in all 
kinds of modern improvements, including a 
silo 10 iby 12 feet and 30 feet high. He has 
twenty-five stands of bees and produces a 
great deal of fine honey. He ships milk to 
Cleveland, keeping some six head of cattle. 
Many of the old orchard trees set out by his 
grandfather are still in bearing condition. 

JAMES F. WRIGHT, a leading citizen of 
Springfield Township, resides on an excellent 
farrm of thirty-six acres, which he purchased 
in 1896. Mr. Wright was born in Spring- 
field Township, Summit County, Ohio, July 
4, 1856, and ds a son of Hon. Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Henderson) AV right. 

When Thomas Wright, Sr., the grand- 
father of James F., came from New York to 
Summit County, in 1837, he settled first by 
Springfield Lake, where he built a log hoiLse. 
Later he moved to the farm now owned by 
his son, Hon. Thomas Wright, chosing the 
land on account of a fine .spring located on 
the place. There were few settlers in Spring- 
field Townsihdp at that time, and but little 
clearing had been done. On the farm, after 
all these years, there still remains one tree, 
the markings on which recall the time when 
blazings were the only sign po.sts by which 
settlers could reach civilization from their 
homes in the forest. This tree marked the 
old forest road which led to the river, near 
Mr. Wright's home. Tlie highway which 
runs by his property has a foundation of cor- 
duroy, the logs having been laid years and 
yeare ago. 

Tlie grandparents of James J. Wright were 
born and married in England. His father, 
Hon. Thomas Wright, formerly a member of 
the Ohio State Legislature, was born after the 
family settled in Tomjikins County, New 
York. Thomas Wright, Jr., married Eliza- 
beth Henderson, who w.as ]>otii in Springfield 
Town.ship and was a daughter of an old pio- 
neer familv, .Tames and Elizabeth (Smdth) 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTS 



Henderson. She died in 1902, aged seventy- 
two years. 

James F. Wright is one of a family of six 
children. He was educated in the district 
school and the Akron High School, going 
from there to Monnt Union College, after 
Avhdch he taught school for some two years 
in Coventry and Springfield Townships. His 
life, however, has heen mainly devoted to 
farming. For some time he managed his 
father's farm, but, later purchased property, 
which he has continued to improve to the 
present time. 

On September 10, 1875, Mr. AA'right was 
married to Mary J. Steese, who was born in 
Green Township, and is a daughter of George 
and Esther (Faust) Steese. Her parents 
came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. Both are 
deceased, the fatlier reaching the age of eighty 
years. Mr. and Mrs. ^A^right have three chil- 
dren: Esther Elta, who married Robert 
Manson, resides a/t Akron, and they have one 
child, Finley Manson; Bert A., residing at 
Akron, where he is assistant draught'^man for 
the firm of Taplan and Rice, and Myron E., 
who is stenographer and bookkeeper for the 
Welsh Paper Mill Compamv, at Cuvahoga 
Falls. ^ ~ 

Mr. Wright is one of the leading Repub- 
lican politicians of Summit County. For a 
number of years he has sensed as a member 
of the party executive committee of this pre- 
cinct, has attended numerous county conven- 
tions as a delegate, and in 1906 he was elected 
alternate to the State convention. He has also 
served in local offices, and for some ten years 
has been a member of the School Board. 

Fraternally, Mr. Wright is an Odd Fellow, 
belonging to Summit Lodge, No. 50, Akron. 
Both he and wife are members of the German 
Reformed Church. 

GEORGE W. SHRIBER, general farmer 
and trucker, resnding on . a well-cultivated 
farm near Loyal Oak, Norton Township, was 
born at On-ville, Wayne County, Ohio, No- 
vember 23, 1855, and is a son of Emanuel 

and Elizabeth (Crites) Shriber. 



Emanuel Shriber was a farmer and also a 
carpenter and George W. was reared to agri- 
cultural pursuits. His education was ob- 
tained in the country schools. For fourteen 
years after marriage, Mr. Shriber lived on 
his farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio. After 
the death of his father, which took place in 
September, 1895, Mr. Shriber returned to 
^Vayne County, and continued to reside on 
the home farm in Baughman Township, un- 
til March, 1902, when he came to Summit 
County and settled on^his present farm. His 
land is well adapted to the growing of vege- 
tables and small fruiits and he engages largely 
in this industry, in addition to general agri- 
cultural work. 

Mr. Shriber was married to Clara E. Erase, 
who is a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth 
Erase. She was reared in Chippewa Town- 
ship, Wayne County. Mr. and Mrs. Shriber 
have had six children, namely: Carrie E., 
Bert Alvin, Carl C, George Neil, Howard 
Erase and Glen Russell. Mr. Shriber's chil- 
dren have been well educated, the three older 
ones all becoming teachers. The eldest 
daughter, who is principal of the High School 
at Carrolton, the county seat of Carrol County, 
is a talented lady and \\'idely-known edu- 
cator. She attended the High School at Mar- 
sha.llville, Ohio, spent one year at Jefferson, 
Ohio, and completed her liberal education at 
Wooster University. Bert Alvin, the eldest 
son, is successfully engaged in the practice of 
dentistry at Akron. For four years he en- 
gaged in teaching. He is a graduate of the 
Mar.shallville High School, and studied his 
profesision at the Western Reserve University 
at Cleveland. He married Blanch Woods, 
who is a daughter of Dr. A. T. Woods, of 
Loyal Oak, Ohio. Carl C, the second son, 
attended the Marshallville High School and 
completed his education in the .summer ses- 
sions at "Wooster I^niversity, for three years 
teaching through the -n-inters. 

Mr. Shriber and familv belong to Grace 
Reformed Church at Loyal Oak, in which he 
is an elder. He is a man of upright char- 
acter and the family is a representative one 
of Norton Township. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



701 



REUBEN B. BAUGHMAN, a representa- 
tive citizen and leading farmer of Norton 
Township, resides upon a well-improved and 
finely-cultivated farm of ninety acres, which 
is situated one mile south and west of John- 
son's Corners. He was born at Hametown, 
Summit County, Ohio, July 12, 1850, and is 
a son of John C. and Elizabeth (Barkhamer) 
Baughman. 

- John Baughman, the grandfather of Reu- 
ben B., came to Norton Township when his 
son, John C, the youngest of the three chil- 
dren, was four years old, the other being 
Joel C. and Mrs. Su.^anna Waltenberger. At 
that time the family name was spelled in the 
old German way — Bachman — the change be- 
ing made to the present orthography by John 
C, when he came to man's estate. John Bach- 
man, or Baughman, was a cabinetmaJvcr by 
trade and settled first in Chippewa Township, 
A^'ayne County, but it is probable that he did 
little else than farming after coming to Nor- 
ton To^raship. John C. Baughman was born 
in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but was 
reared and educated in Wayne and Summit 
Countie.-i, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Bark- 
liamer, who was reared in Franklin Town- 
ship. She was a daughter of John Bark- 
hamer, who walked the whole distance from 
Pennsylvania and bought a tract of wood- 
land in Franklin Township, Summit County, 
on which he lived for the remainder of his 
life. For many years he was a justice of the 
peace. 

The parents of Reuben B. Baughman went 
to housekeeping in Norton Township and as 
he had learned the carpenter trade he worked 
at it and subsequently became a well-known 
contractor and carried on a large wliolesale 
lumber business. In addition to his carpen- 
ter, contracting and lumber interests, Mr. 
Baughman dealt in land and acquired 308 1-3 
acres of farming land, and owned also a 
.etore property at Hametown. The Barberton 
Chemical Company plant is located on land 
which was once his farm. He died in Sep- 
tember. 1898. He is survived by his widow 
and the following children : Reuben B., 
Tsaae James; Arvilla, who married William 



H. Nice, of Barberton; Calista B., who mai-- 
ried Huston Snyder, living on the old home 
fairm; and Clara E., who married Clyde 0. 
Rasor. Three children are deceased, name- 
ly: Amanda, Emma and Cora. 

Reuben B. Baughman was reared in Nor- 
ton Township and attended the district 
schools. His attention has been given to farm- 
ing and his fine property shows that he is 
successful as an agriculturist. He raises grain 
and enough stock for his own use. 

Mr. Baughnnm married Martha Jane Wise, 
only child of Michael and Martha (Myers) 
Wise. The Wise family is a very old and 
prominent one in ftiis township. For many 
years Michael Wise, who resides at Johnson's 
Corners, served as a justice of the peace, and 
few men are better known in this section than 
'Squire Wise. Mr. and Mrs. Baughman have 
had four children — Loma Blanche, who died 
aged four years; Lloyd AV. is a bookkeeper 
for the L. S. & M. S. Railroad, residing at 
Cleveland; Clarence C, who died at the age 
of eighteen years; and John R., residing at 
home. 

Mr. Baughman is a man who takes aii in- 
terest in the welfare of his community and 
as a prominent man has freqviently been se- 
lected by his fellow-citizens for office. He 
ser\'ed two terms as Township treasurer, and 
.since 1904 he has been a member of the 
School Board. He belongs to the Reformed 
Church. 

L. D. CASTLE, general manager of the 
Pittsburg Valve and Fitting Company, an 
important industry which has been located 
at Barberton, since 1902, is a practical ma- 
chinist, who has had a large experience in 
differemt parts of the country. Mr. Ca.«tle was 
bom at Frederick. Maryland, but in his 
childhood, his parents moved to Charlcstown, 
Jefferson County, Virginia. 

Mr. Oa.«it.le was educated at Charlestown, 
and when eighteen years of age. he moved to 
Connecticut, locating at Bridgeport, Fairfield 
County. There he had an opportunity to 
study mechanical drawing, and he also served 
an apprenticeship of three years to the ma- 



702 



HISTORY OF SUjniTT COUNTY 



chinist's trade. For two years he worked a^ 
a journeyman machinist and then became 
foreman of the Eaton, Cole and Burnham 
Company's shops, and while serving as such 
was offered the superintendency of the Kelley 
and Jones Company, of New York, which he 
accepted. PTevioi:isly he declined the offer 
of assisitant superintendent with the former 
company. The Kelly and Jones Company, 
two years later, removed their plant from New 
York to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where 
they built larger works, and Mr. Castle re- 
mained with them until prepared to go into 
the organization of the Pittsburg Valve and 
Fitting Company. 

This important business concern of Bar- 
berbon was organized in 1901 at Pittsburg, 
by L. D. Ca.stle and M. J. Alexander. For 
one year the partners operated a pattern sliop 
at Pittsburg, but as the scope of their busi- 
ness was enlarged, it was considered advisable 
to build the necessary large works at another 
place, Barberton offering a suitable location. 
The officers of the company are the follow- 
ing capitalists and experienced men in this 
line of work: William D. Hartupee, presi- 
dent, residing at Pitt,sburg; M. J. Alexander, 
secretary and treasurer, residing at Pitt-sburg. 
and L. D. Ca.«itle, general manager, residing 
at Barberton. The board of directors includes 
. these names : Alexander R. Peacock, Charles 
W. Brown, William D. Hartupee, M. J. Alex- 
ander, L. H. Castle, Joseph H. O'Neill and 
Kenneth K. McLaren. The company own- 
eighty acres of land, seventy-five of which 
was purchased from the Huntsburger heirs 
and five acres from the Barberton Land Com- 
pany. Employment is given to 900 men and 
the pay roll is a very heavy item. The products 
of this plant are standard brass and iron 
valves and iron pipe fittings, for use in con- 
nection with .steam, water, oil and gas. They 
sell through jobbers, their trade territory be- 
ing the United States and foreign countries. 
The business was incorporated under the laws 
of New Jersey, with a capital .'^tock of $1,000,- 
000. They run three foundrys, a grey iron, 
a malleable iron and a bra.ss foundry. 

Mr. Castle was married in New York City 



to Carrie L. Fuller, and they have two chil- 
dren, namely: l/ouis H., who is connected 
with a bank, in Boston, in which city he re- 
sides with liis family, and George Fuller, who 
is a student in the Barberton schools. 

Mr. Castle is a member of the order of 
Elks. 

GREGORY J. GONDER, a substantial 
citizen and leading business man at Barber- 
ton, conducting a store at No. 345 Second 
Street, in the Gonder Block, devoted to wall 
paper and painters' supplies, was born at Ak- 
ron. May 29, 1853, and is a son of Joseph 
and Catherine (Steinbecker) Gonder. 

Joseph Gonder, a son of Joseph Gonder, 
was born in Germany, and came alone to 
America in boyhood, settling at Akron, where 
he was joined two years later by his father, 
who established the business in 1835. The 
three brothers, Gregory J., William H. and 
Joseph, all learned the painting trade. 

Gregory J. Gonder grew up at .likron and 
began to assist his father when only twelve 
years of age, in the old shop which was lo- 
cated on East Market Street, Akron, and after 
he became his father's partner the business 
was continued at Akron, Mr. Gonder not set- 
tling at Barberton until September, 1906. 
He still runs a shop in the basement of the 
Windsor Hotel, but his main business is car- 
ried on in the Gonder Block, which fine 
three-.story brick building, 24 by 100 feet in 
dimensions, he erected in 1904. He give* 
employment to nine men and does general 
contracting in painting. 

Mr. Gonder was married at Akron to 
Emma M. Edwards, who is a daughter of 
John Edwards, and they have had three chil- 
dren, the one survivor being the eldest. Greg- 
ory R., who is as,sociated with his father in 
business. He married Mary Condon. The 
oither children of Mr. and Mrs. Gonder were: 
Susan, who died aged two years, and Howard, 
who died aged seventeen years. Mr. Gonder 
is an active member of the Baptist Clmrch 
at Akron. Fraternally, he is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



703 



CHARLES B. TRYON, farmer, residing in 
tihe village of Macedonia, was born on a farm 
he owns, situated in lot 2, Northfield Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, July 22, 1855. 
His piirents were Jesse and Ruth (Gibson) 
Try on. 

Jesse Tryon, father of Charles E., was born 
at Wethersfield, Connecticut, September 15, 
1819, and was twelve years of age when he 
came to Ohio with his parents. They settled 
in Cuyahoga County, and he was educated 
in an old log school house near his father's 
farm. After he was married, Jesse Tryon 
came to Summit County and bought the 
farm on which his son Charles B., was sub- 
sequently born. It contained originally, for- 
ty-nine acres, to which Jesse Tryon added 
until he had 158 acres, and on this land he 
rai-ed many cattle and sheep. He became 
identified with the Republican party and 
served in township offices. He married a 
daughter of Asa Gibson. She was born in 
Nctv Jersey and died in Ohio, in 1896, aged 
seventy-six years. She was a member of the 
Baptist. Church. Three of their four children 
grew to maturity, namely: Jennie R., de- 
ceased, who married V. B. Murphey, also de- 
ceased: Charles B., and Zettie R., who mar- 
ried C. A. Bis.sell, residing at Antwerp, Ohio. 

Charles B. Tryon remained on the home 
farm through childhood, youth and into mid- 
dle ago, developing the property and carrj-- 
ing on both farming and dairying for many 
years. Prior to the spring of 1907, when he 
retired to a plea.sant home in the village of 
Macedonia, he looked after all his farm in- 
dustries himself, but these he ha« largely dele- 
gated to his son, who resides on the farm, in 
tlie sub.stantial old hou.-=e which was built by 
his grandfather, .sixty years ago. The barns 
have be«n enlarged and other building- 
added, Mr. Tryon always having taken con- 
siderable pride lin his surroundings. There 
are kept twenty-five head of Holstein cattle 
on the farm, milk being shipped to Cleve- 
land. Hay, corn and oats are raised for 
feed, and wheat and potatoes for sale. 

Mr. Tryon married Delia Robin.son, who 
is a daughter of Sidney Roliinson, of Michi- 



gan, and they have had three children: 
Pearl, deceased, who married Z. A. Hoasell, 
of Northfiicld; Fred, who was born August 
11, 1880, residing on the farm, married Delia 
Baldwin and has three children, and Treva, 
residing at home. 

Politically, Mr. Tryon is identified with 
the Republican party and for twenty years 
has been a member of the School Board of 
Northfield ToAvnship. He was one of the 
prime movers in securing the in corporation 
of the village of Macedonia and at present 
is a member of the village council. He is 
the secretary of the Twinsburg German Coach 
Honse Company, which owns the imported 
German coach .stallion, Olof. With his wife 
he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and contributes liberally to its support. 

IRA L. HART, who resides on his well- 
improved farm of eighty-seven acres in 
Springfield Township, is one of the best- 
known farmers in the township and a rep- 
resentative member of one of the oldest fam- 
ilies of this section. He was born in Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, October 8, 1861. and is 
a son of George W. and Rebecca (Myers) 
Hart. He is a grandson of John D. Hart, 
who came to Summit County from Pennsyl- 
■\ania, at a very early date which has not 
been preserv-ed, but at that time there were 
few other settlers in this region. .Tohn D. 
Hart made his first permanent settlement 
where his granrLson Ira now resides. A log 
cabin had been bi;ilt on the land by a former 
tenant and in that rude but sufficient abode 
this worthy pioneer and his wife rounded out 
their lives. John D. Hart was a soldier in 
the War of 1812, and he was a son of the 
John Hart -whose name is appended to the 
Declaration of Independence. John D. 
Hart's family included four daughters and 
two sons who reached mature age, namely: 
Mrs. Margaret Gillen, ^lary A., who married 
John A, Myers and died in Springfield 
Township ; Rel>ecca, who married Abraham 
Rodenbaugh, and spent her life in Spring- 
field Township: Jane, deceased, who sur\dved 
her hu.=band, Benjamin Clay; John, who died 



704 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in 1900, aged eighty years, and who married 
Margaret Haiwk, and George W., father of 
Ira L., who died in 1898. John D. Hart 
and his wife died soon after the close of the 
Civil War, and were buried in the cemetery 
of the Presbyterian Church at Springfield. 
He owned a farm of ninety acres at that 
time. 

The parents of Ira L. Hart were both born 
in Springfield Township, Summit County, 
Ohio. The mother, Mrs. Rebecca Hart, died 
when Ira L. Hart was about seven years of 
age. Her husband survived her until April 
10, 1898, when he died at the age of sixty- 
six years. They had eight children, the 
three survivors being: Arilda J., who mar- 
ried 0. J. Swinehart., residing at Springfield 
Lake; Luther E., residing at Akron, but 
owning a farm in Springfield Township, who 
married Minerva Ritzman, daughter of Sam- 
uel Ritzman, and Ira L., whose name begins 
this sketch. After marriage, George W. Hart 
and wife started housekeeping in the old log 
house which still stands on the farm, and 
his life was mainly devoted to agricultural 
pursuits. He was one of the organizers of 
Pomona Grange, Patrons of Husbandrs'. He 
owned a farm of sixty acres which he placed 
under good cultivation and he built an excel- 
lent barn, of which his .son now makes use. 
The old home was comfortable and neither 
he nor his wife desired any other. They were 
quiet, \'irtuous, godly people, members of the 
Presbyterian Church, and estimable in every 
relation of life. Their remains lie in the 
Presbyterian cemetery. Mr. Hart was a pa- 
triotic citizen and served in the Union army 
during the Civil War. 

Ira L. Hart was born in the old family 
residence which still remains standing on the 
farm. He obtained his education in the dis- 
trict schools. He and his brother Luther 
worked some years for their father, after 
which they purchased the Henderson farm. 
After the father's death they returned, Ira L. 
receiving a small portion of the esrtate, to 
which he subsequently added by purchase 
until he now owns a fraction over eighty- 
seven acres. Formerly he was largely in- 



terested in growing potatoes for the Akron 
market, but now carries on mixed farming 
and raises .small fruit. In 1903 he completed 
hLs fine modern residence, of eight rooms, 
wliich, in architecture and convenience, is one 
of the handsomest in Springfield Township. 
All his surroundings show thrift and good 
management. In a large measure, Mr. Hart 
is a self-made man, having acquired his pop- 
ularity through industry and frugality. 

On December 22, 1885, Mr. Hart was mar- 
ried to Ida B. Traster, of Springfield Town- 
ship, and they have three children, namely: 
Jessie, Willard and Dawn, all residing at 
home. The family belong to the Presbyte- 
rian Church at Springfield. 

In politics, Mr. Hart is a Democrat. In 
the spring of 1901 he was elected township 
treasurer, and subsequently served efficiently 
four years and four months in this respon- 
.«ible office. He is a man of liberal, broad- 
minded views on public matters, and is in- 
terested in all that promises to be of bene- 
fit to his locality. 

ALBERT R. HENRY, secretary and treas- 
urer of the Paul & Henry Constnietion Com- 
pany, and member of the firm of Paul & 
Henry, of Barberton, is one of the prominent 
citizens and a representative business man of 
this community. Mr. Henry was born in 
Butler County, Penn.sylvania, March 26, 
1866, and is a son of Milton and Margaret 
(Reed) Henry. 

The parents of Mr. Henry moved to New 
Castle. Pennsylvania, when he was about one 
year old, and he was reared and educated in 
that place, completing the High School 
course. In 1891, just about the time the 
business awakening reached Barberton, Mr. 
Henr\- came to this place, accompanying the 
Stirling Boiler AA^'orks as bookkeeper, and 
manager of the clerical force, and he re- 
mained with that organization until 1900, 
when he entered into partnership with John 
Paul, in the coal business and in city contract 
work, including pa^nng, etc. The extensive 
yards and offices of this firm are located at 
Bolivar Road and Baird Avenue, where they 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



705 



have about an acre of land. Paul & Henry 
are contractors and builders in stone work 
and sewer work, and make a specialty of 
heavy hauling and moving. Much of the 
extensive work required by the Diamond 
Match Company is placed in the hands of 
this firm. They did all the stone work on 
the school houses here, the abutment at the 
gorge, at Akron, over the Cuyahoga River, 
and also all of the stone work for the Pitts- 
burg Valve Company's buildings. Employ- 
ment is given to from 150 to 225 men. In 
May, 1907, the firm entered into the manu- 
facture of artificial ice, in a newly constructed 
building. Paul & Henry is a separate organ- 
ization from the Paul & Henry Construction 
Company. The latter is incorporated at 
$20,000, and do nothing but grading, con- 
crete work and masonry. John Paul is presi- 
dent of that branch. The fonner company 
does some construction work but is mainly 
interested in coal and ice. Both members of 
the above companies are practical engineers 
and are prominent in industrial circles at 
Barberton, and equally prominent as citi- 
zens. 

Mr. Henry was married in 1904 to Martha 
McMichael. He is an active and interested 
member of both the Masons and the Elks. 

WALTER A. WHITE, who has been iden- 
tified with the match industry since 1868, 
is superintendent of the Diamond Match 
Company, at Barberton. Mr. White was 
born at Brooklyn, New York, December 28, 
1855, and is a son of James P. and Keziah 
(Hunt) White. 

When Mr. White was eleven years of age, 
his parents removed to Akron, Ohio. During 
the Civil War his father, a ship carpenter, 
had worked for the Government at Brooklyn, 
and after he came to Akron he devoted him- 
self to building canal boats. He w^as a good 
workman and met with material succe.ss. He 
lived to be eighty-six years of age, dying from 
the effects of an accident. April 8, 1907. His 
widow still survives, aged seventy-seven years. 

Walter A. White completed his education 
at Akron, in 1868 beginning to work for 0. 



C. Barber in the match business, at first only 
during the summer vacation, but later taking 
regular work and attending night school. 
Step by step he has risen in the business, 
from its humblest position to that of one of 
the most important on its working force, each 
year becoming more valuable to Mr. Barber 
and his associates, both on account of his effi- 
ciency as well as fidelity. 

On December 24, 1883, Mr. White was 
married to Alice Westcott, and they have two 
children, namely: Ethel C, who married 
Oris Tichnor, has one child; Walter H., and 
Howard W. Mr. White has two brothers and 
one sister: John, proprietor of the White 
Lumber Company, at Akron ; James, in a 
lumber business at Detroit, and Anna, who 
married Charles Akers, who is a hardware 
and real estate dealer at Akron. 

Mr. White is a prominent member of the 
Elks. 

\y. IT. SHAW, a representative agricul- 
turist of Northfield Township, residing on his 
valuable farm of 112 acres, was born in 
Washington Township, Licking County, 
Ohio, September 3, 1853. and is a son of 
Ha.r\'ey F. and Rebecca (Helphrey) Shaw. 

The father of Mr. Shaw was born in New 
Jersey and there learned the trade of .stone- 
mason. He came to Washington Township, 
Utica village. Licking County, Ohio, in young 
manhood, acquired a farm and carried dt on 
together with work at his trade. He died 
in 1870, aged forty-eight years. He married 
a daughter of George Helphrey, and they had 
the following children : Annabel, W. H., 
Laura, Simon L., Frank, Arthur and Cor- 
bett. The mother of the above family still 
survives, aged seventy-eight years. She is a 
member of the Presbvterian Church at Berea, 
Ohio. 

W. H. Shaw attended school in Washing- 
ton Township. Utica village, and was fifteen 
years of age when his parents moved to Clin- 
ton, Henr>' County. Mi.<souri. .«elling the old 
farm. The father died in Mi.«souri and three 
year? later, upon her retiirn to Licking Comi- 
ty, the mother purchased a second farm. 



706 



HISTORY OP SUMMIT COUNTY 



W. H., as the eldest son, took charge aiid re- 
mained at home until his own marriage. For 
three years following he rented a farm in the 
same township, later purchasing property 
there on which he continued to reside until 
1901, when he came to his present location, 
buying eighty-nine acres at first, and subse- 
quently increasing to 112 acres. Of this he 
has about fifty acres under cultivation, on 
which he raises wheat, hay, corn and oats 
and many potatoes. He has a valuable silo 
14 by 14 feet and 26 feet high. He keeps 
twenty-five head of fine Durham and Hol- 
stein cattle, and disposes of his milk to the 
Brooks Creamery Company. He mak&s poul- 
try raising profitable and understands how to 
reap benefit from all portions of his domain. 

Mr. Shaw married Lucina Chopson, who is 
a daughter of John Chopson, of Washington 
Township, Utica village, and they have five 
children, namely: Gail, Mabel, Flossie, Reid 
and Charles. Mr. Shaw and family belong 
to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which 
he is a trustee and in which he has sei-ved 
as a class leader. 

Mr. Shaw is one of the leading Republicans 
of his section, and prior to coming here, 
served for six years as township trustee, and 
for ten or twelve years was a member of the 
School Board. Formerly he frequently 
served as a delegate to county conventions. 
He belongs to the Odd Fellows and also to 
the Maccabees. 

WILLIAM R. HAGUE, a progre.ssive 
farmer and energetic, intelligent citizen of 
Northfield Town.ship, residing on his valu- 
able farm of 100 acres, was born August 15, 
1870, in Washington Township, Guernsey 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Jehu and 
Preeney (Stillians) Hague. 

William R. Hague is a self-made man. His 
parents died when he was young, leaving him 
and his sister, Nola, to be reared by family 
friends. The other children were: Louis, 
residing in Washington Township, and Cora 
who married Fa.raau Coats, residing at Cleve- 
land. Nola .subsequently married B. H. Dea- 
con, of Alpena, Michigan. 



Mr. Hague remained with his foster par- 
ent^! until they died, when he was about 
twenty-three years old, after which he came 
to Northfield Township, where he has been 
mainly engaged in farming ever since. In 
1896, he was married to Charlotte Rinear, 
who is a daughter of Albert Rinear, the lat- 
ter of whom is one of the oldest and most 
highly respected citizens of Nortlifield Town- 
ship. For four years following his marriage 
Mr. Hague rented his present farm and then 
built a house in Bedford, where he resided 
for about two years, and in the spring of 
1907, purchased the fann. He carries on a 
general agricultural line, keeps ten head of 
cattle, raises about the same number of hogs 
annually, and grows potatoes, corn, hay, oats 
and wheat. 

Mr. Hague is a good citizen of his com- 
munity but he takes no very active interest 
in politics, devoting his energies to the im- 
provement and development of his farm. 

BRACE P. HILL, residing on the old Hill 
homestead in Norton TowSiship, a valjiable 
tract of 199 acres, which is situated about 
two and one-half miles from Wadsworth. and 
lies on the county line between Medina and 
Summit Counties, has carried on general 
farming here with much success for the pa^^t 
twenty-one years. Mr. Hill was born on this 
farm and is a son of Dr. John and Catherine 
(Pardee) Hill. 

The late Dr. John Hill was born in Sussex, 
England, October 26, 1828, and was a son 
of .John and a grandson of .John, the name 
being a particularly favored one in the Hill 
family, appearing in every generation. The 
mother of Dr. Hill was Harriet Wickham. 
and she was born in County Kent, England. 
In 1828 the Hills sailed for America, from 
the now .sunken port of Rye, on the English 
Channel, and after a voyage of six weeks 
they landed in New York. The father of 
Dr. Hill engaged in farming in the vicinity 
of Utica, New York, until the spring of 1832, 
when he removed to Orange Township, Cuya- 
hoga, County, Ohio, where he invested in 
farming land on which he lived until 1843. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



707 



After disposing of his interests there, John 
Hill moved to Tazewell County, Illinois, 
where he passed the rest of his life. 

The son, John Hill, left his home to seek 
work with strangers when he was about fif- 
teen years of age, but for five years there- 
after he gave all his wages to his father. He 
was very anxious to obtain an education and 
was only a boy wihen he had determined to 
become a physician. Through rigid economy 
and persevering study he attained his am- 
bition. In 1847 he began to read medicine 
with Dr. Alexander Fisher, at Western, Star, 
Summit County, and in the fall of 1848 he 
attended his first course of lectures at the 
Cleveland Medical College, returning for his 
second course in the following year. In 1850 
he went to California, where he w^as taken 
sick and lay for six months in a hospital in 
Sacramento, but subsequently recovered and 
remained in that State until May, 1853, when 
he took ship for Australia. After a voyage 
of seventy days he reached the island conti- 
nent, where he remained until the following 
May, when he went to London, England, on 
his w^ay back to America. He left England 
in September, reached New York late in Oc- 
tober, and Cleveland early in December, and 
during the winter of 1854 and 1855, he at- 
tended medical lectures in the latter city. 

In the fall of 1855 Dr. Hill entered Jeff"er- 
son Medical College, at Philadelphia, where 
he was graduated in March, 185G, receiving 
his long sought diploma. For a short time 
Dr. Hill practiced at Western Star, from 
which place he removed to Sharon Township, 
in Medina Count}', where he practiced for a 
year, and then settled in Norton Township, 
Summit County. He was a man of such wide 
experience and much learning outside his 
profession that he soon became a leader 
among his fellow-citizens, and in 1870 he was 
elected county commissioner, in which office 
he served for almost nine years. In 1879 
he was elected to the State Legislature and 
served one term, after which he retired from 
public life. His death took place December 
13, 1890. 



In March, 1857, Dr. Hill was married io 
Catherine Pardee, who is a daughter of 
P^benezer and Almira (Brace) Pardee, and 
they had six children, as follows: Harriet 
Almira, who was born June 22, 1858, died 
October 30, 1878; John E., who was born 
August 7, 1859, resides at Barberton; Martha 
B., who married D. H. Taft, resides at Co- 
lumbus, Ohio; Brace B., who was born Au- 
gust 12, 1865; Josephine Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Richard Was.son, resides at Barberton, 
and Edward B., who was born January 4, 
1881, lives in Illinois. The mother of this 
family still survives. 

Brace P. Hill has always resided on the 
present farm, which has been under his di- 
rect management for many years. He at- 
tended the district schools of Norton Town- 
ship and also the Norton High School. He 
married Anna A\'iser, and they have five chil- 
dren : Margaret K., Karl W., Lawrence B., 
Walter and an infant son born September 
23, 1907. Mr. Hill belongs to the fraternal 
orders of Modern Woodmen and Pathfinders. 
He is one of Norton Township's substantial 
and reliable citizens, and has served as a 
member of the School Board and as clerk of 
the incorporated village of Western Star. Mr. 
Hill at present holds both of these offices. 

A. S. NEALE. B. S., proprietor of Maple 
Mound Farm and president of the Northern 
Ohio Milk Producers' Association, is one of 
the most energetic and progressive agricul- 
turists of Northfield Township, having been 
thoroughly educated in the line of his pres- 
ent industry. He was born in Monroe Town- 
ship, Guernsey County, Ohio, September 8, 
1870, and is a son of John and Amanda 
(Rourk) Neale. 

Mr. Neale bears an old and honored name 
and readers of history will recall the promi- 
nent part the Neales took in English affair,^ 
in the days of Cromwell. At the time of the 
Restoration, the family left England and 
came to America, locating first in Mar\'land 
and later in Pennsylvania, and in the person 
of the grandfather, Archibald Neale. became 



708 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



established in Harrison County, Ohio. He 
died in 1887. 

John NeaJe, father of A. S., resides on his 
farm of 100 acras, having always devoted 
himself to agricultural pursuits, in the past 
having given much attention to wool-grow- 
ing. In politics he is a Democrat and has 
served in a number of the local offices in his 
community. During the Civil A\'ar he was 
in the service of the Federal Government for 
one year. He married (first) Amanda 
Rourk, who died in 1876. Her father was 
Edward Rourk, of Guernsey County. She 
was a consistent member of the Methodist 
Churcli. Of the four children born to this 
union, three reached maturity, namely: 
Maude, who married E. T. Brock, residing 
at Dillon, Montana; A. S., and Lena, who 
married II. E. McCleary, residing at Milners- 
ville, Ohio. John Neale was married (sec- 
ond) to Lucina McConneaughey, and to that 
marriage has been four sons and one daugh- 
ter. For twenty-five years, John Neale has 
been an elder in the United Presbyterian 
Church. 

Until he was eighteen years of age, A. S. 
Neale spent his time in securing a good, com- 
mon school education and in assisting on the 
home farm, his father being a very large 
landowner. He then went to the southwest- 
ern part of Montana and spent two • years 
working on a ranch, in the meanwhile sav- 
ing enough capital to take a preliminary 
course at the Ohio State University, becom- 
ing a member of the class of 1895. Prior 
to taking up the studies of his .senior year, 
in 1904, Mr. Neale spent a season in Tus- 
carawas County, but his whole time w.xs taken 
up either in study, experimenting or prepar- 
ing agricultural literature. At the university 
he took the scientific course, specializing in 
Agriculture. During the year 1903-4 he was 
superintendent of the university farm. For 
a number of years prior to 190.3, he had been 
a welcome corre'^ondent of many agricul- 
tural papers, and early in that year he be- 
came associate editor of the North American 
Farmer, a monthly magazine, which was 



started to present the scientific side of farm- 
ing, in a popular manner. 

When Mr. Neale left the university he ac- 
cepted a position with the Scripps-McCrea 
League, one of the newspaper syndicate, as 
a special writer on agriculture, and continued 
with that company for two years, during 
which time he made several trips each year 
to Washington City, where he formed many 
congenial acquaintanceships with prominent 
men in the Agricultural Department of the 
Government. During this time Mr. Neale 
continued to reside on his farm of 162 acres, 
near Macedonia. Of this acreage he culti- 
vates ninety acres, producing hay, corn, 
wheat and oats, giving ten acres to potatoes, 
and growing raspberries and strawberries for 
market. He keeps twenty-five cows and sells 
milk to the Brooks Creamery Company. 

Mr. Neale married Emma Rogers, a lady 
of most endearing qualities of heart and 
mind, who died November 9, 1906. She left 
four children : John and Comfort, twins, 
and Philip and Edward. She was a valued 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
of which Mr. Neale is one of the stewards. 

Mr. Neale united with the Grange in Tus- 
carawas County, and is in full accord with 
all agricultural movements looking to the 
advancement of the fanning community and 
the spreading of scientific knowledge. 

FRANK H. MILLER, one of Norton 
Township".-; reliable citizens and good farmers, 
residing on his eighty-acre farm, was born at 
Loyal Oak, Summit County, Ohio, March 30, 
1856, and i.s a son of Daniel and Amelia 
(Boers(ler) Miller. 

Both parents of Mr. Miller were born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and the 
father came to Summit County in 1843 and 
the mother in 1850. They were married in 
Norton Township and had but one child, 
Frank H. The father purcha.-^ed the farm on 
which his son lives, when the latter was fifteen 
years of age, and here he died October 26, 
1900. His widow still survives, aged seventy- 
four years, a lady who is most highly es- 
teemed in thi.^ communitv. 




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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



711 



Frank H. Miller attended the district 
schools of Norton Township, and his occupa- 
tion in life htis been farming. In 1877, he 
was married to Sarah Ann Moser, who is a 
daughter of Louis and Litina Moser, and they 
have four children: Mattie, who married 
William Moser, has one child, Roy Daniel ; 
Elsie; Loui^ D., who resides in Sharon Town- 
ship, married Nettie Davis, and they have 
two children, Wanda May and Una Marion ; 
and Earl Francis. Mr. and Mrs. Miller lost 
one daughter, Carrie. The family belong to 
the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Miller 
has been secretary for fourteen years. For 
several years Mr. Miller has been the treasurer 
of the Norton Fire Insurance Company. 

MILTON A. SEIBERLING, a substantial 
citizen and successful agriculturist, residing 
on a small farm of five acres, which is located 
in Norton Township on the Center road, owns 
a very valuable farm of 111 acres, which lies 
on the Llamet-own road, near Sherman. Mr. 
Seiberling belongs to a prominent old fam- 
ily of Summit County, and he was born on 
the farm which is the property of his 
brother, Gusta\ais Seiberling, November 20, 
1850. His parents were Nathan and Cath- 
erine (Peters) Seiberling. 

The parents of Mr. Seiberling were both 
born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where 
they were reared and attended school. Short- 
ly after their marriage they came to Norton 
Township. Summit Gournty. where they lived 
long and virtuous lives; and when the father 
died at the age of eighty years, and the 
mother, aged eighty-four, there were many 
outside their large family who grieved to lose 
them from the community in which they had 
been long noted for their kindness and char- 
ity. They were the parents of fifteen chil- 
dren. 

Milton Seiberling was reared on the home 
farm in Norton Township, and, after com- 
pleting his education in the country schools, 
he immediately began active farming opera- 
tions. He remained on the home farm for 
about four years after his marriage, and then 
purchased the farm which is occupied by his 



son-in-law, Robert Helmick, and started at 
once to make improvements. He removed a 
house from another farm to the new loca- 
tion, remodeled it, and built a substantial 
barn, and then set out orchards and a grove 
of maple trees, and continued improving un- 
til his property was equal in value to any of 
like size in the neighborhood and more at- 
tractive than any. On that farm Mr. Seiber- 
ling continued to reside, carrying on farm- 
ing and stock-raising, imtil in the spring of 
1898, when he retired from hard work and 
settled on his present tidy little place, which 
it gives him only needful exercise to manage. 
Mr. Seiberling has always been considered 
one of the mo.st prosperous farmers of Nor- 
ton Township on account of his progressive 
methods and the great interftst he always took 
in his work. 

On November 30, 1871, Mr. Seiberling was 
married to Fayetta Johnson, who is a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Johnson, who was born and 
reared in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Sei- 
berling have three children : Minnie, who 
married Harman Dague, resides at Doyles- 
town and has three children — Ethel. Flor- 
ence and Roy; Martha, wife of Robert Hel- 
mick, who operates her father's farm, and 
who ha^ had two children — one who died in 
infancy; and Gertrude, the younger; and 
Ruth, residing at home. Mr. Seiberling and 
family belong to the Lutheran Church. He 
is a member of the beneficial order of Path- 
finders. 

REUBEN STAUFFER,' residing on his 
well-improved farm of forty-two acres, situated 
in Norton Township, is .one of the leading 
men of his community. He was born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, January 
1, 18:3.3, and is a son of Abraham and Susan 
(Ruth) Stauffer. They were farming people 
and the father also followed carpentering. 

Reuben Stauffer was reared in his native 
county and attended the district schools. He 
was twenty-one years of age when he came to 
Summit Ci>unty, Ohio. Before leaving Penn- 
sylvania he learned the cooper trade and this 
he followed for a time, l)ut worked mainly as 



712 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



a carpenter, following that trade for thirty- 
five consecutive years. During this time 
he ha^ done a large amount of building 
through the county, erecting as many as 
thirty bank barns and many of the most sub- 
stantial residences in Norton Township. His 
farming has been of secondary importance. 

In 1855 Mr. Staufler was married to Eliza- 
beth Hartzell, who is a daughter of Isaac and 
Mary Hartzell. Mrs. Stauffer was born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and was 
ten years old when her parents settled in Nor- 
ton Township. Mr. and Mrs. Stauffer have had 
three children, namely: Ellen, who married 
Hower Van Hyning, has two children. Earl 
and Ethel May, the former of whom married 
and has one child, Ellen; Harry Abraham, 
who died aged five years; and Milton Albert. 

For seven years following his marriage, Mr. 
Stauffer lived at Norton Center and then set- 
tled on the present fiirm. They are members 
of the Reformed Church at Loyal Oak. For 
thirty years, Mr. Stauffer has served as school 
director and his fellow-citizens have, on vari- 
ous occasions, elected him trustee and treas- 
urer of the township. 

LUTHER A. KUHN, a retired farmer of 
Northfield Township, who still retains his 
valuable farm consisting of 114 acres, was 
born at Northfield, Summit County, Ohio, 
December 10, 1845, and is a son of William 
H. H. and Mary (Elder) Kuhn. 

The father of Mr. Kuhn was born in Plum 
Creek Township, Allegheny County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and he came to Summit County with 
his wife and one child, settling on land lying 
on the line separating Northfield and Bedford 
Townships. He owned 208 acres on which 
he raised sheep for many years, but later 
turned his property into a dairy farm. He 
was a man of substantial character and was 
frequently chosen for local offices. He sup- 
ported the Republican party. He married 
Mary Elder who was born at Blairsville, Penn- 
sylvania, and of their children, the following 
grew to maturity: Margaret Jane, who mar- 
ried John H. Shirk, residing in Falcon 
County, Dakota; Luther A.; Elder, who died 



September 14, 1907, aged sixty years, resided 
at Lincoln, Nebra.ska; and Louis and Frank, 
both residing at Cleveland. The mother of 
the above family died in 1896, aged seventy- 
two years. The father passed away in 1894, 
aged eighty-three years. 

Luther A. Kuhn was educated in the com- 
mon schools and at the age of eighteen years 
he became a clerk in a general store at Bed- 
ford, later entering into business under the 
firm name of Voght & Kuhn, in the gro- 
cery line, at Cleveland, occupying a building 
near the city market-house, which was owned 
by Mr. Kuhn's father. Six months later Mr. 
Kuhn sold his interest and went to Muscatine, 
Iowa, where he bought a farm of eighty acres, 
subsequently selling this at an advantage and 
buying 100 acres, to which he later added a 
second farm of the same area. These farms 
he operated for many years, when he sold one, 
but retains the other, which he rents. In 
1867, Mr. Kuhn came back to Northfield 
Township for a few years and. then returned 
with his wife to Iowa, where he continued to 
live until 1904. In that year he again came 
to Northfield Township and took up his resi- 
dence on what was formerly the McCon- 
neaughey farm, which he had bought in 1902. 
It formerly contained 120 acres, but six acres 
has been sold to the Lake Erie & Pennsylvania 
Railroad. 

In 1867 Mr. Kuhn was married to Isabella 
Darrow, wdio is a daughter of the late Captain 
Darrow, who died in Cuyahoga County. Mrs. 
Kuhn is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Kuhn is a stanch Republican, 
but he is no seeker for political recognition. 

JOHN CRISP, of the firm of John Crisp 
and Son, contractors, with offices at Nos. 173- 
175 Annadale street, xikron, has been a resi- 
dent of this city for a quarter of a century, 
and during this period has been one of its 
most active business men. He was born in 
1851, in Northamptonshire, England, where 
he obtained his education and prior to coming 
to AiTierica in 1872, he learned the trade of 
brick-layer. 

Mr. Cri.<p crossed the Atlantic Ocean to 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



713 



Canada, where he spent one year and then 
moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and in the follow- 
ing year built a large church at Painesville. 
He returned to Canada and lived for three 
years at Hamilton. In 1878 he located at 
Hudson, Sunnnit County, Ohio, and several 
years later came to Akron, then a small city 
of 12,000 poi)ulation. He was in partnership 
with his brother, and the firm of Crisp Broth- 
ers was the leading contracting firm in this 
place for fully fourteen years. John Crisp 
was then appointed a member of the Board of 
City Commissioners and performed the duties 
of that office for four years, and then superin- 
tended the building of the Colonial Salt 
Works, the First National Bank Building, 
the Stein Block and other structures. In 
the fall of 1903 Mr. Crisp admitted his son, 
Edmund Crisp, to partnership, under the firm 
name of .John Crisp and Son, which still con- 
tinues. Into the hands of this firm has been 
placed the construction of a number of the 
most pretentious building-s which have re- 
cently added to Akron's architectural beauty. 
The firm has just completed the Flat Iron 
Building and has constructed several new 
school buildings. They also have a large gen- 
eral supply liouse. 

In 1876, Mr. Crisp was married to Susanna 
Arkall, who was born in Canada, and they 
have three sons, T. Edmund, Arthur Lee and 
Roland Earl. The family belong to the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in East Akron. 
Mr. Crisp Ls a Knight Templar Mason, and 
senior warden of Akron Lodge F. & A. M., 
and is one of the directors of the Masonic 
Temple. He is also a director of the Employ- 
ers' Association and formerly was president of 
the Buildei's" Exchange. 

JOHN J. AA'ARNER, whose valuable farm 
of eighty-eight and one-half acres is situated 
five miles w&st of Akron, on the highway 
known as the Akron-AVadsworth road, is a 
well-known and respected citizen of Norton 
Township. He was born in Coventry Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, October 23, 1855, 
and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Weaver) 
Warner. 



John Warner was born near East Liberty, 
Ohio, July 14, 1821, a son of Henry Warner, 
a pioneer of that se^'tion. John Warner mar- 
ried Elizabeth Weaver and they had the fol- 
lowing children: William, residing in Coven- 
try Township ; Henry, residing at Barberton ; 
Samuel, residing in Copley Township; John 
J. ; and Adam, residing in Coventry Town- 
ship, all being farmers. The mother died in 
1905, aged .seventy-nine years. 

John J. Warner was reared in Coventry 
Township. In 1877, his father purchased 
his present farm and John J. settled on it at 
that time and subsequently bought it. He 
owned seventy acres of land where Barberton 
now stands, owning nine of the thirteen acres 
which comprises Lake Anna. He was the first 
man to sell his farm to the syndicate that built 
Barberton. John J. Warner carries on gen- 
eral farming. 

By marriage to Sarrah Dreisbach, Mr. War- 
ner became connected with one of the sub- 
stantial old families of Norton Township. 
She was. born in Penn.sylvania and was 
brought to Norton Township in infancy. Mr. 
and Mrs. Warner have had five children, the 
three survivors being: Fietta, who resides at 
Young's Crossing, with her venerable grand- 
father; and Elsie and William, residing at 
home. Bessie died aged three months, and 
Roy died aged nine months. 

Mr. Warner is numbered with the leading 
citizens of the township and has served three 
years as trustee. 

ANDREW FENN RICHEY, a successful 
general farmer of Northfield Township, resid- 
ing on his valuable farm of 111 acres, on 
which he makes a specialty of dairying, was 
born on the Richey homestead, in Northfield 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, January 
15, 1864, and is a son of Andrew K. and 
Elizabeth (Bain) Richey. 

Andrew K. Richey, father of Andrew F., 
was born in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio, January 31, 1828, and ac- 
companied hLs parents to Northfield Town- 
.ship, Summit County, where he taught school 
in his early years. He subsequently acquired 



714 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



292 acres of valuable land, on which he car- 
ried on general farming and dairying for 
many years. He became one of the leading 
men of this section, prominent in church and 
public affairs, and when he died July 7, 1900, 
the community felt that it had suffered a deep 
loss. On November 6, 185'6, he married 
Elizabeth Bain, who is a daughter of Jacob 
Bain and a granddaughter of James Bain, 
who came to Ohio from Argyle, New York. 
Mrs. Richey still survives and was born Sep- 
tember 19, 1836. She is a member of the 
Associated Presbyterian Church, in which her 
late husband was a trustee and one of the 
deacons. They had the following children: 
Margaret Zephina, who married John L. 
Ritchie; Jacob F. J., residing in Northfield 
Town.ship; Thomas Tell, residing at Cleve- 
land; Andrew Fenn, residing at Northfield; 
Emmer Ross, who is deceased ; and Elizabeth 
Catherine, residing with her mother. 

Andrew Fenn Richey remained on the 
home farm until 1887, attending the local 
schools through boyhood, and worked for his 
father until 1897. He then purchased sixty- 
one acres of his present farm, to which he 
later added fifty acres, all of which he culti- 
vates, together with land that he rents. He 
keeps twenty cows, making a specialty of 
dairying and in this industry follows the ex- 
ample of Reverend Deitrich, a Moravian 
preacher, whose Pennsylvania farm is declared 
by the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture to be the model farm of the country. He 
keeps his cows in the barn, in sanitary condi- 
tion, and carries green food to them. He 
ships his milk to Cleveland. He devotes 
twenty-five acres to wheat, eighteen to pota- 
toes and has three acres in fruit trees. Mr. 
Richey has made a scientific study of his 
various industries and can but be pleased with 
the application of the principles he has 
adopted. 

Mr. Richey married Chloe M. Mack, who is 
a daughter of John Mack, of Antrim, Guern- 
sey County, Ohio, and they have three chil- 
dren : Andrew Lawrence, George Grant and 
Ralph Stuart. Mr. and Mrs. Richey are 
members of the United Presbvterian Church. 



FREEMAN W. STROH, a leading citizen 
of Barberton and closely identified with many 
of its interests, is senior member of the promi- 
nent lumber firm of Stroh and Millis, which 
firm owns an extensive lumber yard and a 
finely equipped planing mill at this point. 
He is also largely interested in the real estate 
business. Mr. Stroh was born in DeKalb 
County, Indiana, September 9, 1864, and is 
a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Mottinger) 
Stroh. 

Henry Stroh, father of Freeman W., re- 
sided formerly at Greensburg, Ohio, where he 
followed shoemaking in his earlier years, but 
after moving to Indiana, he confined himself 
to agricultural pursuits. It was on his fath- 
er's farm that Freeman W. Stroh was reared, 
and there he remained until twenty-four years 
of age, in the meantime securing a good, com- 
mon school education in the country schools. 
Following his mai'riage he farmed for his 
father-in-law, near Massillon, Ohio, for two 
years, meetiiig with success in that industry. 
He was, however, a natural born mechanic and 
had never been quite satisfied with raising 
grain and stock, the constant trend of his mind 
being in the direction of machinery and the 
improvement of the same, his spare time all 
being given to inventions along this line. He 
therefore moved from the farm into Massillon 
and after securing several patents on his 
"brain children," he made up his mind that 
the most sensible and satisfactory plan would 
be to enter a machine or foundry business, 
where his talents could have full play. This 
state of affairs was soon brought about and 
for some time prior to 1893, when he came to 
Barberton, he was engaged in the manufactur- 
ing of sawmill machinery, and carrying on a 
foundry business. 

When Mr. Stroh came first to Barberton, 
he was associated with his brother-in-law, 
Jacob Milton Mcintosh, in operating a foun- 
dry for the manufacture of saw mill and 
wood-working machinery, under the firm 
name of Stroh-Mclntosh Company. The 
prospects were liright, but the business, had 
been but fairly started when a fire destroyed 
the factory, entailing great financial loss. Mr. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



715 



Stroh, however, is not a man who is easily dis- 
couraged, and within sixty days he had start- 
ed in the turning business, having secured a 
small factory, where he turned out moldings 
and interior tinishings. He had bought the 
ground, the same on which his present build- 
ings and yards are located, and during the 
three years in which he continued alone, he 
kept increasing his facilities and adding to his 
buildings until he commanded a trade of large 
proportions. 

After three years' work alone, in the turn- 
ing business, Mr. Stroh went into partnership 
with Jacob E. Millis, and the firm style be- 
came the Stroh and Millis Company. They 
now operate a large, thoroughly equipped 
planing mill, having twenty-eight different 
machines, and manufacture all kinds of out- 
side as well as inside furnishings for buildings 
and in addition make doors, sash and show- 
cases. Regular employment is given twelve 
experienced workmen, and this is a flourish- 
ing industrj' of Barberton, its success being 
mainly due to Mr. Stroh's energy and enter- 
prise. 

On January 15, 1889, Mr. Stroh was mar- 
ried to Cora Alice McInto.?h, who was born 
near Massillon, Ohio, and they have two chil- 
dren, a son and daughter: Lillian Blanche 
and Byron Freeman. Mr. Stroh and family 
belong to the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church, at Barberton. He is a member of 
the Junior Order of American Mechanics. 
Mr. Stroh has always believed in the educa- 
tional value of useful work and in his own 
case has proven how sure are the rewards of 
industry and perseverance along the line of 
one's natural gifts. 

J. IRA EMMETT, has resided on the old 
Emmett homestead in Springfield Township, 
for the past twenty years, the valuable farm of 
125 acres, on which his grandfather settled in 
1832. Mr. Emmett was born on the farm on 
which he lives, September 15, 1856, and is 
a son of Franklin and Mary A (Chamberlin) 
Enimett. 

There is not a schoolboy in America who 
has not sympathized with and longed to emu- 



late the deeds of the Irish patriot, Robert 
Emmett, and undoubtedly from the same 
stock came the progenitors of the Emmett 
family in Summit County. Three brothers of 
the name came from the north of Ireland to 
America, in colonial days, separating after 
reaching these shores, one going South, one 
settling in the Susquehannah _ Valley, in 
Pennsylvania, and later, a branch of the 
family was found in Illinois, and another in 
New York. In the main they all possess the 
same sterling traits which have made of them 
good citizens and valuable members of so- 
ciety. 

The paternal grandparents of J. Ira Em- 
mett were William and Mary (McBride) Em- 
mett, the former of whom was a son of William 
Emmett, who was of American birth. The 
grandmother was a native of Columbia Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania. William and Mary Em- 
mett had four children : Franklin ; John, 
who resides in Tallmadge Township, aged 
seventy years ; Mercy Jane, who died aged ten 
years; and a babe that died in infancy. 
Franklin Emmett, father of J. Ira, was born 
in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, June 21, 
1832, and accompanied his parents to Ohio, 
they settling in Springfield Township, Sum- 
mit County in his childhood. In 1851, he 
married Mary A. Chamberlin, who was born 
in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in Au- 
gust, 1829. She was a daughter of Joseph 
and Agnes (Deal) Chamberlin, and a grand- 
daughter of William Chamberlin, who was 
born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Sep- 
tember 25, 1736. 

This ancestor was a man of great promi- 
nence during the Revolutionary War, in 
which he served as lieutenant-colonel of the 
Second Regiment under Col. David Chambers, 
his commission bearing the date of Septem- 
ber 9, 1777. In November of that same 
year, he was ordered by Governor Livingston 
of New Jersey, to call on Messrs. Penn and 
Chew, at the Union Iron Works and conduct 
them to Worchester, Massachusetts, and to de- 
liver them to the council of that State, and 
he was also directed to purchase in Connecti- 
cut or Massachusetts Bav, 20,000 flints for the 



716 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



counoil of New Jersey. He participated in 
the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, in 
which his eldest son, Lewis, was killed by a 
cannon ball. In 1793 he moved into Buffalo 
Valley, and on August 16, 1794, he married 
his fourth wife, Mary Kemble. He wa.-^ the 
father of twentj'-three children, fifteen of 
these having been born in New Jersey. The 
children born to his last marriage were: John, 
James, Lewis, Mary Frances, who married 
John Linn, Joseph Park, James D. and 
Moses. 

Joseph Chamberlin married Agnes Deal 
and they came to Uniontown in 1832, from 
Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and bought 
land in Springfield Township. -Joseph and 
Agnes Chamberlin had eight children, as fol- 
lows: Mary Ann, who married Frank Em- 
mett; Sarah, who married Benjamin Chisnel, 
both died in Green Township; Rebecca, who 
married Daniel Zeisloft, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, who is eighty-one years of age and has 
survived her since 1902; Francis L., residing 
at Tallmadge; William, residing in Kent, 
married Mary Barker; John, deceased, mar- 
ried Elizabeth AVise; and Lewis, deceased, 
married Mary Hageman. There were but two 
children born to Franklin and Mary A. 
(Chamberlin) Emmett, namely: William J. 
and J. Ira. William J. Enuuett, residing at 
Tallmadge, is a traveling salesman for the 
Russell Manufacturing Company of Massillon. 
He married Belle G. Treat, who is a daughter 
of Stanley Treat, and they have three sons: 
Homer I., Stanley T. and James. 

J. Ira Emmett was reared on the old home- 
stead and first attended the di.strict schools in 
the neighborhood, later becoming a student 
in the Tallmadge High School and Academy, 
the family having moved into Tallmadge 
Townshij) in 1861. After the death of hi,< 
parents, and his own marriage, Mr. Emmett 
returned to the old family farm, and here he 
has continued to live ever since. He has 
made many improvements and he and family 
enjoy every comfort to be found in a well reg- 
ulated rural home. He carries on a general 
line of agriculture, and has other farm inter- 
ests outside the old homestead. 



On March 3, 1887, Mr. Emmett was mar- 
ried to Mary F. Moore, who ls a daughter of 
Oliver C. and Marion (Golden) Moore, form- 
erly of Richfield township. Summit County, 
Ohio. Both Mr. and Mrs. Moore were born 
in Summit County, where the former died, in 
February, 1907, at the age of seventy-three 
years. Mrs. Moore still survives, aged sixty- 
seven years. They had two children, namely: 
Mary F., who became Mrs. Emmett, and Ella, 
who married Frank Converse. Mrs. Emmett 
is a graduate of the Akron High School and 
is a lady of superior educational attainments. 
Prior to her marriage she taught in the pub- 
lic schools of Summit County and later be- 
came the principal of the Tallmadge High 
School. 

Mr. and Mrs. Emmett have two children. 
Iris M. and Frank Moore, the former of whom 
is a student in Buchtel Academy, and the lat- 
ter in the public schools of Springfield Town- . 
ship. 

Politically, Mr. Ennnett Ls identified with 
the Republican party and on numerous oc- 
casions he has been elected to township of- 
fices, although he has never solicited the same. 
He has served as a luember of the Summit 
County Republican E.xecutive Committee and 
has been interested in public affairs to a con- 
siderable extent, ever since he was twenty- 
one years of age. For a period of six years 
he served as township trustee, and at present is 
serving both as township clerk and as clerk of 
the School Board. Plaving the financial stand- 
ing as well as the personal qualifications of 
a representative citizen, Mr. Emmett is natu- 
rally frequently consulted concerning public 
movements calculated to advance the interests 
of his community, and he is never found 
unwilling to contribute liberally when the ob- 
jects meet with his approval. In fraternal 
life, Mr. Emmett has long been a memlier of 
the order of Odd Fellows. He was one of the 
early members of the Patrons of Husbandry 
in this section, being fully in sympathy with 
the Grange movement. With his family he 
belongs to the Pre.'^bvterian Church of Spring- 
field. ' 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



717 



WILLIAM H. WINTER, justice of the 
peace, president of the Barberton Business 
Men's Association, and president of the Nor- 
ton Mutual Fire Association, is a busy and 
prominent citizen of Barberton. Mr. Winter 
was born m Holmes County, Ohio, March 19, 
1858. and is a son of Daniel and Catherine 
(Sonnner) Winter. 

The father of Mr. Winter was born in 
Pennsylvania, and was a son of Joseph Win- 
ter, the latter of whom died in Pennsylvania. 
Daniel Winter came to Holmes County, Ohio, 
in 1850, and in 1852 was married to Catherine 
Sommer, who was born in Holmes County, 
and was a daughter of Joseph Sommer, a mil- 
ler, who was an early settler there. In 1868 
Daniel W^inter and family move to Wayne 
County, Ohio. 

William H. Winter attended the public 
schools both in Holmes and Wayne Counties, 
beginning when he was only three and one- 
half years of age, the school-house at that time 
being located on his father's farm. Later, he 
attended the Smithville Academy, and when 
eighteen years of age, entered the Urbana 
High School. After completing his own edu- 
cation, Mr. Winter became a teacher, and for 
twenty-six years he continued to teach, during 
ten years of the period in N(U'ton Township, 
Summit County, two years in the West Bar- 
berton school, and also near W^ooster, in 
Wayne County, and ended his long and suc- 
cessful educational career, by teaching a term 
in District No. 9, Coventry Township, Sum- 
mit County. In 1893, he removed from 
Wayne County to Norton Township, Summit 
County. In 1905, when elected to the office 
of justice of the peace, he quit teaching, but 
continued to reside on his farm of fifty-seven 
acres in Norton Township, until February, 
1906, when he established his home at Bar- 
berton. 

In January, 1907, Mr. AVinter, embarked in 
a grocery business at Barberton, in partner- 
.«hip with F. E. Barns. They carry a ver\' 
complete and well assorted stock, and are cen- 
trally located at No. 1021 Wooster Avenue. 
In March, 1907, Mr. Winter was shown the 
confidence his fellow-citizens feel in him, bv 



his election to the presidency of the Barberton 
Business Men's Association, an organization 
of commercial importance here. The other 
officers of the association are: E. J. Quigley, 
vice president; J. W. Rider, secretary and J. 
H. Miller, treasurer. The Norton Mutual 
Fire Association was organized in 1872, and 
Mr. AVinter has been its president since 1899. 
It is in a very prosperous condition and its 
area of risks covers about nine townships. 

In 1883, Mr. Winter was married to Sarah 
E. Orr, who is a daughter of Thomas B. and 
Elizabeth Orr. Mr. Winter is an elder in the 
Presbyterian Church at Barberton and is su- 
perintendent of the Sunday school. 

LORIN BLISS, township treasurer of 
Northfield Township, is a prominent citizen 
and representative agriculturist of this section, 
and was born in Summit County, Ohio, No- 
vember 18, 1842. He is a son of Ambrose 
Williams and Emeline (Palmer) Bliss. 

Both the Bliss and Palmer families were 
early settlers in New England, and both have 
contributed largely to the country's prominent 
men in various walks of life. The father of 
Lorin BlLss was born at Jericho, Chittenden 
County, Vermont, December 6, 1806. He 
was a carpenter and builder and in that ca- 
pacity he came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1833, 
•to accept work on the public improvements 
then in progress at Cleveland and Black 
River, as Lorain was then called. Later he 
worked on the Ohio canal and built many 
l)ridges, locks and gates. He soon began to 
invest in land, and at the time of his death 
owned 240 acres, all of which he had accumu- 
lated by his own industry. He was a man of 
sterling character, one of whom his descend- 
ants can refer with pride and affection. His 
death took place when over eight y-.scven years 
of age. 

Ambrose Williams Bliss was married May 
9, 1839, to Emeline Palmer, who was born at 
AVindsor, Connecticut, April 5, 1815. They 
had four children: Ellen, Lorin, George and 
Horace. Ellen, who resides in the old home, 
acted as township historian for the Western 
Reserve Historical Society, in the preparation 



718 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of the work on "Pioneer Women of the West- 
ern Reserve." George, resides in Northfield 
Townshij). Horace, died February 20, 1863, 
from disease contracted while serving as a 
soldier in the Civil War. In August, 1862, 
he enlisted in Company C, 115th Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Ambrose AV. Bliss 
served in many public offices. He was town- 
ship trustee, for some years was a justice of 
the peace, and from 1854 until 1860, he 
served as county commissioner of Summit 
County. He was an almost life-long mem- 
ber of the American Bible Society. Political- 
ly, he was strong in his support of the Re- 
publican party. He was one of the contract- 
ors of the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati 
Railroad. Hi.s brother, Hon. George Bliss, 
was once presiding judge of the Third Judi- 
cial District of Ohio. From 1852 to 1854. he 
represented the 18th Congressional District, 
in Congres.s. 

Lorin Bliss was educated in the district 
schools of Northfield Township and remained 
on tbe home farm until his marriage, in 1878, 
when he purchased the place on which he 
lives. He remodeled the residence and made 
additions to the other biiildings. He carries 
on mixed farming, cultivating fifty of his 
eighty-five acres, raising hay, corn, wheat, 
potatoes and oats and keeping from twelve to 
fourteen head of cattle. 

Mr. Bliss married Mary Emeline Wallace, 
who is a daughter of James W. Wallace, of 
Northfield. Mrs. Bliss is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bliss was reared in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he 
has been a trustee and a steward. He takes a 
great deal of interest in the Sunday-school, of 
which he has been superintendent'. 

Politically a Republican, he has been elect- 
ed township trustee on two occasions by that 
party, and has also served as township clerk 
and supervisor. Prior to the disbanding of 
the Northfield Grange, he was a member and 
supporter, and he was identified with and a 
hearty worker in the order of Good Temp- 
lars. 



HENRY H. WEIMER, a leading agricul- 
turist and prominent citizen of Springfield 
Township, who owns an excellent farm of 
seventy acres, was born November 23, 1849, 
at Mar.shallville, Wayne County, Ohio, and 
is a son of Adam and Lydia (Keiffer) 
Weimer. 

Barnhart Weimer, the grandfather of 
Henry H., married a Miss Zimmerman, and 
both died in Germany. Barnhart was in the 
army and crossed the Alps with Napoleon's 
army. Their children were: Barnhart; 
Jacob; Martin, who married Susan Mercer; 
Adam ; Frederick, who married a Miss Fetzer; 
and Margaret, who married Jacob Bough- 
man. Of this family, Martin, Adam, Fred- 
erick and Margaret came to America and all 
settled in AVayne County, Ohio, Martin being 
the first to locate there. 

Adam AA'^eimer, the father of Henry H., was 
born in 1824, in Germany, and came to this 
country about 1840. He was a tailor by trade 
and worked at Uniontown and at Columbus 
prior to his marriage, following which he 
moved to Easton, AAXvne County, where he 
continued tailoring until 1853. In this year 
Mr. AA'^eimer purchased a farm, on which the 
remainder of his life was spent, his death oc- 
curring September 17, 1905, at which time 
he was rated one of the substantial men of his 
community, his property consisting of 372 
acres of land. Adam Weimer was married to 
Lydia Keiff'er, who w^as born near Marshall- 
ville. AA^ayne County, Ohio, and they had nine 
children : Henry H. ; Annie Maria, who 
married Solomon Gerbrick, a resident of 
AVooster, AA^ayne County; Barbara, who is de- 
ceased; Maggie, Who married John Tyler, 
who resides near Sterling, AVayne County; Al- 
bert; AVilliam; Eli, who married Annie St. 
Clair, resides near Smithville, AVayne 
County; Daniel; and AA%«ley, who resides near 
AA^ooster, married (first) Cora Oiler, and (sec- 
find) Violet Aletzor. All of these children, 
with the exception of Henry H., are residents 
of AA^ayne County. 

Henry H. AA'^eimer was reared in AVayne 
County, from whence he came, in March, . 
1876, to Mogadore, where he was engaged in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



721 



a meat market business until his marriage, 
at which time he settled on the farm of his 
father-in-law, Peter Hile. For the past six- 
teen years he has been operating his present 
farm, a tract of seventy acres in Springfield 
Township, where he carries on general farm- 
ing. In 1903 he erected hLs fine residence, 
and in 1905, a large, substantial barn. Mr. 
^\^eime^ is an up-to-date, practical agricultur- 
ist, keeping himself well abreast of all new 
movements and methods in farming by his 
membershij) in the local Grange. He has 
been a resident of Springfield Township for 
thirtyrone years, while his wife, who was born 
in the township, has lived here all of her life. 
On December 26, 1878, Mr. Weimer was 
married to Sarah L. Hile, who is a daughter 
of Peter and Olive (Boyd) Hile. Peter Hile, 
whose mother had died when he was but ten 
days old, came as a boy from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio, with his brother, Jacob Hile, and set- 
tled in Norton Township. . For seventy years 
lie was a resident of Summit County, and his 
death occurred February 16, 1905, in his 
eightieth year, on the farm on which his 
widow now resides, where .<he has lived since 
1855. Peter Hile married Olive Boyd, who is 
a daughter of Andrew and Roxie (Atwood) 
Boyd, the former of whom is a native of 
Pennsylvania and the latter of Connecticut. 
Ten children were born to Andrew Boyd and 
wife: Ichabod, who was twice married, (first) 
to a Miss Clark, who died on Lake Erie, east 
of Cleveland ; Olive, who is the mother of Mrs. 
Weimer; Urias, who died in California; Mary, 
who married Ross TJiomas; Emma, who mar- 
ried Frank Proctor, resided for a number of 
years at Mantua, from whence she removed to 
California, where her husband died; and five 
children who died in infancy. Two children 
were born to Peter and Olive (Boyd) Hile, 
namely: Sarah L. and Emily. The latter 
married Quincy Monroe. They resided for five 
years in Suflneld Township, then moved to 
Tennes.see and sub.sequently to Texas, and for 
tlie past fifteen years have lived in Oklahoma. 
They have had eight children, six of whom 
survive. Mr. and Mrs. Hile were members of 
the Mogadore Church of Chri.st. 



Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Henry H. Weimer, namely: Elmer and 
Irwin, who make their home with their par- 
ents; and Frank, who died September 17, 
1905, aged sixteen years, five months. They 
belong to the Church of Chri.st, at East Akron. 

FREDERICK RIES, whose beautiful" farm 
of 114 acres lies just ea.st of Johnson's Coi- 
ners, has resided here for almost a half cen- 
tury and its excellent condition is due to his 
'industry and careful management. Mr. Ries 
was born in Prussia-Germany, March 24, 
1830, and is a son of Christian and Mary 
Ries. 

Although Mr. Ries has developed into an 
excellent farmer, he was not reared as one. 
After he had completed his schooling he went 
to work in a coal bank, with which his father 
was connected as an outside boss, and he thus 
continued mining until he was nineteen years 
of age, when he decided to follow his broth- 
ers to America. In July, 1849, he left home 
for the great country acro.ss the water, and, 
as far as we have been informed, although his 
thoughts have often gone backward, he has 
never returned to his native land. The ves- 
sel on which he sailed was not a great tur- 
bine-wheel mistress of the sea, which takes 
but four days to cover the distance between 
Europe and America, but a sailing ship that 
was on the water forty-nine days before sight- 
ing land. Landing at New York he joined 
his two brothers in Iowa, where he worked 
for two years in the lead mines, after which 
he settled in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County. There he and his brother, Paul Ries, 
operated a coal bank. In 1855 he was mar- 
ried, and continued to run the coal bank for 
five years longer, and then came to the farm 
on which he has lived ever since. Mr. Ries 
has retired from active work and rents the 
farm, but stilt retains his comfortable home 
here. Through hard work and persistent ef- 
fort he has gained an ample fortune which 
he and his estimable wife can enjoy in their 
evening of life. 

Mr. Ries wa< married November 2.3. 1855. 
to Louisa Klein, who is a daughter of Peter 



HISTOEY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Kleiu, who was also bori) in Gerniauy, but 
settled in Ohio before the birth of Mrs. Ries. 
To this marriage thirteen children were born, 
as follows: Charles, deceased at three weeks; 
Frederick, who is married and lives at John- 
son's Corners; Jacob, married, also lives at 
the Corners; Emma died aged three years, 
two months; John, who is married, lives in 
Indiana; George; Ella, who married Bert 
Haines; Mary, who died at eleven months; 
Christian, residing at home; Arthur, married, 
who lives at Johnson's Corners; Harry, de- 
ceased at six weeks; Minnie, who married 
Andrew Backdur; and Edward. 

Mr. Ries, as one of the township's repre- 
sentative men, has served in public office at 
various times and has been a valuable mem- 
ber of the School Board and an efficient road 
supervisor. He is a member of the Lutheran 
Church. 

HENRY L. AVAGONER, a leading citizen 
of Springfield Township, has been postma.'stc'r 
ait Knimroy for the past twenty-seven year.s 
and has been identified with the growth and 
development of the village. He was born 
near Manchester, in Franklin Tow-nship, 
Summit County, Ohio, March, 8, 1827, and is 
a son of George and Rebecca (Sowers") 
Wagoner. 

George Wagoner was born in Cumberland 
County, Pennsylvania, in 1795, and came to 
Summit County with his parents, in 1812. 
His father was Henry Wagoner. George 
Wagoner was married first in Pennsylvania, 
his second marriege being to Rebecca Sowers. 
He entered 160 acres of land which Henry L. 
assisted to clear. He died in 1874, and was 
survived some fifteen years by his widow. 
They had a family of ten children. a.s follows: 
Catherine, who married Philip Houseman, 
both died in Indiana; Sarah, who married 
Aaron Baughman, both died in Norton Town- 
ship ; Henry L. ; Philip, who was formerly 
county commi.s.sioner of Summit County, mar- 
ried Hannah Haney; John Jacob, who mar- 
ried Catherine Weaver, resides in Summit 
County; PTarriet, who married Michael Harp- 
srter, is a widow residing at Akron ; Anna Re- 



becca, deceased, married (first) Jacob Becker 
and (second) David Keller; Amanda, who is 
the widow of John Spangler, who died in the 
spring of 1907, lives in Franklin Township; 
and Aaron, who married Amanda Smith, re- 
sides on River Avenue, Akron. 

Henry L. Wagoner obtained his education 
in the subscription schools, and continued to 
assist has father in clearing and developing his 
land until he reached manhood, in the mean- 
while learning the trade of shoemaker. In 
the early days of the great Rebellion, Mr. 
Wagoner enlisted for army sei'vice, entering 
Company A, Second Regiment, Ohio Volun- 
teer Cavalry, in 1861, selecting the cavalry on 
account of being accustomed to horses and 
with an idea thait he could better stand the 
hardships he knew were ahead of him. His 
health broke down, however, and in 1862, he 
was discharged at Fort Scott, on account of 
disability. He continued to farm for the next 
five years and then applied himself exclusively • 
to work at his trade until February, 1880, 
when he came to Krumroy. 

At this time the first trains were running 
over the Cleveland, Tennessee & Valley Rail- 
rqad and Mr. Wagoner was made the first 
agent for the road at this point. In the 
same year he was appointed j^ostmaster, an of- 
fice he has held ever since, notwithstanding 
changes in the administration. There are 
few as capable officials in the public service 
who have reached the age of Mr. Wagoner, 
who is now eighty years old, and there are 
also few who possess his hearty health and 
prolonged vigor. He can recall many inter- 
esting events concerned with the developing 
of this section, and remembers when the busy 
city of Akron was but a straggling village. 
He has spent his whole life in Franklin and 
Springfield Townships and is known all over 
Summit County. At the time of his birth 
this section was still included in Stark County. 

On January 24. 1850, Mr. Wagoner was 
married to Sarah Ritter, who is a daughter of 
Isaac and Margaret Ritter. Her people came 
to Stark County at an early day and settled 
near Massillon, where her grandfather pur- 
chased a section of land, making a liome in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



723 



the wagon for his family until he could con- 
struct a log house in the forest. They were 
old and lionored pioneers. Mrs. Wagoner 
was reared in Green Township. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wagoner have had the following children : 
Elnora, who married ^I. J. Rodenbaugh, re- 
sides at Thomastown and they have three 
children, Burt, Mabel, wife of Thoniiis Stahl, 
of Peninsula, Ohio, and Harvey, a merchant 
at Akron; Lodie, who married (first) Eman- 
uel Hubler and (second) Michael Benning- 
ham, is deceased; John Riley died aged three 
years; Margaret Ann died aged seven years; 
Amelia, died in infancy, and Isaac Hamlin, 
resides at Akron. 

Mr. Wagoner has always been actively in- 
terested in politics and has been a stanch sup- 
porter of the Republican party ever since its 
formation. He has voted for every one of its 
Presidential candidates from .John C. Fremont 
to Theodore Roosevelt. He is a member of 
Buckley Post, G. A. R., at Akron. In many 
ways. Mr. ^Vagoner is a remarkable man, and 
is a worthy representative of the sturdy old 
pioneer family from which he came, possess- 
ing not only their robust constitution, but also 
many of the qualities which made friend- 
ships enduring in those days, and honesty and 
integrity words full of meaning. 

ADAM J. FULMER. who was a leading 
citizen and successful agriculturist of Spring- 
field Township, for many years, was born in 
Green Township, Summit County, Ohio, Oc- 
tober 20, 1846, and died on his beautiful 
farm in Springfield Township. October 28, 
1905, at the age of fifty-nine years. His 
parents were Adam and Christina (Bettler) 
Fulmer. 

Both parents of .Vdain J. Fulmer were born 
in Germany and in 1833 they accompanied 
their parents to Stark County, Ohio, where 
the latter died. After the. marriage of Adam 
and Christina Fulmer, they moved to Green 
Township and later to Springfield Township, 
and both died at Brittain, where they were liv- 
ing retired. They had a family that con- 
sisted of three sons and four daughters: 
Jacob. Daniel. Adam J., Catherine. Margaret. 



Melvina and Charlotta. Of the above family, 
Jacob is deceased. Daniel married Melvina 
Baughman. Catherine married Daniel Hawk 
and they reside in Tallmadge Township. 
Margaret married Jonathan Weaver and they 
reside in Portage County. Melvina married 
"S'incent Wagner and they live at Cuyahoga 
Falls, while Charlotta married Joseph Guiley 
and they reside in Tallmadge. 

Adam J. Fulmer was reared on the home 
farm and attended the district schools in the 
neighborhood of his home. He accompanied 
his parents to Brittain when they settled in the 
village, but shortlj' after his marriage, in 
18S1, he settled on the place which continued 
to be his home for the rest of his life. His 
first purchase w^as of 100 acres, to which he 
subsequently added the second 100, making 
the present acreage, and here he carried on 
general farming for many years, paying .par- 
ticular attention to growing wheat. He was 
a man of persistent industry and was greatly 
interested in improving his property, erecting 
at various times the fine residence and other 
substantial buildings which add greatly to the 
value of an already valuable property. Since 
February, 1906, there have been three oil 
wells in operation on the farm, all being fine 
jiroducers. Mr. Fulmer also owned valuable 
lots in Akron, having accumulated all his 
projierty through prudence, good management 
and industry. 

On January 4, 1881, Adam J. Fulmer was 
married to Mary Ruth, who is a daughter of 
Charles and Catherine (Vogelman) Ruth, 
both of whom were born in Germany, the 
father in 1822 and the mother in 1823. After 
marriage Charles Ruth and wife settled in 
Oneida County, New York. Mrs. Ruth died 
in 1890. and Mr. Ruth six years later. They 
had four children, namely: Mrs. Fulmer; 
Louisa, residing with her sister; Lena, resid- 
ing at Akron, married Cyrus Swinehart, a 
contractor in that city; and Charles, who con- 
ducts a meat business at Utica, New York. 
He married Lillian Mvers, of Rome, New 
York. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fulmer's family consisted of 
two children, a son and daughter. Ravmond 



724 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and Mary l-Iutli. The former operates tlu' 
home farm in a very capable manner. He 
is a young man of talent and education, hav- 
ing graduated at the University of Michigan, 
in the class of 1905. Miss Mary Ruth is a 
graduate of the Akron High School and is 
a student in the freshman year at Buchtel 
College. 

In the death of Adam J. Fulmer, Spring- 
field Township lost a citizen of more than 
usual worth, for he was a man of sterling 
character and one whose acts in every phase 
of life were governed by right motives. He 
was a man of very practical ideas and he won 
tlie respect of those with whom he came into 
contact either in a business or social way. 
During all his mature life he was stanch in 
his adherence to the.principlas of the Demo- 
cratic party, by which he was frequently 
elected to local offices and in performing the 
duties of these he displayed public spirit as 
well as efficiency. He was long a useful mem- 
ber of the School Board and served both as 
supervisor and as township trustee. 

LOUIS SCflOTT. a leading citizen of 
Springfield Township, who has owned and 
operated what was known as Tritt's mill, since 
1890, was born in Grevesmuhlen, Germany, 
where his parents both died in 1860, victims 
of small-pox. 

Mr. Schott was reai-ed by his grandfather 
until the latter's death, when he went to live 
with strangers. He attended school until he 
was fourteen years of age, according to the ex- 
cellent German law, and then learned the 
milling trade, which he has followed ever 
since. In 1882 he came to America and lo- 
cated at Akron, where he was in the employ 
of F. Schumacher, and others, for about seven 
years, and then bought what was known as 
Tritt's mill. This mill was built in 1836, by 
the grandfather of Brewster Brothers, who are 
business men of high standing in Summit 
County, and it has been in continuous opera- 
tion ever since. Joseph Tritt bought the mill 
from Mr. Brewster, and operated it until he 
sold it to David Brumbaugh, who subsequent- 
ly sold it to Mr. Elderkin, who assigned it to 



the man from whom Mr. Schott purchased, 
in 1890. Since taking possession he has prac- 
tically rebuilt the mill, putting in new power 
and making many practical and substantial 
improvements. It is what is known as a gen- 
eral custom mill, with capacity of twenty-five 
barrels, and Mr. Schott makes both white and 
rye flour, together with all kinds of feed. He 
has constant patronage and does a very large 
Inisine.ss. Mr. Schott has always been very 
industrious, careful and frugal, and has made 
his own way honestly and fairly, without ask- 
ing aid from any one. 

In 1883 Mr. Schott was married to Louisa 
Schultz, of Akron, who is a daughter of the 
late George Schultz. Her mother still sur- 
vives. Mt. and Mrs. Schott have had twelve 
children, namely: Hans, who died in young 
manhood, in 1905; Louis, who is a telegraph 
operator for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad ; 
Helena, who is a stenographer for the Board 
Manufacturing Company, of Akron ; Charles, 
who as.sists his father in the mill ; Louisa, who 
is employed at Akron ; Harriet, who is de- 
ceased; and William, Sophia, Elmer, Mary, 
Herman and Frederick, all residing at home. 
Mr. Schott and family belong to the German 
Lutheran Church. Politically he is a Repul)- 



.TOHN F. MENTZER, assessor of Norton 
Township, and the owner of seventy-five acres 
of very valuable land, which is .situated on the 
Loyal Oak road, about five miles west of Ak- 
ron, was born on the fai'm on wliich he lives, 
in Summit County, Ohio, September 7, 1865. 
He is a son of Alexander and A?nelia 
(Blocker) Mentzer. 

Alexander Mentzer was born at Canal Ful- 
ton, Stark County, Ohio, and died May IB, 
1900, aged sixty-four years. His father was 
John Mentzer, who was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, from which* state he moved to Stark 
County, Ohio, where he owned the farin 
where the feeder of the Old Ohio Canal enters 
the Tu.scarawas River. In 1850 he bought the 
farm in Norton Township on wliich his 
grandson, John F., resides, and in 1870, Alex- 
ander Mentzer bought it from his father's 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



725 



estate, and, in turn, John F. bought 
it from Alexander's estate, in October, 
1900. Alexander Mentzer married Amelia 
Blocker. Her father, Eli Blocker 
was a pioneer of Norton Townshij), and he 
owned the fai*m which is now the property of 
Joseph Oser, and on that farm Mrs. Mentzer 
was born. The five children of Alexander 
Mentzer and \vife are : John F. ; Charles, re- 
siding in Portage Township ; Sadie, who mar- 
ried Edgar Poulson, residing at Warren, 
Trumbull County; Har\-ey, residing at Gar- 
rettsville, Portage County; and Frank, resid- 
ing at Braceville, Trumbull County. 

John F. Mentzer was reared at home and 
wa.s educated to the age of fourteen years in 
the countn' schools, after which he worked as 
a farmer. For two years following his mar- 
riage he lived in Medina County, otherwise, 
his home has always been in Norton Town- 
.ship. He carrier on general farming, and for 
some years bought and sold many horses; I^^e 
is considered a verj^ good business man. 'In 
addition to farming, Mr. Mentzer frequently 
spends considerable time auctioneering, and 
his popularity is shown by his being sent for 
to cry sales all through the surrounding 
country. 

In 1889 Mr. Mentzer was married to Ella 
Oplinger, who is a daughter of Nathan Op- 
linger, and they have four children, namely: 
Harry. Lloyd. Rus.«ell and Morris. 

Politically. Mr. Mentzer is a Democrat, and 
for the past two years has served as assessor 
of the township. He was a member of the 
School Board for four years, and at all times 
shows a good citizen's intere.sl in the town- 
ship's educational sitanding Mr. Mentzer i- 
a deacon in the Loyal Oak Reformed Church 
and for the past ten years has been church 
secretarA'. 

CLARENCE HOWLAND, formerly one of 
Akron's prominent citizens and leading man- 
ufacturers, was identified for a quarter of a 
century with The Thomas Phillips Company, 
of which he was treasurer at the time of his 
death. May 6, 190.5. Mr. Howland was born 
in New York. 



In 1873 Mr. Howland came to Akron and 
began work with the company with which he 
continued to be connected as long as he lived, 
entering its employ in a humble position, and 
through merit, advancing vmtil he was one 
of the most valued members of the firm. He 
was a man of broad and liberal views, and 
while his business sagacity made him a fac- 
tor in that line, his public .spirit and his rec- 
ognition of a citizen's duties, both private 
and public, made him respected and esteemed 
in every circle of society. 

^Ir. Howland was married (first) to Jennie 
Fouser, and the four children of this imion 
were: Helen, Ruth, George and Frank C. 
Mr. Howland was married (second) to Jose- 
phine Creque, and they had one daughter. 
Josephine. 

EDWARD W. LESER, who conducts a 
florist busineas in Coventry Township, near 
the city limits of Akron, was bom January 11, 
1875, at Bay City, Bay County, Michigan, and 
is a son of J. J. Leser. The parents of Mr. 
Leser are still residents of Bay City, where 
his father carries on a carpenter and con- 
tracting business. He W' as born at Ann Arbor, 
Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Leser have .seven 
children, the eldest of whom is Edward W. 

Until he was seventeen years of age, Ed- 
ward William Le.ser attended the public 
schools of Bay City, and then entered the em- 
ploy of the Irvine Company, florists, wnth 
whom he remained for nine years, during 
w'hich time he made a close study of the man- 
agement and rearing of plants and of all mat- 
ters concerning their propagation and cul- 
ture. In the spring of 1898 he came to Ak- 
ron. He entered the employ of E. J. Bolanz, 
the leading florist of this city, with whom he 
continued until 1905, when he purcha.sed Mr. 
Bolanz's business, which he has successfully 
conducted ever since. Mr. Leser has .S5,000 
feet of .space under cover and owns ten acres 
of ground. His buildings have modern equip- 
ments to produce the proper climatic condi- 
tions, he keeps four men employed and does 
a ver\' large wholesale bu.'iness. and enjoys the 
largest trade in his line in this city. His 



726 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



greenhouses ai-e delightful to visit, with their 
abundance of bloom and fragrance, and his 
growths include all varieties of plants, except 
palms. He is a self-made man and his suc- 
cess shows the value of industry and concen- 
tration of effort. 

Politically, Mr. Leser is a Republican. 

CHARLES ROEGER, one of the leading 
business men of Springfield Township, a 
member of the manufacturing firm of Roeger 
Brothers, was born in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, September 17, 1875. 
His parents ai-e Chi'istian and Rosanna (Ri- 
bold) Roeger. 

Christian Roeger was born in Germany in 
1844 and came to America in 1870, locating 
at Akron, but removing to Tallmadge six 
months later, where he remained for four 
and one-half years working for Sperry & Bald- 
win. In 1875 he came to Brittain, Spring- 
field Township, and in the following year 
organized the present business Avhioh is now 
so successfully managed by his two sons, his 
successors. He started with a repair shop and 
increased his facilities >as his business grew, 
remaining as its active head for twenty-four 
years. In many ways Christian Roeger is a 
remarkable man. He landed at Akron with 
a knowledge of the blacksmith trade, but 
with only forty-eight cents capital. At first, 
to provide for his immediate wants, he cut 
timber in South Akron for the building of 
Buchtel College. He -was married at Canton 
to Rosainna Ribold, who was born in 1850, 
and they had four children, the three sur- 
vivors being: Charles, George W. and Archer. 
Elbert J., who was born in 1882, died unmar- 
ried in 1895. The parents of this family re- 
side at Brittain, worthy and highly respected 
people. 

Charles Roeger attended the schools near 
his home, and as soon as old enough began 
to work in his father's shop, and until 1906, 
devoted him.self almost entirely to the paint- 
ing department of the business, since which 
time he has exercised a general superintend- 
ence. Charles Roeger married May L. Mc- 
Chesney, who is a daughter of Edward and 



Sarali (Wise) McChesney, and they have two 
children, Glynn and Reginald. Mr. Roeger 
is a member of the East ^larket Street Re- 
formed Church, in which he is a deacon. He 
belongs to Apollo Lodge, No. 61, East Akron, 
Odd Fellows. Politically, he is a Repub- 
lican. 

George W. Roeger, who is his brother's 
]jartner in the firm of Roeger Broth ei-s, was 
born in Springfield Township, Summit Coun- 
ty, Ohio, in Mtu'ch, 1878. He was educated 
in the local schools and, like his older brother, 
eai'ly began work in his father's shop. He 
was married to Anna Brubaker, September 
17, 1902, and they have one child. Politic- 
ally, he is a Republican. He is a member of 
the East Market Street Reformed Church. 

The firm of Roeger Brothers does a very 
large business. It is one of the oldest houses 
of its kind in this section and it has gained 
the confidence of the public through honor- 
.able businftss dealing and high quality of 
goods. The factory is located at Brittain. The 
firm manufactures diff^erent kinds of carriages 
and wagons and deals also in harness and fann 
implements, twelve men being given constant 
employment. Their repair shop alone does a 
bu.sines3 of from $5,000 to $6,200 per year, 
and their new business amounts to from $5,- 
000 to $6,000 annually. The present factory 
was built about 1892 and has been remodeled 
.severl times since, excellent facilities now be- 
ing afforded. 

RUSSELL T. DOBSON, one of AkroTi's 
practical and succe,ssful business men, who is 
president and manager of the Dobson Build- 
ing Company, has been an active and valued 
citizen of this place since 1892. He was 
bom in 1861, at Battle Creek, Michigan, re- 
moving from there with his parents when 
eleven yeaxs of age, and settling at Toledo. 

Mr. Dob.son was mainly educated at Toledo, 
both in the public schools and in that other 
school, a printing office. 

In 1880, with W. B. Dobson, his brother, 
he purchased the newspaper property of The 
Wood County Democrat, at Bowling Green, 
Ohio, where he resided until 1889, servinsr 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



727 



as postmaster during the administration of 
President Cleveland. He then moved to De- 
fiance, Ohio, where he published the Defiance 
County Democrat, and also the Daily News. 
In 1891 he removed to Springfield, Ohio, and 
there engaged for a year in the publication 
of the Daily Democrat, and then came to Ak- 
* ron. Mr. Dohson and his brother estal^lished 
here a newspapei" under the name of the 
Daily Democrat, which is now known as the 
Daily Times, which he continued until 1897, 
when he sold out, and in the following year 
took over the management of the Beacon-Jour- 
nal, and was owner and manager of the same 
mitil 1903, when he sold out his newspaper 
interert.'?. 

Mr. Dobson then turned his attention to 
other lines, and shortly afterward erected the 
Dobson Building, one of the most modern, 
sanitarj' and convenient office buildings in 
Akron. It is five stories in height, situated 
on the corner of Howard and Main Streets, 
occupying 74 feet on the latter, with 110 
feet of depth, and with two basements. 

In 1885 Mr. Dobson was married to Jen- 
nie A. Wiley, of Bowling Green, Ohio, and 
they have one son, Russell T., Jr. Mr. and 
Mrs. Dobson attend the Episcopal Church. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Elks and 
the Knights of Pythias. 

HARRY A. COCHRANE, one of North- 
field Township's representative citizens and 
successful agriculturists, was born at Ligonier, 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, March 
9, 1866, and is a son of Huston and Rachel 
(Scroggs) Cochrane. 

Huston Cochrane was born at Latrobe, 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where 
he received a common school education and 
learned the trade of potter, which he fol- 
lowed for nearly twenty-five years, owning 
his own kilns and making stone, china nnd 
all kinds of earthenware. About 1874 Mr. 
Cochrane sold his pottery, and purchased a 
farm at Latrobe, on which he resided for nine 
years, and at the end of that time came to 
Northfield Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
purchasing the old Griswold farm of 106 



acres, on which he spent the remainder of his 
life, his death occurring July 1, 1906. Mr. 
Cochrane was a Republican in politics, and 
while at Ligonier, Pennsylvania, served as 
tax collector and school director for three 
years. He married Rachel Scroggs, who was 
a daughter of Rev. Joseph Scroggs, a clergj'- 
man of the United Presbyterian Church, who 
preached for fifty years in the Ligonier Val- 
ley. There were six children born to this 
union, namely: Laura, who is the wife of 
William McFarland, of Latrobe; James Ed- 
win, who died in infancy; Joseph, who is de- 
ceased; Harry A.; Aggie, who is the wife of 
George McFarland, of Greensburg, Pennsyl- 
vania; and Thomas, who died at the age of 
five years. The mother of these children, 
who is now seventy-three yeaVs old, makes 
her home with her son Harry A., and is a de- 
voted member of the United Presbyterian 
Church, of which her husband was an elder 
for thirty years. 

In 1885, after coming to Summit County, 
Harry A. Cochrane entered the Northfield 
High School, and after graduating there he 
took a course in the Cleveland Business Col- 
lege. For some time afterward he traveled 
for the Brooks Oil Company, and also handled 
agricultural implements for a while. About 
1900 he bought a one-half interest in the 
Macedonia Milling Company, taking full 
charge of buying and selling, also running a 
cider press and apple jelly factory in connec- 
tion. He closed this business out in 1905. 
Since then he has been engaged in farming 
and stock-raising, devoting seventy-eight 
acres of his property to raising corn, oats, 
wheat and hay, and from twelve to fifteen 
acres to growing potatoes. Mr. Cochrane 
keeps from six to eight head of cattle, raises 
young stock, and keeps about nine head of 
horses. He uses the most modern methods 
in operating his farm, and is considered one 
of Northfield Township's good, practical agri- 
culturists. 

Mr. Cochrane was married to Myrtle Ne.s- 
bitt. who is a daughter of James Nesbitt, one 
of Northfield Township's most prominent 
citizens, who was county commissioner of 



728 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Summit County for seven yearti. Two chil- 
dren have been born to thL!< union: Helen 
liaehel and Lucille, the latter of whom died 
in infancy. Mr. and Mr.<. Cochrane are mem- 
bers of the Uiiited Presbyterian Church, of 
which he is a trustee. In political matters 
Mr. Cochrane is an independent Kepublican. 

M. B. SHUMAKEK, of Shumaker and 
Company, boot and shoe merchants, at Akron, 
with business located at No. 17 South How- 
ard Street, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, 
in l(Sr)4, and is a son of William and Mar- 
garet (l^locker) Shumaker. 

Williiun Shumaker, father of M. B., accom- 
panied his father, also William Shumaker, to 
Wayne County from Westmoreland County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1823, and resided on his 
farm, which his father had secured from the 
gxjvernment, until his death, in February, 
1907, at the age of eighty-.-<even years. He 
married Margaret Blocker, who died in 1858. 
They had six children, the five now living 
being: Amanda, who married D. T. Frank, 
and residing at Massillon ; Lee C, who is en- 
gaged in bu.-iiness at Lorain, Ohio; John F., 
who is one of the infirmary directors of Medi- 
na County; M. B., of Akron; and W. W. 
Shumaker, wlio is engaged in farming in 
Wayne County. 

M. B. Shumaker attended the country 
schools, and when twenty-one years of age he 
left the farm and came to Akron. Here he 
began to learn the shoe business with Bow- 
man and McNeil, with whom he remained 
four years, later spending one year at Y^'oinigs- 
town. In 1880, he went to Helena, Mon- 
tana, where he remained for fifteen months, 
going thence to California, Washington and 
Oregon, and remaining in the far We.'^t until 
1884. He then returned to the East and was 
engaged in a shoe business at Ma.s.sillon, Ohio, 
until 1801. Ill health kept him out of bu.'^i- 
ne-:s for a year, hut in 1892, seeing a good 
opening at Akron, he embarked in a .«hoe 
bu.*ine.«s in this city, beginning on a limited 
scale, with one clerk and an office boy. His 
entrance into business wa.'i in one way at an 
inif.-ivorablo time, the small-pox epidemic im- 



mediately following; nevertheless he was able 
to achieve progress from the first, and now 
owns one of the finest shoe stores in Akron. 
He carries a large and varied stock, to suit 
every taste, has modern equipments, and gives 
constant employment to seven assistants, and 
on Saturdays, when the countiy people come 
to the city to supply their needs, he requires 
four extra helpers, Mr. Shumaker attrib- 
utes his success to fair and courteous dealing, 
and to the excellence of the stock he carries. 
He is one of the directors of the Dollar Sav- 
ings Bank at Akron. 

On April 15, 1885, Mr. Shumaker was mar- 
ried to Ella B. Hawkins, wdio is a daughter 
of Nelson C. Hawkins, of Portage Township, 
Summit County, and they have one son, 
Lloyd, who is a student in the Akron High 
School. Mr. Shumaker is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows. 
He belongs to the West Hill Congregational 
Church, of which he was a trustee for several 
years. He is conceded to be one of Akron's 
representative business men. 

ORISON M. MOORE, general farmer and 
dairyman, oi)erating his valuable farm of 
some seventy acres, is one of the prosperous 
agriculturists of Stow Township. He was 
born in Suffield Township, Portage County, 
Ohio, December 20, 1847, and is a son of 
Samuel Lucius and Sally H. (Randall) 
Moore. 

The father of Mr. Moore was born May 29, 
1819, at Middletown, Connecticut, and ac- 
companied his parents when they moved 
first to Pennsylvania, and some years later 
to New Portage, Ohio, where they purchased a 
small farm. They w'ere Lester H. and Ruth 
(Smith) Moore. They had the following 
children : Lois B., who was born .Tanuary 81, 
LSKi: Samuel Lucius; Mary A., who was horn 
in 1822; Ori.-^on Erskine, born in 1823; Ru- 
fus S])a]ding, who was born in 182r); ,Tohn 
Ilnmjihrey, who was born in 1829; .Juden 
Harrison, who was born in 1833; Polly 0., 
who wa.'? born in 1836; Orville Smith, who 
wa* born in 1839; and Sarah Lucretia, who 
was born in 1841. 





o 

2; 
o 
Pi 
< 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



731 



Samuel Lucius Moore worked in youth on 
his father's farm and subsequently acquired 
property of his own, which included a one- 
half interest in a pottery, in Suffield Town- 
ship, where he worked for some years as a 
turner. He became a man of local promi- 
nence in SufKeld Township and served as a 
trustee. In April, 1809, he came to Stow 
Township and purchased the farm on which 
his son, Orison M., resides, which was the old 
Wetmore homestead, and at that time con- 
tained about 120 acres. The railroad has 
taken some eight acres of the original farm. 
On this property Mr. Moore raised many 
sheep, having been previously engaged in this 
industry in SufReld Township, and also car- 
ried on general farming and dairying. He 
died on the present farm May 19, 1886, leav- 
ing his property to his heirs, Orison M. hav- 
ing the use of the present farm as long as he 
lives. Of his seven children, but two grew to 
maturity: James S.. residing also in Stow 
Township, and Orison M. 

Orison M. Moore enjoyed educational ad- 
vantages, completing his education in the 
Suffield High School, at Randolph. He as- 
sisted his father on the homestead, and has 
resided in Stow Township ever since his mar- 
riage. For nine years following his father's 
death he rented the present farm, but since 
1898 has had the sole control. During this 
time he also cultivated a farin which Mrs. 
Moore inherited from her father, and which is 
still her personal possession. Mr. Moore 
raises wheat, oats, corn and potatoes, and 
keeps twelve head of cattle through the winter 
and sells his milk to the Co-operative Cream- 
ery at Stow. He is also interested in raising 
poultry and supplies a large demand from 
Silver Lake. 

Mr. Moore was married to Clara Wetmore, 
who belongs to an old and distingi:ished 
family of this section. She is a daughter of 
Edwin and Polly (Wetmore) Wetmore. The 
Wetmore family came originally from Wales, 
in the persons of three brothers, Seth, 
Chauncy, and one whose name has been lo.st. 
Setji settled in Connecticut and the Wetmores 
of Stow Town.«hip descended from him. His 



son William was the first justice of the peace 
in Stow Township. He was known as Judge 
Wetmore and was the grandfather of Mrs. 
Moore. His children, Edwin, William, Henry, 
Ogden and Clarissa, were liLs heirs, and Edwin 
owned some 200 acres. He built the house 
which belongs to the heirs of Mr. and Mrs. 
Moore. He was a justice of the peace and a 
man of consequence in this part of Sunnnit 
County. He was born in 1798 and died De- 
cember 25, 1872. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moore have had seven chil- 
dren, the three survivors being one daughter 
and two sons: Grace Claribel, Henry W. and 
Arthur Garfield. Mrs. Moore is a valued 
member of the Disciples Church at Stow Cor- 
ners. 

In politics, Mr. Moore votes with the Re- 
publican party in national mutters, but pre- 
fers to be independent in local affairs. He is 
identified with several fraternal organizations, 
and is past commander of the Maccabees, is 
past president and a trustee of the Pathfind- 
ers, at Cuyahoga Falls, is past chief ranger 
and a trustee of the Foresters at Cuyahoga 
Falls. He takes an active interest in the pub- 
lic affairs of his neighborhood when benevo- 
lent movements are organized. Mr. Moore 
and family are people who enjoy the highest 
measure of public e.steem. 

AARON MORRTSS, a native of Winstead, 
Connecticut, who died on his farm in the 
southeast part of Tallmadge Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, in 1871, aged seventy-one 
years, was one of the leading men of this sec- 
tion, and a type of that strict uncompromis- 
ing integrity which makes men honored 
whether rich or poor. 

The name of Morriss is attached to that im- 
mortal document, The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the lady who is the sole repre- 
sentative of the family, in Tallmadge Town- 
ship, Miss America Morri.ss, is a lineal descend- 
ant of the signer. Her paternal grandparent" 
died when her father, the late Aaron Morri.ss. 
was a child. He had two brothers and two 
sisters. One brother, Andrew Morri.ss. owned 
a home at Bridgeport. Connecticut, adjoining 



732 



HISl'ORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



that of the late P. T. liariiuni, while the 
other brother lived at New Haven. One sis- 
ter married Mr. Hill, who was superintendent 
of the Marine Hospital at New Haven, and 
the other sister became the wife of Rev. Lewis 
Fisk, who was the first person to be interred 
in what was then called the New Evergreen 
Cemetery, at New Haven. 

Aaron Morriss spent his first twenty-one 
years mainly at New Haven and Winstead, 
where he learned the carpenter's and cabinet- 
maker's trades. In pursuit of business, he 
then accompanied Peter Hepburn to Savan- 
nah, Georgia, where he lived for thirteen 
years, engaged in building and contracting. 
He became a man of consequence there, took 
an active interest in the public life of the 
city and, on account of his sterling qualities 
as well as his personal appeai-ance and digni- 
fied bearing, he was selected as one of the 
committee of Savannah citizens to receive and 
welcome General Lafayette, when he visited 
that city in 1824. Mr. Morri.^s was known as 
a very liberal man and is said to have con- 
tributed fifty dollars to every church built 
in the community in which he lived. He 
made many and warm friends in the southern 
city, even when a cordial feeling was not the 
normal attitude between New England and 
Georgia. 

After he returned to New Haven, Mr. Mor- 
riss was married to Sarah Isbell, who was a 
daughter of Israel and Sallie (Pardee) Isbell. 
Her maternal grandmother was Rebecca 
Beecher, who was a sister of the late Dr. 
Lyman Beecher. Israel Isbell and wife died 
at Milford, Connecticut. They had the fol- 
lowing children exclusive of Mrs. Morriss: 
David, who subsequently came to Tallmadge, 
who married Charlotta Beach, a very aristo- 
cratic lady of Milford. After his death in 
Tallmadge, she married the Reverend Mr. 
Piatt, and died at Oberlin, Ohio. Israel, a 
cabinet-maker by trade, also came to Tall- 
madge. He married Huldah Wooding, of New 
Haven, Connecticut. Josiah Pardee married 
Mary Andrew, of Connecticut, and they re- 
mained in that state. Polly married Bene- 
dict Merwin and went to reside on Long Is- 



land. Irene, the youngest, married Bela 
Clark and they remained at Milford, Connec- 
ticut. 

At the time of her marriage to Aaron Mor- 
riss, Sarah Isbell was the widow of Captain 
Freegift Coggeshall. Mr. and Mrs. Morriss 
had two children — America, who was born in 
Tallmadge Township, Summit County, in 
1835 ; and Corinne, born in 1836, who died 
December 25, 1894. Few young ladies of 
their day enjoyed better educational advan- 
tages than were given the Masses Morrass. They 
attended the Ravenna select school conducted 
by Miss Curtis, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke, 
Massachusetts; later, the Hudson Female Sem- 
inary, in charge of Miss Lee, and still later 
the Ontario Female Seminary, at Canandai- 
gua, New York, where they remained until 
they completed their education. They re- 
turned to Tallmadge where they exerted a 
wholesome influence of culture and refine- 
ment. The father took great pride in his 
daughters, and the family relations were 
marked by the most perfect congeniality. 
The beloved mother, who was born at Mil- 
ford, Connecticut, in 1801, survived to the 
age of seventy-eight years, passing away in 
1879, having sui"vived her husband for eight 
years. 

Aaron Morriss made an early visit to Sum- 
mit County, but was not so impressed with 
the country at that time as to invest in land, 
but after his marriage he returned and set- 
tled on the farm which remained his home 
initil the close of his life. The confinement 
incidental to hLs trade acted unfavorably on 
his health, and he was obliged to ,give it up 
and seek an out-door life, but his talent as 
a worker in wood, never permitted him to 
entirely lay aside his tools. Before leaving 
his native state he had fashioned furniture 
that probably still is in use in Yale College, 
and had also done a large amount of build- 
ing. 

The land that Mr. Morriss purchased in 
Tallmadge Township was a tract of 155 acres, 
and of it he made a model farm. No unsight- 
ly stumps were left to mar the even beauty 
of liLs fields and meadows, while all his build- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



733 



iugri were kept in the best of repair and were 
ciuitcd to their needs and adequately equipped. 
He wii;3 a natural architect and when building 
or making repairs, first laid out a plan and 
followed it. As his daughter views her com- 
fortable home she can recall how her father 
ctu"efully fitted each bit of material as he was 
partially rebuilding, and the great pillars of 
the porch, of solid black walnut, were chiseled 
out by his skilled hands with the truest ac- 
curacy. All he did was in the same careful 
way. He took delight in growing fruits and 
vegetables, and in improving his surroinid- 
ings, and enjoj^ed comfort in the quiet, re- 
fined peace of his home, where at last he 
passed peacefully away. 

Miss America Morriss now owns the old 
homestead farm which her father bought in 
the year preceding her birth, and she also 
owns city property in Akron. For many 
years she has admirably administered her own 
affairs and is known as an excellent business 
woman as well as a lady of great charity and 
of warm, true hospitality. She attends the 
Congregational Church at Tallmadge. 

DAVID R. FERGUSSON, the efficient 
citj' marshal at Barberton, is serving in his 
fifth successive term in his present capacity. 
He was born at Lockland, Ohio, August 14, 
1875, and is a son of William and Elizabeth 
(Campbell) Fergusson. 

The parents of Mr. Fergusson moved to 
Akron in 1879, and to Barberton, in 1883, 
his father in that year entering the employ 
of the American Straw Board Company at 
this place. He built the first house in the 
new part of Barberton, west of the Erie Rail- 
road. AVilliam Fergusson still survives, but 
his wife died in March, 1905. 

David R. Fergu.sson was educated in the 
schools of Akron and of New Portage, up to 
the age of fourteen years, when he started to 
work for the American Straw Board Com- 
pany, then known as the Portage Straw 
Board, remaining about seven years. From 
that company he went to the American Sewer 
Pipe Works, first as kiln setter and later as 
fireman, remaining until 1900, when he was 



first elected town mai-shal. Prior to this, from 
1899 to 1900, he had served as chief of the 
fire department and so efficiently as to gain 
the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He has 
subsequently been re-elected marshal and his 
last election was by a majority of 300 votes. 

In June, 1904, Mr. Fergusson was mar- 
ried to Mary Willems, who is a daughter of 
Frederick Willems, and they have one sou, 
David, Jr. 

Mr. Fergusson belongs to the Masons, the 
Elks and the Knights of Pythias, being a cap- 
tain of the Uniform Rank in the latter or- 
ganization. 

PERRY R. MILLER, who came to Bar- 
berton in 1892, one of its first home-makers, 
resides at No. 926 Wooster Avenue, where his 
beautiful dwelling is surrounded by two acres 
of improved land. For many years prior to 
that date he was a large farmer and successful 
dairjmian in Norton Township. He was born 
in Norton Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
August 29, 1855, and is a son of Cyrus and 
Hannah (Reese) Miller. 

Cyrus Miller was also born in Norton Town- 
ship, but the grandfather of Perry R. Miller 
was born in Ireland. He emigrated to Amer- 
ica and lived for a time in Summit County, 
but later moved to Illinois, and both he and 
wife died there before the birth of their 
grandson. Cyrus Miller worked as a tailor 
during some of his earlier years, on account 
of an accident, which resulted in the loss of 
a leg, which for a time prevented agricultural 
work, but he subsequently became a farmer 
in Norton Township. He died at Akron, 
aged eighty years, his wife dying when seven- 
ty-eight years old. They had six children, 
namely: Wellington, residing at Barberton; 
Wealthy, who died in girlhood from being 
accidentally burned ; ' Perry R. ; Wilbur and 
Willis, twins, the latter of whom is deceased, 
the former residing at Barberton ; and Ar- 
thur, residing at Akron. 

Perry R. Miller was reared on the home 
farm in Norton Township, in which, with the 
exception of one year, 1865, when the family 
resided at Wadsworth, he has spent his life. 



734 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



He at one time owned 240 acres of land, in 
two farms, and for many years resided on one 
of 190 acres, which belonged to his wife and 
her mother. During the winter oi" 190(3-7 he 
sold that farm but retains one of fifty acres, 
which, with his property at Barberton, still 
leaves him the owner of some very valuable 
realty. He was educated in the ' district 
schools of Norton Township, after which he 
taught .school for about three year^, but later 
turned his entire attention to farming and 
dairying, in which he met with much .suc- 
cess. 

Mr. Miller married Addie L. Dickerman, 
who is a daughter of Simeon and Mary Ann 
Dickerman, who came early to Norton Town- 
ship. Mr. Dickerman is deceased, Ijut Mrs. 
Dickerman resides with Mr. and :Mrs. Miller. 
The latter have two sons, \^ernon and Le- 
land. 

Mr. Miller has always taken an active and 
intelligent interest in township affairs, and on 
numerous occasions has been called on by his 
fellow citizens to accept office, and has served 
most acceptably as township clerk and trus- 
tee. He is one of the leading members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Barberton, in 
which he is steward, trustee and treasurer, 
and also serves as a.s.sistant superintendent of 
the Sunday-school. He occupies himself 
mainly in looking after his real estate inter- 
ests, which he has lately increa.^ed. He is a 
man of public spirit and the improvements 
he puts on his properties add' to their value 
and also to the general appearance of the 
town. 

GEORGE A. BOTZUM, proprietor of one 
of the leading mercantile establishments at 
Akron, the George A. Botzum Company, 
dealers in dry goods and ready-to-wear gar- 
ments, was born in Northampton Town.'ihip, 
Summit County, Ohio, May 31, 1858, and is 
a son of Adam Botzum. 

The Botzum family is of German extrac- 
tion and it was the grandfather, John George 
Botzum, who brought his family from Ger- 
many and .settled in Northampton Town.*hip, 
Summit County, Ohio, in IS.'^fi, securing Gov- 



ernment land, on which he lived for the re- 
mainder of his life. The village of Botzum, 
in that section, is named for this respected 
fiinnily. The late Adam Botzum was six years 
old when he accompanied his father to Amer- 
ica. He was born at Strasburg, Germany, 
October 25, 1830, and died in Northampton 
Township, where his long, useful and hon- 
ored life was passed, October 16, 1907. He 
was an old-school, Jeffersonian Democrat and 
an important factor in the political life of his 
fonnnunity. He served as township trustee 
and on the School Board and both in public 
and private life was an ideal citizen. 

George A. Botzum was reared on the old 
homestead, and from the local schools entered 
Buchtel College, where he was graduated in 
the normal eour.se., in 1879, in the meantime 
teaching .school, alternating as a teacher and. 
a pupil. In 1880 he came to Akron and en- 
tered the dry goods store of Hall Brothers. 
For nine years he served as manager and went 
from there to the Boston store, where he re- 
mained seven years, going then to A. Polsky, 
with whom he continued for eight years. 
AVith all this mercantile experience, Mr. Bot- 
zum felt qualified to embark in the business 
for himself, and September 23, 1904, he 
opened up his present business, under the 
firm name of the George A. Botzum Com- 
pany. The firm is established at Nos. 9-11 
South Howard Street, occupying three floors, 
two of which are devoted to the exhibition of 
cloaks and ready-to-wear garments. Fourteen 
people are required to show goods and the 
volume of trade is on the increase. Good taste 
in the selection of stock, honest methods and 
courteous treatment are all contributing 
causes to the success of this enterprise. 

On September 4. 1883, Mr. Botzum was 
married to Maud Fayerweather, w^ho is a 
daughter of .Tames B. Fayerweather, who was 
a j)ioneer in Boston Township. Mr-, and Airs. 
Botzum have three children: Floyd A., who 
is a graduate of the Akron High School, and 
assists his father in the store: Jennie B.. who 
is a student at Mt. JTnion College: and Lydia 
E., who is a student at Buchtel College. Mr. 
Botzum and familv helono- to "We.^t Hill Con- 



AND REPRESENTATI^■E CITIZENS 



735 



gregatiuiial Church. He is a iiiembei- of the 
beneficiary order of Protected Home Circle. 

JOHN FREDERICK IIANKEY, u gen- 
eral farmer residing on his well-cultivated 
farm of eighty acres, situated in Copley Town- 
ship, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, May 
24, 1855, and is a .*on of Sanuiel and Mary 
(Witmer) Hankey. 

Samuel Hankey came to Ohio in young 
manhood and shortly afterward wa.s married 
to Mary Witmer, who, like himself, had been 
born in an eastern State. They lived at 
Akron for a short period and then moved to 
a farm of H)'^ acres, in Copley Township, 
where they ccjntinued to live for forty years, 
removing then to a farm near White Ele- 
phant, on which both died. Sanmel Hankey 
lived to be seventy-four years old, but his wife 
died at the age of sixty-one. The venerable 
father of Samuel Hankey, Lewis Hankey, 
accompanied his son to Copley Township. He 
wa.? a man well-known, being a shoemaker 
by trade and a preacher by profession. He 
died aged eighty-eight years. Samuel Hankey 
and wife had five children, a.s follows: David; 
Ellen, who married P. G. Prentice; Cath- 
erine, deceased, who married Charles Traver; 
John Frederick, and ElizaV)eth, who married 
J. D. Arnold. 

Shortly after his birth, the father of John 
Frederick Hankey, bought land where South 
Akron now stands. When he was eight years 
old, Mr. Hankey rememliers walking almost 
the whole way to the farm which his father 
had purchased in Copley Township, the same 
which he now owns. Here he was reared and 
the little schooling he was able to get was 
obtained in the district .schools. On January 
1, 1878, he was married, and then bought the 
home farm, which he has since continued to 
operate. He has done a great deal of im- 
proving, putting up the present substantial 
Iniildings, and has a comfortable home and 
valuable property. He set out the orchard 
and all the other trees. 

Mr. .Tohn F. Hankey married Emma E, 
Cary, who is a daughter of Amos and Sarah 
(Heistand) Gary, the former of whom was 



born in Wayne County, and the latter in 
Copley Township, Summit County. Mrs. 
Hankey'.s maternal grandparents were Abra- 
ham and Sarah (Arnold) Heistand. Her 
parents both died in Copley Township, in 
1906, the father aged seventy-five years and 
the mother sixty-nine years. They had four 
children: Albert; Emma; Delia M., who 
married Frank Lyon; and Lettie. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hankey have one son, Harry 
Wilbur, who was born September 6, 1883, 
and lives at home with his parents. The fam- 
ily belongs to the United Brethren Church, 
Mr. Hankey being one of the stewards. They 
are well-known and highly esteemed people 
in Copley Township. 

GEORGE A. PFLUEGER, president of 
the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, of 
Akron, Ohio, one of Akron's oldest and most 
substantial manufacturing enterprises, and 
the largest of its kind in this country, was 
born in Akron in 1871, and is the son of the 
late E. F. Pflueger, the founder of the com- 
pany. 

, George A. Pfiueger was reared and educated 
in Akron, and from the public schools of 
this city he entered his father's factory, 
where he received the technical training neces- 
sary for a business of this chai'acter. In 1889 
Mr. Pflueger took charge of a branch factory 
at North St. Paul, Minnesota, returning to 
Akron in 1895, and has since been actively 
engaged in the various departments of the 
business. He was elected to the position of 
vice-president in May, 1901, and filled that 
office until November, 1903, when he was 
elected to his present position as president of 
the company. His years of training in the 
harness ornament and fishing tackle business, 
together with his natural business abilities, 
well fit him for the position of chief of a 
large industrial enterpri.se. 

In 1896 Mr. Pflueger was married to Miss 
Sarah J. Earhuff, of St. Paul, Minnesota. 
They have five children resulting from such 
union, namely: Marjorie. Virginia, Harriet, 
George and Sarah. Mr. Pflueger is a Mason 



73(1 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and belongs to various branches of the fra- 
ternity of Akron. 

The late Mr. E. F. Ptlueger, father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born at Baden, 
Germany, in February, 1843, and died No- 
vember 18, 1901. He was brought to Amer- 
ica in early childhood. He was soon or- 
phaned by the premature death of his parents, 
and through difficulties and privations, by 
force of natural ability and sterling charac- 
ter, developed himself into a man of promi- 
nence and fortune. At his death he left as a 
fitting monument to his efforts and years of 
industry the great manufacturing concern 
which his sons now operate. The Enterprise 
Maniifacturing Company was founded by E. 
F. Pflueger in 1880, incorfjorated in 1886, 
and from its inception has been a leader in its 
line. 



H. 11. TAYLOR, president of the Long- 
Taylor Company, at Akron, has been a resi- 
dent of this city for twenty years and has 
done his part in advancing her interests. He 
was born at Tallmadge, Ohio, in 1872, and 
is a son of the late Samuel C. Taylor. The 
Taylor family is one of the oldest in Summit 
County. Samuel C. Taylor was born in 
Tallmadge Township in 1837, and became 
one of the leading men of his day in this lo- 
cality. His death took place March 19, 1905. 

TI. ri. Taylor was reared and educated in 
Tallmadge until he prepared for college, and 
then spent two yeai-s at Buchtel College. AA''hen 
lie entered into business at Akron it was as 
shoe salesman for C. A. Barnes and Company, 
proprietors of the Black Bear Hat Store, 
where he remained three years. He then con- 
tinued two years with A. L. Bowman and 
Company, who purchased the shoe depart- 
ment of the other firm. During the next two 
years he was connected with S. E. Phinney 
& Company, and then became a member of 
the firm of M. S. Long & Company. This 
firm was succeeded by that of Long & Tay- 
lor, which was later incorporated as The Long 
& Taylor Company, which is recognized as 
OTIC of Akron's leading business firms. 



On September 21, 1905, Mr. Taylor was 
married to Mary A. Stolcy, of Akron, and 
they have one daughter, Mary ^\.lta. Mr. 
Taylor is a 32nd degree Mason and belongs 
to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Com- 
mandery at Akron, and to Alkoran Shrine 
and Lake Erie Consistory, at Cleveland. 

HON. THOMAS WKIGHT, a prominent 
citizen of Springfield Township, who served 
in the Ohio State Legislature from 1890 un- 
til 1891, declining renomination, is a repre- 
sentative of a leading pioneer family of this 
section. Mr. Wright was born in Tompkins 
County, New York, February 22, 1830, and 
is a son of Thomas Wright, Sr., and his wife, 
Lucy (Kirkman) Wright. Thomas Wright, 
Sr., and his wife celebrated their golden wed- 
ding in 1867. They were born and married 
in England. Four of their children were born 
in England and two after they came to Amer- 
ica. They were: George, James, Jemima, 
Josiah, Thomas and Lucy. The eldest son, 
George Wright, died some years since at the 
home of his sister, in Michigan. In his earlier 
years he taught school and then engaged for a 
time in farming, later becoming a merchant. 
He married twice, his wives being sisters by 
the name of Williams. James Wright, now 
deceased, farmed during his earlier years, and 
then became a bookkeeper, residing in Akron. 
He married Mary Buechtel, who was a sister 
of John Buechtel. Jemima, the eldest da\igh- 
ter. residing on her farm in Michigan, is the 
widow of William Harris, who died on his 
farm in the neigliborhood of Hudson. Michi- 
gan. Josiah Wright (deceased) was educated 
at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and then went to 
Virginia as a teacher. He married there, and 
after the death of his first wife, married again, 
and siibsequently moved to Missouri, where 
he engaged in a lumber business. Lucy A., 
the youngest member of the family, died in 
the winter of 1906. Prior to her marriage 
Math Andrew .Jackson, she was a school teach- 
er, a profession her husband also followed. 
Later Mr. and Mrs. .Tackson moved to .\kron. 
where he and his sons went into the lumber 
business. .One son. Dr. Tlinmas .Tackson, went 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



737 



to the Philippine Islands in the service of the 
government. 

Thomas Wright was gifted by nature with 
a quick intelligence, and, although his school- 
ing was limited to attendance at the public 
or district schools, by home study he became 
quite well informed. He prepared himself 
for teaching school, and taught for two terms 
in Coventry Township so satisfactorily that 
he was besought by his patrons to continue in 
the educational field after his marriage. He 
thought it best, however, to turn his attention 
to farming, and began on rented land in 
Springfield Township, but later he purchased 
the old Wright homestead, on which his fath- 
er had settled in 18.37. This property was 
partly cleared but the country round about 
was but thinly settled. The aged parents lived 
in this home until death. They were typical 
pioneers and are remembered with the respect- 
ful affection by their children. 

In October, 1852, Thomas Wright was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth A. Henderson, who died in 
May, 1904, aged seventy-two years. She was 
a daughter of James and Mary (Smith) Hen- 
derson rasidents of Springfield Township, who 
reared a large family which still has numer- 
ous descendants in this locality. Mrs. Wright 
was a teacher prior to her marriage. She was 
a most estimable woman, fulfilling every duty 
as wife, mother and neighbor. For many 
year.s she had been a consistent member of the 
Pleasant Valley Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and she was laid to rest in the cemetery ad- 
joining. Her happy married life had covered 
fifty-two years. She was permitted to enjoy 
the celebration of their Golden Wedding, on 
October 5, 1902, a memorable occasion to all 
who were permitted to participate in its quiet 
festivities. The children born to Thomas 
Wright and wife who reached maturity were: 
James F., .John F., Lucy J.. Myron T. and 
Edwin E. All the children, both of Thomas 
Wright, Sr., and Thomas Wright, Jr., who 
attained maturity were school teachers. 

James F. Wright, eldest son of Thomas 
Wright, .Jr., residing near his father and en- 
gaged in farming, is one of the leading citi- 
zen.? of Springfield Township. He married 



Mary Steese and they have three children. 
Lucy, the only daughter, was educated very 
thoroughly and became a teacher. She mar- 
ried Herman G. AlcChesney, who is in the 
rural mail service, and resides at Akron. Mr. 
McChesney owns an excellent farm of forty 
acres near Krumroy. Mr. and McChesney 
have one son in the mail service, and two other 
children resicUng at home. Edwin E., the 
second son of Mr. Wright, engaged in teach- 
ing prior to his marriage, but for a number 
of years has been prominently associated with 
newspaper work. He was first connected 
with the Akron Journal, later the Cleveland 
Press, then the Pitsburg Dispatch, and the 
New York Press, but now fills the editorial 
chair of the Youngstown Telegram. He mar- 
ried Lucy Carl of Mogadore, Ohio. 

In his early political life, Mr. Wright was 
a Whig, casting his first presidential vote for 
Gen. Zachery Taylor. He came into sym- 
pathy with the party that made John C. Fre- 
mont its standard-bearer, then voted for Ab- 
raham Lincoln and for every subsequent Re- 
publican candidate. He saw service during 
the Civil AVar, enlisting in Company H, 164th 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1864, 
with the rank of corporal. He has long been 
an active factor in politics in Summit County, 
but has seldom accepted political office of any 
kind, although well qualified to do so. In 
1889 he was elected a member of the State 
Legislature and served through one term with 
fidelity and efficiency, but no arguments were 
sufficient to induce him to be again a candi- 
date. 

Mr. Wright's fraternal connections are with 
Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
at Akron, and with Akron Lodge. No. 83, A. 
F. & A. M. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

JOSIAH BROWN, funeral director and 
furniture dealer at Cuvahoga Falls, was born 
in Summit County. Ohio. April 28. 1838. and 
is a son of Simon and Elizabeth (Pontious) 
Brown. 

Jacob Brown, the paternal grandfather oT 
Josiah Brown, wa.s born in Pennsylvania, but 



738 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



died in Stark County, Ohiu, where he was 
eugaged in agricuUural pur^^uits. He had a 
family of thirteen cliildren and of these Si- 
mon wiis the eldest. The latter was born in 
Pennsylvania and came to Summit County 
about 1835. He died in 1895, aged eighty- 
four years. After reaching Cuyahoga Falls 
he learned the cabinet-making trade, with J. 
T. Holloway, and then went into partner.'ship 
with Addison McConkey, under the finn 
name of McConkey & Brown. About 1848 
he purchased his partner's interest and con- 
tinued alone, alf^o carrying on undertaking, 
and being the only undertaker in the place 
for many years. He .supported the candidates 
of the Republican party. His wife, who was 
a daughter of Solomon Pontious, was born at 
Uniontown, Stark County, Ohio, and died 
December, 1901, aged eighty-four years. The 
three children of Simon Brown and his wife 
were: Josiah, subject of this sketch; Mrs. 
Harriet Goble, residing at Cuyahoga Falls; 
and Ezra, who is now deceased. The family 
belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

After completing his education in the High 
School at Cuyahoga Falls, .losiah Brown 
learned hi* father's trade, and continued to 
be associated with him until 1873, when he 
w-ent to Akron, where be worked through the 
summer and fall as a carpenter, and then en- 
tered the employ of Turner, Vaiighn & Tay- 
lor. For twenty years he remained with that 
firm as a carpenter and then returned to his 
father. After the latter's death, he managed 
the business for his mother nntil her death, 
when he took en tare* charge. It is one of the 
oldest business houses at the Falls. 

Mr. Brown is a veteran of the Civil War. 
On September 10, 1861, he enlisted in Battery 
D. Firsit Ohio Light Artillery, and re-enli.sted 
in the same battery, in January, 1864, and 
was commissioned second lieutenant at that 
time. He took an active part in all the en- 
gagements in which his battery was concerned 
and he was honorably discharged in June, 
1865. Mr. Brown is a member of Eddy Post, 
No. 37, Grand Army of the Republic, at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, and enjoys meeting with his old 



comrades and living over again tiie dangers 
and triumplis of army days. 

Mr. Brown married Lucy E. V\ arner, a 
daughter of John Warner, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
and they have had three children, namely: 
Ida, deceased, who married William Graham, 
of Akron; Charles Arthur, residing at Toledo, 
a mechanical engineer in the employ of the 
Toledo Railway and Light Company ; and 
Birdie B., who is the widovv' of John Wilson, 
residing at New York City. Mr. Brown and 
family attend the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is affiliated with Howard Lodge, 
No. 62, Odd Fellows. Politically ne is a Re- 
publican. 

W. C. KEENAN, one of Akron's business 
citizens, is established in excellent quarters 
on North Main Street, where he deals in bug- 
gies, wagons, harness and horses, shipping an- 
nually from six to seven carloads of the lat- 
ter. He wa< born in Boston Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, on the old Ritchie home- 
stead, September 27, 1872, and is a son of 
John Keenan. The father of Mr. Keenan 
was born in Ireland and after emigrating, 
settled first at Niagara Falls, and in 1857 came 
to Summit County. He located in Boston 
Township, where he has carried on agricul- 
tural pur.«uits ever since. 

M'. C. Keenan was reared on the home 
f;n-ni and attended the district schools and 
then entered the Western Reserve Academy 
as a member of the class of 1892. In the 
meanwhile, as he was dependent mainly on 
his own efforts, he left school and taught 
through ten seasons, .subsequently returning 
to the university, where he completed his 
course and graduated with the class of 1894. 
During his period of teaching he started a 
grocery store at Peninsula, which he gradual- 
ly expanded nntil the commodities he han- 
dled included a general line of merchandise, 
buggies, agricultural implements, harne.'%s and 
horses. He dealt extensively in horses and at 
the time of his sale, in 1901, in y)reparation 
to move to .Akron, he had forty-two bo'id to 
dispose of. 

Mr. Keenan was married to Lillian Th mip- 




(JEORCE CRISP 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



741 



son, of Cuyahoga Ealls, and they liave one 
son, William Harold. Mr. Keenan is a mem- 
ber of the Knights of Columbus and of St. 
Vincent de Paul's Catholic Church. 

GEORGE CRISP, of the lirm of George 
Crisp and Son, proprietors of the Akron 
Storage and Warehouse Company, located at 
Nos. 211-215 South Broadway, has been a 
resident of Akron for thirty-one years and is 
one of the city's most substantial and repre- 
sentative men. He was born in Northamp- 
tonshire, England, in 1849, and when a boy 
went to London, where he served an ap- 
prenticeship of six years to the brick-laying 
and stone-cutting trades. At the age of 
twenty-one he came to America, locating for 
a .short time at Toronto, Canada. In 1S72 he 
removed to Cleveland, and in 1876 to Akron. 
For some time, in association with his brother, 
John Crisp, he did a small jobbing business, 
and they then formed the firm of Crisp 
Brothers and entered into contracting. Their 
first large contract was the Henry school build- 
ing, a fine structure for those days, and its 
attractive appearance and substantial con- 
struction did much to extend the business 
of the firm. The brothers continued together 
for twenty years and during that time con- 
tracted for and erected about one-third of all 
the prominent buildings in Akron, includ- 
ing many factories and seven school build- 
ings. The firm soon became the most promi- 
nent one in their line of business in this sec- 
tion of the State. Since 1896 the style of the 
firm has been George Crisp and Son, and in 
addition to general contracting, the firm does 
a large storage and coal business. They 
erected on South Broadway a fine brick build- 
ing. 220 feet by 45, five stories high, with 
basement, it being one of the best-built 
buildings in the city. They have also two 
fine brick buildings on North Howard Street, 
one 66 feet by 30. three stories in height, 
and the other 120 by 40, all having been built 
after modern plans. The latter buildings are 
their headquarters for general supply work of 
all kinds. 

Mr. Crisp wa.« married in 1876, to Susanna 



Wat^son, whose parents were born in England. 
They have four children, namely: Frederick 
James, who is associated with his father in 
business; George Raymond, who is a student 
at the Ohio University ; Grace E., who is em- 
ployed in her father's office ; and William E., 
who is attending school in Akron. 

Mr. Crisp is an old member of the Odd 
Fellows Fraternity, having united with the 
Manchester Unity order in his native land, 
when sixteen yeare of age. In 1882 he 
joined Apollo Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., of Akron. 
He is affiliated with all its divisions and is 
faithful to all its teachings. 

HON. DAVID TOD. Few men in Ameri- 
can public life have attained to a nobler fame 
than that which history accords to the late 
Hon. David Tod, Ohio's great war governor, 
whose death took place November 13, 1868. 
Throughout a public career which had its be- 
ginning when he was comparatively young 
and which continued through the trying years 
of the Civil War, he continued to be a type 
of American statesman-^hip at its best. 

David Tod was born at Youngstown, Ohio, 
February 21, 1805, and was a son of Hon. 
George and Sally (Isaacs) Tod, and a grand- 
son of David and Rachel (Kent) Tod, of old 
New England stock. His father, Judge 
George 'Tod, was born at SufReld, Con- 
necticut, December 11, 1773, was grad- 
uated from . Yale College in 1795 and 
subsequently studied law at New Haven, 
Connecticut. He wa« there admitted to 
the bar and entered upon the practice of 
his profession. In 1800 he accompanied a 
party of prospectors to the Western Reserve 
and formed so favorable an opinion of the 
great opportunities for business and profes- 
sional development in Ohio that he made 
plans, which he later successfully carried out, 
to become a resident of this beautiful state. 
In 1801 Judge Tod removed, with his wife 
and two children, to Youngstown. and in the 
same year was appointed secretary for the 
territory of Ohio, by Governor Arthur St. 
Clair. In 1802 Ohio became a state and at the 
first election held thereafter at Youngstown, 



742 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



George Tod was elected clerk of Youngstown 
Township, to which bfiice he was subsequently 
re-elected. He continued in the practice oi 
his profession but was soon called into active 
public life, being elected state senator from 
Trumbull County, serving in the session of 
1804-5, and again, in the same capacity, in 
1810-11. In the interim between these two 
terms of service, he filled for four years an 
important position on the bench, serving for 
four years as a judge of the supreme court of 
Ohio, which service was terminated in 1810. 

At the opening of the War of 1812, Judge 
Tod signified his intention of taking an active 
part in militarj' operations and was first com- 
missioned major of the 19th Ohio Regiment, 
later serving as colonel. On the field Judge 
Tod distinguished himself, participating in 
the battles of Fort Meigs and Sacketts Har- 
bor. At the close of the war he returned once 
more to the practice of the law, but in 1815 
he was again honored by his fellow-citizens, 
being elected presiding judge of the court of 
common pleas, an office he held lantil 1829. 
With the exception of one term as prosecut- 
ing attorney of Trumbull County, this closed 
Judge Tod's public career. Upon the retire- 
ment from the cares and duties which had so 
completely filled so many years of his life, 
the aged jurist sought recreation in looking 
after his farm, to which he had given the 
name of "Brier Hill." This was appropriate 
on account of the abundance of briers then 
found there. The name remains, but in these 
latter days it represents a wealth of coal, and 
its material products are carried over a large 
part of the world. At a later date the farm 
passed into the more practical hands of his 
son David, and it still remains a possession 
of the family. It is now owned and occupied 
as the residence of George Tod, one of the 
sons of David Tod. 

Judge Tod was married in 1797 to Sally 
Isaacs, who was a daughter of Ralph and 
Mary Isaacs. Their long and happy compan- 
ionship lasted for forty-four years, broken by 
the death of .Tndge Tnd, in 1841. The wife 
sur\Hved until 1847. 

Like manv other distinguished American 



statesmen, David Tod graduated from no old- 
established institution of learning. His in- 
heritance of mental ability was great but to 
himself, alone, was due the wide knowledge 
and broad culture which made him the equal 
of the highest in his own or other countries, 
and the inherent manliness, integrity and de- 
votion to country that gained him the admi- 
ration, esteem and affection of his fellow-citi- 
zens and installed forever his memory in their 
hearts. 

In 1827 David Tod, after completing what 
was little more than an elementary education 
and spending some time in the study of the 
law, was admitted to the bar and entered into 
practice at Warren, when 22 years of age. A 
cotemporary, in considering the almost imme- 
diate success which met his efforts, analyzed 
the situation as follows: "His success at the 
bar was, in the main, due to his unsurpassed 
ability in the examination of witnesses and to 
his power in gaining and holding the confi- 
dence of the jury, which he did by a manifest 
frankness, fairness and earnestness, together 
with his clear statement of the argument." 
For about fifteen years Mr. Tod continued in 
the active practice of his profession and dur- 
ing this period he demonstrated that it was in 
him to become a great lawyer and that, with 
his large legal knowledge, wide experience, 
high sense of honor and unsullied integrity, 
he would have been eminently successful on 
the bench. Other elements entered into his 
life, however, and in other avenues he became 
distinguished, political affairs claiming many 
years of his life. 

In the campaign of 1824 Mr. Tod first be- 
came an enthusiastic politician, following in 
the train of that popular hero, .Andrew Jack- 
son, and he remained an ardent Democrat un- 
til the secession movement of 1861. In 1840 
he campaigned through the state, using hia 
powerful oratory in the attempt to defeat Gen- 
eral Harrison. The first political office to 
which he was elected was that of state senator, 
in 1838, and he grew so rapidly in public 
favor that in 1844 he was unanimously chosen 
by the Democratic party as its candidate for 
governor. Hon. Mordecai Bartley, the ^^Tiig 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



743 



candidate defeated him with a majority of 
about 1,000 votes. 

So prominent was his position by this time, 
that President James K. Polk, in 1847, felt 
justified in appointing him United States 
minister to Brazil. During his five-years' 
residence in that country he won many a 
quiet diplomatic victory which brought about 
a much better understanding between the two 
countries and reflected nothing but added 
honor upon him as the representative of the 
United States. It is a matter of record that 
upon his departure for his own country, the 
ruler of Brazil, in a parting address, took oc- 
casion to speak in the highest terms of Mr. 
Tod both as an individual and as a public 
official. 

For the succeeding ten years Mr. Tod gave 
his attention mainly to business. He had 
taken charge of the family estates in 1841, 
and with remarkable business sagacity he en- 
tered into negotiations which later resulted 
in the developing of the great coal fields 
which have made Youngstown one of the 
noted industrial points in Ohio and incident- 
ally brought about much of the prosperity 
of the Mahoning Valley. Mainly through his 
enterprise, the Cleveland & Mahoning Rail- 
road was constructed, and he remained its 
president as long as he lived. 

The next period of Mr. Tod's political ac- 
tivity belongs to the country's history. Se- 
cession was brought to light in 1860. He was 
made vice-president of the National Demo- 
cratic Convention that met at Charleston, 
April 2.3d of that year, of which Caleb Cush- 
ing. of Massachusetts, was chairman. Every 
state was represented, there being 303 dele- 
gates, equaling the electoral vote. The strong- 
est candidate was Stephen A. Douglas. The 
two-thirds rule for nomination prevailed. By 
a plank in the Douglas platform it was agreed 
to abide by the decision of the supreme court 
judges on the subject of the slave-code. The 
minority, or Douglas platform, was substi- 
tuted and adopted, whereupon the Alabama 
delegation withdrew, and a majority of the 
delegate- from .\rkansas. Florida. Georgia, 



Louisiana and South Carolina also retired in 
the same manner. 

After a week so spent the remainder of the 
convention proceeded to ballot under the two- 
thirds rule, and Douglas was by far the strong- 
est candidate, receiving as high as 152 1-2 
votes several times, while 202 votes were nec- 
essary to a choice. The convention composed 
of those left after the seceders had withchrawn 
voted to adjourn to meet in Baltimore, Mary- 
land, June 18th. 

The seceding delegates met in a separate 
convention, elected James A. Bayard, of Dela- 
ware, their chairman, and after adopting the 
majority platform of the committee, post- 
poned further action to June 10th, at Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

When the convention met at Baltimore, 
pursuant to adjournment, trouble arose about 
admitting delegates who had seceded at 
Charleston, or others who had been chosen in 
their place. During the discussion of this is- 
sue many delegates withdrew', among them 
being the chairman, Caleb Cushing. At this 
point Mr. Tod, with great presence of mind 
took possession of the deserted chair, and after 
an earnest appeal succeeded in restoring order. 
He was confirmed as chairman and the con- 
vention proceeded to its legitimate business, 
which resulted in the nomination of Douglas. 

The members who had recently seceded in- 
vited the seceders at Richmond to join them, 
and John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was 
nominated for president by them, and Joseph 
Lane of Oregon, vice-president. 

A "Constitutional Union Convention" met 
May 10th, also at Baltimore, and nominated 
John Bell of Tennessee, for president, and 
Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for vice- 
president. 

Later Mr. Tod supported the "Little 
Giant," giving him his unqualified support 
all through the heated campaign that fol- 
lowed. Mr. Tod made no secret of bitterly op- 
posing secession and when the test came he 
preferred the election of Lincoln to that of 
Breckinridge. He w-a.s quick to sea the dis- 
asters sure to follow the policy of seces.sion and 
when he saw that Civil "War was inevitable. 



744 



HISrORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he made the choice that only a uiau of his 
integrity, loyalty and devotion to what he 
felt was duty, could possibly have made. 

There came that time in the history of 
Ohio when, amid the beating .of druma and 
the marching of troops, every bearded man 
or callow youth was a possible hero, for then 
patriotism was a llame and loyalty the torch. 
Far beyond physicial heroism was the moral 
heroism which inspired David Tod in those 
memorable days. Cutting loose from old 
party associates, severing ties which long con- 
nection and earnest conviction had cemented, 
he came forward and announced his principles 
— an unswerving devotion to the Union. Thus 
he became known as a War Democrat. The 
times were ripe for just such a man, and when 
the Republicans themselves suggested Mr. 
Tod as a candidate, enthusiasm ran high. He 
was unanimously nominated by the Union 
Party, made up of Republicans and War 
Democrats, and was gloriously elected, with 
a majority of 55,000 votes, governor of the 
state of Ohio. 

Governor Tod came to the capitol in 1862, 
succeeding Governor Dennison, and ui)i)n him 
fell the great responsibilities that made Ohio 
take so prominent a rank among the Northern 
States during the Civil War. After the first 
enthusiasm passed and war, grim war, made 
itself manifest in every town, hamlet and 
country side, troops still had to be enlisted and 
hurried to battle, discouragements of those at 
the front and at home had to be overcome, 
seditious political influence had to be com- 
batted, the state had to be saved from inva- 
sion and the public treasury had to be pre- 
served from depletion. In Governor David 
Tod was found the man of the hour. It is 
admitted that his administration as governor 
won for him justly illustrious fame. Every 
emergency was met with the calm, judicial 
mind that would have given him di^stinction 
as a judge, as we have intimated. He met 
difficulties of every kind, and firmly, prompt- 
ly and rigorously he administered the rem- 
edy. Hi's devotion to the soldiers was so well 
known that his name was an inspiration to 
them. Thev learned of his constant efforts 



on their behalf, not only to secure tor liiem 
their rights of suffrage while away from home 
but to obtain food, clothing, medicine and 
care, all that he would have labored to obtain 
for his own sons. 

When he was approached in 18(33 with the 
urgent request that he seek renomination he 
positively declined to again assume the re- 
sponsibilities which his acceptance would en- 
tail. When his attention was called to the 
fact that thousands of his fellow-citizens were 
not only bearing heavy responsibilities, but 
were endangering their lives on the field of 
battle. Governor Tod replied, "Then, looking 
at it in that light, I am also willing to sacri- 
fice my life." He was not renominated. He 
had made many enemies, as any man with 
the courage to face .such stern responsibilities 
necessarily will; the state had the year before 
gone Democi-atic; and C. L. Vallandigham, 
whose arrest for seditious utterances had been 
approved of by Governor Tod, had been 
placed in nommation by the Democratic 
party, and was making stirring appeals for 
his vindication at the polls. Under these 
circumstances the Republican managers 
thought it best for the interests of the party 
to place in nomination some man who had 
aroused fewer and less fierce antagonisms, and 
although eighty-eight comities had instructed 
their delegates to vote for his nomination, the 
political wires were manipulated in favor of 
Hon. John Brough, who was accordingly 
nominated. In January, 1864, Governor Tod 
retired from office, bearing with him the ap- 
proval of the majority of his fellow-citizens, 
the love of the army, and the confidence and 
personal esteem of the public men with whom 
the exigencies of the times had so closely as- 
sociated him. 

Failing health caused him to decline fur- 
ther honors proffered him. It was a disap- 
pointment to President Lincoln that he was 
unable to induce him to accept the portfolio 
of Secretary of the Treasury which was tend- 
ered him. His fellow citizens soon realized 
that his health in their behalf had indeed been 
broken, and when the news of his death, No- 
vember 23, 1868, came to them from his Brier 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



745 



Hill Farm, to which he had retired, their 
grief was as that of a child for a parent. 

Governor Tod was a man of unaffected 
manner, and a keen judge of men in all the 
changing elements of political and social con- 
ditions. Full well he knew the mettle of both 
friend and foe. His personal loyalty to his 
friends was unshakable, save when it con- 
flicted with the higher duties of an exalted 
patriotism; and none of his political enemies 
could ever say that he was auglit but a fair 
and open foe. Resolutions deploring his loss 
and speaking in appreciative terms of his 
high character as statesman and citizen were 
passed by the senate and house of representa- 
tives of the state, and the press throughout 
the country announced the sad news in words 
of sorrow and respect that found an echo in 
the hearts of all who knew him as he was. 
His name still remains one of honor in the 
great state he served so well, and although 
long years have passed away since his mortal 
presence has been removed, the principles he 
labored to sustain remain, and the country he 
loved is still united. 

At Warren, Ohio, July 24, 1832, Governor 
Tod was married to Maria Smith, who came 
from a family of early settlers in Trumbull 
County. The seven children of this marriage 
were: Charlotte, who married Gen. A. V. 
Kautz, of the United States army and died in 
1868, in Mississippi; John, a prominent cit- 
izen of Cleveland, Ohio; Henry, deceased, 
formerly president of the Second National 
Bank of Youngstown, of whom an extended 
sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Wil- 
liam, deceased, a prominent manufacturer at 
Youngstown, a sketch of whom will also be 
found in this volume; George, vice-president 
<if the Mahoning National Bank of Youngs- 
town, and president of the Brier Hill Iron & 
Coal Company, who is also represented in this 
work; Grace, who is the wife of Hon. George 
F. Arrel, a prominent attorney at Youngs- 
town, a sketch of whom will be found in this 
volume; and Sallv, the voungest of the fam- 
11 V. 



C. E. SHELDON, president of the Whit- 
man-Barnes Manufacturing Company, at Ak- 
ron, has been a resident of this city for the 
past thirty years and has been closely identi- 
fied with much of its industrial expansion. He 
was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, July 
18, 1850. 

Mr. Sheldon was reared and educated in 
the old Bay State, where he studied and fol- 
io wed civil engineering in his younger years, 
becoming connected with the company of 
which he is now the head, in his native place. 
Mr. Sheldon has a practical knowledge of his 
business, having ' entered the factory and 
worked up to the position of superintendent 
of the same, which he held when the Whit- 
man-Miles Manufacturing Company of Mas- 
sachusetts, consolidated with the George 
Barnes Company of Syracuse, New York, 
forming the Whitman-Barnes Manufacturing 
Company. Mr. Sheldon came to Akron as 
superintendent of the plant at this city, later 
became general manager, then treasurer, sub- 
sequently vice-president, and for the past four 
years president. In addition to furthering 
the interests of the concern with which he 
has been so long and intimately associated, 
Mr. Sheldon has materially assisted in pro- 
moting other successful business enterprises 
of this section. 

In 1870 Mr. Sheldon was married to Ruth 
L. Gifford, of Connecticut, and they have one 
child, Ethel, who married A. H. Commins, 
an attorney, residing at Akron. Mrs. Sheldon 
is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 
Mr. Sheldon is a Thirty-second Degree ilason, 
and belongs to the Mystic Shrine and Lake 
Erie Consistory, at Cleveland, and is past em- 
inent commander of fhe Akron Command- 
ery. He belongs also to the Odd Fellows and 
the Elks, and socially is connected with the 
Portage Country Club. 

JOHN KLEIN, who conducts a first-class 
meat market at No. 35-1 West Market Street, 
Akron, is one of the business men of this 
city who is -succeeding because of his honest 
methods and excellent management. He was 
born in Germany, in September, 1863, whore 



746 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he went to school in boyhood. When seven- 
teen years of age he came to America and 
since June, 1880, he has resided in Akron. 

For several years alter coming to this city, 
Mr. Klein worked at various places, where 
his industry and fidelity won him friends. 
He then engaged with his brother in the meat 
business, under the firm name of Klein 
Brothers, and at one time they operated two 
stores. In 1902 the firm erected a two-.«tory 
building 40 by 50 feet in dimensions, on 
the corner of West Market and Valley Streets. 
They manufacture their own prepared meats 
and lard, and these include American prod- 
ucts as well as German dainties. They have 
gained such a reputation as reputable meat 
packers that there are many particular peo- 
ple at Akron who will buy no other hanas, 
bacon or lard than that prepared and vouched 
for by Klein Brothers. 

In 1886 Mr. Klein was married to Minnie 
Hardert, who was also born in Germany, and 
they have an interesting family of four sons 
and two daughters — Louis A., John L., Eliza- 
beth, Mary, William and Clarence. Mr. Klein 
is one of the liberal members of St. Bernard's 
Catholic Church. He belongs to the Catho- 
lic Mutual Benefit Association. 

RICHARD J. DALLINGA, whose highly 
cultivated truck farm of twenty-five acres is 
situated in Copley Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, was born June 22, 1864, in 
Holland, and is a son of Jacob and Emma 
(Van Cingel) Dallinga. 

Jacob Dallinga, who was a farmer and 
brewer of the Netherlands, was married to 
Emma Van Cingel, also a native of that coun- 
try, and to them were born seven children, 
namely: Richard Jacob; Herman, who is 
bookkeeper for George Crisp & Son, of Ak- 
ron ; Cecelia, who is deceased ; Julia, the wife 
of Charles DeBruyn, proprietor of the Val- 
ley City Machine Works, of Grand Rapids, 
Michigan; Remina, who married Dr. W. L. 
Holbrook, of Wellington, Ohio; Dena, who 
married Elger Barnard, of Medina County, 
Ohio; and Grace. In 1897 Jacob Dallinga 
died, and his widow married for her second 



husband, J. G. C. Van der Wonde, with whom 
she came to America in 1883. She died in 
Copley Township, February 22, 1899, aged 
fifty-six years. There were no children born 
of her second marriage. 

Richard J. Dallinga was reared on his 
father's farm, and attended the common 
school until eleven years old, at which time 
he entered the academy. After graduation 
therefrom he took a general course at Ryks 
Hoogers Burger school, which he left just be- 
fore graduation at the age of nineteen years, 
and where he was instructed in French, Eng- 
lish, German and Dutch. In 1883 he came 
with the family to America, first settling at 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, where all the boys 
of the family found employment 'in the fur- 
niture factories. Being dissatisfied with this 
kind of work, Mr. Dallinga went to Kalama- 
zoo, Michigan, and engaged in celery grow- 
ing on a small farm purchased by his step- 
father, and he also worked on a nursery farm 
for L. G. Bragg and Company, attend- 
ing to the duties of the shipping department. 
While there he was engaged by W. R. Wean 
and 0. P. Chapman, of Wean, Horr and Com- 
pany, of Medina County, Ohio, now the Horr- 
Wamer Company, to take charge of the celerj' 
department of theirl,500-acre truck farm. One 
year later he became general superintendent, 
a position which he held for nine years, 
when he engaged with the Copley Garden 
Company, located on the old Sackett estate 
in Copley Township. He continued with this 
institution for three years, at which time the 
business was dissolved and he purchased his 
present tract of twenty-five acres. At this 
time the property was considered worthless, 
but Mr. Dallinga soon cleared it and brought 
it under cultivation, erected new buildin.gs, 
and made it one of the best truck farms in 
this section. 

On December 23, 1890, Mr. Dallinga was 
married to Lucy E. Rockenfelder, who was 
born in Ashland County, Ohio, and who is 
a daughter of William and Catherina (Yost) 
Rockenfelder. Five children have been bom 
to this union : Charles, a student at Buchtel 
College; Rosa, who attends Copley High 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



747 



School; Clarence, who died youug; Mabel, 
and Emma Lucille. 

Mr. Dallinga is a Republican iu politics 
and has always taken a great interest in ed- 
ucational matters, having served as president 
of the Board of Education of Copley Town- 
ship for three years. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Masonic order, and he is a 
prominent member of the local Grange. 

PHILANDER D. HALL, and LORENZO 
HALL, brothers, were two of the early mer- 
chants and leading men of Akron. They 
brought from their New England environ- 
ment that frugality and integrity which made 
them both successful in their own material 
affairs, and influential in directing the ener- 
gies of others. The best years of their lives 
were mainly devoted to advancing the pros- 
perity of Airon. 

Philander D. Hall, the founder of the old 
business house of Hall Brothers, at Akron, 
was born October 10, 1806, at Bridgeport. 
Connecticut, and was a son of Richard and 
Sally (Hurlburt) Hall. 

Mr. Hall w^as educated at Western 
Academy, and as his inclinations did not lie 
in the direction of his father's occupations, in 
early age he started out to make his own 
way in the world. When little more than 
twenty years of age, he was already engaged 
in teaching at Saugatuck, Connecticut, where 
he subsequently had a mercantile experience 
of eighteen months, after which he returned 
to Bridgeport. Shortly afterward he em- 
barked in a grocery business, which included 
the shipping and importing of West Indian 
products, and this enterprise he continued at 
Bridgeport, until the summer of 1834. 

It was about this time that Mr. Hall first 
visited Akron, and he evidently foresaw some- 
thing of the future prosperity which has come 
to this city, for he immediately invested here, 
closed out his interests at Bridgeport, and in 
May, 1835. started the "Cascade Store," then 
a great innovation on anything in the mer- 
cantile line ever seen in the village. His 
location was a two-story frame building, on 
the comer of Howard and Market Streets, 



which was destroyed by tire iu February, 1851. 
In the same year the present brick block was 
erected, and the business was resumed, and it 
is now the oldest continuous business house in 
this city. In 1842, Orlando Hall, a brother 
of Philander D., became associated in the 
business, and so continued until his death, in 
1858, when the late Lorenzo Hall, another 
brother, became a partner, and the firm of 
Hall Brothers continued to be for years one 
of the leading business firms of Akron. Its 
policy was never changed, business integrity 
being the foundation stone. 

On December 30, 1841, Philander D. Hall 
was mai'ried to Martha McElhinney, who was 
born at Alleghenv, Pennsylvania, and died 
at New York, February 20, 1889.' , In 1857, 
Mr. Hall established his home in the city of 
New York, but he continued his business in- 
terests here until his death, which occurred 
December 5. 1896. 

LORENZO HALL, who was equally 
prominent at Akron, with his brother, first 
visited the village in 1836. He was born 
February 22, 1812, at Bridgeport, Connecti- 
cut, and his parents were Richard and Sally 
(Hurlburt) Hall. He enjoyed all the educa- 
tional opportunities afforded by the schools of 
his day, and as evidence that he made good 
use of them it is recorded that when but fifteen 
years of age the directors of his school dis- 
trict urged him to become a teacher there, 
and, in spite of his youth, he was probably a 
satisfactory pedagogue, as he continued to 
teach school, alternating that occupation with 
farming for the next six years the old home- 
stead land on which his great-great-grand- 
father had settled in 1635. 

In May, 1835, his older brother. Philan- 
der D , located as a merchant in the little vil- 
lage which then stood in place of the busy, 
important city of Akron of to-day, opening up 
a general store. In 1836 Lorenzo Hall visited 
his brother and while at Akron sold goods 
both in the town and the vicinity, but the 
prospects not being sufficiently encouraging, 
he returned by horseback to Connecticut, as 
he had come, and resumed cultivating the 



748 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



homctitead acres. In 1842, another brother, 
Orlando Hall, went to Akron and became as- 
sociated in the mercantile venture with Phil- 
ander D., with whom he contiimed until his 
death, in 1858. Lorenzo Hall then returned 
to Akron and took his late brother's place in 
the business as a member of the firm of Hall 
Brothers. For many years Lorenzo Hall con- 
tinued one of Akron's prominent busines.s 
men as well as upright citizens. His death 
took place January 9, 1892. 

On March 26, 1846, Lorenzo Hall was mar- 
ried to Mary J. Hubbel, who was born at 
Trumbull, Connecticut. Two sons were born 
to them, both of whom survive, Frank L. 
and Philander D. Frank L. Hall was born 
July 5, 1850, and for twenty years was a mem- 
ber of the well-known law firm of De Forest, 
Weeks & Company. He is still in active prac- 
tice in New York City. Philander D. Hall, 
Jr., is one of the directors of the National City 
Bank at Akron, and conducts a large real 
estate business at No. 4 South Howard Street. 
He has other important interests which re- 
quire a large portion of his time to be spent 
in Europe. 

WALTER WAINWRIGHT, superinten- 
dent of the foundry of The Falls Rivet and 
Machine Company, of Cuyahoga Falls, was 
born in England, February 2, 1865, and is a 
son of Frank and Mary (Gibson) Wain- 
wright. 

The jiarents of Mr. Wainwright were also 
natives of England. The father followed the 
trade of pattern-maker in that country until 
he was forty years cf age, when he came to 
America and settled at Cleveland. He died 
in England while on a visit to his old home. 
He belonged to the order of Forestei-s and the 
Odd Fellows. 

Walter AVainwright was afforded but few 
educational opportunities in his boyhood, as 
he was a child of nine years when he was 
sent to work in a foundry. Fortunately it 
was employment in which he took an inter- 
esit, and he learned the busdness from the 
ground up, gaining all the practical knowl- 
edge through personal experience, and the 



theoretical through study auring 'ater years 
when he enjoyed some degree of leisure. 
After serving a hard apprenticeship, he came 
to America in 1881 and followed his trade in 
various parts of this countiy, gaining nmch 
through visiting different sections and watch- 
ing the methods of work in many foundries. 
When only seventeen years of agt, he was* 
made foreman of the Walker Manufacturing 
Company, of Cleveland, and remained in that 
position until 1897. He then went to New- 
comerstown as foreman for J. B. Clow, re- 
maining there two years, when he went to 
Massillon, Ohio, as superintendent of a 
foundry which he built for the Massillon 
Iron and Steel Company. Mr. Wainwright 
continued there for four years and then went 
to Fostoria, also as superintendent, but a short 
time later, September, 1903, he accepted his 
present position. 

Mr. Wainwright miarried Nellie Stoddard, 
daughter of Merrit L. Stoddard, of Cleve- 
land, and they have one son, William Royal. 
The latter has nearly completed his appren- 
ticeship as a foundryman in the foundry of 
which his father is superintendent. Mr. 
Wainwright owns a fine tesidence property, 
his lot extending 66 feet on Front Street and 
105 feet on Falls. In 1906 he started a mod- 
ern hou.se of seven rooms which was com- 
pleted in the spring of 1907, and he is now in 
tlie enjoyment of its many comfort.-:. With 
his family he belongs to "the Episcopal Church 
and is tenor singer in its choir. He belongs 
also to the Castle quartette, of the Knights of 
Pythias. In this order he belongs to Red 
Cross Lodge, of Cleveland, of which he is past 
chancellor, and of the Uniformed Rank of the 
order at Cuyahoga Falls. Politically, he is 
a Republican. 

J. S. FARNBAUCH, proprietor of a meat 
business at No. 891 South Main Street. Ak- 
ron, ha.s been establi.shed in this city since 
1893. Ho was born in SuflReld Township, 
Portage County. Ohio, in 1863, on the old 
Farnbaueh homestead, on which his grand- 
father settled in pioneer days. The latter 
was Joseph Farnbaueh, who came to Portage 




GEORGE J. STUBBS 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



751 



County in 1835 to assist in the building of 
the old Ohio Canal. iVntone Fainbauch, 
fatlier of J. S., was one of Portage County's 
prominent fai'mers and he died there in 1879. 

J. S. Farnbauch, after coming to Akron, 
worked for a time for J. F. iSeiberling and 
John Wetzel, but returned to his home in 
Portage County on the death of his mother, 
coming back to Akron in the spring of 1885. 
For one year he worked for John Memmer 
and for two years within one week for D. W. 
Thomas. He was then engaged with Henry 
Sprain in the meat business up to April, 189S, 
and prior to embarking in the meat business 
on his own account, August 7, 1893, worked 
in the markets of Spicer Brothers and C. W. 
Baum. Mr. Farnbauch thus had consider- 
able experience before he opened up his own 
business, which he has since developed into 
an extensive one. He carries only the best 
quality of meats and his surroundings are 
sanitary, clean and wholesome. 

In October, 1893, Mr. Farnbauch was mar- 
ried to Margaret Yeager, of iVkron. He is a 
member of St. Bernard's Catholic Church and 
he belongs to St. Bernard's Society. He is a 
representative business man and good citi- 
zen. 

In 1902 Mr. Farnbauch built his present 
residence at 322 Ivocust Street. It is one of 
the handsome residences in the city. 

GEORGE J. STUBBS, one of the proprie- 
tors of the Akron Paving & Plaster Company, 
contractors for concrete construction and 
plain and decorative plastering, and dealers 
in masons' supplies, is one of Akron's well- 
established and successful business men. Mr. 
Stubbs was born in Springfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, in 1875, and is a son 
of the late George W. Stubbs. 

His father was born in England, and on 
coming to America, in 1875— the year of his 
son's birth — settled in Springfield Township, 
where he died in 1907. For twenty-seven 
vears ho was superintendent of the Hill Sewer 
Pipe Company. He married Alicia Harley. 
who was also a native of England, and they 
had six children, the eldest son being Geor.q;e 



J. 'i'he latter has two sisters, Hannah and 
-Mary, the former of whom married George 
\\ . Cai'michael, one of Akron's leading con- 
iractoi-s, the latter becoming the wife of John 
T. Windsor, a prominent brick manufactur- 
er of Akron. 

George J. Stubbs was educated at Akron 
and in 1892 was graduated from the High 
Sciiool. He then went to work for the Hill Sew- 
er Pipe Company, and was employed at their 
Pennsylvania plant for seven years. In 1899, 
in association with George W. Carmichael and 
George V. Billow, he organized the Akron 
Paving & Plaster Comi^any, a concern which 
has outstripped many older ones in its par- 
ticular line of work. It was this company 
that executed the much admired decorative 
[(latter work for the Court House, and the 
High School building, and it has been the 
c^jntracting firm engaged for many of the 
largest jobs of the kind in this city. 

In 1900, Mr. Stubbs was married to Avis 
De Haven, who died in 1903, leaving a wide 
circle to mourn her loss. Mr. Stubbs is a 
member of the Disciples Church. Fraternally 
he belongs to the Knights of Pythias. 

ELMER E. STUMP, the owner of ninety- 
two acres of excellent farm land, and presi- 
dent of the Board of School Directors, of 
which he has been a member for upwards of 
twenty years, was bom March 11, 1861, on 
the farm on which he now resides in Frank- 
lin Township, son of John G. and Lucy (Van- 
ness) Stump. 

John Stump, the grandfather of Elmer E., 
was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he came 
to Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
and finally settled on the farm now owned 
by the Levi Stump heirs, where his death oc- 
curred, his wife, Elizabeth (Grove) Stump, 
having preceded him to the grave. They were 
the parents of four sons and four daughters. 

John G. Stump was al.«o a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and came with the family to Ohio 
at tho age of five or six years, growing to man- 
hood on the Franklin Township farm, which 
he helped to clear from its wdld state. After 
his marriage. Mr. Stump purchased the farm 



752 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



from his father, and here the remamder of 
his hfe was spent, his death occurring in his 
fifty-eighth year. He was married to Lucy 
Vanness, who was a native of Trumbull Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and to this union six children were 
born : Emily, who married P. Keyser ; Albert 
L. ; Elmer Excell ; Sarah M. ; Charles H., and 
Olive E. 

Elmer E. Stump was reared to manhood on 
the place which he now occupies, and which 
has always been his home. His education was 
secured in the township schools and the High 
School at Manchester, Ohio. After his mar- 
riage he purchased the property from the heirs 
of his father's estate, and here he has since 
carried on general farming. 

On September 24, 1889, Mr. Stump was 
married to Hannah Devlin, who is a daughter 
of John and Jane (Hood) Devlin, the former 
of whom was a native of Ireland, and the lat- 
ter of Scotland. They were married in Eu- 
rope, whence they came to this countrj', and 
settled in Pennsylvania, subsequently remov- 
ing to Ohio. John Devlin died in Summit 
County at the age of thirty-eight years, and 
his widow was later married to James Gordon, 
now deceased, and makes her home in British 
Columbia. Mr. and Mrs. Devlin were the par- 
ents of these children: Anna, who married 
William P. Ries; Hannah, the wife of Mr. 
Stump; Sarali, who married E. Beachtel; 
Elizabeth, who married N. Dailey; Jennie, 
who married Ott Wagoner; Rose, who married 
John Stewart; Eliza, who married Thomas 
Pearson, and several others who died in in- 
fancy. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Stump there have been 
born six children, namely: J. Parke, Florence, 
Sidney, Merle, Ralph and Helen. Mr. Stump 
is a Democrat in polities, and for about twen- 
ty years has been a member of the School 
Board, of which he is now president. He is 
fraternally affiliated with the Maccabees. He 
and his family belong to the Reformed Church 
at Manchester. 

DR. JOSEPH WINGERTER. V. S., pro- 
prietor of the City Veferinan'- Hospital, lo- 
cated on the comer of Cedar and Orleans Ave- 



nue, at the Haymaxket, in the city of Akron, 
conducts one of the largest and most mod- 
ern institutions of its kind in Ohio. He was 
born February 6, 1864, at Akron, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Lewis and Mary 
(Smith) Wingerter. 

The father of Dr. Wingerter was born at 
Paris, France, and his mother was a native of 
Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. Prior to 1840, 
Lewis Wingerter came to Akron, called here 
to become the superintendent of the Wilcox 
pottery, and in the above year he built a pot- 
tery of his own, which he operated at Akron, 
until 1891. He affiliated himself with the 
Democratic party and became a somewhat 
prominent politician, serving as postmaster 
at Coventry for a number of years, and capa- 
bly filling other local offices. He had six chil- 
dren, namely: Lena, who married Lewis 
Yeck, and resides at Coventry; Lewis, resid- 
ing at Coventry, where he operates a pottery; 
Philip, residing in Akron, and connecffed with 
the Goodrich Rubber Works ; Leo, residing in 
Akron; Augustus, re.siding at Coventry; and 
Joseph, whose name begins this sketch. 

Joseph Wingerter secured an excellent com- 
mon school education in the town of Coventry, 
and was then shipping clerk for the 0. B. 
Hardey pottery for a time. He then joined 
his brother in a livery and saloon business, 
which they conducted for about eight years. 
A destructive fire closed out their interests in 
this direction, entailing a great financial loss, 
biit probably resulted in the young man turn- 
ing his attention to those studies in which he 
ha^ met with such success. He had been in- 
terested from childhood in animals, and in 
conducting his livery business he learned 
much concerning the need that exists for the 
proper understanding of the ills that afflict 
the dumb brute creation. When his regular 
course of business was interrupted he entered 
the Toronto Veterinary College, where he was 
graduated in 1894, with high honors. Upon 
his return to Akron he became joint proprie- 
tor, with Mr. Dellenberger, of a veterinary 
ho.«pital. and in 1906 he purcha.sed his part- 
ner's interest and now manages the large busi- 
ness of the City Veterinary Hospital alone. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



753 



This modern institution is a hospital for 
the care and treatment of, and surgical oper- 
ations on, horses, dogs, cats and all domestic 
animals. It is equipped -with, a large and well- 
ventilated box stall, soaking, sweating and 
cooling stalls, exercising paddock slings, oper- 
ating tables, ambulances, etc., there being a 
special ambulance for dogs. The whole build- 
ing is supplied with all the latest appliances. 
Calls in the city or country are promptly at- 
tended to day or night. Dr. Wingerter is also 
a manufacturer of veterinary remedies and 
stock food, and is proprietor of the Pet Stock 
Cemetery for the burial of pet animals, lo- 
cated at Covcntrj'. His office, reception, medi- 
cine and operating rooms are situated in the 
hospital on the corner of Cedar and Orleans 
avenue. Dr. Wingerter was married Febru- 
rary 6, 1897, to Clara A. Serf ass, who was 
born in Summit County, Ohio. Dr. Winger- 
ter is a member of the Veterinary Medical 
Association of Toronto, Canada, and to the 
Ohio State Veterinary Medical Association. 
He is a member of the Catholic Church. 

DANIEL R. BRAUCHER, the efRcient su- 
perintendent of the Children's Home, Akron, 
was born in Stark County, Ohio, March 4, 
1849, and is a son of Samuel and Mary 
( Li ch ten waiter) Braucher. The Braucher 
family is probably of German extraction. The 
father of Superintendent Braucher was bom 
in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but the 
maternal grandfather was a resident of Stark 
County. Samuel Braucher was a substantial 
farmer and reared hLs son to agricultural pur- 
suits. He and his wife had seven children. 

Prior to 1881, Daniel R. Braucher resided 
in his native county, where he was educated 
in the district schools. He then moved to 
Portage County, where he purchased a large 
farm. He continued operating that property 
until 1892, when he became assistant superin- 
tendent of the Portage County Infirmary, 
where he remained five years and nine 
months. He then traveled two years in the 
interest of the Trumbull County Mutual In- 
surance Company. At that time he again ac- 
cepted his old position at the Portajge County 



Infirmary. Subsequently appointed to his 
present position, he assumed its duties Jan- 
uary 1, 1904. The Children's Home is a pet 
charity of Akron and its needs have been re- 
sponded to by many of the capitalists of this 
section. For this very reason it was the part 
of wisdom to select as superintendent a man 
of reliable character, broad mind and execu- 
tive ability, qualities which are possessed in 
high degree by Mr. Braucher. With the 
cheerful and hearty assistance of his ad- 
mirable wife, who is the matron of the home, 
the twelve employes of the institution are kept 
faithfully performing their duties and the 
safety, well-being and happiness of the sixty- 
nine dependent children are assured. 

Mr. Braucher w^as married (first) to Louisa 
Humbert, who died March 13, 1893, leaving 
four children. He married (second) Geneva 
Folk, who is a first cousin to Governor Folk, 
Missouri's distinguished chief magistrate. 
There were no children by the second mar- 
riage. Mr. Braucher and family belong to 
the Reformed Church. His children, all of 
the first marriage, survive. Mrs. E. Bunts 
lost her husband, who died February IS. 1907. 
The other are : Mrs. William Metzger, of Ak- 
ron; Mrs. Arthur Gillette, of South Omaha; 
Clark L., of Toledo, who is division manager 
there of the U. S. Telephone Company ; and 
Harry H., who died, aged four years. 

Politically, Mr. Braucher is a Democrat. 
Fraternally, he is connected with the Knights 
of Pythias, and Mrs. Braucher with the order 
of Maccabees. 

R. S. IREDELL, one of Akron's represent- 
ative business men, who, for the past thirty 
years has been interested in fire insurance at 
this point, is also secretary and general man- 
ager of the Hamilton Building Company, with 
offices in the Hamilton Building. He was bom 
January 15, 1847, at Akron, Ohio, and is a 
son of Seth and Mary (Irwin) Iredell. Seth 
Iredell was once one of Akron's most promi- 
nent and useful citizens— a pioneer merchant 
— and had the distinction of being the first 
mayor. He was born September 6, 1773, in 
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and came 



754 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



to Akron in 1830, prior to tlie opening of the 
Akron Canal. He became interested in many 
of the early enterprises of the city and lent his 
influence to further their development. He 
died in 1854. The mother of R. S. Iredell was 
also born in Pennsylvania and was a daugh- 
ter of William Irwin, whom she accompimied 
to Akron in 1812. 

R. S. Iredell was given all the educational 
advantages the city of his birth offered in his 
boyhood. For a number of his early business 
years he was connected with the boot and shoe 
trade, but since 1877, he has been almost ex- 
clusively occupied in fire insurance. He is a 
stockholder in other enterprises and is at the 
head of the Hamilton Building Company. In 
1884, Mr. Iredell was married to Maiy Ter- 
rass, who is a daughter of John Terrass, of 
Akron, and they have three children — Mary 
K., Robert and Elizabeth. The son is a 
student at Buchtel College, and the younger 
daughter is completing the High School 
course at Akron. Mr. Iredell and family be- 
long to the Congregational Church. 

HAROLD E. JOY, general superintendent 
of the B. F. Goodrich Company, at Akron, 
which city has been his chosen home since 
1874, was born in England, in 1868, and was 
brought to America in childhood, and, at the 
age of six years, to Akron. His school days 
and bu-siness life have been passed in this 
city, where his main interests are centered. 
When he was sixteen years old he entered a 
grocer\' store, where he learned the business, 
remiaining six years, when he became ship- 
ping clerk in the B. F. Goodrich Company. 
His industry and fidelity brought him promo- 
tion and from one stage to another ho rose, 
being several years in the order department, 
for several years department manager, then 
second assistant superintendent, later assist- 
ant superintendent, and since August, 1907, 
general superintendent, a position of great re- 
sponsibility. Mr. Joy having worked his way 
up. understands every detail of the business, 
and under his efficient superintendence there 
is no danger that any deterioration will take 
place in the quality of the products which 



have won their way into every civilized cor- 
ner of the Avorld. 

In 1892, Mr. Joy was married to Jessie 
Holmes, who was born and reared at Akron, 
and they have four children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Joy are members of the First Congregational 
Church, and he belongs to its Board of Trus- 
tees. He is a member of the Portage Country 
chib. 

JOHN W. GAUTHIER, an experienced 
pottery man, who has been foreman of the 
Robinson Clay Product Company, at Akron, 
for many years, and is also secretary and 
treasurer of the Union Printing Ink Manu- 
facturing Company, is one of Akron's lead- 
ing citizens, being actively interested in other 
lines than those above mentioned. He was 
born in 1867, at Ottawa, Canada. 

Mr. Gauthier was a youth of twelve years 
when he oame to Akron, where the greater 
part of his education has been secured. For 
twenty -five yeaK; he has been in the pottery 
lousiness, starting in what was the old E. H. 
Merrill Company, the same that was subse- 
quently merged into the Robinson Clay Prod- 
uct Company. His bu.sine.ss ability has made 
him a valuable member of other concerns also 
and his standing in commercial circles is very 
high. He enjoys the distinction of being the 
only Democratic member of the Akron city 
council, and has served in this body for a 
number of terms. At different times he has 
been a member of the city, as well as im- 
portant county committees of the Democratic 
party, and enjoys the confidence of the party 
leaders throughout the state. 

In 1891, Mr. Gauthier was married to 
Augusta Sommerfeldt, who was born in Ger- 
many. They have six children: .Tohn, Edna, 
Mina, Karl, Mary and Edward. Mr. 
Gauthier is a member of a number of the 
leading fraternal organizations and is active 
in promoiting therr usefulness. 

EMSLEY 0. GROSE, president and gen- 
eral manager of the Independent Tack Com- 
pany, of Cuyahoga Falls, of which he was the 
organizer, is one of the representative businesg 



AND REPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



:r.5 



men of thi.s city. ilr. Grose was born at Tip- 
ton, Indiana, Fcbniary 17, 1872, and is a son 
of Joseph and Selindia (Welshonse) Grose. 

Joseph Grose was born in Indiana, in 1844, 
and is a retired farmer liwng at Tipton. He 
has been a very active member of the Demo- 
cratic party in that section, and for eight 
years he was superintendent of the Tipton 
County Infirmary. He saw^ service during the 
latter part of the Civil War, and is a mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Republic. He 
married Selindia AVelshonse, who also sur- 
vives, and eight of their family of eleven chil- 
dren grew to TBaturity. The Grose family is 
an old one in Indiana, extending back beyond 
the days of the grandfather. 

Emsley 0. Grase was the finst born of his 
parents' large family. He obtained a com- 
mon school education in the Tipton schools 
and then learned ■ the machinist's trade, at 
Anderson, Indiana, after completing his ap- 
prenticeship, ent-ering the wire nail mill, 
which Ls one of the largest industries of that 
place. He continued work there until he 
came to Cuyahoga Falls, in July, 1899, when 
he was with the E. A. Henry Wire Company 
for about eighteen months, from which place 
he entered the Rivet Works, remaining one 
year. During all this time, while quietly 
working at his trade, Mr. Grose was evolving 
in his mind the plan of a different kind of 
wire nail machine, which he felt convinced 
would be of the greatest, efficiency in making 
large-headed wire roofing nails, and in 1905 
he completed his invention and went to Fos- 
toria to see about putting it on the market. 
There he organized the Seneca Wire and Man- 
ufacturing Company, and remained six 
months as the superintendent of the nail de- 
partment. He then returned to Cuyahoga 
Falls and organized the Independent Tack 
Company. For several years he had been 
stud>-ing out a design for a tack-making ma- 
chine and succeeded in making a practical 
model during the early months of 1907, which 
has been a complete success in ever^^ way. Mr. 
Grose has a dozen automatic machines at 
work in his facton- and they are being rap- 
idly installed in other places. Their con,«truc- 



tion is unique, nothing of the kind ever hav- 
ing been put on the market previously. To 
Mr. Grose belongs the credit for a thorough- 
ly i)ractical and labor-saving invention. His 
factory needs no traveling representatives, as 
the demand for itcs product already far exceeds 
the supply. 

Mr. Grose married Rose A. Keeney, who is 
a daughter of Charles Keeney, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, and they have had three children, 
namely: Ethel and Margaret, living, and 
George, the eldest, who died at the age of 
thirteen months. Mrs. Grose is a member of 
the Catholic Church, but Mr. Grose was reared 
a Methodist. Mr. Grose, like his father, has 
always been identified T\'ith the Democratic 
party, but takes no very active interest in poli- 
tics. He belongs to Fostoria Lodge, No. 86, 
Knights of Pythias. 

JAMES W. RABE, M. D.. physician and 
surgeon, of many years' experience, has been 
a resident of Akron since 1891. He was bom 
at Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio, but was 
reared at Cleveland. 

Dr. Rabe received his literary training in 
the city of Cleveland, and his medical educa- 
tion in the University of Pennsylvania, where 
he was graduated in 1888. He returned to 
Cleveland and for two years was demon- 
strator of anatomy in the Western Reserve 
Medical College. He is a member of the Sum- 
mit County, the Ohio State, the Noi-theastern 
Ohio and the American Medical As.sociations. 
He has taken an active part in various sani- 
tary movements in the city when the judg- 
ment of a phy,sician bore considerable weight. 
but takes only a good citizen's interest in poli- 
tics. Dr. Raibe is surgeon at the Akron City 
Ho.spital, and is also surgeon for the ^Balti- 
more & Ohio, the Pennsylvania & Western 
and the Cleveland and Valley Railroads. He 
is medical examiner for a number of life^ in- 
surance companies, including the New York 
and Manhattan, of New York; the Northwest- 
ern, of Milwaukee; the Metropolitan ; the Mas- 
sachusetts Mutual; the John Hancock. Cana- 
dian Life and others. In 1891 Dr. Rabo was 
married to ]\Iaud Na.'sh. daughter of Sumner 



756 



HISTORY OF SUMjMIT COUNTY 



Nash, of Akron. They have two children, 
Mary and J. W., Jr. Dr. Rabe belongs to the 
Elks and the Elks club and also to the Akron 
club. 

JAMES P. BREEN, superintendent of the 
northeast side of Portage Township, is a suc- 
cessful general farmer, residing on his val- 
uable farm of thirty-seven acres, which was 
formerly owned by John McCausland, a prom- 
inent pioneer settler, and his father-in-law. 
Mr. Breen was born at Akron, Ohio, April 1, 
1859, and is a son of Patrick and Mary 
(O'Neil) Breen. Patrick Breen was born in 
Ireland, where hds father died when he was 
about si.x years old. Shortly afterward the 
widowed mother came to America with her 
two sons, James and Patrick, settling at Xenia, 
Ohio, where Patrick's mother died. When 
a young man he came to Akron and entered 
a powder mill in that city, having learned the 
business at Xenia. He was married at Akron 
to Mary O'Neil, a native of that city; her 
father was a native of Ireland. Patrick and 
Mary Breen had three children, namely: 
James P., Lydia and John. Lydia married 
Harvey Sharp, also of Akron. WTien James 
P. Breen was six years of age, his father was 
killed by an explosion in the powder mill. 
His mother subsequently married James Glen- 
nan, of which union there were three chil- 
dren, namely: Edward, William and Joseph, 
the latter of whom lives at Akron. Edward 
died at the age of twenty-seven years, and 
William died aged fifteen years. The mother 
survived until 1871. 

James P. Breen was deprived of his moth- 
er's care and affection when he was a boy of 
twelve years. He remained at home with his 
srtepfather until he was fifteen, attending 
.school and assisting in oaring for the family, 
as he began work as a teamster when he was 
only a boy of a dozen years. For about ten 
years he followed teaming and then entered 
the Schumacher flour mills, where he worked 
for eight years. Shortly after his marriage 
he came to live on the McCausland home- 
stead, acquiring forty-nine acres, and he has 
follciwed farmins; ever since. Recentlv five 



acres were sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road, and the remainder of the land is very 
valuable. 

In November, 1884, Mr. Breen was married 
to Mary McCausland, who is a daughter of the 
late John McCausland. The family is a very 
prominent and old-established one of Summit 
County, Mr. and Mrs. Breen have had seven 
children, all of whom survive, except the sec- 
ond, Mary, who died aged six years. Those 
living are: John, who holds a good position 
with the B. F. Goodrich Company as travel- 
ing salesman; and Bertha, Loretto, Charles, 
Leo and Francis, who are at present students. 

Mr. Breen is a good citizen and takes a deep 
interest in all that concerns Portage Town- 
.ship. He is one of the three township super- 
intendents and looks carefully after public 
improvements and private interests through 
that portion over which he has jurisdiction. 
He is a consistent member of the Catholic 
Church. 

JOHN A. KEMPEL, proprietor of the large 
department and grocery store at Nos. 633-635 
South Main Street, Akron, is one of the na- 
tives of this busy and prospering city who 
has assisted in its commercial development 
and enjoys a large amount of its prosperity. 
Mr. Kempel was born in this city February 
26, 1855, and is a son of Adam Kempel, who 
was born in Bavaria, Germany, and who came 
to Summit County in 1842, subsequently be- 
coming a leading business man of Akron. 

John A. Kempel was only nine years old 
when he first .started to work in a local shoe- 
maker shop, assisting his father, and when 
he was thirteen he became blacksmith's helper 
in the Buckeye shops, where he remained un- 
til he was seventeen years of age. One trade 
is about all the ordinarv man learns, but 
Mr. Kempel went from the blacksmith's shop 
to the chainmaker, and learned that trade and 
worked at it until he was thirty-six years old, 
\-isit1ng various parts of the country as his 
work demanded. After this he worked for two 
years in the knife works, gaining a working 
knowledge of another self-supporting trade, 
but in 189.S ho embarked in business for him- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



self in the grocery line. As a merchant he 
prospered, and in 1903 he added a regular 
department line of goods. He owns consid- 
erable valuable business property, and in 1895 
erected a brick building 22 by 140 feet, two 
stories in height, on South Main Street. In 
1900 he built the City Laundry building, 20 
by 200 feet, which he sold to Lawrence Hal- 
ter, and in 1903, he built a two-story brick 
adjoining his first building both of these being 
utilized by Mr. Kempel for his large stock. 
Mr. Kempel is gradually retiring from the 
active management of the business, in which 
he has met with such deserved success. He is 
a stockholder in the Great Western Cereal 
Company, is proprietor of the Magic Cereal 
Cofifee Company and is principal owner of 
Grand\'iew allotment of Barberton. In 1883, 
Mr. Kempel was married (first) in Pennsyl- 
vania, to Eldora Willis, of New Brighton, 
Pennsylvania, who died in 1884, leaving one 
son. George A., who is with the Sherwood- 
Potter Company, of New Brighton. Mr. 
Kempel was married (second) September 1, 
1887, to Rosa Berg, who was born in Ger- 
many, and they have two children, Dorothy 
and Lawrence, the former of whom will grad- 
uate in the class of 1908, at St. Mary's Acad- 
emy, Notre Dame, Indiana. ^Ir. Kempel is 
a member of St. Vincent de Paul's Catholic 
Church. He is a member of the Knights of 
Columbus, of St. Joseph's Society, of the Cath- 
olic Mutual Benefit Association and of St. 
Bernard's club. 

CHARLES E. HELD, M. D., who stands 
very high among Akron's physicians and sur- 
geons, and occupies the chair of pathology at 
the Akron City Hospital, was bom at Akron, 
Ohio, in 1869, but was taken to Portage Coun- 
ty by his parents when a babe of one year. 

After completing a liberal education, which 
included attendance in the schools of Clin- 
ton, a period at Mt. Union College and one at 
Wooster University. Dr. Held went into the 
educational field, beginning to teach in 
Wayne County, and seven years later he 
taught his last .school at St. Thomas, North 
Dakota, where he had charge of the schools of 



that place. In the meanwhile, his leisure had 
been given to the study of medicine and later 
he entered the medical department of the 
Western Reserve University, and after gradua- 
tion he served for fifteen months as an interne 
at the Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland. On 
May 1, 1899, he returned to his native city, 
locating here for the practice of his profes- 
sion. With the exception of periods when he 
has been doing post-graduate work at Cleve- 
land, Dr. Held has seldom left his patients, 
and he has a large and lucrative practice. He 
keeps in close touch -with all modern advance- 
ment in his science and is a member of the 
Summit County Sixth Councilor District, the 
Ohio State and the American Medical Asso- 
ciation. His social connection is with the 
Celsus club of Akron. Fraternally, he is a 
Mason, a Woodman and a Maceabee. 

In 1902 Dr. Held was married to Nettie 
Burt, of Breckville, Ohio, and they have one 
son, Burt. Dr. Held is a member of the 
Wabash Avenue Church of Christ, of which 
he "is a trustee, and superintendent of the 
Sunday School. 

JAMES W. BROWN, secretary of the I. S. 
Myers Company, at Akron, leaders in the 
clothing line, is one of the city's active busi- 
ness men and has been identified with this 
concern for many years, both before and since 
its incorporation. He was bom at Morris 
Run, Penn.sylvania, in 1871, and is a son of 
the late William R. BroTvn. 

James W. Brown was eight years old when 
his father brought the family to Akron, and 
he was reared and educated in this city, and 
as the whole of his business life has been con- 
nected with her enterprises, he may be re- 
garded almost in the light of a native son. 
After lea\ang school he was employed for a 
short time by the Diamond Match Company, 
and following this for eight years was with 
the New York Clothing House. Afterwards 
he entered the employ of Myers. Ganyard & 
Stump, which firm was .succeeded by Ganyard 
& Myers, and thi=, in turn, was siicceeded by 
I. S. Myers & Company. In 1899 he became 
a member of the firm and when the business 



758 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



was ineoi'i>orateid, February 17, 1904, he 'be- 
came secretai'y. The other officers are: I. S. 
Myers, president and manager ; T. J. Stebick, 
vice-president; and M. F. Rhodes, treasurer. 
In 1896 Mr. Brown was married to Mar- 
garet A. Frangen, of Doylestown, Ohio, and 
they have one child, Gertrude M. Mr. Brown 
is identified with a number of the leading frar 
ternities. He is a Knight Templar Mason and 
also belongs to the Maccabees and the A. I. U. 

FRANK WALTZ, a highly esteemed, re- 
tired citizen of Johnson's Corners, Summit 
County, Ohio, and the owner of a tract of 
thirty-six and one-half acres in Norton Town- 
ship, is one of the township's most venerable 
residents and a survivor of the great Civil 
War. Mr. Waltz was born February 11, 1831, 
in Chippewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
and is a son of David and Lydia (Baughman) 
Waltz. 

David Waltz, who was a son of Jacob Waltz, 
removed from Trumbull County to Wayne 
County, Ohio, and in about 1847 to Norton 
Township, Summit County, M'here he pur- 
chased a property now known as the J. C. 
Baughman farm. This he later sold and re- 
moved to Wadsworth, where he bought a 
farm, and subsequently he went to Sharon, 
Medina County, Ohio. Here, however, he re- 
mained Ics- than a year, returning to Wads- 
worth, wlirrc tlic remainder nf Ids life was 
.spent. 

After hi.« marriage, Frank Waltz went to 
housekeeping on his father's farm in Norton 
Town,ship, whence, in 18B2, he enlisted in the 
Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio ^'^^olunteer In- 
fantry, being vnth the Twentieth Army Coi-ps 
most of the time, under General Gary. He 
enlisted as a musician, and served as such for 
two years, and t«n months under Sherman, 
participating in the siesie of .\tlanta, and the 
March to the Sea, and being mustered out at 
Washingt.on, District of Columbia. He was a 
brave and faithful soldier, and his war record 
is one which any man might well be ]iroud 
of. After the war he returned to .Tohnson's 
Corners and engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness for eight vears. He afterwards moved 



to his father's farm in Wadsworth, whence 
he went to the farm in Sharon, remaining 
there six years. Subsequently he purchased a 
tract of eighty-three and one-half acres in 
Chippewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
to which he moved, having sold his eighty- 
acre farm in Sharon. For about eighteen years 
he was engaged in agricultural pursuits in 
Chippe^'a Township, and at the end of this 
time located in Doylestown, where he carried 
on a grocery business for five years, selling out 
in 1900 to again locate at Johnson's Corners. 
In 1904 Mr. Waltz sold his farm in Chippewa 
Township, and since that time he has lived 
retired. In addition to his home at Johnson's 
Corners, Mr. Waltz is the owner of a thirty- 
six and one-half acre tract in Norton Town- 
ship. 

In 1862 Mr. Waltz was married to Elizabeth 
Hoffman, who is a daughter of John Hoffman, 
the blacksmith of Johnson's Corners, and to 
this imion there were born two children — 
Harry and Albert. Harry, born June 19,1870, 
who conducts a store at the Corners, mar- 
ried Nina Schondle in 1900, and they have 
one child. Alberta, born October 1, 1902. 
Albert, died at the age of eight years, eight 
months and ten days. Mr. Waltz has served 
as town.ship trustee in both Sharon Township, 
]\Iedina County and Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County. 

]Mr. Frank Waltz's wife, Elizabeth, died 
February 27, 1906, at the age of sixty-three 
years and eleven months. 

WILLIAM FRANKLIN AVERTLL, pro- 
jirit^tor of the Spring Brook Farm Dairy, lo- 
cated at No. 970 West Exchange Avenue, Ak- 
ron, was born in Copley Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, March 1, 1863, and is a son of 
William 'and Margaret (Welker) Averill. 

The father of Mr. Averill died when he was 
aliout. eight years old and he was reared by his 
mother, remaining at home in Copley until 
January 1, 188,5, when he was married to 
Emma Rotzum, who is a daugliter of Adam 
and Eliza Botzuni. For one year after mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Averill remained in Cop- 
lev, where he still owns 100 acres of land, on 




HON. ELI CONN, A. .M., M. 1). 



AND REPRESEiNTATIVE CITIZENS 



761 



which his dairy farm is situated, and then 
moved to Northampton Township for one 
year, coming to his present home September 
22, 1887. At that time his place was located 
in Portage Township, but has since been ab- 
sorbed into Akron. In 1900 he erected his 
substantial barn and recently has remodeled 
his house, making of it a handsome, modern 
residence. Up to 1903, when he retired, Mr. 
-Vverill was mainly interested in a lumber 
business, in partnei-ship with A. V. Bennage, 
under the firm name of Bennage & Averill. 
The firm bought timber, and owning a port- 
able sawmill, they furnished lumber to con- 
tractors and shipbuilders in the rough. They 
shipped large cargoes of lumber to Cleveland, 
Buffalo, Tonawanda, Lorain and other points. 
This firm carried on this lousiness for seven- 
teen years. In 1903 Mr. Averill retired in or- 
der to give his attention to farming and dairj-- 
ing. He operates two milk routes and pur- 
chases milk by wholesale. This industry is an 
important one in this section. 

Mr. and Mrs. Averill have had two children, 
namely: Lilian and Frank. 

Lilian, who residas with her parents, on 
January 1, 1907, married Clarence Brown, 
w'ho is interested in the dairy business with 
Mr. Averill. Frank, a bright and promising 
child, was snatched away by death in April, 
1904. at the age of eight years, five months 
and five days. 

HON. ELI CONN, A. M.. M. D., of Akron, 
now living retired from active pursuits, was 
formerly a member of the Ohio State Senate, 
representing Summit County, and for many 
years was one of the leading physicians and 
surgeons of Akron. As another claim to hon- 
orable distinction, he is a veteran of the great 
Civil War, to which he gave four years of 
his young manhood. Dr. Conn was born 
June 10, 1838, in Butler County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth 
fFerguson) Conn. 

Dr. Conn comes of Irish and Scotch an- 
cestry. His father was born in Ireland, while 
his mother, who was of Scotch descent, was 
born in Pennsylvania. Joseph Conn and 



Elizabeth Ferguson were married in Pennsyl- 
\ania, where they continued to live the re- 
mainder of their lives, the former dying when 
his son Eli was fourteen years old, and the 
latter at the advanced age of ninety-two 
years. 

Eli Conn was primarily educated in the 
district schools of Butler County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and was engaged in teaching when the 
Kebellion broke out. In 1861 he enlisted as 
a private in the 102nd Regiment, Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteer Infantry, which became a 
part of the Army of the Potomac ; and during 
the whole progress of the war he served with 
courage and fidelity, participating in thirty- 
two severe battles, and innumerable skir- 
mishes, and enduring all the necessary hard- 
ships in army life. With great good fortune 
he survived them all, and when his country 
no longer needed his services, he received an 
honorable discharge and returned to the paths 
of peace. He had been first lieutenant of 
his company.. He then set about completing 
his education, in 1865 entering Baldwin Col- 
lege, at Berea, Ohio, where he was graduated 
in 1868. He then attended the Cleveland Medi- 
cal School for two terms, receiving therefrom 
his degree of M. D. Subsequently Baldwin Col- 
lege, his alma mater, conferred upon him the 
degree of A. M. Dr. Conn entered into prac- 
tice in Butler County, Pennsylvania, but was 
shortly afterward elected probate judge, and 
served four years in that office. In 1880 he 
came to Akron, and in 1882 was elected 
health officer of this city, in which capacity 
he served two years. In 1896, in recognition 
of the qualities he possessed which go to make 
a statesman. Dr. Conn was elected to the State 
Senate from Summit County, and during 
his term of service fulfilled every expectation 
of his friends. From the time he located in 
Akron until 1897 he continued actively en- 
gaged in the practice of medicine. Pro- 
fessionally as well as socially he is a man of 
liigh standing. He is an able writer for the 
medical press, and is frequently called upon 
to discuss important questions at the meetings 
of the various medical associations to which 
he belongs. 



762 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Dr. Conn wa^; married in 1869 to Helen 
Kingsbury, who was born at Medina, Ohio. 
They have four children : Ellwood K., Maud 
J., Mary A. and Helen E. The family home 
is at No. 740 South Main Street. Politically 
Dr. Conn is a Republican. 

W. L. KELLER, M. D., physician and sur- 
geon at Akron, was born in 1872, at Alliance, 
Ohio, and has been a resident .of Akron for 
the past five years, during which time he has 
built up a large practice and gained the friend- 
ship and confidence of many of his fellow- 
citizens. Dr. Keller aittended the schools of 
Alliance and, after graduating from the Al- 
liance High School, entered Mt. Union Col- 
lege, yvhere he was graduated B. S., in the class 
of 1896. For the succeeding five years he 
taught school, in the meanwhile directing his 
reading and study to medicine, and subse- 
quently he entered the -medical department of 
the University of Cincinnati, where he was 
graduated in 1901. For two years before com- 
ing to Akron he practiced in Jefferson Coun- 
ty, Ohio. Dr. Keller may be found at his 
well-appointed office at No. 335 South Main 
Street. He is a member of the Summit Coun- 
ty, the Sixth Councilor DL-itriet, and the Ohio 
State Medical Societies. In 1902 Dr. Keller 
was married at Canton, Ohio, to Edith E. Mc- 
Conkey. who is a daughter of Dr. W. J. Mc- 
Conkey, re-iiding on North Walnut Street, 
Canton. Fraternally, Dr. Keller is a Mason. 
He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

LOUIS J. WISE, M. D., Perhaps no city 
in Ohio has a more notable body of medical 
men than has Akron, they being, as a whole, 
educated and enthusiastic men of science. 
Among these. Dr. Louis J. Wise occupies a 
leading place and, although one of the 
younger members of the profes.sion, has been 
exceedingly successful as a practitioner. 

Dr. Wise was born in 1878, in Suffield, 
Ohio. After completing the public school 
course there he entered Notre Dame Univer-. 
sity at South Bond, Indiana, and subsequent- 
ly Starling Medical College, from which he 



was graduated in 1901, with his medical de- 
gree. He practiced for a short time at St. 
•Joseph, Portage County, Ohio, and then came 
to Akron. He belongs to the leading medi- 
cal organizations of the state, including the 
Summit County Sixth Councilor District, 
and the Ohio State, and is also a member of 
the American Medical Association. Dr. Wise 
belongs also to the Summit County Physi- 
cian's club. Dr. W^ise is a member of St. 
Bernard's Catholic Church. He belongs also 
to the Knights of Columbus and to the Cath- 
olic Mutual Benefit Association. 

FRED HUNSICKER, who is carrying on 
agricultural operations on his fine farm of 160 
acres in Northampton Township, Sumjnit 
County, Ohio, was born March 2, 1874, in 
Akron, Ohio, and is a son of John Jacob and 
Rebecca (Fritz) Hunsicker. 

John Jacob Hunsicker was born in 1842 in 
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and there re- 
ceived his education in the common schools. 
When about sixteen years of age Mr. Hun- 
sicker came to Loyal Oak, Ohio, and there 
learned the trade of carpenter, which he fol- 
lowed imtdl his last illness. He was a Thirty- 
second Degree Mason, and was a charter mem- 
ber of the first Lodge of Odd Fellows in Ak- 
ron, being presented with a medal just be- 
fore his death as being one of the four oldest 
Odd Fellows in that city. Mr. Hunsicker was 
a Republican, with independent inclinations. 
He married Rebecca Fritz, a daughter of Solo- 
mon Fritz, who was a native of Clarion Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania. Four children were born 
to this union, and three of these grew to ma- 
turity: Horace, who is a member of the 
Pouchot-Hunsicker Company, married Flora 
E. Yost, a daughter of Charlas Yost, of Akron, 
where he resides; Sadie C, who is the wife 
of L. E. Smith and resides at Greentown, 
Ohio ; and Fred. John Jacob Hun«icker died 
in 1904, aged .sixty-two years. His widow, 
who lives in Akron, is fifty-eight years old. 
She is a member of Grace Reformed Church 
of Akron, believing in the faith in which her 
husband died. 

Fred Hunsicker received his education in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



763 



the common and High schools of his native 
locahty, and as a young man learned the 
trade of lithographer, which he followed for 
fifteen years. He then gave it up, resigning 
the position of foreman of the commercial en- 
graving department of the Werner Company, 
which he had held for three years. In 1904 
he engaged in farming on his present tract, 
of which he cultivates about 100 acres, rais- 
ing wheat, oats, corn and hay, each of which 
crops he markets a portion. He keeps on an 
average of twenty-four head of cattle, which 
he fattens and butchers himself for private 
customers, whose demand is greater than he 
can accommodate. He has always been indus- 
trious and hard^'orkdng, and his farm pre- 
sents one of the best appearances in this sec- 
tion of the township. 

Mr. Hunsicker was married to Sarah Jane 
Stevenson, who is a daughter of Thomas 
Frazer, and Rachel Stevenson, of Akron. Four 
children have been born to this union, name- 
ly: Thomas Jacob, Horace Irving, Hiram 
Robert, and one who died in infancy. Mr. 
Hunsicker is a Republican in politics, but he 
has never been an officeseeker. With his 
family he attends Grace Reformed Church, of 
Akron. 

LAWRENCE HALTER, proprietor of the 
City Laundry, ha? been actively engaged in 
business here since December, 1898, coming 
from Chicago, where he had filled a respon- 
sible position with a large manufacturing con- 
cern. Mr. Halter was born in 1867, in South- 
eastern Mi.ssouri, where he was reared and 
educated, pa.ssing his life up to twenty years 
on a farm. 

In February, 1888, Mr. Halter came first to 
Akron, where he formed many plea.«ant ties 
during his residence of sixteen months, when 
he was employed by the Goodrich Company. 
He then returned to St. Louis, which he had 
pre\nously visited and where he entered the 
street railway servnce, going then to Phila- 
delphia, where he was employed in the same 
line of industry, and from there to Chicago. 
In the la.st named city he entered the manu- 
fncturiiig firm of Morgan & Wright, .starting 



in the shops and working up until within 
three years he was made foreman of the me- 
chanical molding department, in which ca- 
pacity he continued therefor three years 
longer. 

In 1898, when Mr. Halter returned to Ak- 
ron, he purchased a small place at his pres- 
ent location and at first carried on a hand 
laundry. This he has developed until he has 
now one of the best equipped laundry plants 
in the city. Mr. Halter is established in the 
building at No. 637 South Main Street, where 
he has a frontage of 20 by 110 feet, with rear 
dimensions of 28 by 90 feet. He makes use 
of the best laundry methods known and has 
installed all kinds of improved machinery. 
He is interested in other business enterprises 
and is a director in the German-American 
Building and Loan Association. 

In 1894 Mr. Halter was married to Lottie 
J. Bernard, of Akron, and they have five 
children: Lottie L., Herbert B., Helen, Ger- 
trude and Beatrice. Mr. Halter and faimily 
belong to St. Mary's Catholic Church. He is 
a member of the order of Knights of Colum- 
bus, the Pathfinders, and of the German 
club. Politically, he is a Democrat. Mr. 
Halter is numbered with the city's successful 
citizens. 

T. J. STEBICK, vice-president of the I. S. 
Myers Company, clothiers and leaders in this 
line at Akron, was horn in this city in 1872, 
and is a son of George Stebick, who was born 
in Germany and has been a respected resident 
of Akron for more than thirty years. 

T. J. Stebick was reared and educated in 
his native city and at the age of fifteen years 
entered the employ of Ganyard & Myers, and 
has been identified with thL^ house ever since. 
The original firm was succeeded by I. S. Myers 
& Company, and February 17, 1904, it was 
incorporated as The I. S. Myers Company, 
the officers of which are : I. S. Myers, presi- 
dent and manager; T. J. Stebick, vice-pres- 
ident; J. W. Brown, secretary; and M. Y. 
Rhodes, treasurer. 

Mr. Stebick is a member of St. Bernard's 
Catholic Church. He belongs to the order of 



764 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Knights of Columbus aud to the Forresters. 
His standing both socially and in business is 
very high and he is justly regarded as a good 
and representative citizen of Akron. 

GERALD S. WORK, department mana- 
ger of the widely known B. F. Goodrich 
Company, of Akron, manufactures of rubber 
tires, was born in this city in 1880, a son of 
Alanson Work. He was reared in Akron, bis 
literary education being completed at St. 
Paul's school, Concord, N. H., and at Yale 
College, where he spent one year, leaving the 
college in June, 1900. In the same year he 
entered the office of the B. F. Goodrich Com- 
pany and in the following January became 
manager of the company's Department No. 1. 
Mr. Work is a prominent figure both in the 
business and social world of Akron. He is 
a member of the Akron Club, the Portage 
Country Club, the Walton Fish and Gun Club 
and the Automobile Club of Akron. Few are 
more ready than he to lend their aid in sup- 
port of any practical movement for the ad- 
vancement of the material prosperity and so- 
cial elevation of the community. 

ALBERT ALLEN wa.s long one of the 
leading and successful business men of iVk- 
ron. He was born March 12, 1827, in Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, Ohio, and 
was a son of Levi and Phebe (Spicer) .Mien. 

The parents of Mr. Allen had settled in 
Coventry Township in 1811 land he grew up 
amid pioneer surroundings. Instead of turn- 
ing his attention to agricultural piirsuits 
M'hen he reached his majority, he learned the 
millwright's trade and worked at the same 
for nine years. In 1856 he was given the 
contract for converting the old Perkins 
woolen mill into a flouring mill and when it 
was completed he was retained in (he employ 
of the firm of Perkins & Company. Later, 
in partnership with Alexander H. Commins, 
he bought the Stone mill, and under the firm 
name of Commins & Allen a large amount of 
business was done. Mr. Commins died in 
1880, leaving his entire estate in the hands 
of Albert Allen, his will beins; such that Mr. 



Allen had the disposition of till the prop- 
erty without bonds. The firm name of Com- 
mins & Allen was continued until the busi- 
ness was merged into the F. Schumacher 
Milling Company, in 1886. Mr. Allen be- 
came vice-president of this company and one 
of its directors and continued his interest un- 
til his death, which occurred September 25, 
1888, wihen he was over sixty-one years of 
age. 

Mr. Allen never married. His only sister, 
Cynthia Allen, cared for his home, and young 
life was introduced in the person of his niece, 
Minnie E. Allen, who subsequently became 
the wife of Henry M. Stone, now a resident 
of Denver, Colorado. At the time of his 
death, Mr. Allen's large estate was shown 
and its wise provisions made public. To his 
devoted sister was given a large portion, while 
educational institutions and religious bodies 
were remembered with the justice of a con- 
scientious man. Like all other members of 
his family, he was devoted to the interests of 
the Disciples Church. 

F. DATON VOGAN, of the prominent 
business firm of Tifft & A^'ogan, carriage deal- 
ers and also dealers in all kinds of agricul- 
tural implements, at Cuyahoga Falls, is num- 
bered with the representative men of this 
place. Mr. Vogan was born at Princeton. 
Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, March 18. 
1856, and is a son of Joseph E. and Clarissa 
f Allen) Vogan. 

Joseph E. Vogan was a native of Venango 
Cotmly, Pennsylvajiia, and at the time of his 
death a resident of Newcastle. He w^as a 
member of the fire department in that town 
and it was in answering a call of duty that 
ho was accidentally killed. He was a stanch 
Republican, and for a number of years had 
held the position of policeman and street com- 
missioner. Fraternally he was connected with 
the United Workmen. He married Clarisra 
Allen, who died in April. 1905, when within 
a few days of being seventy-two years of age. 
They had two children, namely: F. Daton 
and Olive, now deceased, who married Albert 
T>indsey. of Yotingstnwn. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



765 



F. Daton "\^ogan spent his boj'hood in New- 
castle, and then went to Youngstown, wliere 
he learned the trade of horse-shoer, after 
which he returned to Newcastle and formed 
a partnership with William Evans, under the 
firm name of Evans & Vogan, and they op- 
erated a blacksmith shop for some years. Sub- 
sequently, Mr. Vogan sold out and in 18S1 
he came to Cuyalioga Falls and entered into 
business with Robert Tryon, now of Akron, 
under the firm naime of Vogan & Tryon. 
This connection lasted several years, when 
Mr. ^"ogan bought his partner's interest and 
conducted the busine&s alone until 1885, when 
he added buggy dealing to his other busi- 
ness, continuing to prosper as formerly. On 
January 26, 1896, he entered into partner- 
ship \\-ith Smith D. Tifft, and together they 
have established the largest house of its kind 
in this .section of Ohio. Both partners are 
capable business men and possess the quali- 
ties which command the confidence of the 
buying public. 

Mr. Vogan married ]Mary C. Weidner, 
daughter of Jacob AVeidner, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, and they have two children — Florence 
M. and Kathryn Ruth. Mrs. Vogan is a de- 
voted member of the ]\Iethodi.*t Episcopal 
Church, in which religious body Mr. Vogan 
was reared by his parents. Politically he is 
a Republican, but with him business comes 
first and he has found no time to accept po- 
litical office. He is a member of Star Lodge, 
No. 187, F. & A. M. 

OHIO C. BARBER, president of the First 
National Bank of Akron, was born at Akron, 
April 20, 1841. and is a son of George and 
Eliza (Smith) Barber. 

George Barber was born January 27. 1805 
in Hartford. Connecticut, but was reared in 
Onondaga County, New York, where he 
learned the coopering business. When about 
twenty-one years of age, he came to Ohio, 
in the capacity of peddler of clocks, his main 
idea, hon-ever, being to select a favorable lo- 
cation for his business, and this he found at 
the village which was then known as Middle- 
bury. He worked as a cooper until 1847, and 



then embarked in the match manufacturing 
business, being one of its pioneers in this ter- 
ritory. Business facilities were then far from 
perfect and, although Mr. Barber's enterprise 
was eminently successful, he decided to enter 
into another line for a time, and embarked 
in hotel-keeping. One year later, however, 
he resumed his match manufacturing, which 
he continued as long as he found it profit- 
able. This business may be described as the 
nucleus of the great combination of capital 
now known as the Diamond Match Company, 
of which bis .son, Ohio C, is the president. 
On April 1, 1835, George Barber was mar- 
ried to Eliza Smith, who was born at Cantnn, 
Ohio, January 15, 1817. Of their eight chil- 
dren, but two survive: Ohio C. and Mrs. 
John K. Robinson. The death of Mr. Barber 
occurred April 12, 1879. 

Ohio C. Barber as early as the age of six- 
teen years became associated unth his father 
in the match business, in 1862 assuming en- 
tire management. In 1868 the busina«s was 
organized as the Barber Match Company, 
with George Barber as president, Ohio C. Bar- 
ber as secretary and treasurer and .John K. 
Robinson as general agent. In 1881 the 
great corporation known as the Diamond 
Match Company came into existence, through 
the combination of twenty-eight match com- 
panies, its capital then " being $6,000,000. 
Ohio C. Barber was the first vice president 
and was made president in 1888. Mr. Barber 
has been and still is deeply interested in many- 
great enterprises, representing wide and varied 
interests. He has always been one of the 
most enterpri,sing citizens of Akron, and. with 
all his vast outside interests, has ne^"er been 
indifferent to her welfare. On October 10, 
1865, Mr. Barber wa-; married to Laura L. 
Brown, and they have had two children, one 
of whom, Anna Laura, .still survives. 

HORACE HUNSTCKER, treasurer of the 
Pouchot-Hunsicker Company, one of Akron's 
large business enterprises, was bom at Ak- 
ron, Ohio, in 1870, and is a son of John 
Jacob Hunsicker. a carpenter and builder, 
who came, in 1862. to Akron, where he died 



766 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in 1904. Horace Hunsicker was reared and 
educated at Akron and in boyhood started to 
learn the first principles of the carpenter's 
trade, wliich, however, he never completed. 
After spending several seasons on the farm, 
he entered the employ of the firm of Jahamt 
& Weber, where he continued for eight years. 
When the company of Morgan & Pouchot 
was organized, he became a member of that 
firm, which was succeeded by the Pouchot- 
Hunsicker Company. He has been treasurer 
of this organization ever since he became a 
member of the original firm. His business 
acumen and enterprising methods have been 
just so many assets to the concern. Person- 
ally, he is a man of honorable life and of 
high social standing. 

On March 4, 1896. Mr. Hunsicker was 
married to Flora E. Yost, of Akron, and 
they have two children — Edna Rebecca and 
Sarah Alberta. Mr. Hunsicker is a member 
of Grace Reformed Church. Fratemally, he 
is a Mason. 

DAVID C. LONG, a general farmer and 
dairyman, who resides on his first-class farm 
of forty-four acres, which is situated near 
Fairlawn, in Portage Township, came to 
Summit County in 1867. He was born in 
Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, February 8, 
1849, and is a son of Samuel and Magdalena 
(Arnold) Long. 

David C. Long spent his boyhood in Penn- 
sylvania, where he was partly educated, and 
he attended a select school in Green Town- 
ship, after reaching Summit Coimty, his par- 
ents living there for one year. His father 
then purchased the farm on which Mr. Long 
resides, moving onto it in 1873. The father 
died on this farm in September, 1892, his 
wife having passed away in 1874. They had 
eleven children, of whom David C. was the 
seventh son. 

In 1879 David C. Long was married to 
Lydia Staver, who is a daughter of Rev. Elias 
Staver, an Evangelical minister located at 
Greensburg. Mr. and Mrs. Long have had 
four children: Ralph, who died at the age 
of thirteen years; Leo, residing at Akron, who 



married Clai'a Robinett, and Harry and 
George, both valuable assistants to their 
father. Mr. Long and his family belong to 
the West Side Congregational Church at Ak- 
ron. He takes an active interest in public 
matters and leu'ds has aid and influence in 
promoting the best interests of the township 
of which he is a representative citizen. In 
politics a Republican, Mr. Long served as as- 
sessor of Portage Township for four years and 
at present is one of the township trustees. 

JOHN W. WALSH, whose fine estate of 
ninety-five acres can scarcely be excelled in 
Summit County for beauty of location or ex- 
tensive improvements, has here made stock- 
raising a science and farming a hobby. Mr. 
Walsh was born in Cuyahoga Falls Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, August 18, 
1854, and is a son of William and Rose (Car- 
lin) Walsh. 

William Walsh was born in County Cork. 
Ireland, came to America in 1848, and died 
at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, March 28. 1904, 
aged seventy-six years. In Ireland he learned 
the trade of shoemaker, which he intended 
to follow after locating in the United States, 
but circumstances diverted him to the paper- 
making industry, which he followed for some 
forty years at the Falls, being an active man 
lip to the time of his death. He married 
Rose Carlin, whom he survived, her death 
taking place January 23, 1901, when she had 
attained the age of seventy-five years. They 
had eight children, naanely: Mary, who 
married Jacob Donaldson, residing at Cuya- 
hoga Falls; John W.. Richard E., who is de- 
ceased; Rose A., residing with her brother, 
John W. ; Thomas F., Isabelle A., deceased; 
Cornelius M., who is connected with the 
WaLsh Milling Company, and Margaret E., 
residing with her brother, John W. The 
family was reared in the Roman Catholic 
faith. 

John W. Walsh obtained his education in 
the common and High Schools of Cuyahoga 
Falls, after which he spent seven years in the 
Hanford Brothers' paper mills. At the end 
of thi« time he entered the regiilar army, be- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



coining a member of Company E, Second 
U. S. Infantry. He remained in the service 
for five years, being successively under the 
command of General Miles, General Wheaton 
and General Howard. He reached Idaho, in 
August, 1877, and for one year was engaged 
in the campaign against the Nez Perce In- 
dians. After leaving the army Mr. AVaJsh 
continued to live in the West for five years 
more. He went to Washington and there em- 
barked in a saw-mill business which he ex- 
panded into a flourishing industry, requiring 
him to employ a force of twenty men. This 
business he continued until 1889, when his 
thoughts turned to the East and to the sec- 
tion in which he was born, resulting in his 
coming back to look over the business situa- 
tion here. He has never since left this fa- 
vored part of the country. 

Shortly after his return to Cuyahoga Falls, 
Mr. Walsh purchased an interest in the Cuy- 
ahoga Paper Company, which later became 
the Walsh Paper Company, and he continued 
to manage this business until May 19, 1902. 
In the meantime he had purchased the Howe 
farm, his present estate, and resided in the 
old homestead until the completion of his 
magnificent residence, which, without doubt, 
is the finest rural home in Summit County. 
The building of this home was commenced 
in 1899 and -was completed in 1901. It is 
solidly constructed of brick and its stately ex- 
terior is matched by its fine interior finish 
and rich furnishings. Every modem com-' 
fort and convenience made po.ssible by the 
use of money and the exercise of good taste, 
have been introduced to make this a home in 
every sense of the word. The house has a 
beautiful setting, including a wide, grassy 
lawn, noble shade trees and flowering shrubs. 
There is about the entire place a harmony 
of details that is pleasant to contemplate and 
must have been a joy to plan. 

On this beautiful farm is to be found a 
herd of some of the finest cattle in Summit 
County. They include Aberdeen, Angus and 
Holstein, with a few Jerseys. Mr. Walsh 
owns a Polled-An.gus bull, a splendid speci- 
men, which took the prize at the Sunamit 



County fair in 1905. He makes farming 
only a side issue, enjoying it more as a hobby 
than as an occupation for profit. He has two 
silos and raises his own feed. Mr. Walsh here 
also is able to indulge his love of fine dogs 
and owns a number of blooded Shepherd and 
French bull dogs, of the test strains. It is 
scarcely necessary to add, in a work which 
belongs especially to a section in which he is 
.-o well known, that Mr. Walsh is a genial, 
companionable man, big-hearted and gener- 
ous, benevolent and charitable. Although he 
is an admirer and strong supporter of the 
present Chief Executive of the Nation, he was 
reared a Democrat and still adheres to the 
old principles of that party. He is a mem- 
})er of St. Joseph'.* Catholic Church of Cuya- 
hoga Falls. 

WILLIAM .M. METZLER, assistant gen- 
eral .superintendent of the Diamond Rubber 
(,^ompany, at- Akron, was l)orn in this city 
in 1860, and is a .son of the late Chri,stnpher 
Metzler, who was born in German^^ and who 
came to Akron in 1840. For a number of 
years Christopher Metzler was turnkey at the 
Summit County Jail, and for eighteen years 
he was a mail carrier. He was a widely re- 
spected citizen. His death occurred in 1881. 

After finishing school William M. Metzler, 
with the healthy sentiment which inspires 
American youths to seek to become self-sup- 
]>orting, entered the Merrill Pottery Works, 
where he continued one year. He then was 
vnth the Baker McMillan Company for three 
years, going from their employ to that of 
the Buckeye Mower & Reaper Works, where 
he remained for three years. He then spent 
seven years with the B. F. Goodrich Com- 
pany. For the five following years he was 
wiih the Eastern Rubber Company, at Tren- 
ton, New Jersey, as superintendent, and then 
returned to Akron, where he became assistant 
superintendent of the Diamond Rubber Com- 
pany, a po.sition he held until 1904, when he 
was advanced to assistant general superin- 
tendent. Mr. Metzler has climbed to his pres- 
ent responsible position step by step, show- 
ing industrs' and capacity at every point, and 



768 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



is a typical successful business man of the 
day, one well up in technical knowledge as 
well as trained along executive lines. He has 
other business interests and is a stockholder 
in the Northwestern Rubber Company, of 
Liverpool, England. 

In 1881 Mr. Metzler married Rosa Jones, 
who was born at Kent, Ohio, and they have 
four children, namely; David A., who is 
assistant superintendent of the Alkali Rub- 
ber Company; William J., who is general 
foreman of the hose room of the Diamond 
Rubber Compajiy; Mary, who is a student in 
the Akron High School, and Ethel, who is a 
.student in the Sacred Heart Academy. Mr. 
Metzler and family belong to St. Vincent's 
Catholic Church. His fraternal associations 
are with the Knights of Columbus and the 
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

HARRY F. BLACKBURN, assistant cash- 
ier of the First National Bank of Akron, 
was born in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio, 
in 1871, and is a son of Thomas Black- 
burn, who located at Hudson in 1856, where 
he now lives a retired life. His former occu- 
paition was farming. 

Harry F. Blackburn was reared and edu- 
cated in his native section, and in 1889 came 
to Akron, where he was engaged as book- 
keeper in the roofing business with the ficm 
of Akers & Harpham until 1893, when lie 
entered the First National Bank at Akron, 
as a clerk. His faithfulness and fidelity soon 
caused advancement and by 1902 he was 
made assistant cashier of this firmly estab- 
lished financial institution. He has other 
busine.ss connections, also being treasurer of 
the Burt. Manufacturing Company, and secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Akron Manufactur- 
ing Company. 

Mr. Blackburn enlisted in 1893 in Com- 
pany B, Eighth Regiment, Ohio National 
Guards, and was promoted from the position 
of a private through all the ranks to a cap- 
taincy. At the outbreak of hostilities with 
Spain, he went out as first lieutenant of Com- 
pany B, being mustered in May 13, 1898, at 
Columbus, from which point the regiment 



was sent to Falls Church, Virginia, and on 
July 4th following left for New York city. 
There the Eighth Regiment took transports 
for Cuba, reaching the island in time to take 
part in the closing up of the Santiago cam- 
paign. After three weeks in Cuba, during 
which period the company showed the valor 
justly attributed to American soldiers, it was 
tran.sported to Montauk Point, reaching there 
on August 26th. Mr. Blackburn was given 
a furlough home and was mustered out of 
the service November 21, 1898. Subse- 
quently he was appointed regimental adju- 
tant and held this rank until he retired quite 
recently, having no cause to feel anything 
)3ut pride in his military record. 

In 1899 Mr. Blackburn was married to 
Clara Schaeffer, who is a daughter of George 
(t. Schaeffer, of Akron, and they have four 
children — Grace A., Metta Aleen, Helen and 
Harryette. With his family Mr. Blackburn 
is connected with Trinity Lutheran Church. 
Mr. Blackburn is master of Adoniram Lodge, 
F. & A. M., of Akron, and is captain gen- 
eral of Akron Commandery. He is identi- 
fied with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council 
and Commandery at Akron, and with Lake 
Erie Consistory and Alkoran Shrine, at Cleve- 
land. He belongs also to the Knights of 
Pythias. 

CHARLES BOUTON, of the firm of 
Charles Bouton & Son, proprietors of the 
Champion Evaporator Company, manufac- 
turers of the Champion Evaporator for ma- 
ple, sorghum, cider and fruit jellies and 
sugar-makers' supplies, at Hudson, was born 
at Concord, Lake County, Ohio. December 
3. 1829, and is a son of Seth and Sallie 
(Poole) Bouton. 

The Bouton family is of French extraction 
and its founders in America came to the 
United States with General Ivafayette. during 
the Revolutionary War. Seth Bouton was 
bom in the State of New York and there mar- 
ried Sallie Poole, who came of English an- 
cestors. Their surviving children are: 
Charles, Lyman H., residing at Perry, Jeffer- 
son County, Kansas; .Tane, who married a 




CHARLES Tl'TTLE PARKS 



AND EEPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



771 



Mr. Hawkins, and Elizabeth, who married a 
Mr. McCloughry, both residing at Blue Is- 
land, Illinois. In 1836, Seth Bouton moved 
to Boston Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
and built a log house in the woods between 
Hudson and Peninsula. Later he and wife 
removed to Blue Island, Illinois, where both 
died. 

Charles Bouton was seven years of age 
when he accompanied his parents to Summit 
County, and he assisted his father to clear 
up the farm, to the extent of his strength, 
remaining at home until he was fourteen 
years of age. . He then went to live with 
Lawson Waterman, with whom he remained 
until twenty-two years of age, with Mr. AVat- 
erman engaging in the construction of canal 
boats. When he was nineteen years old he 
was capable of building boats himself. AVhen 
the excitement spread through the country on 
account of the discovery of large deposits of 
gold in California, Mr. Bouton made the trip 
westward by way of the Isthmus of Panama, 
but returned in 1854, overcome by home- 
sickness. He married soon after and re- 
sumed boat building at Peninsula. Later he 
bought a canal boat and engaged in boat- 
ing for five years. He then engaged with 
his father-in-law in running a dry dock and 
boatrbuilding, under the firm name of John- 
son & Bouton — a business that flouri.shed un- 
til 1873, Mr. Bouton having continued it 
alone from 1866, when his father-in-law died. 

On April 15, 1874, Mr. Bouton came to 
Hudson and bought the old Mansion House 
and also started a livery business, conducting 
the hotel untiil 1883 and the livery business 
until 1886. In this year he acquired a 
financial interest in the business of G. H. 
Grim & Company, which had commenced 
the manufacture of evaporators some years 
previously, and in 1888 the business was in- 
corporated as the G. H. Grim Manufacturing 
Company and was so conducted until Mr. 
Bouton purchased, in 1895. Since then he 
ha? operated the business under its present 
style. Rebuilding and improvement of the 
plant was made in 1905, and a large amount 
of business is carried on, the territorv extend- 



ing from Central New York through a large 
part of the West. 

Mr. Bouton served as township assessor. 

On April 5, 1854, Mr. Bouton was mar- 
ried to Helen A. Johnson, who was born at 
Boston Village, Summit County, Ohio, and 
who died May 29, 1872. She was a daughter 
of Henry Johnson, who was long a prominent 
man in this section. They had three chil- 
dren : Lillian, Lawson W. and Clarence R. 
Lillian, now deceased, married R. K. Pelton, 
of Cleveland, and they had two children — 
Mrs. Helen Williams, who has one daugh- 
ter, Ruth, and Roy. Lawson W. died at Gal- 
veston, Texas, in 1904, and is buried with his 
mother, at Peninsula. Clarence R., who is 
associated with his father in business, mar- 
ried Oma Coyle and has one child — Dar- 
lene. He is a member of the Hudson Vil- 
lage School Board. 

Charles Bouton is a Democrat, and he has 
served both as township trustee of Boston 
Township and as a member of the School 
Board. He belongs to Hudson Lodge, No. 
510, F. & A. M., his son being also identified 
with the same body. 

CHARLES TUTTLE PARKS, funeral di- 
rector, located at No. 17 High Street, Akron, 
also official undertaker for the Harrison 
Burial Association of Akron, is one of the sub- 
stantial men of this city. He is a survivor of 
the great Civil War, in which he served for 
four years. Mr. Parks was born October 27, 
1844, in Summit County, Ohio, a son of 
George and Ruth (Tuttle) Parks. He was 
only a schoolboy when he answered the call 
for soldiers to suppress the Rebellion, enlist- 
ing April 27, 1861, in Company C, 16th Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, in which he served four 
months. When this regiment went out it was 
generally believed that a few months would 
.«ee the end of the war, but this hope was soon 
dispelled, and after the close of his first term 
of service. Mr. Parks felt it his duty to re-enter 
the ranks and continue his service in behalf 
of the Union. He was a member of Com- 
pany H, 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for 
over three vears, making a total of four vears 



HISTORY OF SUMIMIT COUNTY 



of army service. He bears a token of the 
siege of Vicksburg in the absence of a fin- 
ger of his right hand. 

After returning from the army, Mr. Parks 
engaged for some seven years in a lumber 
business at Wooster, Ohio. In 1874 he opened 
an undertaking establishment at Wooster, 
where he remained until 1880. He then came 
to Akron, and was here connected with the 
Buckeye works for eight years. Subsequently 
he took a complete course in the embalming 
department of the Western Reserve Univer- 
sity at Cleveland, and then resumed undertak- 
ing at Akron. He has a modern, well- 
equipped establishment and has gained an 
excellent reputation in his line of business. 

The Harrison Burial Association of Akron, 
of which Mr. Parks is official undertaker, has 
owned its burial grounds for the past .'ix 
years. The president of the association is 
John Sowers, county recorder; vice-president 
is B. F. Clark, ex-county recorder, and its 
secretary and treasurer is E. J. Jenkins. The 
organization has a large membership and 
commands the confidence of the general pub- 
lic. As official undertaker Mr. Parks gives 
ambulance service both day and night. 

Mr. Parks was married in 1865 to Mar- 
garet Curry, of Wooster, who died in 1891. 
He was married (second) in 1893 to Leora 
Allyn, of Akron. Mrs. Parks is also a gradu- 
ated embalmer, probably the only one of her 
sex in this vicinity to have taken a course of 
this kind. Her husband finds her a valuable 
assistant. Mr. and Mrs. Parks reside at No. 
200 Cole Avenue. Politically Mr. Parks is 
identified with the Republican party. Fra- 
ternally he is a Knight of Pythias. Odd Fel- 
low, and Woodman. 

A. H. MARKS, who, as vice president and 
superintendent of the Diamond Rubber 
Company, occupies a very prominent place 
in the business world at Akron, belongs to 
a rather notable body of young men of af- 
fairs, who are prominent in a number of the 
great indu'tries of this city. Mr. Marks was 
born in 1874, at Lynn, Massachusetts. 

After completing the High School course 



at Lynn, Mr. Marks entered Harvard Col- 
lege. Later he became associated with the 
Boston Wire Hose and Rubber Company, 
with whom he remained for two years as as- 
sistant chemist. For one year subsequently 
he was with the Revere Rubber Company, 
at Chelsea, Massachusetts, as chief chemist, 
leaving there to come to Akron as vice presi- 
dent and superintendent of the Diamond 
Rubber Company. He is identified mth 
other rubber interests, being president of and 
a director in the Alkali Rubber Company, 
occupying also the same relations with the 
Northwestern Rubber Company, of Liverpool, 
England, and also with the Pan-American 
Crude Rubber Company. 

In October, 1896, Mr. Marks was married 
to Florence B. Whitney, and they have one 
child. Robert Whitney. Mr, and Mrs. Marks 
belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He is connected with a number of social or- 
ganizations, among them being the Portage 
Country Club, of Akron; the Union Club, 
of Cleveland ; the Hermit Club, of Cleveland, 
and the Eastern Yacht Club, of Marblehead, 
Massachusetts. Fraternally, he is a Mason. 

ALBERT E. ROACH, who fills the im- 
portant office of paymaster for the B. F. Good- 
rich Company, of Akron, has been a resident 
of this city for the past quarter of a cen- 
tury and is a well-known and highly regarded 
citizen. He was born at Twinsburg, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Moses N. 
Roach. The Roach family came to Ohio 
from Vermont in the person of James Roaoh, 
grandfather of Albert E., and was one of the 
earliest settlers at Twinsburg. Moses N. 
Roach was born in 1829. at Twinsburg, where 
he died in 1886, having spent almost his 
whole life at that place. 

Albert E. Roach was reared at Twinsburg, 
attended Bissell Institute, and took a course 
at the Western Reserve Seminary, at West 
Farmingfon, after which he went into the 
railroad business. For ten years he was con- 
nected vnth the Valley Railroad, and for nine 
years with the C. A. & C. Railroad. In 1900 
he entered the office of the B. F. Goodrich 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Company in his present capacity, which is 
one of great responsibility, entailing the ac- 
curate handling of large sums of money for 
the army of employes, incidentally adding 
greatly to the business of Akron and to the 
comfort of many of her citizens. 

On May 13, 1885, Mr. Roach was married 
to Agnes M. Meikle, the ceremony taking 
place at Unadilla, Nebraska. They have three 
children— Ethel M., Elizabeth M. and Al- 
berta. Mr. Roach and family are affiliated 
with the Universalist Church. For the past 
fifteen years Mr. Roach has been secretary of 
Akron Lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M., and be- 
longs also to the Chapter and Council at Ak- 
ron. His social relations are with the Ma- 
sonic Club and he was one of the promoters 
of the Portage Path Canoe Club. 

CHARLES A. WEIDNER. purchasing 
agent of the Falls Rivet and Machine Com- 
pany, at Cuyahoga Falls, has been identified 
■with this important industry for many years. 
Mr. Weidner was born at Cuyahoga Falls, 
Summit County, Ohio, June 29, 1857, and 
is a son of Jacob F. and Caroline (Hess) 
Weidner. 

The father of Mr. Weidner was born in 
Wertemberg, G«rmany, January 18, 1827. 
and was only eight days old when he was 
bereft of his mother. He was reared under 
the careful but strict super\'ision of his father 
and was taught the trade of cooper. In 1849 
he emigrated to America, and after spending 
one year in Cleveland, came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, in March, 1850. Here he went into a 
cooperage business which, during the Civil 
War, was a very thriving one, and which he 
carried on as long as it was profitable, retiring 
some years prior to his death, December 8, 
1900. He was active at one time in politics 
and served on the City Council. On August 
9, 1853, he was married to Catherine Anna 
Hess, at Vermillion, Ohio, who was bom in 
Hessen, Germany, July 13, 1832, and was 
brought to America by her parents when four 
years old. There were five children born to 
this marriage, namely: Elizabeth, now de- 
ceased, who was the wife of E. E. Pierce, of 



New Brighton, Pennsylvania; Charles A., 
whose name begins this sketch ; Mary C, who 
married F. D. Vogan, residing at Cuyahoga 
Falls; George F., residing at Columbus, and 
Nellie G., who married C. E. Wilsdorf, resid- 
ing at Cleveland. The mother of this family 
died April 8, 1905. Both she and husband 
were members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which he was treasurer for many 
years. 

Charles A. Weidner was educated in the 
common and High Schools at Cuyahoga 
Falls. In 1875 he entered the employ of 
the Falls Rivet Company, where he remained 
about ten years, and then for several years 
was otherwise engaged, in 1887 re-entering 
the employ of the same company. For the 
past fourteen years, Mr. Weidner has been 
connected with the offices of this company, 
and for the past three years he has been pur- 
chasing agent, a position which carries with 
it large responsibilities, and the holding of 
which indicates the high degree of confidence 
placed in him by his employers. 

Mr. Weidner married Elae C. Smith, who 
is a daughter of William M. Smith, of Cuya- 
hoga Falls, and they have one son, Harry 
C. In politics Mr. AVeidner is a Republican, 
and for ten years he served as city clerk. 

E. A. LAWTON, superintendent of the 
Akron Water Works Company, has been a 
resident of this city for a period covering 
forty years. He is of New England birth, 
born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, Septem- 
ber 30, 1836, and was reared and educated 
in his native place. WTien nineteen years of 
age Mr. Lawton went to Cleveland, Ohio, 
where he secured work as a machinist and 
lake engineer. He remained in that city for 
about twelve years, coming then to Akron and 
entering the employ of the Brewster Coal 
Company as locomotive engineer, and thus 
continuing for thirteen years. In 1880, he 
became superintendent and engineer of the 
Akron Water Works Company, a responsible 
position in which he has continued until the 
present time. Mr. Lawton is a ver\' capable 
man in his line. Since locating at Akron he 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



has sought to fulfil the duties of a good citi- 
zen and has worked for improvements of a 
public nature, aiming to advance the general 
welfare. For four yeai's he was a member of 
the City Council from the Fifth Ward. 

At Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Lawton was mai'- 
ried to Mary Cox, who died in 1894. The 
surviving children are the following: Han- 
nah Ida, residing at home; Alfred, who is a 
locomotive engineer employed on the Pan- 
ama Canal ; Emma, who is the wife of John 
Engelhardt, of Atlanta, Georgia; Edward, 
who is a member of the Cleveland Fire De- 
partment; Lottie, who married John Dona- 
hue, residing in Chicago; Charles, residing at 
Akron, and Abbie, who married John Metz- 
ler, in the employ of the Diamond Rubber 
Company. Mr. Lawton is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

FRED E. SMITH, president of the South 
Akron Banking Company, has been a resi- 
dent of Akron for the past thirty years, and 
is prominently identified with many of her 
leading interests. He was born in Portage 
County, Ohio, September 4, 1857, came to 
Akron in 1877, and in point of service is 
the oldest banker still active in the business 
in this city. 

Mr. Smith was reared in Portage County 
through boyhood and attended the common 
schools and later the Akron schools and Hi- 
ram College. When eighteen years of age 
he started out on the road as salesman and 
collector for a Cleveland firm, traveling for 
three years over Ohio and the northea.stern 
States. He then came to Akron, where he 
was connected with a millinery store for three 
months, and then was engaged for three years 
in a real estate and insurance business with 
John H. Alible. Since then Mr. Smith has 
been continuously connected with the bank- 
ing business. For thirteen years he was vice 
president and cashier of the Second National 
Bank. The South Akron Bank was organized 
in May, 1906, and Mr. Smith has been its 
president since. The banking institutions of 
Akron have an established reputation 
tbrnughont the Stale, and the South Akron 



Bank is no exception, Mr. Smith's name lend- 
ing it assurance of stability and fidelity. On 
account of the confidence felt by his fellow- 
citiizens, he is frequently called upon to act 
as receiver, and satisfactorily performed the 
duties of this position for the Aultman-Mil- 
ler and other companies. 

In 1882, Mr. Smith was married to Addie 
E. Tuttle, w^ho is a daughter of Seth Tuttle, 
who, for forty years was identified with the 
Taplen Rice Stove and Furnace Company. 
^Ir. and Mrs. Smith have three children, viz: 
Jessie M., who is the wife of H. M. Eaton, 
residing at Akron, and Howard R. and Ger- 
trude M., who are students in the Akron 
High School. 

Mr. Smith belongs to numerous fraternal, 
benevolent and business organizations, and 
has been frequently elected treasurer of the 
same. He takes a patriot's interest in public 
affairs and has often been honored by elec- 
tion to positions of trust and responsibility. 
He has served both as city treasurer and a'^ 
a member of the board of Education, also as 
county treasurer. Personally, he is a man 
held in very high esteem. His public spirit 
has helped the city and his benevolence has 
frequently prompted him to extend a help- 
ing hand to those less fortunate than him- 
self. 

FRED G. ZELLER, a prominent stock 
farmer of Northampton Township, where he 
owns 186 acres of land, and has 150 under 
cultivation, was born at Fremont, Ohio, No- 
vember 19, 1881, and is a son of George and 
Lenora (Sharp) Zeller. 

George Zeller, residing on a fine farm of 
ninety-five acres, in Portage Township, was 
born in Stark County, Ohio, March 19, 1852, 
and is a son of AVilliam Zeller, who came to 
Akron, Summit County, in 1860. He was 
a saddler by trade and followed this for a 
numbpT of years in both Greentown and 
Ifniontown, Ohio. He married a daughter 
of William Wise, of Stark County, and she 
died in 1888, aged sixty-two years. AVilliam 
Zeller died March 2. 1907. aged eighty-two 
years. He had acquired considerable property 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



and presented his grandson, Fred G., with 
his farm, when the latter was twenty years of 
age. George Zeller worked on his father's 
farm until he was twenty-four years old and 
then entered the Buckeye shops at Akron, 
where he worked for some years as a steam- 
fitter. In 1895 he resumed farming, pur- 
chasing the property on which he has resided 
ever since. In 1896 his barn was destroyed 
by fire, and in 1897 he replaced it by one 
of the most substantial structures in Portage 
Township, with dimensions of 70 by 40 feet, 
with 18-foot posts. George Zeller carries on 
a general farming line, raising wheat, corn 
and oats, keeps a dozen head of cattle and 
ships his milk to Akron. Formerly he raised 
hogs quite extensively, but does not take 
much interest in this industry- at present. 

George Zeller married Lenora Sharp, of 
Akron, and they have had three children, the 
two survivors being: Fred G. and Clara, the 
latter residing at home. Mr. Zeller, like hi.-: 
father, has been a supporter of the principles 
of the Republican party, since he reached 
maturity. 

Fred G. Zeller was educated in the schools 
at Akron. He has been engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits ever since he took possession 
of his farm, which he operated first as a dairy 
farm. He realized, however, that there was 
more money to be made on his land in stock- 
raising and now gives the larger part of hi^ 
attention to buying calves, pigs and sheep, 
which he fattens for market. His main 
crops are hay, oats, com and wheat. He is 
an enterprising young man with modem 
ideas and progressive methods and occupies 
a recognized position among the agricultur- 
ists of his section. 

Mr. Zeller married Emma Gartley, who is 
a daughter of Samuel Gartley, of Cuyahoga 
Falls, and they have one daughter, Esther 
Lenora, bom .July .31, 1906. In politics, Mr. 
Zeller is somewhat independent, with a lean- 
ing toward Republicanism. 

•TOHN W. FRANK, county commisioner of 
Summit County, and one of its leading citi- 
zens, resides on his valuable and well-im- 



proved farm of 200 acres, situated in Portage 
Township. Mr. Frank was born near the vil- 
lage of Uniontowu, Lake Township, Stark 
County, Ohio, November 29, 1838, and is a 
son of George Jacob and Eva (Weimer) 
Frank. 

The parents of Mr. Frank were both bom 
in Germany, the father in Wurttenberg and 
the mother in Alsace-Loraine. George Jacob 
learned the cabinet-maker's trade and also 
that of house carpenter. When he reached 
military age, he entered the German army 
and served out his necessary term and was 
in Alsace-Loraine when he was discharged. 
It was there he met the lady who became his 
wife, and after their marriage they settled 
near her home and continued to live there 
until 1837, when they came to America, 
bringing their five children. One daughter 
died at Havre, France, while the party was 
awaiting the sailing of their vessel. It took 
them a long time to reach Buffalo, New York, 
from which point they went to Cleveland and 
then on down the canal to Stark County, 
where George Jacob Frank bought a farm of 
eighty acres, the same on which John W. 
Frank was born. 

John W. Frank remained on the home 
farm until he was seventeen years old and 
then entered on an apprenticeship to the car- 
penter's trade. He also learned cabinet mak- 
ing, following this business for eight years. 
His mother died in 1870, and in 1872, the 
father sold the farm and subsequently lived 
until his death, in 1884, with his son, George 
Frank, at Uniontown. On the breaking out 
of the Civil War, John W. Frank started on 
his way to Indiana, where he anticipated find- 
ing work at his trade, and as he happened to 
be at Wabash, he attended a great war meet- 
ing held there that night, and when he 
reached Marshall County, his intended des- 
tination, he found war excitement prevail- 
ing. He worked there for several months, 
however, but on September 10, 1861, he fol- 
lowed the example of the majority of the 
young men of the neighborhood, and enlisted 
in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, made up from 



77(5 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



both Indiana and Illinois, Mr. Frank belong- 
ing to an Indiana organization. 

Almost immediately after enlisting, Mr. 
Frank was appointed corporal of his com- 
pany, and during his fifteen months of service 
he performed every duty with cheerfulness 
and bravery. The cavalry was called on to 
do a great deal of scouting in Arkansas, and 
many of the regiment took sick at Helena, 
Mr. Frank among the number. Three boat- 
loads of sick were sent up the Mississippi 
River to Keokuk, Iowa, landing there ten 
days later, Mr. Frank, at this time being un- 
able to walk. He was prostrated for ten 
weeks in a hospital, his brother George assist- 
ing in his nursing for seven weeks, and finally 
taking him home, where good care finally re- 
stored him to health. He was honorably dis- 
charged at Keokuk as orderly sergeant hav- 
ing received several promotions. 

Mr. Frank came to Akron in 1863 and 
worked several month at his trade, and from 
his marriage in October, 1863, until the fol- 
lowing spring, he lived in Uniontown. At 
this time his wife, who was a very capable 
young woman and for many years a teacher, 
took charge of the Uniontown schools, teach- 
ing through the summer, while Mr. Frank be- 
came bookkeeper for a merchant in this vil- 
lage. In the fall of 1864 they returned to the 
Frank farm and lived there for the following 
eight years, in the spring of 1873, moving to 
the farm on which they now live. At that 
time, Mr. Frank bought 116 acres, which 
he devoted to general farming, but as he 
gradually added more land he went into stock- 
raising. For many subsequent years he dealt 
largely in sheep, feeding and shipping, at 
times as many as 500 head. He is one of the 
township's mo.st substantial men and useful 
citizens. 

On October 27, 1863, Mr. Frank was mar- 
ried to Margaret F. Thompson, who is a 
daughter of Jacob Thompson. She was 
born in Stark Coimty, Ohio, but was reared 
at Springfield I^ake, Summit County. Mr. 
and Mrs. Frank have four children, namely: 
Elta Lorena, residing at home; Charles Wal- 
ter, township clerk of Portage Township, 



manages the home farm; Margaret Leora, re- 
siding at home; and John Clarence, residing 
at Barberton, is purchiising agent for the 
Sterling Boiler Works. 

Politically, Mr. Frank is a Democrat and 
he has been active in public affairs for many 
years. Prior to removing from Stark 
County, he was a trustee and treasurer of 
Lake Township, and since coming to Portage 
Township has been its clerk for two 
terms. In 1906 he was elected county com- 
missioner, a just tribute to Mr. Frank's promi- 
nence in this section. He holds membership 
with Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Re- 
public. With his family, he belongs to the 
West Congregational Church at Akron. 

ARTHUR W. SCUDDER, postmaster at 
Fairlawn, resides on his well-improved farm 
of eighty acres, in Portage Township, where 
he is a well-known and much respected citi- 
zen. He was born in Copley Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, November 1, 1844, and is 
a son of Walter and Catherine M. (Stim.son) 
Scudder. 

Walter Scudder, father of Arthur W., was 
born in the State of New York, where he was 
reared, educated and married. In the spring 
of 1844, with his wife and two children, he 
started in a two-ox wagon, for Ohio. He lo- 
cated at Copley Center, where he followed his 
trade of shoemaker for many years. He then 
purchased a farm near Montrose, but not hav- 
ing been accustomed to an agricultural life, 
in three years he sold his farm and returned 
to Copley Center, where he resumed work at 
his trade. In 1854 he again tried farming, 
purchasing a farm of 118 acres, south of 
Copley, on which he lived until 1883, when 
he sold out and removed to Akron, where he 
died in 1896. Mrs. Scudder died on the farm 
south of Copley, in July, 1868. They had 
four children : Thurlow, Emogene, Arthur 
W. and Carlton R. The eldest son was a sol- 
dier in the Civil War, serving throe years as 
a member of Company H, 104th Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, after which he was 
janitor for Grace School at Akron, for many 
vears. At the time of his death, he left manv 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Til 



friends to mourn his loss. Emogene married 
A. C. Francisco, residing at Copley. Carl- 
ton R. is a resident of Barberton. 

Arthur W. Scudder was reared in Copley 
Township and attended the district schools. 
When but nineteen years of age he left home 
to enter the Federal army, enlisting for three 
years in Battery A, First Ohio Light Artil- 
lery. His contract was dated February 14, 
1864, and he served until the close of the war, 
and was honorably discharged at Cleveland, 
Ohio, reaching home July 31, 1865. He was 
with Sherman's army in its march to the 
sea and took part in the siege of Atlanta, 
where his battery was used for skirmishing 
purposes. He was a brave soldier, as his 
record testifies and never evaded a duty. He 
had thus performed a man's part in life be- 
fore he had reached man's estate. 

Mr. Scudder then returned to the home 
farm and attended one term of school, and 
during the winter of 1865-6 he taught school. 
His marriage followed, to Maria A. Stirk, who 
is a daughter of Henry Stirk, formerly of 
Pennsylvania, but later of Wayne County, 
Ohio. They have four children, namely: 
Carlton H., who married Mary Porcher, owns 
a general store at Boneta, Medina County, 
and ha.s two children — GJrace and Thurlow 
Frederick ; .James Thurlow, who married 
Harriet Quirk, has one son. Quirk Thurlow, 
purchased his father's store in February, 
1907, and is assistant postmaster at Fairlawn; 
Orville E., who married Viva Baxter, resides 
at AlvTon, where he is manager of the North 
Howard Street Mi.ssion, being inclined toward 
a religious life: and Marv Belle, who married 
Clyde E. Orton. 

After their marriage, in 1868, Mr. and 
Mrs. Scudder went to live in a small hoase 
situated on his father's farm, but in the spring 
of the following year, they moved to a farm 
in Wayne County, and later to a farm near 
Lodi. In 1870, Mr. Scudder bought a farm 
in Medina County, not far from Chatham. 
.\bout one year later he sold this farm and 
moved to Copley, where he lived until May, 
1872, when he bought his present farm. A 
man of excellent business judgment, he has al- 



ways been able to make his enteiprises paying 
ones. For a number of years he operated three 
milk depots at Akron, having at one time 
twenty-six head of cows. In 1891 he moved to 
the pleasant little hamlet then known as Fair- 
view, and it was through the efforts of Mr. 
Scudder that the place was renamed. Fair- 
lawn, there being another Fairview in the 
State. He went into a mercantile business 
in the village and was the first postmaster, 
which office he retains, although he is no 
longer in business. He operated the store 
now owned by his son, at Boneta, for a time, 
as well as the one at Fairlawn. 

Mr. Scudder is a member of Buckley Post, 
No. 12, Grand Army of the Republic. Both 
he and his wife come of military ancestry. 
His grandfather, R. R. Stimson, was a soldier 
in the War of 1812, enlisting August 28, 
1814, as a fifer in Capt. Jenks Pullen's com- 
pany. First New York militia, and was dis- 
charged November 1, 1814. Joseph Fox, the 
great-grandfather of Mrs. Scudder was com- 
missioned a captain in Col. David Henley's 
regiment of Continental troops, June 29, 
1777, in the Revolutionary War, and later 
was transferred to the Sixteenth Massachu- 
setts and afterwards to the Ninth Massachu- 
setts Regiment. 

JOSEPH WIGLEY, of the firm of Hunt & 
Wigley, general contractors at Akron, is an 
old established resident of this city. He was 
born in Staffordshire, England, in 1859, and 
came to America in 1882. 

Mr. Wigley had attended school and had 
also learned the building trade in his own 
country before emigrating, and after settling 
at Akron he worked at his trade exclusively 
until 1886, when he went into general con- 
tracting. The firm of Wigley Brothers for a 
number of years was the leading one of Sum- 
mit County. In 1901, Mr. Wigley formed a 
partnership with W. H. Hunt, under the .«tyle 
of Hunt & Wigley. which continues. The 
firm does general contracting, -building, pav- 
ing, sewer building and like work. The fine 
pressed brick building they erected in Akron 
in 1907. is two stories in height, dimensions 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of 100 by 47 feet, and is one of the ornaments 
to the section of the city in which it stands. 
The firm leased it to the Clinton Milling Com- 
pany for a term of five years, with the priv- 
ilege of renewing the lease. 

Mr. AVigley was married in 1899, to Agnes 
Cooper, of Akron, and they have two chil- 
dren : Florence Agnes and Edward John. 

Mr. Wiglcy is a member of the Episcopal 
Church. Politically, he is a Republican and 
takes an active interest in city affairs. 

WILLIAM F. HAUPT, one of the repre- 
sentative citizens of Loyal Oak, was born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Febru- 
ary 19, 1848, and is a son of Christian and 
Elizabeth (Edelman) Haupt. 

The parents of Mr. Haupt were both na- 
tives of Northampton County, and both died 
there, the father in 1853 and the mother in 
1876. 

Christian Haupt was a farmer during all 
his mature years, he departed this life at the 
age of forty-two. William F. being then only 
five years of age, was I'eared and educated in 
his native county, where he lived with his 
widowed mother until he was eighteen years 
old. In 1865 he came to Norton Town.'^hip. 
Soon after he learned the stone-mason's trade, 
and followed that occupation for a number 
of years, after which he took up farming. 

In 1869 he was united in marriage to*Ellen 
Cecelia Lerch. daughter of Peter and Rebecca 
(Schweitzer) Lerch. Mr.?. Haupt was also a 
native of Northampton County, Pennsylva- 
nia, born August 4, 1848. Her parents em- 
igrated to 'this state (Ohio) in the spring of 
1849, making the journey in wagons, and lo- 
cating in Copley Town.ship, Mrs. Haupt be- 
ing only nine months old at the time. Two 
sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Haupt — 
Howard W. and Clinton F. — both residents 
of Akron. 

William F. Plaupt was one of the three or- 
ganizers of the Norton Mutual Fire Associa- 
tion, in the interest of which he worked .«ome 
of his time for six years as agent and direct- 
or, without compensation. Many meetings 
were held at his residence imtil it was fullv 



organized, and is now the only surviving 
charter member. The said association has 
now an insured capital of $4,000,000. He 
is identified with the Lutheran Church of 
Loyal Oak, has held church and township of- 
fices and is in every way a worthy and reliable 
citizen and is now living a retired life. 

HORACE G. CANFIELD, who conducts 
a job printing establishment at Akron, was 
born November 19, 1830, and has resided in 
this city since 1842, when his parents came 
here from Medina, Ohio. In boyhood, Mr. 
Canfield attended school but the larger part 
of his education he secured in the printing 
office, he beginning to set type in his father's 
establishment, before he was eight years old. 
He is a printer by inheritance, both his father 
and grandfather having been practical print- 
ers. His father, Horace Canfield, settled in 
Cuyahoga Falls in 1833, where he established 
the newspaper, the Ohio Review, and later 
had papers at Cleveland, the Cleveland Com- 
mercial Advertiser, and Medina, The Watch- 
tower, coming to Akron, in 1842, where he 
published his last paper. 

Horace G. Canfield learned the printer's 
trade from the ground up, and has made a 
specialty of job printing. 

He was foreman of the Beacon from 1855 
to 1866, at which time he purchased a one- 
third interest, Mr. S. A. Lane also purchas- 
ing a third interest. Shortly after A. L. 
Paine and D. J. Long purchased the remain- 
ing third of Messrs. Beebe and Elkins. The 
firm name was then changed to Lane, Can- 
field & Company. Thinking Akron about 
large enough to support a daily paper, he is- 
sued the Daily Beacon with S. A. Lane as 
editor, H. G. Canfield, business manager, and 
Paine and Long in charge of the job and 
news departments. Tliis was the first success- 
ful launching of a daily newspaper in Akron. 
Under the above-described management it 
flourished until it was sold out about four 
years later. 

During the Civil War Mr. Canfield served 
in Company F, 164th Regiment. Ohio \ ol- 
untoer Infantry, for 100 davs, his rocjiment 




RICHARD FREEMAN PALMER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



781 



being stationed through thii time, at Fort 
Cocoran. Ho is a member of Buckley Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic Akrou Lodge, 
No. 83, F. ifc A. M., and Nemo Lodge, I. 0. 
O. F. 

On October 12, l6o~, Mr. Canfield was mar- 
ried to Jennie Galbraith, and they have four 
children, namely: Etta M. and Hattie G., 
both residing at home; Jessie W., who is chief 
clerk and stenograijher in the ottice of the 
State Fire Marshal, at Columbus; and Dr. 
Charles H., residing at Island Pond, Ver- 
mont, where he i.s in the Government service 
as a meat inspector. 

Politically, Mr. Canfield is now a Democrat, 
having been formerly a Fremont and Lincoln 
voter. For forty-five years he has been iden- 
tified with the Masonic fraternity, and he has 
earned the ''fifty-year badge" as a member of 
the Odd Fellows, and is captain of the degree 
staft' in tlie auxiliary order of Rebecca. Mr. 
Canfield has a little private museum in 
which he has collected a number of old family 
treasurers, among which is his great-grand- 
father's diploma, issued in 1772, by Yale Col- 
lege, and a tiny shoe which was once worn by 
his great-great-grandmother. He is one of 
Akron's best known citizens. 

RICHARD FREEMAN PALMER, who 

for some years has lived at Akron retired 
from active participation in business, was 
formerly identified Mith some of the city's 
large industrial enterprises, and owns a large 
amount of real estate within it.s boundaries. 
Mr. Palmer was born at Akron, Ohio, IMarch 
13. 1840, and is a son of Jo-seph and Eliza 
(Freeman") Palmer. 

Joseph Palmer was born in England and 
came to Akron in 1836. Pie was a millwright 
bv trade and the work that brought him to 
this .section was the building of the locks in 
the Ohio Canal. Later he a.ssi.sted in build- 
ing the Cascade mill, and was identified with 
that mill for eisbteen vears. In 1854 he 
moved to a farm in Medina County, on which 
he lived until the death nf his wife. He then 
returned to Akron, making hi~ home with his 
«on, Richard. 



Richard F. Palmer was little more than a 
school-boy when he found occupation as a 
driver on the canal, and he continued to work 
as such until he was eighteen years of age. 
About that time he entered the high school, 
where he remained until President Lincoln's 
call, in 1861, for 75,000 troops, when he en- 
listed for service in the Union Ai-my. He was 
for three months a member of Company G, 
19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being stationed 
during this time mainly in West Virginia. 
For the following two years he ran a station- 
ary engine and then, in February, 1885, re- 
enlisted, entering Company I, 188th Ohio 
\'olunteer Infantry. During this second term 
of service, which covered a year, he was lo- 
cated in Tennessee and Kentucky. After be- 
ing mustered out of the army the second time, 
Mr. Palmer then bought a canal boat and 
operated on the canal for some three years. 
In 1872 he found employment in the oflice 
of the Akron Iron Company, remaining there 
two years. He then entered the employ of 
Anltman, ^Miller & Company, becoming their 
general agent, with headquarters at Tiffin, 
Ohio, being in their employ for twenty-seven 
years. Since 1897 Mr. Palmer has lived re- 
tired from active business life, but he has 
many congenial interests to occupy his atten- 
tion. 

^Ir. Palmer was married June 9, 1862, to 
Frances E. Field, who is a daughter of Asa 
Field. Mrs. Palmer died April 26. 1898, 
leaving three sons and an adopted daughter. 
The eldest son, Frank L.. is a resident of Pitts- 
burg. J. Dwight, residing in Akron, is one 
of the city's representative men and has just 
been elected a member of the City Council. 
J. Asa. the third son, is secretary of the Burt 
^lanufacturing Company, of Akron. Mar- 
garet, the daughter by adoption, is the wife 
of Willis Bacon, an attorney of Tiffin, Ohio. 
Mr. Palmer has always taken a laudaV)le 
interest in (he nublic matters concerning the 
development of his citv. Years ago he ser^'ed 
on the Citv Council, in 1871 and 1872. At 
present be is a member of the Summit 
County Court House Building Commission. 
,ju:^t completing the erection of a $400,000.00 



782 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



court house. For maay years he has been 
Ijrominent in Masonry and is the present emi- 
nent commander of Akron Commandery, and 
served seven years as prelate. He has twice 
been commander of Buckley Post, G. A. R. 

PRESTON D. STRATTON, the founder 
and Past Supreme President of the benefi- 
ciary order of the Protected Home Circle, 
with offices in the Everett Building, Akron, 
was born in Mahoning Countv, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 28, 1852. 

Mr. Stratton had an early agricultural 
training and country schooling, but com- 
pleted his education at Mt. Union College, 
leaving sooner than he had proposed, on ac- 
count of the death of his father, following 
which he taught school for six terms. It was 
in 1886 that he originated the central idea 
and wrote out the plan for the Protected 
Home Circle,, organizing at Sharon, Pennsyl- 
vania, with an initial membership of twenty- 
nine persons. Mr. Stratton would scarcely be 
blamed if he evinced some pride at the growth 
of the order, it now having a membership of 
more than 65,000. The organizaton has paid 
out during its twenty-one years of existence, 
more than $4,000,000, in death benefits, and 
ha-s a reserve fund of $1,000,000. In addi- 
tion in 1894, the order erected a fine temple 
at a cost of $50,000, which with equipment 
is now worth $100,000. This magnificient 
structure is located at Sharon. Mr. Stratton 
served for eight years as Supreme Secretary 
and for seven years as Supreme President and 
is now Past Supreme President in charge of 
the work in the State of Ohio. 

In addition to the fraternal relations exist- 
ing between him and so many of his fellow- 
citizens, in the order he founded, he is actively 
associated in other fraternities, being a Past 
Grand in the order of Odd Fellows, a member 
of the National Union, Ben Hur, K. & L. of 
Honor, and of the Foresters. Mr. Stratton 
has always been recognized as a good citizen 
since locating at Akron, and he was selected 
for the head of the Law and Order League, 
serving as its president during its term of 
usefulnes.~. Llis political sympathies are with 



the Republican party. As he is a fine 
sijcaker, his voice was frecpiently heard dur- 
ing the camijaign preceding the first election 
of President McKinley. 

In 1877, Mr. Stratton was married to Mary 
E. Protheroe, who is a daughter of Francis 
Protheroe, the latter of whom was bOrn in 
Wales and came to America and settled in 
Goshen Township, Mahoning County, in 
young manhood. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton 
have three children : Florence E., who is a 
graduate of . the College of Commerce, at 
Sharon, Pennsylvania, is her father's private 
secretary and stenographer; Delbert P., who 
is assistant manager of the billing department 
of the B. F. Goodrich Company, is a graduate 
of tlie Akron High School; and Raymond F., 
is a student. 

Mr. Stratton is one of the leading members 
of the Baptist Church at Akron, in which he 
is a deacon, and is also president of the Men's 
club. 

WILLIAM A. DICE, a practical farmer 
of Franklin Township, who operates an excel- 
lent tract of seventy-four acres, was born Oc- 
tober 27, 1859, on"^the old Grill farm north 
of Clinton, Franklin Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Jeremiah and 
Caroline (Dissinger) Dice. 

.leremiah Dice was born in Chambersburg, 
Pennsylvania, and was a son of Michael Dice, 
a substantial farmer of Franklin County. 
There were nine children in Michael Dice's 
family, but Jeremiah was the only one to 
come West, he settling north of Manchester, 
Franklin Township, when about tw-enty-one 
years of age. On first engaging in farming 
here he rented land, but later purchased two 
fine farms which aggregated about 250 acres, 
and here he died in 1904, at the age of 
seventy-three years; his widow, who survives 
him, is seventy-two years old. Jeremiah Dice 
was married in Franklin Township, to Caro- 
line Dissinger, who is a sister of Dr. Dissinger, 
of Canal Fulton, and daughter of John Dis- 
singer, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania 
by wagon and settled north of Manchester on 
a farm now owned bv William A. Dice and 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



783 



other lieirs. On this property Mrs. Dice was 
born. Seven children were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Dice, namely: John; Mary, who mar- 
ried M. Waltz; William Albert; Alma, who 
married L. W. Baughman; Elton; Emma, 
who married Thomas Sours; and Marvin, all 
living in Summit County, Ohio. 

William A. Dice spent his boyhood days on 
the old home place north of Manchester, at- 
tending District School No. 1, and working at 
farming. He purchased a part of his present 
farm from Henry D. Dailey, and has here 
carried on general farming very successfully. 
He is a Democrat in politics, and has shown 
interest in the success of his party in this 
section. 

On November 12, 1881, Mr. Dice was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Diiiley, who is a daughter of 
Henry D. and Mary (Rhodes) Dailey, early 
settlers in this section. Henry D. Dailey, who 
was the original owner of W. A. Dice's pres- 
ent farm, which he helped to clear, died at 
the age of seventy-eight years, while his 
widow, who survives him, is in her eighty- 
second year. Mr. and Mrs. Dice have two 
children : Henry, attending Wooster Col- 
lege, who taught school for five years in the 
count}', and is engaged to teach in the 
grammar grades in 19G7 ; and Hazel, also a 
student at Wooster College, who will teach at 
Barberton, Fi'anklin Township. 

WALTER R. WOLFSPERGER, electrical 
contractor, with offices at No. 575 East 
E.xchange Street, Akron, has been established 
in business for himself in this city for the past 
six years, prior to which he was connected 
with the electrical work of a number of the 
largest institutions in this section. He was 
born in 1878. at Canal Fulton, Stark Countv, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Wolfsperger was educated in the public 
schools at Canal Fulton, where he lived until 
fourteen years of age, and earned his first 
money by working in the coal mines in Stark 
County. In 1893, he came to Akron and for 
about five years was more or less continuously 
employed in the shops connected with the 
various rubber industries. In 1807, ho wont 



to Massillon, where he was connected with 
the Massillon Light, Lleat & Power Company 
until 1900, when he returned to Akron and 
for the succeeding eight months, did the elec- 
trical work for the B. F. Goodrich Company. 
He was then employed by an electrical con- 
tractor up to 1901, when he embarked in 
business for himself. Mr. Wolfsperger's skill 
has been exercised in behalf of a number of 
the large institutions of Akron. He has done 
the electrical work for some years for Buchtel 
College, in its Women's dormitory, the resi- 
dence of E. R. Held, the Crisp Block, the 
Bergen Iron Company's new plant, the Baker- 
McMillan plant, and a number of others. 
Mr. Wolfsperger's business has inci'eased 600 
per cent over the first year, a record which 
tells' its own story. 

In 1899, Mr. Wolfsperger was married to 
Louise Anna Shopbell, who was born at Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, and they have two children, 
Rhea and Walter. Politically, Mr. Wolfs- 
perger is a Democrat. Fraternally, he is 
connected with the order of Eagles, and is 
also a member of the White Anchor Relief 
Association. 

SIMON P. LUDWICK, a substantial citi- 
zen and well-known agriculturist of Summit 
County, who owns and operates a farm of 
seventy-eight acres in Franklin Township, 
was born in an old log hou^e in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, October 28, 
1844, and is a son of Samuel and Mary 
(Dick) Ludwick. 

George Ludwick, his grandfather, and a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, was one of the early set- 
tlers of Franklin Township, and entered the 
farm now owned by Frank Cox, which he 
cleared from the woods. There his death 
occurred, as did also that of his wife. Among 
the children of George Ludwick was Samuel, 
the father of Simon P: He was also bom in 
Pennsylvania, and was brought to Ohio by his 
parents, the remainder of his life being .spent 
farming in Franklin Township. Mr. Lud- 
wick purchased the old home farm and re- 
placed the old log house with bne of stone, 
which is <{]]] standing, and bore ho died in 



784 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



about 1855, at the age uf fifty-three yeaK. 
Samuel Ludwick married Mary Dick, daugh- 
ter of Samuel Dick and she survived her hus- 
band one year. Mr. and Mrs. Ludwick had 
eleven children, as follows: George, residing 
in Michigan; Eve, who married Solomon Se- 
crist; Barbara, who married Isaac Snyder; 
Rachel, who became the wife of Martin Grill ; 
Mary, who married Daniel Haring; Samuel; 
Rebecca, who married H. Snyder; Simon 
Peter; Jemima, who married H. Surfass; 
Anna, and Amos. Of the foregoing, Eve, 
Barbara, Mary, Rebecca, Anna and Amos are 
deceased the last mentioned passing away in 
his fourteenth year. 

Simon P. Ludwick received a somewhat 
limited education, his parents dying when he 
was still a lad. However, he made the best 
of his opportunities and being an ambitious 
youth, he managed to secure a meager educa- 
tion. His young manhood was spent in 
M'orking on the neighboring farms, and when 
eighteen years of age he started to do thresh- 
ing, becoming a partner with his brother 
Samuel in this business on reaching his 
twenty-first year. He was also associated 
with Martin Grill and other partners, and 
for one year had charge of the business alone, 
operating the old style horse-power machine. 
After fourteen successful seasons spent in 
■threshing, Mr. Ludwick, in 1875, purchased 
his present farm from the George Baughman 
heirs, and replaced the old buildings below the 
hill with his present large eight-room frame 
house, substantial barns and new outbuildings. 
Mr. Ludwick is one of Summit County's self- 
made men, and as .such is honored and es- 
teemed by all who know him. He ha.s always 
been industrious, biit in later years has found 
time for travel, and has visited brothers in Il- 
linois and Michigan. 

In March, 1872, Mr; Ludwick was married 
to Lucetta Baughman, daughter of George 
Baughman, and six children were born to 
this union: Samantha; Mirtie, who married 
Calvin Stump; Percy; Lottie, who died at 
the age of two years; Leeman; and Bertha. 
Mr. Ludwick, with his family, belongs to the 



Reformed (Jluirch. In political matter.- he 
is a Democrat. 

SOLOMON KEPLER, residing on his 
well-improved farm in Green Township, is 
one of the large land-owners of this section, 
his possessions amounting to over 400 acres, 
which are situated in both Green and Frank- 
lin Townships. He was born August 28, 
1840, on his j^resent farm in Green Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Jacob A. and Christina (Hushberger) Kepler. 

Jacob A. Kepler was born near East Lib- 
erty, Ohio, to which place his father, Andrew 
Kepler, had come from Pennsylvania as a 
pioneer, and where his death occurred. 
Jacob A. Kepler grew to manhood on his 
father's farm, but after his marriage removed 
to a farm on the east side of Turkeyfoot Lake, 
where he erected a log cabin in the wilderness, 
Here Mr. Kepler cleared a farm of 200 acres, 
and this was his home for the remainder of his 
life, his death occurring at the age of sixty- 
two years. Mrs. Kepler survived her hus- 
band for a long period, being eighty-one years 
old at the time of her death. Jacob A. Kep- 
ler was married to Christina Hushberger, who 
was a native of Pennsylvania, and to them 
there were born eight children, four of whom 
grew to maturity, namely: Elizabeth, who is 
the widow of J. R. Neal ; Adam ; Sophia, who 
married H. Swaggert, and Solomon. 

Solomon Kepler attended the district 
schools of his native locality, and has been 
since engaged in agricultural pursuits. His 
fine farm, which is a part of the old home- 
stead, includes a large house and substantial 
barns, built by Mr. Kepler himself, and the 
large, productive orchard planted by him. 
He is in very comfortable circumstances, and 
in later years has devoted some time to travel, 
visiting the home of his ancestors in Pennsyl- 
vania, and going as far West as California. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and has served 
as township trustee and as school director. 

In 1861 Mr. Kepler was married, first, to 
Elizabeth Garst, and their children were: 
Samuel, who died in infancy: Oliver, who 
died at the age of six years; Belle, who mar- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



785 



ried E. Rex, and has two children — Howard 
and Edith; Amanda, wife of N. Foust, with 
live children — Clarence, Jacob, Samuel, Oran 
and William ; and Mabel, who married M. 
Grove, and has two children — Willard V., and 
a baby girl unnamed. After the death of his 
tir<t wife Mr. Kepler was married, second 
to Ilattie Herring, a daughter of Samuel Her- 
ring. Of this union there were born seven 
children — Andrew, Aaron, Solomon, Elsie, 
William, Florence and Blanche. 

ALBERT G. DURSTFNE, a highly re- 
spected citizen and retii'ed farmer, residing on 
his farm of eighty acres, which is situated in 
Franklin Township, was born in an old log 
house that stood on the present farm, in Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, April 1, 1855, and is a son 
of Abraham S. and Susanna (Swartz) Dur- 
stine. 

The Durstine family, which is an old one 
in America, was established in Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1660, by Michael Durstine, 
who emigrated from Alsace, France. The 
grandfather of Albert G. Durstine was Abra- 
ham Durstine, who was the founder of the 
family in Ohio. He was born in Bucks 
County, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1800, and 
was a son of Jacob Durstine, who lived on the 
farm on which the original Durstine settled, 
and which is still a possession of the family. 
The. grandparents of Albert G. came in 
pioneer fashion to Holmes County, Ohio, 
l^ringing as many of their possessions as they 
could. Later, the family moved to Wayne 
County, but prior to his death, Abraham 
Durstine returned to Holmes County and 
died at Smithville, in March, 1878. The 
death of his first wife had preceded his own 
by twenty-four years, and he contracted a 
second marriage with a member of the Guiley 
family, who died without issue. The chil- 
dren of the first marriage were : Jacob, John, 
.\braham S., Catherine, Mary and Sarah. 

Abaham S. Durstine was born in Holmes 
County, Ohio, in 1828, and died in 1887. 
When he reached manhood he married Su- 
sanna Swartz, who was a daughter of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Thornton) Swartz. She died 



in 1902, aged seventy-four years. The Swartz 
family came to Summit County from Lancas- 
ter, Pennsylvania, when Mrs. Durstine wa^ 
eight years old. Her father helped to build 
the Reservoir and he donated sixteen acres of 
the necessary amount of land. Abraham S. 
Durstine, in 1853, bought the present farm of 
his son Albert, from Daniel Deihel, and he 
resided on the place for the rest of life. 
They had two children, Albert and Ellen. 
The latter, who married Isaac Carmany, is 
now deceased. 

Albert G. Dui'stine was given a district 
school education, but much of his youth was 
spent in working on the faiun and also, oc- 
casionally, at the carpenter's trade. This fine 
old farm has always been his real home, and 
ho has never been absent from it with the ex- 
ception of three years. 

On October 12, 1875, Mr. Durstine was 
married to Maria Rhodes, who is a daughter 
of Frederick and Margaret (Snyder) Rhodes, 
and they have one child, Edward, who man- 
ages the home farm. The latter married 
INIabel Reynolds, who is a daughter of Ransom 
and Hannah (Fosnacht) Reynolds, and they 
have one child, Otis Nathan. This promis- 
ing little grandson of Mr. Durstine was born 
February 18, 1900, just 100 years, to the 
day, after the birth of Abraham Durstine, 
his great-great-grandfather. The Durstines 
are a prominent family in Franklin Township. 

F. B. GOODMAN, one of Akron's represent- 
ative business men, who has been a resident 
of this city for the past twenty-seven years, 
fills the important position of assistant man- 
ager of the M. O'Neil Company, which is a 
leading mercantile house of this section of 
Ohio, its stability as well as its volume of busi- 
ness giving it this prominence. 

Mr. Goodman was born at Atwat^r, Portage 
County, Ohio, June 6, 1854, and was there 
reared. He is a son of the late Henry Good- 
man, who was a substantial farmer of Portage 
County. After leaving school, Mr. Goodman 
was employed in a general mercantile store in 
his native county for five years. He then 
went to Alliance and was a salesman for the 



786 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



mereantOe firm of Wann & Warren, of that 
city, for three j'eaxs. For the following three 
}-ears, Mr. Goodman was in a general mercan- 
tile business for himself, in Stark County, 
and in 1880, he came to Akron and entered 
the employ of the mercantile house of O'Neil 
& Dyas, with which he continued until the 
death of Mr. Dyas. About this time the 
business was incorporated as. The M. O'Neil 
Company, Mr. Goodman remaining with the 
firm, and since this period being assistant 
manager. For over a quarter of a century 
he has been connected with this house, and 
his fidelity to its welfare, and co-operation in 
its policy of fair dealing with the public, 
liave made him a noteworthy factor in its suc- 
cess. Mr. Goodman was married in 1880 to 
Anna Martin, of Stark County, and they have 
one son, Walter, who has charge of the house- 
furnishing department of the M. O'Neil Com- 
pany. Mr. Goodman is a member of the En- 
glish Lutheran Church. 

MAHLON S. LONG, senior member of the 
Long & Taylor Company, a leading business 
house of Akron, was born at Spring Creek, 
Warren County, Pennsylvania,, in 1867, and 
is a son of Joshua W. and Matilda H. Long. 

The parents of Mr. Long removed from 
Warren County, Pennsylvania, to Mentor, 
Ohio, when he was a babe of six months. 
His father resides at Newton Falls, Ohio, on . 
a farm in that vicinity, and is now retired 
from active life. Fonnerly he followed black- 
smithing and carriage-making. In 1861, he 
enlisted for service in the Civil AVar, enter- 
ing Company F, 19th Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, but one year later was hon- 
orably discharged on account of disability. 

Mahlon S. Long spent his boyhood and 
youth at Mentor and Toledo. In 1881 he 
went to Newton Falls, and was graduated from 
the Newton Falls High School in 1885. After 
teaching school for one year at the latter 
place, he entered Mt. Union College, and af- 
ter two terms there, he went to work in the 
basket factory at Newton Falls. Twelve 
months later he went from that place to Chi- 
cago. Mr. Long remained in the metropolis 



of the middle west for a period of five years, 
mainly engaged as a salesman with a large 
cigar firm. In May, 1892, he .came to Ak- 
ron and engaged m shipping clerk with what 
is nOiW the Standard Oilcloth Company. He 
continued with this firm for a year and a 
half. The panic of 1893 caused many of the 
employes to be laid ofi' by this house, he 
among the munber, and he fell back on his 
old work of basket-making. He continued 
making grape baskets during the following 
fall, at Kirtland, Ohio, and returned to 
Akron on the first of the following 
October, determined to go into business 
for himself and be independent of the 
ups and downs of more ambitious concerns. 
He had a little capital and this he invested in 
a small cigar store, on the site of the pres- 
ent magnificent new modern building. 

W^ith small capital, few resources and ac- 
tive competition, Mr. Long found the first 
three years hard ones to push through, but 
Ijy working fifteen hours a day, and careful 
management, with honest and courteous treat- 
ment for every one, he built up a constantly 
increasing trade. He found it necessary, ere 
long, to increase his space by adding another 
room. Later, when it proved impossible to 
still further add to the building he occupied, 
as his business demanded, he resolved to pur- 
chase this piece of property then for sale, at 
the point of the intersection of Main and 
Howard Streets, and he acquired it in 1898. 
Its flatiron shape, 86 feet lying on Main 
Street and 92 feet on Howard Street, 60 feet 
wide at one end and 9 feet at the other, de- 
termined the name of the magnificent build- 
ing, the erection of which was commenced in 
July, 1906. 

In 1895, H. H. Taylor became associated 
with Mr. Long and the firm name became 
M. S. Long & Company. On account of in- 
creasing business the first change was made 
to an additional store at Nos. 20-22 South 
Main Street, with dimensions of 30 by 102 1-2 
foet, which they subsequently bought. On 
this land the firm built a brick structure, with 
three stories and basement, occupying two 
store rooms, one as a candv and ice cream 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



dcpartiuuiit and llie other with a general line 
of cigars, stationery, athletic goods and iiews- 
l^pers. The entire basement is used for a 
candy factory, a very complete plant here be- 
ing installed, where are manufactured choice 
candies and "Purity" ice cream for retail and 
line family trade. In July, 1907, they began 
the erection of the finest business block and 
offic-e building in the city of Akron. It is 
seven stories in height, with basement and 
sub-basement. Since the completion of the 
building the Long & Taylor Company occu- 
])}• the entire lower floor and part of the base- 
ment with two similar stores to the ones at 
20 and 22 South Main Street. The Long & 
Taylor Company was incorporated in 1902, 
with a capital stock of $65,000, with II. H. 
Taylor as president and M. S. Long as treas- 
urer and general manager. The main business 
of the company is conducted here, but the old 
quarters at Nos. 20-22 South Main Street are 
also utilized. The magnificent llatiron build- 
ing is a Source of pride to every citizen of 
Akron and it must Ix; particularly so to Mr. 
Long, who, as no other can, realizes the strug- 
gles he went through in order that the pres- 
rut great enterprise became a fact. 

In 1891 i\Ir. Long was married to Marion 
E. Taylor, and they have two children: Ger- 
trude M. and Robert II. T. 

Mr. Long is a 32nd degree Mason and be- 
longs to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Com- 
mandcry at Akron, and to Lake Erie Consis- 
tory and Al Koran Temple A. A. 0. N. M. S. 
at Cleveland. During his residence in Chi- 
cago he was very active in the order of the 
) Sons of Veterans, and at one time was com- 
manding otficer of Camp No, 1. of that city. 

.TOHN GRILL, a succe.'^sful agriculturist 
of Franklin Township, residing on his 160- 
acre farm, was born on his father's farm in 
Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
Februarv 4, 1863, and is a son of John and 
Loah (Snyder) Grill. 

John Grill, his paternal grandfatlier, was 
a native of Pennsylvania, from which state 
lie came to Ohio in 1840, settling fir.«t in 
Stark Countv. After a residence there of one 



year, he came tu Sunnnil County, and set- 
tled on the farm now owned by Charles 
Young in Franklin Township, which at that 
time was covered with a heavy growth of tim- 
ber. After clearing oti' the timber, he erected 
an old-fashioned "up and down" sawmill, 
which he operated until his death at the age 
of seven ty-tive years. His widow, Mary, sur- 
vived him for some years. The children of 
John and Mary Grill were: David, William, 
John, Daniel, Martin, Philip, Lydia, Sarah, 
Catherine and Marj^ of whom the only pres- 
ent survivors are: Daniel, Martin and Mary. 

John Grill, father of John Grill of Frank- 
lin Township, was also born in Pennsylvania, 
accompanied his father to Oliio in 1840, and 
for a number of years worked in his father's 
sawmill, later becoming the owner of a mill. 
He was married in Franklin Township to 
Leah Snyder, who was born in Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of Frederick Snyder, her father being a 
native of Germany. Mr. Grill died when 
eighty-three years old, in 1905, his wife hav- 
ing passed away in 1897 at the age of sixty- 
three. They were the parents of seven chil- 
dren : Levi, Eliza Jane, who married George 
Huber; Alfred; Amanda, who married Noah 
Fraze; Emma, who married David Johnson; 
John; and William. 

.John Grill received his education in the 
district school, and worked on his father's 
farm until after his marriage. He then en- 
tered the employ of the Akron Electric Rail- 
road as conductor, a position in which he 
.served for seven years. Mr. Grill then re- 
turned to the farm of his father, but in 1903 
located on his present property, which he had 
purchased in the spring of 1902 from the Wil- 
liam Woods heirs. In March, 1891, Mr. Grill 
was united in marriage with Miss Caroline 
Fetzer. 

LEONARD ROBINSON, a highly re- 
spected retired farmer of Richfield Township, 
residing on his grain and dairy farm of 
seventy-four acres, was born in '\''irgil Tow^n- 
ship, Cortland County, New York, May 21. 
1837, and is a son of Luman B. and Mary 
(Sweet) Robinson. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The parents of Mr. Robinson were al^o na- 
tives of New York. Tlie father came to Ak- 
ron in 1846 where lie followed the carpenter 
trade until within five years of his death, 
when he moved to a farm in Copley Town- 
ship, Summit County, where he died in 1856. 
He was a Republican in politics, imd prior 
to the Civil War was in sympathy with the 
Abolition movement. He married Mary Sweet 
and they had thirteen children, eleven of 
whom grew to maturity, namely : Levi, who 
is deceased; Lewis; Lydia, who is the widow 
of Jerome Wellman, of Akron ; Lyman, resid- 
ing at Edinburg, Ohio; Leonard; Lucina, 
deceased, who married Daniel Allen, also de- 
ceased; Lester, residing in Iowa; Laura, who 
married John Mann, residing ait Akron; 
Louisa, who is the widow of Norman Smith, 
residing in Copley; Lavina, deceased, who 
married George Tream; and Alonzo, who is 
deceased. 

Leonard Robmson attended school at Ak- 
ron, and learned the carpenter trade with his 
father. He easily learned other trades, being 
a natural mechanic, and for twenty years was 
employed as stationary engineer at various 
points, at one time working in this capacity 
in the old Allen barrel factory. He worked 
also in the pinery swamp in Copley, and for 
six years was engineer at the clay mills of 
Middlebury. In the spring of 1888, he came 
to his present farm, which he conducted as 
a grain and dairy farm wntil his retirement 
from business activity. 

Mr. Robinson married Mary Swinehart, ' 
who was born in Pennsylvania, and is a 
daughter. of John Swincjliart. They had four 
children born to them, namely: Henry, re- 
siding at Cuyahoga Falls ; Mary, who married 
Charles Webb; Rosa, who married Charles 
Howe, who operates Mr. Robinson's farm; 
and William, residing at Shinrock, Erie 
County, Ohio. 

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Robinson 
was a Revolutionary soldier and at the close 
of the war was given a land warrant for 160 
acres, but he never took advantage of this 
claim. 



A. H. NOAH, treasurer of the Diamond 
Rubber Company, at Akron, has numerous 
other important business connections here 
and is a representative of lai'ge interests. Mr. 
Noali was born in 1858, in Summit County, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Noah was educated in the local schools 
and at Oberlin, Ohio, and later engaged in 
teaching for three years. In 1886 he organ- 
ized the Akron Building and Loan Associa- 
tion, and continued secretary of the same for 
ten years, becoming also well known in the 
abstract and title business, as a member of 
the firm of Wilcox and Noah. In September, 
1897, Mr. Noah became general manager of 
the Diamond Rubber Company, and when 
the business was reorganized, he accepted the 
position of treasurer. He is also vice-presi- 
dent of the Bruner, Goodhue, Cooke Com- 
pany ; is a director in the Akron Building and 
Loan Association and the Jahant Heating 
Companj', and is secretary and treasurer of 
the Pan-American Rubber Company. He is 
an active, public-spirited citizen, and has 
served on the Akron library board. 

In 1880 Mr. Noah was married to Kittie 
B. McGill, of Urbana, Ohio, and they have 
one son, Robert H., who is a student in the 
public schools. Mr. Noah is a vestryman of 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Noah is a 32nd degree Mason and is 
a prominent Odd Fellow. Lie is a member 
of the Portage Country Club. 

JOHN J. STARR, secretary of the Robin- 
son Clay Product Company, one of Akron's 
most important industries, is a native of this 
city, born here in 1867, and is a son of Jona- 
than Starr and a grandson of Jonathan Starr. 

The grandfather of Mr. Starr was a native 
of Connecticut. He came to Summit County 
in 1813, became a man of substance and 
prominence and was a member of the first 
board of Summit County commissioners. He 
owned large bodies of land in Copley Town- 
ship, and there he reared his family, his son 
Jonathan being born there in 1831. 

John J. Starr was reared and educated at 
Akron. When fifteen vears of a2;e he entered 




R. A. MAY 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



791 



the eujploy of the E. li. Merrill Pottery Com- 
pany aud he hsui worked himself steadily up- 
ward through the grades of promotion until 
lie has become secretai'y of one of the lai'gest 
pottery concerns in the United States. 

In 1892 Mr. Starr was married to Adelaide 
Akers, who is a daughter of Alfred Akers, 
i)f Akron, and they have four children, 
namely: lieleu, Anna, Miriam and Plarriet. 

Mr. Starr is a 32nd degree Mason and be- 
longs to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and 
Commandery at Akron and to Lake Erie Con- 
.-istory of Cleveland. 

R. A. MAY, senior member of the firm of 
May and Fiebeger, which after twenty-seven 
years of partnership was formed into a stock 
company — the May-Fiebeger Company — of 
which Mr. May is principal stockholder, has, 
after over forty years of active business man- 
agement, retired from active service. 

Mr. May was born near the borders of Sax- 
ony, and came to America with his parents 
when a child, settling in Akron and remain- 
ing there ever since. His education was ac- 
quired in the public schools of this city and 
also, being a lover of books, through much 
personal study. AVhen a young boy, while vis- 
iting an uncle in Columbus, Mr. May learned 
the tinner's trade. He worked one year for 
John B. Cramer, and then entered into part- 
nership with his employer, forming the firm 
of Cramer and May, successors of J. B. Cra- 
mer, who succeeded Rockwell and Cramer, 
successors to Justus Rockwell. Justus Rock- 
well succeeded H. 0. Hampson and Hampson 
succeeded Russell Gale, who owned the first 
tin shop and stove store in Akron, even clear- 
ing away the bushes on what is now the 
northwest corner of Howard and Market 
Streets, where he built his store. 

"While with Cramer and May, Mr. May 
started the first galvanized iron cornice busi- 
ness in Akron, being pioneer.s of cornice work 
in this vicinity and extending their business 
rast into New York State and west into In- 
diana. The galvanized iron fronts on the 
buildings of May and Fiebeger on North 
Hownrd Street are a sample of his work. 



When architecture changed, so that stone 
could be used to replace galvanized cornices, 
Mr. May saw that galvanized cornices would 
be gradually displaced, and bent his energies 
to the heating and ventilating business, being 
the pioneer of the furnace business in Akron. 
He studied heating in all its various forms, 
and the burning of various kinds of fuel, 
and invented the air blast, the process of ad- 
mitting air into and over the fire, which 
made the burning of soft coal successful, and 
revolutionized the burning of soft coal in fur- 
naces and stoves. All the so-called blast fur- 
naces of every description that are in use to- 
day have sprung from this. 

Mr. May also patented the two-way diving 
flue and numerous other devices, which made 
furnaces so successful that they are now sold 
in every soft coal state in the United States 
and are sent to foreign countries. Some of 
the most successful furnace manufacturers, 
salesmen and workmen in his line have 
sprung from his employ. Among them, 
Frank Fiebeger of the firm of The May-Fie- 
beger Company, William Clerkin of the Tap- 
lin. Rice, Clerkin Company, and George 
Maag, of the Twentieth Century Company. 

For forty years he continued in the same 
line of business, continually increasing the 
plant and always keeping up the highest 
standard and enjoying the confidence of the 
business world. His motto always was, 
"Nothing succeeds like success." 

Mr. May was married twice. In 1872 he 
married Miss Susan Rhodes of Randolph, 
Ohio. The children born to this union were : 
Mary L., Louis R., Helen C, Frank G., and 
Rosalia A. 

In the spring of 1894 Mr. May lost his first 
wife, and in the fall of 1899 he married his 
present wife, Mis.s Elizabeth M. Rou.ssert, of 
Akron. Mr. May has always been a member 
of St. Bernard's German Roman Catholic 
Church, and is highly respected by all its 
member.-. After over forty years of strenu- 
ous business life, Mr. May has for the present 
retired to become acquainted with his family 
and enjoy the fruits of his labor. 



79^ 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



SAMUEL IIAMMETT PEICKETT, resid- 
ing on his valuable farm of 110 acres, situ- 
ated in Richfield Township, is a representa- 
tive citizen and on several occasions has served 
as township trustee. He was born near Mar- 
ion, Wayne County, NeW York, January 6, 
1829, and is a son of SamutJ and Hannah 
Ann (Allen) Prickett. 

The father of Mr. Prickett was born at Med- 
ford, New Jersey, and his parents were John 
and Sybilla(Hammett) Prickett. They lived to 
be over ninety years of age. Samuel Prickett 
was well educated for his day and for nearly 
fifty years he kept a diary, in which is re- 
flected not only family happenings, but often 
pictures of passing events of importance. Af- 
ter some years of marriage, he moved to New 
York, with his wife and three children, re- 
maining in that state for seven years, and 
then came to Ohio. He reached Richfield 
Township, June 8, 1834, where he purchased 
200 acres of land and developed the same into 
a grain and stock farm. In early days he was 
a Whig, later a Republican. He died in 
1886, aged over eighty-eight years. He mar- 
ried Hannah Ann Allen and they had the fol- 
lowing children: Franklin, who is deceased; 
Caroline, who is the widow of Samuel Clark, 
of Richfield ; and John, Hannah Ann, Allen 
S. and Aaron, all deceased; and Samuel. The 
parents of Mr. Prickett were reared in the 
Society of Friends, but attended the Congre- 
gational Church in Richfield Township. 

Samuel H. Prickett was young when his 
parents came to Richfield Township, and he 
obtained his education in the district schools 
of this neighborhood. He remained on the 
home farm until in November, 1854, when 
he went to California, where he became in- 
terested in a claim, and remained, variously 
engaged, in that state until 1864. In the year 
following his return to Richfield Township, 
he purchased hLs present farm and has de- 
voted himself to its cultivation and improve- 
ment. ]\Ir. Prickett cultivates about eighty 
acres and keeps from 100 to 200 sheep. He 
is a member of Richfield Grange. 

Mr. Prickett married Ann Amelia Garth- 
waite, who left one daughter, Edith, at death. 



He married (second) Edith Welton, who is 
a daughter of Samuel Welton, of Richfield 
Township, and they have two children ; Dana 
Welton and Marion Louise. 

In politics, Mr. Prickett is identified with 
the Republican party. In addition to serv- 
ing as township trustee, he has been a mem- 
ber of the School Board, and at all times has 
been a' citizen actively interested in all move- 
ments beneficial to this section. 

GEORGE H. LODGE, assistant treasurer 
of The Silver Lake Park Company, of Silver 
Lake, Summit County, was born at Newburg, 
Ohio, November 30, 1875, and is a son of 
Ralph Hugh and Julia A. (Plum) Lodge. 

Mr. Lodge can trace his remote ancestors 
to a Huguenot family that found refuge in 
England, and to those members who later ac- 
companied William Penn to Pennsylvania. 
On land granted to a Lodge, by the great col- 
onizer, the grandfather of George H. Lodge, 
whose name the latter bears, was born in 1801, 
and he was reared in New Jersey and prob- 
ably was still residing there in 1829, when he 
married Rebecca Smith. With his wife he 
came to Ohio, about that time, settling on a 
Small farm in Stow Township, Summit 
County. In 1836 he assisted in the material 
development of what is now Monroe Falls, 
and in the vicinity of that village all his 
children were born. They were as follows: 
Emma, George H., Mary, Cornelia, and Caro- 
line, the eldest being Ralph Hugh the father 
of George H. In 1846 the family moved to 
Cleveland, and in 1848, settled on what was 
then known as the Leonard Case farm, and 
in 1855 removed to a tract of 100 acres, which 
is now a busy part of that city. 

Ralph Hugh Lodge was born August 3, 
1830, at Monroe Falls, Summit County, Ohio, 
and as the eldest son assisted his father in all 
his enterprises, in 1872 assuming the man- 
agement of the farm on which the family 
resided for seventeen years. He purchased 
property and engaged for a time in a mer- 
cantile business, but the real occupation of his 
life was the developing of what is known as 
The Silver Lake Park, and in this great en- 



AND REPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



793 



teiprise he wa^s ablj' assisted by his sons. The 
property came into hi^ i^ossessioii in 1874, 
and he toolc up his residence on this ground 
in April, 1876, and lived there until his death, 
May 22, 1907. 

On April 7, 1869 Ralph Hugh Lodge wiis 
married to Julia A. Plum of Cuyahoga Falls, 
and nine of their ten children still survive, 
namely : Edward Ballard, a physician, re- 
siding at Cleveland; Mrs. Duncan B. Woloott, 
residing at Kent, Ohio; Mrs. William R. Ir- 
vin, residing at Cuyahoga Falls; and Lillian 
P., William R., George H., Louis B., Laura 
C. and Ralph H. residing at Silver Lake Park. 

George H. Lodge was educated in the 
schools of Cuyahoga Falls, leaving the High 
School to enter the preparatory school of 
Oberlin College, subsequently took a course 
at the Hammel Business College, of Akron, 
and since completing his education has been 
identified with the Silver Lake Amusement 
Park. He has charge of the outside work, 
attending to the erection of new buildings 
and making substantial improvements which 
still further enhance the beauty and comfort 
of this celebrated resort. 

Mr. Lodge married Florence Adelia Call, 
who is a daughter of Charles Augustus Call, 
of Stow Township, Summit County. Mrs. 
Lodge is a member of. tlie Congregational 
Church at Hudson. 

Politically Mr. Lodge is a Republican. He 
has served as a deputy sheriff since the elec- 
tion of Sheriff Barker. He belongs to Star 
Lodge, No. 187, F. & A. M. 

C. B. RAYMOND, secretary of the B. F. 
Goodrich Company, at Akron, is a native of 
this city, where he was born February 12, 
1868, and he has been identified with some 
of its lai'ge business enterprises ever since he 
returned from college. 

Mr. Raymond completed the High School 
course at Akron and then entered Amherst 
College where he was graduated in 1888, with 
the degree of B. S. Very soon afterward, he 
was made secretan* of the Akron Woolen and 
Felt Company, with which he continued until 
April, 1891. Avhen he came with the Good- 



rich Hard Rubber Company and in 1898, 
when the American Hard Rubber Com- 
pany was organized here he became man- 
ager of the Akron plant, remaining in 
that position until April, 1905, when he was 
made assistant secretary of the B. F. Good- 
rich Company. In 1906 he became secretary 
of the company and has remained in that 
capacity until the present. Mr. Raymond is 
connected \\dth other successful business con- 
cerns, being a director of the American Hard 
Rubber Company, a director of the Second 
National Bank, and a director of the Hard- 
ware and Supply Company of Akron. He is 
a trustee of the Akron City Hospital, a vestry- 
man of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and a 
director of the Portage Country Club. For 
one term he sen'ed as a member of the Akron 
Board of Education. 

In 1890 Mr. Raymond was married to 
Mary Perkins, who is a daughter of Col. G. 
T. Perkins, and they have three children, viz. : 
Mary Perkins, George Perkins and Charles 
Goodrich. 

EARL JAMES GRUBB, proprietor of Elm- 
dale Farm, in Stow Township, is the manu- 
facturer of the w^ll-known Elmdale Creamery- 
butter, carrying on general farming, dairying 
and poultry raising quite extensively. Mr. 
Grubb was born in Stow Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, August 15, 1878, and is a son 
of John William and Alice (Garrison) Grubb. 

The father of Mr. Grubb was born in Penn- 
sylvania September 15, 1845, and died No- 
vember 11, 1896. He was a carpenter by 
trade and followed it, in addition to farming, 
all his active life except during his term of 
two years in the service of his countrj-. He 
enlisted when very young in Company K. 
151st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry.and 
saw much hard service. A brother was killed 
during the war but John William survived, 
but only to suffer from exposure then endured 
all his remaining life. He identified himself 
with the Grand Army po.st at Kent. He was 
a member of the order known as the Knights 
of Honor. John William Grubb married 
Alice Garrison, who vias a daughter of James 



794 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Garrison, of Franklin Township, Portage 
County, and they had the following children : 
AVilliam Edward, residing at Kent ; Ernest 
Franklin, residing at Akron; Grace E., who 
married William Samuels, i-esiding at Akron ; 
Earl James; and Lela Ellen, who died aged 
twenty-two years. John William Grubb was 
a consistent member of the DLsciples Church, 
at Kent, in avhich he ser\'ed as deacon. 

John Grubb, the grandfather of Earl 
James, was the first of the family to own the 
farm which the grandson now possesses. He 
came from Pennsylvania and married Han- 
nah Sorrick, of Stark County. They reared 
a large family. John Grubb carried on farm- 
ing and also worked as a stone-mason. 

Earl James Grubb spent seven years of his 
early life, at Brecksville, in Cuyahoga Couniy, 
where he attended school, and he spent three 
subsequent years in the Kent High School, 
obtaining means to complete his education, 
by working in a meat market. Mr. Grubb 
has practically taken care of himself since 
he was twelve years of age. After leaving 
school he ran a meat market for one year at 
Mantua Station, and later worked in a Kent 
market house for a year, when he turned his 
attention to farming. His first rented place 
was the old Hoover farm, after which he 
bought a milk route, selling his product at 
Kent, which industry he continued for three 
years. During the last year he was also 
manager of the Crescent Po-ultry Farm at 
Kent. He disposed of his business at Kent, 
and April 15, 1904, he purchased his present 
farm, consisting of eighty -two and one-half 
acres. He winters about thirty-five head of 
cattle, raises his own for dairy purposes, and 
every season has a fine lot of hogs, a cross 
between the Chester White and the Berkshire, 
which Mr. Grubb thinks can not be excelled. 
He raises corn, oats, hay and wheat and mar- 
kets all he does not use for himself. He also 
makes a specialty of poultry, raising broilers 
for the market, and has made a great success 
of this whole industry. He has made a scien- 
tific study of this business and has constructed 
buildings for his poultry where they are as 
comfortable in Avinter as in summer. The out- 



lay has paid well, as on several occasions, in 
the depth of winter, from 102 hens, he has 
gathered ninety-three eggs, wliile the average 
is from five to seven dozen a day. Mr. Ginabb 
has a fine silo on his land with dimensions 
of 11 by 11 feet, with round corners, which 
is 28 feet in depth. 

Mr. Grubb's hajjpy family includes wife 
and two children. He married Mary Lappin, 
who is a daughter of Marvin and Olive Lap- 
pin. ]Mrs. Grubb was born in Franklin Town- 
ship, Portage County. The two children are 
named Gordon Glee, who was born February 
28, 1903, and Naundas Mildred, who was born 
March 14 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Grubb belong 
to the Disciples Chiu'ch at Kent. Politically 
Mr. Grubb is a Republican, but he is no seek- 
er for office. He belongs to the order of the 
Knights and Ladies of Security, at Kent. 

C. R. QUINE, treasurer and general man- 
agtr of the Akron Clutch Company, and sec- 
retary of the Colonial Sign and Insulator 
Company, was born in 1879, at Akron, Ohio, 
and is a son of Robert S. Quine, of this city. 

After completing his education Mr. Quine 
was connected with newspaper work for a 
short period and then became associated with 
the Colonial Sign and Insulator Company. 
For the past two years he has been treasurer 
and general manager of the Akron Clutch 
Company, which was organized for the manu- 
facture of friction clutches. The company 
is now building a finely-equipped plant on 
Sweitzer Avenue, and preparations are being 
made to greatly enlarge the present capacity 
in order to meet the growing demand. 

In 1905, Mr. Quine was married to Hattie 
Van Orman, who is a daughter of the late 
J. H. Van Orman, and they have one child, 
Robert C. Mr. Quine belongs to the Akron 
lodge of Odd Fellows. 

H. A. AVEST, one of Akron's able young 
business men, secretary and treasurer of the 
Enterprise Manufacturing Company, of this 
city, was born in 1872, in Portage County, 
Ohio, and is a .son of the late Robert and 
Marv (Alexander) West. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



795 



Mr. Weii was brought to Akron in child- 
hood and was reared and educated here, gradu- 
ating from the public schools in 1890. He 
then became connected with the official force 
of the old Akron Iron Company, and re- 
mained four yeai's in the Akron and New 
York citj' offices, and from there went to the 
Whitman-Barnes Manufacturing Company 
for seven year^, after which he accepted his 
present official position with the Enterprise 
-Manufacturing Company. 

In 1897 Mr. West vrsxs married to Ida JI. 
Pflueger, who is a daughter of the late E. F. 
Pflueger. He is a member of the Disciple 
Church. Fraternally Mr. West Ls a Mason. 

CHARLES SENN, superintendent of the 
Monroe Falls Paper Company, at Monroe 
Falls, has been a resident of this city since. 
1889. He was born at New Philadelphia, 
Tuscarawas County, Ohio, June 10, 1860, and 
is a son of John B. and Anna (Sherrick) 
Senn. 

The parents of Mr. Senn were both born in 
the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. The father 
was a coal miner both in his own land and 
after he settled in Tu-scarawas County, and 
also engaged in farming after coming to the 
United States. Early in the Civil War he en- 
tered the army as a private in the 151st Regi- 
, ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in 
1832. The mother continued to live on the 
home farm until about 1868, when, with her 
four children, she moved to Ma5.sillon. 
I In the public schools of Massillon, Charles 

Senn obtained hLs education, and learned his 
business of paper-making in the works of the 
^lassillon Paper Company. He was about 
eighteen years of age when he started out 
from home and worked in various paper mills, 
during this time gaining a great deal of viseful 
information concerning the details of his 
trade. This determination to perfect himself 
has resulted in a complete knowledge of the 
art of paper manufacture. In 1889, he came 
to Monroe Falls to take charge of the plant 
of the Cleveland Paper Company. The Mon- 
roe Falls Paper Company is the successor of 
the Cleveland Paper Company. It was incor- 



porated in 1899, with John Silk of Massillon, 
jjresident; Charles Silk, vice president; F. B. 
Silk, secretary and treasurer, and Charles 
Senn, superintendent. With double shifts 
working, the output is twelve tons of paper 
daily, employment being given thirty-five 
men. The product goes all over the country 
and consists of light and dark rag wrapping 
paper; absorbent fly paper; red express; dead- 
ening felt paper and caipet lining. Sales are 
made direct to -the trade and also through job- 
bers. The enterprise is a very prosperous one 
and under Mr. Senn's expei'ienced supervision 
the greatest amount of product is obtained at 
the least possible expense, quality considered. 
Jlr. Senn married Mary Elizabeth Dixon, 
who is a daughter of Andrew Dixon, formerly 
of Massillon, Ohio, but for the past fifteen 
years a resident of jNIonroe Falls. They have 
four children : Hazel, who married Claude 
Kepler, residing at Monroe Falls; and Ada, 
Maude and Karl, residing at home. The fam- 
ily belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Monroe Falls, of which Mr. Senn has been 
an official member for a number of years. 
Politically he is in sympathy with the Repub- 
lican party, but takes only a good citizen's 
interest in elections. He belongs to Pavonia 
Lodge, No. 301, Knights of Pythia*. 

LEWIS S. PALMER, one of Stow Town- 
ship's leading citizens and large landowners, 
was born in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio. October 29, 1857, and is a son 
of .Josiah and Margaret (Stephens) Palmer. 

Jacob Palmer, the grandfather, Avas a na- 
■tive of Conneoticut. In 1833 he moved with 
his family to Virginia, where, with a brother, 
he purchased 500 acres of land. The untime- 
ly death of a son. about this time, disheart- 
ened Mr. Palmer, and he .«old his interest in 
the ^'irginia property and removed to Mary- 
land and from there to Stark County, Ohio. 
Hi? son, Josiah Palmer, who became the fath- 
er of Lewis S., was bom in Connecticut, in 
1824, and was twelve years of age when he 
came to Ohio. In 1853 he purchased a small 
farm in Green Township, but later removed 
to Springfield Township, where he carried on 



im 



I-IISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



farming from 1869 until his death, in 1895, 
when he was aged seventy-one years. He was 
a Democrat in poUtics, and on numerous oc- 
casions his fellow-citizens elected him to of- 
fice. Mr. Palmer was married to Margaret 
Stephens, who was a daughter of Jacob Steph- 
ens, of Jerseyshore, Pennsylvania, and to 
ithem were born eight children, namely; Al- 
bert, who died at the age of twenty-four years ; 
William, who resides in Springfield Town- 
ship ; Cecelia Jane, deceased, who was the wiie 
of Charles McColgan, of Stow Township; 
Catherine, deceased, who married David Bru- 
baker, of Barberton, Ohio; Charles, who re- 
sides in Lake Township, Stark County ; Lewis 
S. ; Thomas who is a resident of Springfield 
Township ; and Marcus, who is deceased. Mrs. 
Palmer died in 1884, at the age of fifty-nine 
years, in the faith of the German Reformed 
Church, in which her husband was a deacon. 
Lewis S. Palmer was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Green Township, and until 
he was twelve years of age lived on the home 
farm. He then accompanied the family to 
Springfield Township, and he assisted in cul- 
itivating the home farm until 1880, when he 
engaged in farming on his own account on a 
tract east of Monroe Falls, which he purchased 
in 1903. In addition to this farm, which 
consists of 107 acres, he owns a tract of thirty 
,acres, which he bought in 1884, and the Sin- 
gleton farm of 148 acres, in Streetsboro, 
which he secured in 1898. Two of these 
farms he rents, having fifty-two acres under 
cultivation on his own account. In 1874-5, 
when the Valley Railroad was under construc- 
tion. Mr. Palmer worked as a foreman for E. 
A. McChesney. In the spring of 1899 he 
purchased a portable sawmill, which he has 
operated throughout this section, sawing on 
an average of 500,000 feet annually, and 
since 1892 he has operated a threshing ma- 
chine, giving three men employment. Mr. 
Palmer is a Democrat in politics, and al- 
though he is not inclined to have political 
aspirations, he has served his tow-nship as as- 
sesor. He belongs to the order of Eagles at 
Kent. Among his most cherished possessions 



is an old musket, which one of his paternal 
ancestors carried in the Revolutionary War. 

Mr. Palmer was married to Almeda E. 
Swinehart, who is a daughter of Levi Swine- 
hart, a prominent citizen of Stow Township. 
Eight children have been born to this union, 
as follows: Nelson, Maude, Bertha, Blanche, 
Chauncey, Ira, Coy and Elmo. Chauncey 
died agea ten years. 

BENJAMIN F. CLARK, deputy county re- 
corder of Summit County and adjutant of 
Buckley Post, G. A. R., at Akron, has been a 
resident of this city since 1871, and for eight- 
een years was connected with the Beacon- 
Journal. Mr. Clark was born in Libson, 
Columbiana County, Ohio, January 24, 1841, 
and is a son of Rev. George Callhoun and 
Susan Atchison (Lee) Clark. 

The father of Mr. Clark was a minister in 
the Christian Church. His mother was a first 
cousin of General Robert E. Lee, and possessed 
much of the beauty and dignity of the ladies 
of that old Virginia family. As a minister sub- 
ject to the commands of church councils, Rev. 
George Clark was obliged frequently to change 
his place of residence, and when his son was 
about three years of age, he was stationed in 
Trumbull County. As soon as Benjamin was 
old enough he was placed at school at Massil- 
lon. and was under the instmction of that 
great educator. Prof. T. W. Harvey, later 
State School commissioner, and under him 
was graduated in 18o9. He then read medi- 
cine for two years with Dr. Metz, of Massil- 
lon, but when the Civil War became a cer- 
tainty, he decided to put aside his personal 
ambitions and enter info the .sen'ice of his 
country. 

In August, 1861, Mr. Clark became a mem- 
ber of Company H, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, which was mustered into service at 
Camp Tiffin, at Wooster, and after a season 
of drilling went to Cumberland Gap. The 
soldiers were put on skirmish duty for a time, 
the first fight in which the Sixteenth Regi- 
ment was engaged being at Tazewell, Tennes- 
see. Great events followed and Mr. Clark, 
with his comrades were soon in the thickest 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



of the VicLsburg movements. After passing 
safely through tlie siege of Vicksburg, he was 
severely wounded by a shell in the charge at 
Chickashaw Bayou, which sent him first to a 
hospital, later to his home as hopelessly in- 
jured and led to his discharge from the sen'ice. 
However, he was not through with military 
life, and as soon as he unexpectedly recuper- 
ated, he re-enlisted, entering Company B, Mc- 
Laughlin's Cavalry, Sherman's Brigade, 
which was organized by John Sherman. This 
regiment took part in the Atlanta campaign, 
followed General Stoneman into Georgia, and 
after the fall of Atlanta still pursued the 
enemy^ but, in turn, were themselves 
l^ursued by the desperate Confederates. 
The latter overtook them and forced an entire 
surrender of all that part of the raiding Un- 
ion Army, with the exception of the brigade 
to which Mr. Clark was attached. It refused 
to surrender and attempted to cut its way out 
from Sunshine Church, to liberty, but suf- 
fered capture. Mr. Clark was confined for 
seven months in the terrible prison pen at 
Andersonville. but survived its terror.-;, and 
at last was taken to Savannah, paroled, and 
then sent to a hospital at Annapolis, Mary- 
land. Two weeks later he was sent to his 
home at Wooster, but, in his weakened state 
the change and excitement were too much for 
him and he suffered a relapse. For three 
weeks he lay unconscious, and he owes to the 
untiring, tender and loving care of his moth- 
er, hLs subsequent recovery, although the 
strain was too heavy upon her and in return- 
ing to life's activities through her devotion, 
he was obliged to part with her forever. 

Mr. Clark remained at home only as long 
a.s absolutely necessary and then rejoined his 
regiment, which v.'as then at Salisbury, North 
Caroline, receiving a perfect ovation from 
liis admiring comrades. His regiment was 
merged with the Fifth Ohio Cavalrj', and af- 
ter his return he participated only in the bat- ■• 
tie of Goldsboro, North Carolina. The work 
of the regiment was mainly railway and pro- 
\ost duty until Mr. Clark was honorably dis- 
charged, in the fall of 1865, at Charlotteville, 
North Carolina. 



After his final retui'u to \A'ooster, Mr. Clark 
was emijloyed as a printer at Wooster and 
other points until 1871, when he came to Ak- 
ron and entered the Beacon- Journal office, 
where he worked at the case for eight years, 
and then took a position on the editorial 
force. It was while he was connected with 
newspaper work that he wrote his volume 
which he called the story of his life in Ander- 
sonville Prison. In 1891- he was elected 
county recorder of Summit County, and in 
1894 he was re-elected, serving in the office 
for six years and eight months, following 
which he was interested in some Youngstown 
enterprises and became inspector for the East- 
ern Ohio Gas Company, of Akron, a position 
he resigned, when he became deputy recorder. 

On May 1, 1866, Mr. Clark was married to 
Caroline Foltz, who is a daughter of Moses 
Foltz, of Wayne County, Ohio. They have 
three surviving children namely : Cora Alice, 
who is the wife of H. S. Bnmdon, of Cleve- 
land; George K., a machinist, residing at Ak- 
ron: and William K., also of Akron. 

Mr. Clark is a member of the First Chris- 
tian Church. Fraternally he is an Odd Fel- 
low. I'or many years he has been very ac- 
tive in the Grand Army of the Republic. 

CHARLES A. DIXON, M. D., physician 
and surgeon, with offices at No. 634 South 
Main Street, Akron, has been a resident of 
this city for the past thirteen years, and Ls 
an eminent representative of the Homeo- 
pathic School of Medicine, in Summit 
County. He was born in December, 1871, in 
Genesee Countj', New York. 

Dr. Dixon was educated at Batavia, New 
York, graduating from the High School and 
from Devoe College, and subsequently, in 
1894, from the Cleveland INIedical College, at 
Cleveland, Ohio. He located immediately at 
Akron, where he now enjoys a large and lu- 
crative practice. He is president of the Sum- 
mit County Homeopathic Clinical Society and 
member of the Northeastern Homeopathic 
Medical Society, the State Homeopathic Med- 
ical 'Society and the Summit County Medical 
Club. He is a clase student and enthusiastic 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



scientific investigator and liis numerous papers 
are listened to with interest and profit by the 
members of the various professdonal organi- 
zations in which they are read. He is one of 
the directors of the Summit County Medical 
club. Dr. Dixon is a Thirty-second Degree 
Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chap- 
ter, Council and Commandery, at Akron, and 
to Lake Erie Consistory and Alkoran Shrine, 
at Cleveland, being an official in the leaser 
branches. He belongs also to the Masonic 
Club, am exclusive organization at Akron. 

Z. F. CHAMBERLIN, Avho is .serving in 
his second term as a member of tlie Board of 
Directors of the Summit County Infirmary, 
was born in Hudson Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, August 1, 1840, and is a son 
of Horace and Ann (Post) Chamberlin. 

Horace Chamberlin was one of the most 
prominent citizens of Summit County, He 
was born in Hudson Township, in 1818, and 
died on his way home from the Centennial 
Expo.sition, in 1876, at Cleveland. By pro- 
fession he was n lawyer but he never prac- 
ticed. His wife was a daughter of Zina Post, 
one of the inost prominent pioneers of early 
days, in Hudson Township. The six children 
of Horace Chamberlin and wife were: F. A. 
Chamberlin, of Newburgh, Ohio, now living 
retired; E. A. Chamberlin, residing at Cuya- 
hoga Falls; H. A. Chamberlin, residing in 
Twinsburg Township; W. E., residing in 
Twinsburg Township; Delos, who died in in- 
fancy, and Z. F., subject of this sketch, who 
is the eldest of the family. 

Z. F. Chamberlin was reared in hi- native 
township and was educated at Bissell Insti- 
tute at Twinsburg, since which he has been 
extensively interested in farming, stockrais- 
ing and dairying, operating 150 acres of land. 
He has always been more or less active in 
politics, and for .six years was trustee of 
Northfield Township. He succeeded his 
father as a director in the Summit County 
Agricultural Society, serving nine years as 
the latter had done, and is succeeded in the 
office by his son, H. E. 

Mr. Cliamberlin married Sarah A. Pax.son, 



who is a daughter of Hcston C. Pax.son, and 
thej' have one child, Harmon E, The latter 
was educated in the district schools and later 
at Cleveland, and is a Avell informed young 
man. He is a leading member of the order 
of Maccabees in this section and belongs to 
tlic Macedonian Village -Council. He mar- 
ried Jennie Brower, who is a daughter of 
Henry Brower, and they have two children, 
Reginald Brower and Marie Lenore. 

The Chamberlins have always been ranked 
with the progressive, intelligent and substan- 
tial people of Summit County, They have 
owned lands and stock, and as they prospered 
in their own material affairs, have lent their 
influence to assist in movements to benefit 
others. 

B. F. IIARBAUGH, one of Akron's repre- 
sentative business men, dealing in pianos and 
musical instruments, at No. 175 East Market 
Street, was born at New Pittsburg, Wayne 
County, Ohio, in 1854, and has been estab- 
lished in this city since 1902. 

Mr. Harbaugh was educated in the schools 
of Wayne County, and early in life, in spite 
of his musical talents, had to work on a farm 
and also in a hardware store at Orr^-ille, Ohio. 
In the meanwhile, as opportunity was af- 
forded him, he cultivated his musical gifts 
and secured work as a teacher of vocal and 
instrumental music and as band instructor. 
Eventually he engaged in the sale of musical 
instruments, and handled these, especially 
pianos, at Orrville, for twelve years prior to 
coming to Akron. Mr. Harbaugh handles 
four of the best makes of pianos, including 
the A. B. Chase, the Packard, the Schiller 
and the Winter, making a specialty of the 
A. B. Chase and Winter Piano Players, and 
his stock includes everything relating to 
music. 

Mr. Harbaugh was married February 26. 
1879, to.Sevilla Mowrer, and they have the 
following children : Ernest M., who is asso- 
ciated in business with his father; Emily 
Alice, Otto C, who is a drau2:htsman with the 
Northern Ohio Traction and Light Comiiany 
of Akron, and Ethel Thav and Edna :Mav. 




RICHARD B. WALKER 



AND REPRESEx\TATIVE CITIZENS 



801 



^\'ith his fajiiily he belongs to Trinity Lu- 
theran Church and is a memher of the offi- 
cial board of this organization. Fraternally, 
Mr. Haxbaugh is identified with the Odd Fel- 
lows and the Masons, being a Knight Tem- 
plar. 

RICHARD B. WALKER, president of the 
Akron Abstract Company and vice-president 
of the Permanent Savings and Loan Com- 
pany, and a member of its directing board, 
was the pioneer merchant in this city in the 
line of agricultural implements and supplies. 
Mr. Walker was born August 11, 1825, at 
Belchertown, Massachusetts. His education 
was secured in the common schools, and his 
business training. was along mercantile lines. 
In 1852 he came to Akron and opened the 
first store for the handling of agricultural im- 
plements and supplies. Later he enlarged his 
business to take in tin and hardware and car- 
ried on business until 18')2, when he became 
general agent and traveling representative for 
Aultman, Miller and Company, managing the 
sales for them of the Buckeye Mowers and 
Harvesters. In 1902 he retired from business 
activity. 

On January 18, 1852, Mr. AValker was mar- 
ried to Mary E. Jenney, who was born at 
Hardwick, Massachusetts, and they have had 
four children, namely: William, who is book- 
keeper for the firm of Standard Sewing Ma- 
chine Company, at Cleveland ; George, a grad- 
uate of Yale College, who is serving as United 
States district attorney for the Southern Dis- 
trict of Indian Territory; Charles, who is de- 
ceased; and Arthur H., who is a resident of 
London, England. Mrs. Walker died Sep- 
tember 3, 1908. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Walker has al- 
ways been a Republican, and in earlier years 
he filled a number of important offices in 
Akron and in Sunuuit County. He served 
in the City Council for two terms, at an early 
day, before hogs and cattle were restrained 
from running at large. For nine successive 
years he served as a member of the County 
Infirmary Board and to his efl'icient efforts 
in behalf of the countv's unfortunates mast 



be credited the erection of the present modern 
and magnificent infirmary buildings, which 
compare favorably with those of other coun- 
ties. For thirty years he served as a deacon 
in the Congregational Church. Mr. Walker's 
present residence is at No. 166 Fir Street. 

CHARLES N. GAYLORD, one of Stow 
Township's most substantial men and leading 
citizens, largely intereated in the dairy indus- 
try, was born on the valuable farm on which 
he lives, in Summit County, Ohio, March 14, 
1852, and is a son of Sylvester and Julia Ann 
(North) Gaylord. 

The Gaylord family descended from the 
English Puritans who settled in Connecticut 
in colonial days. Jonathan Gaylord, the 
grandfather of Charles N., was born in Upper 
Middletown, Connecticut. He married Martha 
Thomas, who was born at Haddam, Connecti- 
cut, and they had the following children: 
■Isaac, Eliza, Mary A., Joshua and Sylvester, 
all born in Connecticut, and Eli and Martha, 
both of whom were born in Ohio. 

Jonathan Gaylord came with wife and chil- 
dren to the Western Reserve in 1809, among 
the large body of homeseekers ivho migrated 
thither about that time from the East. He 
started on the first day of June, 1809, his 
possessions drawn by yokes of oxen. Captain 
Stow and family being of the same party. 
Jonathan Gaylord brought his father and 
mother, Jonathan and Elizabeth (Goodham) 
with him, and the following brothers and sis- 
ters also accompanied the daring pioneer who 
was venturing into these wild regions: Wil- 
liam, Betsey, Abia and Margaret. To the 
larger number of the travelers, that was in- 
deed a memorable journey. All of those who 
were able to walk traveled in that primative 
way, for on many occasions streams had to 
be forded and thoroughfares cut through the 
dense forests. After forty-one days of advance 
the little cavalcade reached the desired destin- 
ation and settled in the southern part of Stow 
Township. A part of the land which his 
grandfather and great-grandfather looked on 
and called good, is now the property of Char- 
les N. Gaylord, although in its present state of 



802 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



cultivatiou aud improvement, it little resem- 
bles the landscape that then greeted their 
eyes. They were practical men, however, and 
they were able to value the timber and under- 
stand the quality of the soil. 

Jonathan Gaylord acquired here 200 acres 
of forest land, on which he built first a log 
cabin, in which the family lived for some 
years, which was replaced by a substantial 
frame house. With the assistance of his sons 
he cleared this immense body of land, but was 
not permitted to enjoy the fruits of hii, labor 
into old age. He was active and industrious 
beyond his strength, and when farm work did 
not press, it was his cu.stom to wallc the whole 
distance to Cleveland and return, doing work 
in the shipyards of that then village. He was 
stricken, probably mth an affection of the 
heai"t, while on one of these trips, when not 
more than in middle age. Both he and wife 
belonged to the Presbj-terian faith. 

Sylvester Gaylord, father of Charles N.," 
was nine months old when brought by his 
parents to the Western Reserve. He attended 
the district schools and learned at Cleveland 
to be a carpenter and builder, and was a 
young man of siich steadiness of character 
that when only twenty years of age, he began 
business for himself. He worked at his trade 
and lived on a part of the homestead farm in 
Stow Township which he purchased and 
which Charles N. now owns. He was a man 
of sterling character and wa.s trusted and re- 
spected by all who knew him. Politically a 
Republican, he was ofiFered by that party 
many local offices and wa.s elected township 
tnistee on several occasions. Hi.? death took 
place .Tune 17, 1889. 

In 1830, Sylvester Gaylord married (first) 
Ruth Nickerson, who wa.s born near Cape 
Cod, in Massachusetts. She was of English 
descent and her parents were among the pio- 
neer settlers in Stow Township, her father 
keeping one of the early inns at Stow Corners. 
There were two children born to this mar- 
riage: Helen. decea.«ed; and Sylvester, re- 
siding at Stow Corners. The first •nnfe of Mr. 
Gaylord died in 18?>8, and he was married 
(.second) April 2ft. 1«r!0. to .Tulia A. North, 



who was a daughter of Selah and Anna (Ne- 
well) North. The children born to this union 
were the following; Lucy, who is the widow 
of Linas E. Burr, residing at Cameron, Mis- 
souri; William, residing at Cleveland; Julia, 
who is the wife of Willard W. Wetmore, re- 
siding in Stow Township ; Charlotte, who mar- 
ried for her first husband Dr. Charles Hen- 
sliaw, aud her second marriage was to James 
L. Banning, residing at Stow Corners; and 
Charles N. 

Charles N. Gaylord attended the public 
schools of Monroe Falls and spent three years 
in the Tallmadge Academy. He then en- 
tered the paper mills at Monroe Falls, where 
he worked for some twelve years, after which 
he rented the farm from his father, and has 
been engaged in agricultural pursuits ever 
since. The homestead farm was the property 
of his mother until her death and he con- 
tinued to rent it until the settlement of the 
estate, when he purchased it together with 
seventy adjoining acres. During this whole 
period he has operated a dairy, keeping about 
twenty-five cows. During nine months of the 
year his milk goes to tlie Co-operative Cream- 
ery at Stow, of which enterprise he was one 
of the organizers, and of which he is a direct- 
or as well as a heavy stockholder. In 1899, 
he embarked in a new industry on his farm, 
this being the making of ice cream by whole- 
sale, and this dainty he sells all through this 
section, having the important contract of sup- 
plying Silver Lake Park. He has well-equip- 
ped quarters and utilizes a steam engine for 
power, Mr. Gaylord raises corn, oats and po- 
tatoes. His interests are many and varied, 
and he keeps a firm hand on all. 

Mr. Gaylord married Iaicv Southmayd, a 
member of an old and important family, and 
they have two children: Howard S. and 
Stanley G. Mrs. Gaylord is a daughter of the 
late William and Martha (Wilson) South- 
mayd. 

The paternal grandmother of Mrs. Gaylord 
was Clarissa (Rice) Gaylord, who was born 
February Ci. 180.5, and died March 14. 1879. 
She was a daughter of Captain Rice and was 
the first white child born in Stow Township. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



803 



She became the second wife of Erastus South- 
mayd, who was born at Middletown, Connec- 
ticut, March 29, 1787. He came to the West- 
ern Reserve a single man and was married 
(first) to Annie Wetmore, in 1822, who died 
after the birth of three children: Charles, 
Lucy and Leonard. In 1827, he married 
Clarissa Rice, and they had four children: 
Walter, William, Horace and Heurj-. Eras- 
tus Southmayd owned a good farm situated 
one-half mile north of Stow Center, which he 
cleared from the forest, and for some years 
he also kept a hotel at Stow Corners. He died 
on this farm October 16, 1866. He was a 
member of the Disciples Church. 

William Southmayd, father of Mrs. Gay- . 
lord, was one of the best-known citizens of 
Smnmit County. He was a farmer and school 
teacher, following the latter profession for 
sixteen years consecutively in his native 
county. For many years he was one of the 
infirmary directors and held political posi- 
tions of various kinds, sending as clerk and as 
treasurer of Stow Township, on the Repub- 
lican ticket, for a long period. He was a 
member of the School Board, and was an elder 
in the Disciples Church. His last years were 
passed at Cuyahoga Falls, where he died De- 
cember 8. 1887, aged fifty-seven years. On 
November 4, 1852, he married Martha Wil- 
son, who was born at Pompey. Onondaga 
County. New York. December 27, 1831, and 
wa« a daughter of Dariu? and Temperance 
("Cha^e) Wilson. Darius Wilson moved to 
the Western Reser\'e in 1835 and settled in 
Medina County, Ohio, where he died at the 
age of seventy-four years. 

Politically Mr. Gaylord is a Republican. 
He served one term as justice of the peace 
and several terms as township trustee. For four 
years he has been president of the Summit 
County Horticultural Society, for two years 
president of the Farmers' Institute of Summit 
County, and secretary of this organization for 
two years, and has been a member of the 
School Board for a long period. He belongs 
tr) Pavonia Lodge. No. 301. Knights of Py- 
thia=. at Cuyahoga Falls. He is a deacon in 
the Disciples Church. 



G. C. DONALDSON, manager of the Pitts- 
burg Coal Company, at Akron, has a large 
territory to cover in the interests of this im- 
mense concern, with w^hich he has been iden- 
tified since 1900. He was born at Girard, 
Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1872, where he 
secured his schooling. 

When sixteen years of age Mr. Donaldson 
went to Cleveland and entered the employ of 
Pickands, Mather & Company, with whom 
he continued for eight years, after which he 
was three years with the Canada Life Insur- 
ance Company. For a short time, Mr. Don- 
aldson was employed as a special agent by 
the Erie Railroad, and then entered upon his 
present connection with the Pittsburg Coal 
Company. Until 1904 he traveled in its in- 
terest through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, 
and then was stationed at Akron and placed 
i n charge of all the business in Ohio west and 
.-outh of Warren, Ohio. 

On October 9, 1902, Mr. Donaldson was 
married to Anna Grace Dunbar, of Steuben- 
ville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson are 
members of the Presb\i,erian Church of Ak- 
ron. Mr. Donaldson is a talented musician 
and is treasurer of the Tuesday Musical Club, 
Akron's leading mu.sical organization. 

SAMUEL F. ZILIOX, president and gen- 
eral manager of the Commercial Printing 
Company, of Akron, has specialized in his 
line of work for many years, and has been 
at the head of his present enterprise since its 
incorporation in 1896. He was born at Mill- 
ville. Butler County. Ohio, in 1864, and was 
educated mainly at Hamilton. 

When a lad of fifteen years Mr. Ziliox en- 
tered the printing office of Jacob H. Long, at 
Hamilton, where he remained two years, then 
spent a short time at Urbana, only to return 
to Hamilton, where he was connected with 
the Hamilton Democrat as superintendent and 
business manager until May, 1889. For a 
short period he was a member of the adver- 
tising staff of the St. Louis Chronicle, then 
was identified with the Laning Publishing 
Company, of Norwalk, Ohio. In Febmary, 
1891, he came to Akron and was in charge 



804 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of the job depai-tment of The Akron Print- 
ing and Publishing Company until March, 
1896, when, with others, he organized the 
Commercial Printing Company. This con- 
cern was incorporated in 1898, with a capital 
stock of $20,000, which has been increased 
to $75,000. The officers of the company are: 
S. F. Ziliox, president and manager; D. W. 
Bowman, vice president; F. A. Lane, treas- 
urer and general superintendent, and W. E. 
Young, secretary and assistant superintend- 
ent. 

In 1904 Mr. Ziliox was married to Kath- 
eryn Aydelotte, of Hamilton, Ohio. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ziliox are members of St. Paul's Epis- 
copal Church. Fraternally, he belongs to the 
Knights of Pythias and the Elks, and is a 
member of the Elks club. 

FREDERICK KUHLKE, one of Akron's 
sul)stantial bu.sdness men, who conducts one 
of the leading bakeries in the city, ha.s been 
identified with Akron's development for the 
past forty-one years. lie was born in Ger- 
many in 1846, and was reared and educated 
in his own land. 

In 1864 Mr. Kuhlke came to America and 
for two years he worked in a grocery store 
in New York City, and then came to Akron. 
Not being able to secure employment in a 
grocery at that time, Mr. Kuhlke worked on 
the Ohio Canal and at various things which 
an active, industrious young man is able to 
secure, in the meanwhile making friends for 
him.'*e]f and accumulating enough capital to 
go into bu.siness in 1882. In 1886 he first 
engaged in the bakery business, having a 
partner for a .space of six weeks, after which 
he continued alone. He proved himself a 
good manager and accumulated considerable 
money, but in the panic of 1893 he sastained 
losses which made it necessary for him to 
begin all over again. 

Mr. Kuhlke proved that he possesses the 
periseverance and courage which iLSually be- 
long to his countrymen, by setting to work 
immediately to repair his losses. He met 
with .such success that by 1904 he was able 
to con.sitruct liis present plant, consisting of 



a two-story brick building, 46 by 56 feet and 
basement, located at No. 830-2-4 South 
Broadway. Mr. Kuhlke conducts a first-class 
bakery, having sixteen employes and running 
seven wagons. His sales-rooms and office are 
located at No. 27 East Exchange Street. 

In 1869 Mr. Kuhlke was married at Akron 
to Mary Bramer, and they have two surviv- 
ing children — George, who is a salesman for 
the bakery, and Carl, who is foreman of the 
business. One son, HermaTi, died in 1894, 
aged twenty-four yeai-s, and his only daugh- 
ter, Meta, died also in 1894, at the age of 
twenty-two years. 

Mr. Kuhlke has taken more or less inte^rest 
in politics and has frequently shown his pub- 
lic spirit. Since 1869 he has been identified 
with the Odd Fellows and has twice been 
sent as a representative to the Grand Lodge 
of Ohio, which is no slight honor. He be- 
longs to various German societies of a l>ene- 
ficiary and social nature, including the Lie- 
dertafel. 

J. L. SHIREY, M. D., an old-established 
physician and .surgeon of Akron and a promi- 
nent and respected citizen, was born at Han- 
over, Harrison Coimty, Ohio, June 20, 1853. 

At the age of twelve years Dr. Shirey went 
to Indiana, and was educated at Dover Hill, 
in that State, and at Carroll ton, Ohio. In 
the meantime he had commenced the study 
of medicine and spent one term in the Ohio 
Medical College, at Cincinnati, and then en- 
tered Starling Medical College, where he was 
graduated in 1885, locating for practice at 
Tippecanoe, Harrison County, Ohio, from 
which place he came to Akron, in 1887. He 
ha.s been in the active practice of medicine 
and surgery in this city ever since, and claims 
a large amount of tJie legitimate business of 
the profession. He is a member of the Sum- 
mit County and of the Ohio State Medical 
Societies, and keejis thoroughly posted on all 
subjects relating to the advance of medical 
science. 

In 1881 Dr. Shirey was married to Anna 
Spiker, of Harrison County, and they have 
one daughter, Pearl K. She married Burt 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



805 



I). Grief, who is superintendent of the largest 
sugar plantation in the world, which is lo- 
cated in Porto Rico. 

Dr. Shirey is an active politician and is a 
stanch Republican. He is a citizen of great 
public spirit and takes pride in the progress 
and welfare of the city. He is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

ANDREW HARPER ALLEN, a well- 
known re.?ident of Cuyahoga Falls, now li\ing 
retired in his pleasant home on Sackett Street, 
was born at Pond Creek, Bureau County, Illi- 
nois, August 18, 1856, and is a son of Robert 
Henry and Mary Phylura (Cochran) Allen. 

The Allen family in Summit County, came 
from Scotch and Irish ancestors. John Al- 
len, the great-grandfather of Andrew H., was 
born in County Antrini, Ireland, where he 
died, leaving a fajuily of six children. George 
Allen, his third son, born in County Antrim, 
in 1799, married Elizabeth Harper, and they 
came to America in 1832, settling first at 
Lee, Ma.ssachusetts, and in 1836, coming to 
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He followed paper- 
making almost all his active life. He was a 
man of great industry and prudence and in- 
vested in land in Summit County, which be- 
came very valuable, a part of his eighty-acre 
farm being now included in the city of Cuya- 
hoga Falls. He had ten children, namely; 
Jane, Andrew H., John M., Robert H., Wil- 
liam A.. George L., Julia, Mary Alexander 
and the first Mary, who died in infancy while 
the family was cro.ssing the Atlantic ocean. 

Robert Henry Allen, father of Andrew H., 
was born December 25, 1882, at Lee, Massa- 
chusetts, and came to Cuyahoga Falls with his 
father, in 1836. For twenty years after reach- 
ing maturity he was engaged in the carriage- 
making trade at Cuyahoga Falls, but in 1874 
he moved to a farm which was situated in 
Stow Township, on which he lived until 
1882. He then moved to Akron, where he re- 
sumed work at his trade of carriage manu- 
facture, but one year later be discontinued it, 
and bought a farm of 170 acres in Stow 
Town.ship, to which he moved. He now 
turned his attention to acquiring land and 



continued to add one parcel to another until 
his possessions aggregate 600 acres. He was 
a man of exceptional business faculty, but he 
gained his ample fortune without dishonesty, 
mainly through his steady perseverance and 
frugality. 

On October 5, 1855, Mr. Allen married 
.Mary Phylura Cochran, who was born at 
Cuyahoga Falls, July 18, 1837, a daughter 
of John M. and Jane (Semple) Cochran. 
Both the Cochran and the Semples were old 
colonial families of Scotch-Irish lineage that 
had generations of honest ancestors behind 
them. John M. Cochran was born in 1775, 
at Calcutta, Ohio, and in 1814 was married 
to Jane Semple, who was born in County 
Tyrone, Ireland, but who had been reared in 
Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where her 
father, James Semple had settled, being an 
early teacher in that locality. The children 
of Robert Henry and Mary P. Allen were: 
.Vndrew H., Maria, William A. and Arthur 
M. Mrs. Allen ls a consistent member of the 
Ejiiscopal Church. Mr. Allen was identified 
with the Republican party, and wa« one of 
its founders in Summit County. He died 
May 5, 1902, aged sixty-nine years. 

Andrew Harper Allen's parents resided 
only one year at Pond Creek, moving then 
to Cuyahoga Falls, where he was reared and 
educated. After completing the High School 
course, he learned the trade of wagon-maker 
with his father and uncle. After finishing 
his apprenticeship with the firm of W. A, 
Allen & Company, he was married and moved 
to Lafayette, Indiana, where he worked for 
about a year. He w-as then in partnership 
with John Spafford, at. Akron, for a year, 
and for another year with John Agne, under 
the firm name of Allen & Agne. doing 
bu.siness enough to encourage him to organize 
the Allen Wagon Company. This enterprise 
was entirely successful and Mr. Allen car- 
ried it on for some years, .giving employment 
to thirty people in his works. After dispas- 
ing of his interests in this concern, in part- 
nersliip with his father he piirchased the old 
Galloway farm, and on it was engaged in 
general farming and dairving for five years. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



After retiring from the fai'm Mr. Allen went 
to the Goodrich Rubber Company as a mill- 
wright and pattern-maker, where he contin- 
ued for five years. He then started a pattern 
shop of his own, at Cuyahoga Falls, which he 
continued to operate, with two assistants, un- 
til the spring of 1907. Mr. Allen then retired 
from active business life, being able to look 
back over a useful and prosperous career of 
many years. 

Mr. Allen was married, first, to Ora War- 
ner, who was a daughter of William Warner, 
of Mogadore. She died in 1897, aged thirty- 
seven years. Her three surviving children 
are: Walter M., residing at Akron; Edna 
Grace, who married E. 0. Hale, residing at 
Akron, and S. Blanche, who married F. F. 
Bingham, and resides at Bedford, Indiana. 
Mr. Allen was married, second, to Emma 
Willgohs, who is a daughter of Dr. Charles 
F. Willgohs, of Doylestown. Mr. and Mrs. 
Allen are members of the Episcopal Church. 
In political sentiment, Mr. Allen is a Demo- 
crat. He has been identified with much of 
the development of Cuyahoga Falls, at all 
times performing his fiill duty to the com- 
munity as becomes a worthy citizen. 

FREDERICK C. WOOD, a well known 
business citizen of Akron, treasurer of the 
Akron Auto Garage, was bom in 1873, at 
Peninsula, Boston Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, and is a son of Frederick Wood. 

The father of Mr. Wood was born in Ire- 
land, in 1828, and emigrated to America and 
settled in Boston Township, in 1835. For 
fifty years he was engaged in business at 
Peninsula, being a pioneer merchant of the 
place, and was prominent in the town's de- 
velopment. At the age of .seventy-nine years 
he still survives, enjoying life, and resides 
with his son at Akron. 

Frederick C. Wood entered his father's 
store as a clerk in early youth, and for twelve 
years was a partner with his father, the firm 
style being F. Wood & Son. In the fall of 
1899 he came to Akron and engaged in a 
clothing business for six years, and in 1905 
he became associated with the Youngstown 



Telegrwta, but subsequently sold his interest 
;uid returned to Akron. Since then he has 
been identified with automobile interests. He 
bought a partnership in an established auto- 
mobile concern at Akron and the business was 
incorporated as the Akron Auto Garage Com- 
pany, with a capital stock of $25,000. The 
president and manager of the company is An- 
drew Auble, and Frederick C. Wood is secre- 
tary and treasurer. Scarcely any business is 
showing a more healthy growth than is the 
automobile. 

In 1896 Mr. Wood was married to Clara 
Brown, of Sharon Center, Medina County, and 
they have two children: Charlotte Josephine, 
and Frederick Southmayd. The name of 
Southmayd came from the youth's seventh 
greatrgraudfather, Rev. John Southmayd, who 
was presented with a. home by the citizens of 
Waterbury, Connecticut, in recognition of his 
.services in the Pequot War. 

Mr. Wood has been active in politics since 
early manhood and he was elected treasurer 
of Boston Township when twenty-one years of 
age, serving two terms. For four years he 
was postmaster at Peninsula, serving under 
the late President McKinley, and being reap- 
pointed by President Roosevelt, resigning the 
office when he came to Akron. He is still in- 
terested in public affairs, but holds no office, 
devoting the main part of his time to busi- 
ness. At present, with Mr. Auble, he is erect- 
ing a fine brick and cement building, 110 feet 
by 70 feet, on Buchtel Avenue, to be utilized 
as a garage. 

Fraternally, Mr. Wood belongs to the Ma- 
sonic fraternity, the Modern Woodmen, and 
is a council member of the Knights of 
P>i;hias. For a number of years he has been 
connected with the Episcopal Church of Our 
Savior, and is serving on the board of vestry- 
men. Recently, with Rev. Atwater and 
Frederick Work, he planned and carried out 
a mo-st delightful trip. The gentlemen took 
fifty Sunday school pupils whom they had 
formed into a quasi-military organization, to 
Wn,«hington city, where the party called on 
President Roosevelt, whose pleasure at seeing 
the lads in Rough Rider costumes, probably 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



807 



equaled their pride in the same. The whole 
trip will long be remembered by all who took 
part in it. 

THE KELLER BRICK COMPANY, of 
Portage Township, manufacturers of wire-cut 
building brick, and shippers of the same to 
all parts of Ohio, consists of three brothers, 
namely: William F., Frederick W. and 
Charles, all practical business men and val- 
uable citizens. This business was established 
in 1890 as a partnership and was thus con- 
tinued until December 12, 1900, when it was 
incorporated and has since been known as 
the Keller Brick Company. The officers are: 
Frederick W. Keller, president, and William 
F. Keller, secretary and treasurer. The plant 
is equipped with the most modern machinery 
for the making of brick, and its capacity is 
40,000 daily. Coal is the fuel used, and em- 
ployment is given to thirty experienced work- 
men. 

William F. Keller was born December 7, 
1862, at Berlin, Germany, and is a son of 
Gottfried and Elizabeth (Haller) Keller. The 
father was born in Berlin and died at Wooster, 
Ohio, in 1899, aged sixty-five years. He emi- 
grated to America in 1865 and, after living 
for some years in the State of New York, 
went to Canada, where he followed his trade 
of mason and quarryman. In 1887 he set- 
tled at Wooster, Ohio, and continued to work 
at his trade during the rest of his active life. 
He had thirteen children, of whom the three 
sons already named, Frank, and two daugh- 
ters, are living, namely : Mary, who married 
James Lennon, residing at Akron ; and Kath- 
erine, who married Harry Ingersol, also re- 
siding at Akron. Seven children died young. 
The three brothers who are in business to- 
gether — Frederick W., Charles and William 
F. — were married to three sisters. Frederick 
W. married Sarah M. Seigfried; Charles mar- 
ried Jennie Siegfried, and William F. mar- 
ried Hattie L. Seigfried. 

William F. Keller's education was obtained 
in the public schools at Wooster. When 
eighteen years of age he came to Akron, where 
he followed teaming and other occupations for 



a time. In 1880 he went to work in a brick- 
yard, learning the trade with Arthur Bartges, 
and later he worked for the Cooper Brick 
Company. In 1890 he decided to go into busi- 
ness for himself, and, in partnership with his 
brothers, leased the present plant. The busi- 
ness has constantly increased and has been ex- 
panded into one of the large and prospering 
concerns of Portage Township. 

Mr. Keller, as above noted, married Hattie 
L. Seigfried, who is a daughter of Isaac Sieg- 
fried, of Akron, and they have five children, 
namely: Pearl, who is bookkeeper for the 
Keller Brick Company, and wife of Albert 
Phelps, who is employed by the firm; and 
Earl L., Claude, Helen and Ada. Mrs. Kel- 
ler is a member of Trinity Reformed Church 
of Akron. In politics, Mr. Keller is a Repub- 
lican. • Fraternally, he is connected with the 
Modern Woodmen. 

FREDERICK WOOD, a highly respected 
citizen of Akron, and a pioneer resident of 
Summit County, whose business life at Penin- 
.-ula covered more than fifty years, was born 
in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1828, his par- 
ents being Nesbitt and Eliza (Morton) AVood. 

In 1835 the parents of Mr. Wood came to 
America with their children. They lived for 
two years in Michigan and then removed to 
Ohio, settling in Boston Township, Summit 
County. There the father died in 1863 and 
was survived five years by his wife. 

From the age of eighteen years, when he 
entered into business, until his final retire- 
ment, Mr. Wood's whole life was given to 
mercantile pursuits. After several years of 
training in the stores of the village of Bos- 
ton, in 1853 Mr. Wood embarked in business 
for himself at Peninsula, with which place he 
was identified for over a half century. He 
served in many of the township and town of- 
fices, for over twenty years was postmaster, 
and was the promoter and backer of many of 
the successful enterprises of the place. For 
twenty years or more he operated a stone 
quarry in Boston Township. With his re- 
tirement from active business life and removal 
to Akron he severed many ties at Peninsula. 



808 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



In 1854 Mr. Wood was married to Ghax- 
lotte M. Baxnhart, who was born June 19, 
1836, at Peninsula, wliere she died October 22, 
1890. She was a daughter of Jacob and 
Rhoda (Bronson) Barnhart, the former of 
whom was born in New York and became a 
resident of Peninsula in 1833. He died Jan- 
uary 26, 1874, one of Summit County's most 
respected citizens. The mother of Mrs. Wood 
was born in Connecticut, in 1800, and she was 
a daughter of Hermon and Molly (Hickox) 
Bronson. There were four children born to 
Frederick Wood and wife, namely: Anna C, 
Stella A., Minnie E. and Frederick C. The 
eldest daughter died in womanhood and 
the third daughter died in infaincy. Stella 
A. married H. L. Cross, of Cleveland and they 
have three children. Frederick C. is a promi- 
nent citizen of Akron. An adopted daughter 
of Mr. Wood, Mrs. Julia E. Moody, resides in 
the old Wood homestead at Peninsula. 

Mr. A\'ood has been a member of the Epis- 
copal Church since boyhood and, with his 
wife, was very active in church work for years, 
the latter being organist and leader of the 
choir. She was a lady of many accomplish- 
ments and lovely character and her death was 
a loss, not only to her family, but to her 
church and community. Mr. Wood is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity. 

EDWARD COATES, a successful business 
citizen of Cuyahoga Falls, who has shown en- 
terprise and ability, not only in one trade, but 
in several, carries on two distinct industries 
on his property at the north end of Second 
Street in this city. His greenhousas cover a 
large space and his florist business is flourish- 
ing, while he has had his own blacksmith shop 
in operation for a number of years. Mr. Coates 
was born at Simcoe, County Norfolk, Ontario, 
Dominion of Canada, November 8, 1856, and 
is a son of Thomas and Jane (Alderson) 
Coates. 

Thomas Coates was born at Richmond, 
Yorkshire, England, in 1819. and died in 
1883. He was a carriage-maker by trade, and 
after emigrating to Canada, settled at Simcoe, 
where he did a large business and gained an 



extended reputation as a carriage and wagon 
manufacturer. He retired from active busi- 
ness about eight years before his death. In 
the management of municipal affairs at Sim- 
coe he was very prominent, holding numer- 
ous responsible offices, and at the time of his 
death was acting mayor. His children were: 
Joseph, residing at Simcoe; Maria, who mar- 
ried Francis Hurt; Thomas, residing at Sim- 
coe ; Edward, and George. Maria and George 
are both deceased. The family was reared in 
the faith of the Episcopal Church. 

Edward Coates attended the common 
schools and during his vacations he learned 
the wood-working trade with his father, and 
by the time he was sixteen years of age he 
had a working knowledge of wagon-making. 
He then learned carriage-ironing and for sev- 
eral years was thus employed in some of the 
best shops at Simcoe. Following this he 
formed a partnersliip with his brother Joseph 
under the firm name of J. & E. Coates, for the 
manufacture of wagons and carriages, and the 
firm also engaged in undertaking. Edward 
Coates continued as a member of this firm un- 
til 1880, when he withdrew to give his entire 
attention to horseshoeing. For some years 
])revious he had had considerable practice in 
this line, and had acquired enough skill to 
make him feel confident of success. After 
securing a diploma from the Toronto Veteri- 
nary College as a horse farrier, he opened a 
shop at Simcoe. 

In the latter part of 1883 IMr. Coates came 
to Cuyalioga Falls and started into business 
for himself, at Northampton. Shortly after- 
ward he removed to Miuiroe Falls, where he 
remained until 1885, wlien he returned to 
Cuyahoga Falls and entered into partnership 
with Joseph Jones, under the firm name of 
.Tones & Coates, in the business of horseshoe- 
ing and general repairing. Several yeaRs later 
Mr. Coates bought the interest of Mr. Jones 
and continued alone until 1899, when he pur- 
cha.«ed the business of F. D. Vogan. and after 
that was the only proprietor and operator of 
a shop of this kind at Cuyahoga Falls for four 
years. Mr. Coates prospered so well that he 
decided to expand his facilities and, accord- 




All, I',, w im;.\ I', i; 



AND REPEESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



811 



ingl}', moved to his present site on Second 
Street, building his present commodious and 
well-equipped shop. He still 3oes a very large 
business in this line. 

In his boyhood Mr. Coates had worked at 
times in a florist's establishment, and finding 
the work congenial, had subsequently re- 
solved, now that he had the time, to 
take up floriculture as a husines.-;. In 
1904 he built his first greenhouse, a stnic- 
ture 14 by 60 feet, intending to i-un it as a 
kind of side issue, but he succeeded so well 
and his trade increased so rapidly that in 1905 
he built another greenhouse, 20 by 60 feet ui 
dimensions, and he now devotes about three 
acres to plants and flowers. He deals mainly 
in bedding plants and finds a ready local mar- 
ket for all ho can produce. Beginning this 
business more for recreation than for profit, 
Mr. Coates has developed it into something 
very important and remunerative. 

Mr. Coates was married to Mary A. Mon- 
teith, who is a daughter of \^'illiam Monteith, 
of Simcoe, Ontario, but who was born in 
County Donegal. Ireland. They have two 
children. Edward M., residing at Cleveland, 
and Ruth M. The family belong to St. John's 
Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Coates has 
ser\-ed two terms as a member of the vestry. 
His fraternal connections are with the Na- 
tional Union, being secretary of the local 
council, and of the Modern Woodmen of 
America, being a chai"ter member of the or- 
ganization at Cuyahoga Falls. 

PAUL E. WERNER, founder, president 
and general manager of the Werner Company, 
at Akron, book manufacturers, lithograph- 
ers, printers and engi-avers, and also publish- 
ers of the New AVerner Edition of the Ency- 
clopaedia Brittannica. has been in active busi- 
ness life in this city for a great many years. 
Mr. Werner was born in 1850, in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, a kingdom that has con- 
tributed to America some of her leading citi- 
zens, and came to the United States in 1867. 

Mr. Werner came to Akron as a boy of sev- 
enteen years and imtil 1874 he was employed 
in clerienl pn.=ition- with different business 



firms, in the meanwhile preparing himself 
and laying the foundations tor a business of 
his own. In the above mentioned year he 
purchased the Akron Germania, and in four 
years had made such progress that he felt 
justified in enlai-ging his scope of operations, 
ui 1878 founding the Sunday Gazette, and 
also the Akron Tribune, daily and weekly. 
The management of all these journals he kept 
in his own hands until 1884. Pressure of 
'dher busine.ss then induced Mr. Werner to dis- 
pose of his newspapers, and he then turned 
his entire attention to general printing, bind- 
ing and engraving. In 1888 Mr. Werner or- 
ganized a stock company which was the fore- 
runner of the present great book factory, 
which represents, in a special degree, the de- 
velopment of the ideas and the persevering 
industry and foresight of its founder. 

Among the many prospering business en- 
terprises of Akron few are more widely 
known, and still fewer are of equal import- 
ance to t^iis section than the Werner Com- 
pany, the officers of which are men of capital, 
public spirit and unblemished integrity. They 
are; Paul E. Werner, president and general 
manager; R. M. Werner, vice-president and 
a.~sistant treasurer; C. I. Bruner, treasurer; 
Karl Kendig, secretary; H. M. Huddleston, 
assistant secretary; and Edward P. Werner, 
general superintendent. 

The Werner Company is by far the largest 
and most complete book factory on the Amer- 
ican Continent. It comprises under one roof, 
so to speak, and vmder one management, all 
the graphic arts and trades. It furnishes di- 
rectlv and indirecth' the material means of 
livelihood for from 4,000 to 5,000 Akron in- 
habitants. The great majority of the em- 
ployees of the Werner Company are skilled in 
trades and arts and receive high compensa- 
tion. During the year 1906 the works of the 
Werner Company were in unintermpted oper- 
ation and a great part of the time were run- 
ning thirteen hours daily. In order to form 
an idea nf the magnitude of this great in- 
dustrv the following will be of interest: Dtir- 
ing that year this companv purchased and re- 
ceived raw material and shipped finished 



812 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



products representing the full capacity of 
1,200 railroad cars. The products included 
more than 3,000,000 of large books; more 
than 15,000,000 of large and finely-illustrated 
catalogs made for the largest manufacturing 
concerns of this country, and millions of other 
printed, lithographed and engraved articles. 
If the boolcs alone which were manufactured 
by the Werner Company last year were laid 
on one pile alone, one on top of the other, 
this pile would reach ninety-six miles into 
the air. If these books were laid side by side, 
they would constitute a line 500 miles long. 

The raw materials consumed during the 
past year comprise 3,500 different kinds, the 
largest consumption being in paper, cloth, 
leather, gold and ink. A little calculation 
will show how immense has been the output. 
If the paper consumed for only the past year 
were laid in sheets, side by side, they would 
reach around the world four times. The 
binders' cloth consumed for this period meas- 
ured 5,000,000 square feet. The different 
kinds of leather consumed required the skins 
of 25,000 cattle, 30,000 sheep, and 36,000 
Persian and Morocco goats. Over 3,000,000 
leaves of gold were consumed. 

While the principal product of this factory 
is books, the Werner Company has a world- 
wide reputation for furnishing fine commer- 
cial work, typographic as well as lithographic, 
and catalogs of every description, and of this 
particular kind of product it makes more than 
any other concern in the United States. 

President Werner of the above company 
has numerous other interests in city and 
county and has been the encourager of many 
of the enterprises which needed a helping 
hand when getting established. He is presi- 
dent of the Klages Coal and Ice Company, is 
president of the Akron Germania Company, 
and also of the German-American Company. 

On February 22, 1873. Mr. Werner was 
married to Lucj'^ Anna Denaple. and they 
have three sons — Edward Paul. Frank 
Albert and "Richard Marvin. All three were 
educated at Kenyon Military Academy, at 
Gambier, Ohio, subsequently attended schools 
in the East, and finally completed their gen- 



eral educations in Germany. Edward Paul, 
who is the general superintendent of the 
Werner CompaRy, was married in 1901 to 
Harriet Poehlman, and they have three chil- 
dren: Frank Albert, residing at Berlin, Ger- 
many, has made a reputation, at the age of 
thirty years, as a portrait artist ; and Richard 
Marvin, who is vice-president and assistant 
treasurer of the Werner Company, married 
Eda R. Hyndman, and they have one child. 
Their home is at No. 282 West Market Street. 
Although Mr. AVerner's life has been main- 
ly devoted to his large business interests, he is 
recognized as one of the foremost public- 
spirited men in the community. His influ- 
ence is felt in the furtherance of educational 
and philanthropic movements at Akron. 

T. DWIGHT PAUL, assistant state engi- 
neer, was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, July 
21, 1848. He is a son of the late Hosea Paul, 
who was a pioneer citizen and sun'eyor. Hosea 
Paul was born at Northfield, Vermont, April 
6, 1809. In 1834 he removed to Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he afterward served as justice 
of the peace and mayor. He located several 
of the first railroads in this section, and waa 
county surveyor for many years. During 
1863-4 he served as an assistant engineer in 
the United States Engineer Corps department 
of the Army of the Cumberland. His death 
in 1870 was hastened by hardships endured 
in his war service. He was noted for his 
mgged honesty, and for his outspoken opposi- 
tion to slavery and intemperance, when it re- 
quired courage to express such sentiments. 

T. Dwight Paul was educated in. the public 
schools at Cuyahoga Falls and the Pennsyl- 
vania Polytechnic College at Philadelphia. He 
was married in 1877 to Emeline Owens, of 
Armstrong's Mills. Belmont County, Ohio. 
Two children were born to them : Ethel, who 
died in 1900, at the age of twenty-one years, 
and Frank D. Paul, a graduate of the Ohio 
State University, who is now a mechanical en- 
gineer at Cleveland. They have two foster 
children, Theresa and Lewis Paul, whom they 
took to raise upon the death of their daughter. 

Mr. Paul served one year ss county surveyor 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



813 



by appointment and for three years was resi- 
dent engineer of the Public, Works of Ohio, 
and for one year was United States deputy 
mineral surveyor, of Montana. He was chief 
engineer of the B. Z. & C. R. R. in 1S75-6, 
building the same from Bellaire to Woodsfield, 
Ohio. He has sened as division engineer of 
the Canada Southern, Chicago, Lakeshore & 
Western, the Chicago & Erie, the Union Pa- 
cific, and other railroads, in Canada, Ohio, 
Indiana, Michigan. Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, 
Montana and AVashington. 

In 1902-3 he was engineer in charge of con- 
struction of the Akron & Barberton Belt Rail- 
road. In 1894-5 he had charge of the field 
work of the survey of a proposed ship canal 
through Ohio for the United States govern- 
ment. 

Mr. Paul served in the Akron City Coun- 
cil from 1898 to 1901. He twice prevented 
the Akron Street Railroad from obtaining an 
extension of their franchise on a 5-cent fare 
basis, and compelled a basis of twenty-five 
tickets for one (1) dollar. He was very large- 
ly instrumental in securing independent tele- 
phone service for Akron. He made a remark- 
able record in opposition to all franchise ag- 
gression, and to all forms of hasty or secret 
legislation, often voting alone in his opposi- 
tion. Mr. Paul has still work to do before his 
history closes, and his friends believe it will 
not be unimportant. 

WARD B. MIDDLETON, physician and 
surgeon at Cuyahoga Falls, and proprietor of 
"The Elms," a private hospital, is an eminent 
member of his profession, for which he pre- 
pared by long courses of study in the most ad- 
vanced scientific schools of the country. Dr. 
Middleton was born in Jackson Township, 
Coshocton County, Ohio. October 24, 1858, 
and is a son of Jesse and Susan A. (Titus) 
Middleton. Ignatius Middleton, the paternal 
grandfather of Dr. Middleton, was bom in 
South Carolina, where he owned a large plan- 
tation and was one of a distinguished family, 
his uncle, .\rthur Middleton, being one of 
the .signers of the Declarntion of Independ- 
ence. 



Jesse Middleton, father of Dr. Middleton. 
was born in South Carolina and was a son of 
Ignatius and Sarah (Loomis) Middleton. He 
died in Coshocton County, Ohio, in 1886, 
aged seventy-six years. He had long been en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising. In poli- 
tics he was a stanch Democrat. He married 
Susan A. Titus, who was a daughter of Tim- 
othy Titus, of Harrison County, and she re- 
sides at Roscoe, Ohio, being now in her eighty- 
sixth year. They had five children, namely: 
William C, residing on the old homestead; 
Caroline, who married John Norris and resides 
in Coshocton County; Frances L., who mar- 
ried Henry Ash and resides at Roscoe, Ohio; 
Bessie (deceased), who married Dr. G. S. 
Morris, of Arkansas City, Kansas; Ward B., 
the youngest, who-se name begins this sketch. 
Jesse Middleton and his wife were early pro- 
moters of the Presbyterian Church in Coshoc- 
ton County. 

In boyhood Dr. Middleton attended first the 
local schools and later the Normal school at 
Ada, and a school at Cannonsburg, Pennsyl- 
vania. He taught school for seven years, dur- 
ing which period he entered upon the study 
of medicine, beginning to read in 1880 under 
Dr. W. C. Frew, of Coshocton. He subse- 
quently entered the Medical College of Ohio, 
at Cincinnati, where he was graduated March 
5, 1885. He began the practice of his profes- 
sion at Roscoe, where he remained for eigh- 
teen months, then practiced for one year at 
Newark, after which he became examining 
surgeon for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 
for four years residing at Pittsburg, and for 
the latter four years of this connection at 
Akron. Dr. Middleton retired from railroad 
practice in 1899, since which time he has 
mainly devoted himself to surgery, residing 
at Cuyahoga Falls, where, in Februarv% 1905, 
he opened his private hospital. This medi- 
cal retreat which he has named "The Elms" 
is a modern institution, beautifully located 
and thoroughly equipped, with accommoda- 
tions for ten patients, all of whom come di- 
rectly under Dr. IMiddleton's personal care. 

Dr. Middleton is a member of the Summit 
Countv Medical Societv and the American 



814 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Medical Association. He keeps closely in 
touch with the progress of his profession and 
iiiiikes use of such perfected apparatus as his 
own knowledge and experience have proved to 
be of value. In 1898 he passed three months 
in the New York Polyclinic Hospital, doing 
post-graduate work in surgery and gynecol- 
ogy ; in the fall of 1899 he spent three weeks 
in the Chicago Clinical School ; in the fall of 
1900 he took a special course in gynecology 
ait the Mary Thompson Hospital, Chicago, un- 
der Dr. Byron Robinson, and at the same time 
he took an operative course in the post-grad- 
uat« school in the same city, which he has vis- 
ited since. 

Dr. Middleton married Clara R. Wood, who 
is a daughter of H. H. Wood, of Coshocton 
County, and they have two children, namely: 
Louise A. and Margaret L. Dr. Middleton is 
nominally identified with the Democratic 
party, but is practically independent in 
political action. He is affiliated Avith the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

HARRY W. HAROLD, one of the sub- 
stantial retired residents of Akron, where he 
has lived for the past twenty-seven years, was 
born at Maidstone, County Kent, England, in 
1829. 

Prior to coming to America in 1859, 
Mr. Harold had been well educated in 
an English school, and had already served for 
twelve years in the British army. He located 
at Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 
from which place lie enlisted in 1861 for serv- 
ice in the Civil War in Company E, Fifteenth 
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. 
On accoimt of his previous military expe- 
rience, he was made drill master of Company 
E, in which he held the rank of sergeant. The 
regiment was stationed in Virginia during the 
term of Mr. Harold's service, and it partici- 
pated in numerous hai'd battles. 

After his honoraible discharge from the 
army, which came in 1863, on account of ill- 
ness, Mr. Harold returned to Massachusetts, 
and shortly afterward went to work in the 
government armory at Springfield, where he 
remained for two vears. This was followed bv 



a A'isit to his old home in England, and, after 
returning to America, he was engaged for 
thre« years in a cutlery business in Beaver 
County, Pennsylvania, and then came to 
Ohio, and for five years carried on a gun and 
cutlery business at Alliance. Four years of 
farming in Lee County, Illinois, followed, and 
then Mr. Harold lived one year at Canton, 
Ohio, coming from there to Akron. For three 
and one-half years he was superintendent of 
the Akron Cutlery Works, after which he en- 
gaged* in a gunsmith business for himself, 
continuing until 1900, when he retired from 
;dl kinds of business. As recreation he does 
quite a little bit of gardening on his pleasant 
grounds at No. 318 Carroll Street. He owns 
(ither property at Akron. 

In 1866 Mr. Harold was married to Anna 
Proudley, : and they have one child, Charles 
B., who is bookkeeper for the Star Drilling 
A\'orks. With his family, Mr. Harold belongs 
to the Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a 
Republican. He has never lost his interest in 
military affairs and enjoys attending the re- 
unions of his old regiment. During and since 
the Civil War he has been interested in the 
philanthropic work carried on by Clara Bar- 
ton, of the Red Cross Society, for whom he 
has the greatest veneration and with whom he 
carries on a friendly correspondence. 

THE LOOMIS HARDWARE COMPANY, 

(ine of the oldest business firms at Cuyahoga 
Falls, which was established in 1864 and in- 
corporated in 1895, does the largest business 
in its line in Summit County. Its main 
founder was L. W. Loomis, the late father of 
the present proprietors, Byron H. and Ining 
L. Loomis, who was prominently identified 
with the progress and development of this 
section for very many years. L. W. Loomis 
was born January 11, 1836, at Nelson, Madi- 
son County, New York, and was the eldest 
of a family of eleven children born to his 
parents, who were William and Emeline 
(Thomas) Loomis. 

L. W. Loomis was five years of age when 
his parents moved to Wyoming Coimty, New 
York, and he remained on his father's farm 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



815 



until he had reached his inajoritj-, when he 
started out for himself. His capital of $10 he 
used in preparing to go out on the road as a 
tin peddler for the firm of Smith & Harring- 
ton, of Waterloo, New York, and he was in 
the employ of this house when he enlisted for 
service in the Civil War, entering Company 
G, Thirteenth Regiment, New York Volun- 
teer Infantrj'. During the two years he was 
in the army he participated in the battles of 
Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Ball's 
Bluff and other engagements of more or less 
importance, and was honorabh' discharged at 
Canandaigua, New York, February 6, 1864. 

After his return from the army, Mr. 
Loomis resumed work for his old employers, 
until Febniary, 1864, when, with his brother, 
Horace E. Loomis, he came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, and, in partnership with his former 
firm, established the business which is now 
known as the Loomis Hardware Company. 
Mr. Loomis and brother contributed ten tin- 
ware wagons and they had a half interest m 
the business. In March, 1865, L. W. Loomis 
bought his brother's interest, and in 1868 he 
became the sole owner of the business. He 
found a market all over the country, and for 
twenty years kept up the peddling business in 
seasonable time, replacing the tinware with a 
hardware stock. 

On .Tune 10, 1895, the Loomis Hardware 
Company was incorporated by L. W., Byron 
H. and In'ing L. Loomis. This business has 
been since expanded into one of the largesit 
in the county. The store at Cuyahoga Falls 
is stocked with everything in the line of hard- 
ware, including kitchen furnishings and 
ranges. The tinware department has been 
resumed, and they have a special trade which 
takes their manufactured goods. 

"\ATien Mr. Loomis came to Cuyahoga Falls 
in 1864, he found a town with a population 
of 1.500. with few signs of improvements of 
a public character. It was through his per- 
sonal efforts that a petition was circulated 
which resulted in the incorporation of the 
town. He was a man of great enterpri-e and 
remarkable foresight. In 1879, in partner- 
.«hip with H. E. Parks, he opened up High 



Bridge Glen, which became a very popular 
public resort, and during Mr. Loomis' man- 
agement a pavilion costing $3,500 was erected. 
From the time of its organization until his 
death Mr. Loomis was president of the Falls 
Savings and Loan ^^ociation. In politics he 
was a Repubhcan, and no man was ever better 
qualified for civic office, but the only office he 
would accept was that of councilman. For 
many years he was connected with Howard 
Lodge of Odd Fellows. 

On June 3, 1864, Mr. Loomis was married 
to Jane Curtiss-, who w^as a daughter of Chaun- 
cey Curtiss, of Canandaigua, New York, and 
they had five children, three of whom reached 
maturity, namely: Lillian M., born March 
21, 1865, who died August 31, 1898 ; Byron 
H., who was born September 18, 1868; and 
Ir\'ing L.. who was born August 21, 1871; 
Mrs. Jane Loomis, mother of these children, 
died May 26, 1895. 

Byron H. Loomis was reared and educated 
at Cuyahoga Falls and has been connected 
with his present enterprise during the whole 
of his business life. He is secretary and treas- 
urer of the Loomis Hardware Company. 

Irving L. Loomis, who is president and gen- 
eral manager of the Loomis Hardware Com- 
pany, like his brother, passed through the 
Cuyahoga Falls High School and then en- 
tered the present business, working for five 
years in the tinshop. On March 23, 1895, he 
was married (first) to Mabelle Campbell, a 
daughter of C. A. Campbell, of Hudson. She 
died November 7, 1897, leaving one son, Carl 
C. Mr. Loomis was married (second). No- 
vember 24, 1898, to Clara L. Nelson, who is a 
daughter of Chester Nelson, of Tallmadge. 
Mr. Loomis belongs to Star Lodge, No. 187, 
F. & A. M., and to the Knights of Pythias, 
in which he is pa«t commander, being also a 
member of the Uniformed Rank of Cuyahoga 
Company, No. 84. 

F. H. MASON, first vice-president of the 
B. F. Goodrich Company, at Akron, has been 
a resident of this city for twenty-eight years 
and is prominently and officially connected 
with many of the important business enter- 



816 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



prises which have made its name known in all 
parte of the world. Mr. Mason was born iu 
1852 at Littleton, New Hampshire. 

In early life the parents of Mr. Mason re- 
moved to Vermont, where he was reaxed and 
educated, but young manhood found him in 
the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and later on in 
the mining regions of California. There he 
gained a large amount of practical knowledge, 
combined with beneficial experience. In 1879 
he came to Akron and entered the works of 
the Goodrich Company as a general employe, 
but was shortly made foreman, then assistant 
superintendent and later superintendent and 
general manager. On January 1, 1907, he suc- 
ceeded B. G. Work as first vice-president of 
this company. He owns .stock in a number 
of other successful enterprises, and is presi- 
dent also of the Bridgewater Machine Com- 
pany, and is on the directing board of the 
Thomas Phillips Company. 

In 1876 Mr. Mason was married to May L. 
Dexter, of Bangor, Maine, and they have two 
daughters: Mrs. H. K. Rayman, whose hus- 
band is connected with the B. F. Goodrich 
Company; and Mrs. Frank C. Howland, who 
is connected with the Thomas Phillips Pipe 
Company, of Akron. 

Mr. Mason is a member of the First Congre- 
gational Church at Akron. 

JAMES LYONS, one of the venerable resi- 
dents of Northfield Town.ship, Summit Coun- 
ty, Ohio, who, despite his years, is known 
as one of this section's most capable and ener- 
getic agriculturists, was born in 18B4, in Aber- 
deenshire. Scotland, and is a son of James and 
Martha (Sangster) Lyons. 

Mr. Lyons remained on his father's farm 
until reaching his majority, when he emi- 
grajted to America, and settled in Bedford, 
Ohio, being employed there for two years on 
the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad. Since 
that time he has been engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. In 1864 he came to Northfield 
Township and purchased his present fine farm 
of 160 acres, of which he cultivates about 100 
acres, keeping two men constantly and extra 
hands during han^est tame. In the past he 



has paid particular attention to dairying, 
milking on an average of twenty-five cows 
and shipping milk to Cleveland, but because 
of the difficulty so universally experienced in 
securing competent farm help in these days, 
he has decided to give up dairying, and, there- 
fore, keeps but sixteen cows, giving his en- 
tire time to feeding cattle for the market. 

Mr. Lyons was married to Betsey Freeman, 
who is a daughter of John Freeman, of Solon, 
Ohio, and who was bom on the voyage from 
Scotland to America in 1836. Of this union 
there have been born four children : Ann 
(decea.sed), who was the wiie of Fred Aldrich, 
of Cleveland, and has two children: Ellen, 
who is the wife of Leon Kellogg, reared five 
children; (one. Hazel, died in September, 
1907, in her thirteenth year) ; George, the 
only son of his parents, died in 1900, aged 
twenty-eight years; and Margaret, who is the 
wife of Frank Gossman, of Macedonia. They 
reared four children: Bertha, Ralph, Jennie 
and an infant, deceased. 

James Lyons is one of Northfield Town- 
ship's prudent, observing and public-spirited 
citizens, and stands deservedly high in the es- 
teem of his fellow-townsmen. Although never 
an office-seeker, he is a stanch Republican and 
has sensed several terms as supervisor. With 
his family he attends the United Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

T, L. FIRESTONE, proprietor of the Em- 
pire Hotel, the leading hostelry at Akron, has 
been a resident of this city for the past thirty- 
eight years. He was born at Fredericksburg, 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1846, where he 
lived until twelve years of age, when his 
mother died and he went to live with his 
uncle at Newark, Ohio. 

His education was completed in the New- 
ark schools and at the age of seventeen he 
entered the Federal army. His fiLrst enlist- 
ment for six months was in Company E, 
]29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which regi- 
ment was raised at Cleveland. After the close 
of his first enlistment he remained at home 
for two weeks and then re-enli.sted, entering 
Company H, 102d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



811 



for a term of three years, and served until 
the close of the war. During his first period 
in the army he was a member of Cox's Divi- 
sion, Burnside's Corps. He was present when 
Cumberland Gap was taken, in 1863, and went 
through the entire Knoxville campaign. Dur- 
ing liis second period he was in the Twentieth 
Army Corps, and his service w^as mainly in 
Tennessee and Alabama, the command to 
which he was attached following and inter- 
cepting the Confederate, General Hood, when- 
ever it was possible. During the first enlist- 
ment he served as a private, and during 
the second held the rank of corporal. He was 
honorably discharged August 12, 1865. 

After Mr. Firestone returned home he 
learned the turner's trade, at Fredericksburg, 
and - after coming to Akron, in 1869, he 
worked as a turner, being connected for ten 
years with the W. B. Doyle Company. For 
one and one-half years he was employed by 
the Simon Hankey Company, and later, for 
the same period, by the Baker-McMillan Com- 
pany. In 1882 he returned to his old home 
in Fredericksburg, where he engaged in a 
lumber business and planing mill for eight 
and one-half years, and subsequently worked 
with the Gobeille Pattern Company, of Cleve- 
land, for one year, and with the firm of Slatei 
and Taft for one year. Mr. Firestone then 
returned to Akron and was associated with 
Andrew Jackson in a lumber business, later 
was with the Akron Gymnasium Company for 
a year, and was with Hiram Henry for one 
and one-half years. After retiring from that 
line of work, Mr. Firestone went into the 
hotel business, for ten years having charge 
of the Windsor Hotel. In June, 1906, he took 
charge of the Empire Hotel, the leading one 
at Akron. 

In 1874 Mr. Firestone was married to NeUie 
Hanson, who is a daughter of Peter Hanson, 
and they have one son, G. Forrest. The lat- 
ter was born at Akron in 1876, and after 
graduating from the Akron High School, 
spent one term at Buchtel College, and three 
years in the law department of the University 
of Michigan, graduating at the latter institu- 
tion in 1898. Since then he has been in the 



active practice of law at Akron and is a mem- 
ber of the Summit County Bar Association. 
In 1904 he was married to Ruth E. Loomis, 
who is a daughter of H. E. Loomis, of Akron. 
He belongs to the Delta Tau Delta college frar 
ternity, is a Knight Templar Mason and a 
member of the Odd Fellows. 

T. L. Firestone is a valued member of 
Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 

THOMAS PORTER RITCHIE, a repre- 
.«entatlve agriculturist of Stow Township, who 
resides on his 110-acre farm, was born on his 
present property in Stow Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, November 27, 1859, and is a 
son of George Grier and Katherine (Shannon) 
Ritchie. 

William Ritchie, the grandfather of 
Thomas P., was a native of County Donegal, 
Ireland, and died in 1825, when compara- 
tively a young man. He left a widow, for- 
merly Isabella Grier. and in 1834 she came 
to America with her children, settling first in 
Hudson Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
and later removing to Boston Township, 
where she died. In Ireland Mr. Ritchie's 
family belonged to the Church of the Cove- 
nant, but after coming to America they be- 
came members of the United Presbyterian 
Church. Five children were born to William 
Ritchie and his wife, namely: William, 
Martha, Margaret, George G. and Alexander. 

George Grier Ritchie was born in London- 
deny, Ireland, in February, 1823, and was 
eleven years old when the family came to 
America. With his brother, Alexander, who 
now resides at Akron, he purchased the farm 
now owned by Thomas P. Ritchie, then a 
tract of 200 acres. Later he became the pur- 
chaser of this property and added, from time 
to time, until he was the owner of 312 acres. 
Mr. Ritchie was engaged in sheep raising 
principally imtil the cheese industry became 
more, profitable, when he engaged in dairy 
farming, and at one time kept as many as fifty 
cows. He was a Prohibitionist and a great 
Abolitionist, and, although physical infirm- 
ity prevented him from ser\"ing in the Union 
ranks during the Civil War, he gave $500 to 



818 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the cause. George G. Ritchie married Kaith- 
erine Shannon, who was born in Holmes 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Thomas 
Shannon. Six children were born to this un- 
ion : Maria, who married Charles Ritchie, of 
Weyauwega, Wisconsin; Thomas Porter; W. 
Shannon, who resides at Corona, California; 
James, who resides in Stow Township; Mary, 
who married Will Sauder, of Ravenna, Ohio; 
and George, who resides at Columbus, Ohio. 
Mrs. Ritchie is a member of the Seventh Day 
Adventist Church, while her children are con- 
nected with the United Presbyterian. 

Thomas Porter Ritchie grew up on the 
homestead, and was educated in the common 
schools. With the exception of two years 
spent on an Iowa farm, he has always resided 
here, and he now raises hay, wheat, oats and 
corn, on about fifty acres. He keeps nine 
cows, and is also engaged in dealing in calves, 
which he buys all over the country, shipping 
them to Cleveland. Mr. Ritchie is a Democrat 
in politics, but he has never sought office. 

Mr. Ritchie was married to Carrie Deming, 
who is a daughter of George Deming, of Du- 
rant, Iowa, and they have six children, name- 
ly: J. Clayton, Leland A., Carlton W., George 
Deming, Nathan L. and Clark G. 

E. S. DAY, vice-president of the National 
City Bank of Akron, and a prominent busi- 
ness citizen here of thirty years standing, was 
born in 1852, at Bingiianilon. New York, 
and to his native state he owes his liberal edu- 
cation. 

Prior to coming to Akron, in 1877, Mr. 
Day was interested in busine.'v'; at Binglia.ni- 
ton, and since coming to this section has been 
engaged in the wholesale liquor business, in 
point of years being the oldest merchant in 
the citv. He has done an extensive business 
in dealing in real estate and is a large prop- 
erty owner. For the pa.^t five years he has 
been vice-president of the National City Bank, 
and he is on the directing board of the Cen- 
tral Savings Bank. His other interests here 
are varied and numerous. 

In the state of New York Mr. Day was mar- 
ried to Lizzie Foster, and their children are: 



Rose, who maiTied Will Chriiity; and Maud, 
^vho mariied George jMemmer. 

Mr. Day is a ^ood citizen in all that the 
word implies. He has been closely identified 
with the material growth of Akron and her 
enterprises and has always been concerned in 
promoting her best interests. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity. 

B. G. WORK, president of the B. F. Good- 
rich Company, of Akron, which controls one 
of the largest manufacturing plants in this 
section of the state, was born in the state of 
New York, in 1868. 

Mr. Work's boyhood, up to twelve years, was 
spent in his native place, and there his pre- 
liminary education was secured. In 1880 he 
came to Akron and subsequently attended 
Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Massa- 
chusetts, and then entered Yale College. After 
completing his education he took up practical 
work with the Goodrich Company, starting in 
as a clerk and climbing step by step until he 
became superintendent of the plant and served 
as such for twelve years, when he succeeded 
Mr. Corson as vice president, and on January 
1, 1907, he succeeded Col. George T. Perkins 
as president. 

In June, 1900, Mr. Work was married to 
Marian Sawyer, of New York city, and they 
liave one son, Bertram. 

EDWARD RUSSELL PECK, one of the 
well known and highly esteemed residents of 
Stow Township, Summit County, Ohio, who 
owns a fine farm of 125 acres, was born Oc- 
tober 7, 1836, in Hudson Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of William Hall 
and Lydia (Bradley) Peck. 

Rufus Peck, the grandfather of Edward 
Ru.ssell, was born in Newtown, Connecticut, 
but in his later years removed to Street.sboro, 
Ohio, where he resided until his death, March 
6, 1848. He married Sallie Hall, and to them 
were born the following children : Chloe, who 
married Abel Dibble; Lvman, born Decem- 
ber 26, 1801; William Hall, born .July 23, 
1803; John N., born March 15, 1805; Nancy 
P., born .Tuly 20, 1809. married George 




.\M08 A. ROTHROCK 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



8ai 



Bradley; Clara, bora March 1, 1810, mar- 
ried (first) Jacob Mayhew, and (second) John 
Foster; Sarah Ann, born May 30, 1812; Rus- 
sell, born October 7, 1814 ; Henry, bom June 
17, 1817; Nathan, born July 17, 1819; and 
Horace, born March 2, 1822. 

William HaJl Peck was born in Newtown, 
Connecticut, where he learned the trade of 
carpenter, but on coming to Ohio, in 1834, he 
purchased a farm in Hud^son Township, on 
which he resided until his death. He was a 
Democrat in politics, and was a ca)>tain in the 
state militia. Mr. Peck was married to Lydia 
Bradley, who was a daughter of Stephen Brad- 
ley, and they had four children : Sarah Ann, 
who married E. S. Beardsley, of Cleveland, 
Oliio; Stephen, born in 1834, who died in 
1869; Edward Russell; and Joseph, who died 
in Cleveland. Mrs. Peck pa&-«ed away in 1869 
at the age of sixty years. 

Edward Russell Peck was reared in Hudson 
Township, and, in 1863, he purchased the 
home farm, on which he resided several years. 
In 1860 he bought his present property, a 
tract of 125 acres, on which he has since car- 
ried on general and dairy farming, and in 
1894 erected a fine residence. He is known 
as one of the township's good, practical farm- 
ers, and as a citizen his reputation is beyond 
reproach. 

Mr. Peck was married to Maria Y. Talcott, 
daughter of Hezekiah and Betsey Talcott, 
residents of Stow Township, and their chil- 
dren are the following: Nora, who married 
J. D. Ritchie, lives in Akron ; William H., 
born September 20, 1869, resides at home; 
and Gertrude L., who is the wife of Warner 
Huchison, resides in Chicago. 

AMOS A. ROTHROCK, farmer and town- 
ship trustee of Portage Township, spent 
twenty-nine years as an educator, teaching 
with much success in diff'erent sections. He 
was born in Stark County, Ohio. November 
3, 1851. and is a son of Samuel and Cath- 
arine (Stauffcr) Rothrock. 

The parents of Mr. Rothrock were both 
born near Lebanon. Pennsylvania, but were 
married in Stark County, Ohio. In 1853 



they moved to Copley Township, Summit 
County, where Samuel Rothrock bought a 
farm of 160 acres. On this place he died in 
1870. His widow survived until 1901. 

Amos A. Rothrock was reared on the farm 
in Copley Township. He was a studious boy 
and in the local schools prepared himself for 
teaching. Before he entered upon his uni- 
versity career, he had already taught the dis- 
trict schools for nine winters, devoting his 
summers to work on the farm. He then en- 
tered Otterbein University, near Columbus, 
(^hio. where he completed his education June 
11, 1885. Four years of training at college 
liad prepared him for a prominent place in 
the educational field, and when he was of- 
fered the superintendency of the Mogadore 
schools, he accepted and remained for one 
year. After an interval of one year at Dover 
Academy he spent another year at Mogadore. 
He then taught for two years at West Rich- 
field, one year in the Akron High School, 
and two years in the Copley High School, 
and then spent two more years at Mogadore. 
A period of twenty-nine years is a long time, 
but it has been a season of great enjoyment 
to Mr. Rothrock and of inestimable benefit 
to those who have come under his instruc- 
tion, and it is with pleasure that he sees so 
many of his old pupils occupying positions 
nf responsibility and prominence in different 
walks of life. 

In 1901, Mr. Rothrock retired from edu- 
cational work and moved to his finely-im- 
proved farm at Fairlawn, just west of Akron. 
He then resumed farming for the first time 
.'iince his youth. He takes an active interest 
in local affairs, the greater part of his life 
having been passed in this section, perhaps all 
of it, with the exception of a year during 
which he was principal of Dover Academy, 
which is situated within 100 miles of Chi- 
cago, Illinois. He is known to all his fel- 
low citizens and has a wide circle of friends. 
Politically he is a Repxiblican and is now 
serving his third term as township trustee. 

In 1892 Mr. Rothrock was married, first, 
to Ada Swigart, of West Richfield, and they 
had one son. Stanlev. who was born in Por- 



822 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tage County, Ohio, October 17, 1898. Mrs. 
Rothrock died in February, 1904, and Mr. 
Rothrock was married, second, in April, 
1905, to Harriet E. Stone. He is a member 
of the M^oodland Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Akron. He is a man of sterling charac- 
ter and in every sense a representative citizen. 

J. FRANK TEEPLE, one of Akron's well 
known business men, who does a large real es- 
tate and collection business, with offices in 
the Walsh Block, was born in Franklin Town- 
ship, Summit Couty, Ohio, in 1866, and is a 
son of Aaron Teeple, who was a substantial 
citizen of that section. 

J. Frank Teeple was mainly educated in a 
select school at Copley, and this was supple- 
mented by a business course under 0. S. War- 
ner, after which he became interested in the 
grocery line, in which he continued for six- 
teen years, during nine of these for other 
parties and seven years for himself. After 
selling out his grocery interests, Mr. Teeple 
started a collection agency and also went into 
the real estate business, having a valuable 
allotment on West Market Street. He handles 
a considerable amount of his own property, 
and among his fellow citizens is considered a 
man of his word and of most excellent busi- 
ness judgment. 

In February, 1892, Mr. Teeple was mar- 
ried to Minnie M. Howes. He is a first-class 
citizen and takes an active part in all local 
affairs, lending his influence in .support of 
public-spirited measures on all occasions. He 
is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the 
Modern Woodmen. 

A. W. BENNAGE, a leading business citi- 
zen of Akron, and a member of the firm of 
George A. Botzum Company, dealers in dry 
goods and ready-to-wear garments, has been 
a resident of this city for a quarter of a cen- 
tury and belongs to an old pioneer family of 
the county. He was born in Bath Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, in 1861, and is 
a son of John and Mary fWhitted) Bennage. 

The late John Bennage was a son of Jacob 
Bennage, who settled near Mogadore, about 



1828. During the early business life of John 
Bennage, he was engaged in the manufactur- 
ing of stoneware, but after settling in Bath 
Township, he engaged in farming. He had 
ten children, and eight of these still sur- 
vive. 

A. W. Bennage was reared and educated in 
Bath Township and remained on the home 
farm until he was twenty years of age, when 
he went into the lumber business, and bought 
and cut timber through Ohio and Michigan, 
and manufactured Imnber for twenty-three 
years. He was in partnership with W. F. 
Averill, under the firm name of Bennage & 
Averill for seventeen years. In 1904 Mr. 
Bennage became associated with George A. 
Botzum, in the establishing of the firm of the 
George A. Botzum Company, which occupies 
a prominent place in the commercial activities 
of Akron. 

In 1880 Mr. Bennage was married to 
Sarah Averill, who was born in Copley Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a daugh- 
ter of William Averill. 

Mr. Bennage is one of Akron's representa- 
tive citizens and has been identified with many 
of the movements which have encouraged her 
growth and increased her prestige. 

JAMES B. PAULUS, general farmer and 
dairyman, residing on his farm of eighty 
acres, situated in Stow Township, was born in 
SufReld Township, Portage County, Ohio. 
April 10, 1853, and is a son of William and 
Rebecca (Brouse) Paulus. 

The Paulus family came originally to Ohio 
from Pennsylvania, and the grandfather of 
James B. settled in Portage County, a little 
east of Mogadore, at a place called Horse- 
heaven, and there William Paulus was reared 
and there followed the trade of blacksmith. 
For forty years he served acceptably as a 
justice of the peace and from his business and 
the just emoluments of office, he accumulated 
a competency and retired at the age of fifty 
years. Politically, he was a Democrat. Fra- 
ternally, he was a Mason. He married Re- 
becca Brouse, who was born in Stark County, 
and they had the following children : Mary, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



823 



deceased, who was the wife of George Geth- 
maii, residing at Kent; Urias, who died in the 
army during the Civil War, having enlisted 
at tlie age of seventeen years; Isaac, residing 
at Canton, Ohio; James B. and Jane, twins, 
the latter of whom married Louis Newbax, of 
Akron; Jefferson, residing at Kent; Chloe, 
who married Daniel Swartz, residing in Suf- 
field Township, Portage County. The father 
of the above family died in May, 1895, and 
the mother in December, 1905, the former 
aged seventy years, and the latter, seventy- 
nine years. The mother of Mr. Paulus was 
a consistent member of the Lutheran Re- 
formed Church. 

James B. Paulus grew up on the home farm 
and until fifteen years of age, more or less 
regularly attended the district schools, then 
hired out af farm work by the month. When 
he was twenty years old he rented a farm in 
Suffield Township, which he operated for two 
year.5, when he married, and in 1875, came to 
Stow Township, Summit County. He pur- 
chased his present farm of Horace Moon, and 
has all of it under cultivation, together with 
fifty-five additional acres, which he rents. He 
raises his own grain and hay, and for some 
years devoted a great deal of space to pota- 
toes. He runs a dairy business with four- 
teen cows, disposing of his milk at Kent, and 
he also keeps about five head of horses. Mr. 
Paulus has done a great deal of improving on 
this property. He found no better accommo- 
dations than an old log cabin and in the first 
year he built a part of his present comfortable 
residence, which he completed in 1904, in the 
meanwhile erecting substantial barns and 
putting up good fences. 

Mr. Paulus was married to Caroline Hively, 
who died July 15, 1907. She was a most es- 
timable lady, a devoted wife and mother and 
a kind friend to all who brought their trou- 
bles to her. She was the mother of six chil- 
dren, namely: Charles, deceased; Ada, who 
died aged twenty^hree years; Edwin, who 
died aged fourteen years ; Willard, residing at 
home; Theresa, deceased, who married Henry 
Brown : and Edna, residing at homo. 

In politics, Mr. Paulus is identified with the 



Democratic party. He is not an oflBce-seeker, 
but consents to serve in local positions when 
called upon, and for many terms has been 
township supervisor. 

JACOB LAPP, proprietor of the Lapp 
cooperage plant, located at No. 1120 East Mar- 
ket Street, is a representative citizen of Ak- 
ron, where he has lived since 1870. He was 
born in 1843, at Cuyahoga Falls, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of John and Mar- 
garet Lapp. 

The father of Mr. Lapp, who was born in 
Germany, emigrated to America, and in 1840 
settled at Cuyalioga Falls, where he carried on 
a cooperage business. Of his seven children 
the six survivors are as follows: John and 
Jacob, both residing at Akron ; Louisa, wife 
of Ezra Spellman, of Akron ; Elizabeth, wife 
of William Eves, residing at Akron ; William, 
a resident of Akron ; and Hattie (Mrs. Doug- 
lass), also residing at Akron. 

Jacob Lapp was educated in the public 
schools of his native place, and learned the 
trade of cooper, working for many years ac- 
cording to the methods in vogue before coop- 
erage machinery was invented. He made 
many of the barrels formerly used by the 
Standard Oil Company. Later he associated 
his son with him in business and in 1883 they 
established the plant at its present location 
in Akron, where a very large business is now 
carried on. Staves are shipped to this plant by 
the carload from all parts of the United 
States. Mr. Lapp owns a stave factory him- 
self, which is situated at AVoodside. He also 
owns four other cooper shops located in Orr- 
ville, one in Columbus, another in Toledo, 
and still another in Kent, Ohio. These sev- 
eral plants give employment to about 100 
men. Barrels of all kinds are manufactured, 
and the name of Lapp gives evidence of their 
superior quality. 

On July 8, 1863, Mr. Lapp was married to 
Frances E. Rice and they have the follow- 
ing children: Fred M., who is associated in 
business with his father, married Sarah Roth- 
rock, and has two children. Harry and Clay- 
tiLs; Harry J., managing a branch cooper shop 



824 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



at Toledo, mai'ried Elizabeth Furness; Alma 
and Grace E., both residing in Akron, the 
former of whom is the wife of August 
Manthey, a molder by occupation; and the 
latter, wife of Charles Smith, captain of Fire 
Department No. 2, of Akron. 

Fraternally, Jacob Lapp is an Odd Follow, 
while Fred M. is identified with the Knights 
of Pythias. They both are men of high stand- 
ing commercially and belong to the progres- 
sive, reliable class of citizens to which Akron 
owes much of its prosperity. 

HARRY BROWN MILLS, proprietor of 
the Kleanit Manufacturing Company, at Ak- 
ron, is one of the city's native successful busi- 
ness men and representative citizens. He was 
born in 1867, at Akron, Ohio, and belongs 
to a old pioneer family of this section. 

Ithel Mills, the grandfather of Harry B., 
was born in New York, and was a pioneer of 
resourceful and enterprising character. He 
located in Summit County at a very early day 
and he built the old county court-house. He 
married Emily Spioer, who was a daughter of 
Major Minor Spicer, who was the first set- 
tler of Akron, a.nd one of Summit County's 
prominent men in his day. The late William 
H. Mills, the father of'H. B., was born at 
Akron, where his life AA-as spent. He mar- 
ried Alice S. Brown, a daughter of Charles 
W. Brown, the Browns being also old Summit 
County settlers. 

Harry B. Mills was reared and educated in 
his native place. Early in his business ca- 
reer he conducted a grocery, but for the past 
sixteien years he has been intere-^ted in his 
present manufacturing business. The introduc- 
tion of his product, Kleanit, met with success 
from the start, and in face of all competition, 
has been accepted as the best article of its 
kind ever piit on the market. It has reqiiired 
comparatively little advertising, proving its 
merits wherever used. Mr. Mills has a con- 
stantly increasing business which now extends 
over a large territo^^^ He is located at No. 
1009 South High Street, Akron. 

In 1890 Mr. Mills was married to Carrie L. 
Smith, who was born at Clintou, Ohio. Her 



father was George Smith, a well-known citi- 
zen of that section. Mr. and Mrs. Mills have 
three children — Ruth, Paul and Mildred. Mr. 
Mills belongs to the First Christian Church at 
Akron. 

CHARLES EDAVARD HANSON, resid- 
ing on his finely-improved farm of 124 acres, 
in Stow Township, is one of this section's \v]t- 
rosentalive agriculturists. Mr. Hanson wa- 
born August 24, 185'). in Hudson Town.ship. 
Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of Rich- 
ard and Susanna (Briggs) Hanson. 

Richard Hanson was born August 10, 1827, 
in the town of Whapwood, Lincolnshire, Eng- 
land, and was there married. He came to this 
country with his children, and immediately 
afterward engaged in the wagon-making busi- 
nass, with his brother Charles, under the firm 
name of Hanson Brothers, later becoming sole 
proprietor. Subsequently he purchased a 
farm in Stow Town-^hip. which he cultivated 
until his retirement from active farm work, 
when he removed to Hudson Township, and 
there his death occurred in his seventy-fifth 
year. Originally a Whig, Mr. Hanson later 
became a Republican, but he never aspired 
to political office. He was married to Susan- 
na Briggs, who was born in 1828, and to 
them there were born the following chil- 
dren: Charles Edward; Richard and Hewson, 
of Stow Town.ship : Thomas Henry, of Hud- 
son Township ; William George and Jamas, 
of Stow Township ; Mary Susanna and Char- 
lotte, both of Hudson Township; and Albert 
David. The family belong to the Episcopal 
Church. 

Charlfts Edward Hanson resided in Hudson 
Township imtil he was eleven years old, at 
which time his parents came to Stow Town- 
ship, and here he worked on the farm until 
1880, at which time he purchased his present 
124-acre tract, which he has cultivated to the 
present time. He also manages twenty-four 
acres helonging to his .sister-in-law. He de- 
votes considerable attention to cattle-raising 
and has from twenty to twenty-five head. He 
ships milk to the condensing milk factory, 
at Kent, Ohio. .Mr. Hanson recentlv remod- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



825 



clod bLs home, vvbicli now includes twelve 
roon:is and a bath, and built his present barns, 
one being a combined horse-barn and wagon- 
house 30 by 60 feet, with 18-foot posts, and 
the other 58 by 60 feet, with' 22-foot posts, 
for his stock, and, in addition, has a fine 
granary, 20 by 28 feet. He keeps his build- 
ings in the best of condition, and his farm in 
general presents a fine appearance. 

Mr. Hanson was married to Orrie Stewart, 
who was a daughter of Thomas and Catherine 
Stewart, of Stow Township. She died in 1896, 
aged thirty-eight years, having been the 
mother of .six children, namely: Rose E., 
Zena, Charles Frederick, Abigail I., Thomas 
S. and Eddie, the latter of whom died aged 
seven yeare. In his political views. Mr. Han- 
son is a Republican, and he has filled the of- 
fices of school director and supervisor, and 
been township trustee for sixteen years. 

JULIUS OSCAR WILLIAMSON, one of 
Stow Town.ship's leading citizens, resides on 
his well-equi]iped farm of 186 aci^s, which 
he devotes to general farming and dairying. 
Mr. Williamson was born in Stow Town.^hiji. 
Summit County, Ohio, on the fann he now 
owns, March 14, 1846. and is a .son of Pal- 
mer and Amy (Horton) W'illiamson. 

Palmer W'illiamson was born in Westches- 
ter County. New York. October 9, 1802, and 
died April 30, 1883. From the age of six- 
teen years he was entirely dependent upon 
his own efforts, and from poverty and through 
many hardships he climbed to affluence also, 
and gained the respect and confidence of all 
who came within his .sphere. In his youth he 
worked on the docks and engaged in lumber-^ 
ing. In 1823 he secured a position as ship- 
fiing clerk at Poughkeepsie. where he con- 
tinued for three years, doing tlie hardest kind 
i>f dock work. After his marriage in 1827, 
he settled down to farming and this contin- 
ued his main occupation during the rest of 
liis life. Prior to coming to Ohio he kept a 
tavern for one year at Goslien, New York. In 
the .spring of 1831, he brought his family 
to Tallmadge Township, Ohio, but three years 
iMter settled in Stow Township, where he in- 



vested his capital in a farm of eighty acres. 
With the help of a frugal, industrious wife, 
he achieved success and. became a man of 
ample fortune. His life proved the value 
of industry, temperance and perseverance, and 
wiiile it presented no heroic qualities, its un- 
selfishness and general well-doing left its 
lieneficient influence on his family and com- 
munity." 

In 1827 Palmer Williamson was married 
t<j Amy Horton and they had the following 
children: Mary, Horton, Bradner, Susan, 
.Tane, Aldrette and Julius Oscar. The mother 
(lied September 27, 1879, aged seventy-six 
years. 

Julius Oscar Williamson found life much 
ia.<ier in his lioyhood than did his father, and 
he was afforded fair opportunities in the way 
of education. After graduating from the High 
School at Cuyahoga Falls, he attended Hiram 
("ollege, and for the subsequent eight years 
taught school through the winter seasons, and 
ga\e hfs father assistance on his farm and in 
tiie dairy during the summers. In 1865 he 
riilisted for servdce in the Civil War, enter- 
ing Comi^any D, 198th Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, contracting for two years, 
hut actually serving but five weeks, on ac- 
count of the happy termination of the great 
struggle, and he was honorably discharged on 
May 8, 1865. 

Mr. Williamson is an intelligent, practical 
farmer and dairyman, who successfully em- 
})loys modern meithods in the conduct of his 
business. His dairy requires twenty cows to 
keep up the necessarj^ supply of milk, and he 
devotes from eighteen to twenty acres of his 
land to corn, the same to wheat, and from fif- 
teen to twenty acres to oats, and some six 
acres to potatoes. His silo is fourteen feet 
square. His dwelling is substantial and every- 
thing about the farm gives testimony to care- 
ful management. Formerly Air. William-'on 
was a member of the local Grange, and has 
always been interested in the agricultural do- 
velopment of his section. 

On February 21. 1875, Mr. Williamson 
was married to Rozetta Z. White, who is a 
dausrhter of H. J. White, of Ravenna, and 



826 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the have had six children, namely : Henry J., 
residing at Stow Corners, married Ruth Gay- 
lord, of Stow, and they have three children, 
Valda, H. Julius and Gaylord; Homer E., 
operating the home farm with his father, mar- 
ried Alice Nickerson, of Stow, and they have 
one child, Arlene; Don P., residing at Stow 
Corners, married Jessie Durbin; Arba G., re- 
siding at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Earl 
C. and Amy A., residing at home. The fam- 
ily belong to the Church of Christ, in which 
Mr. Williamson is an elder, and formerly 
was superintendent of the Sunday School. He 
is a thoughtful man who casts his vote as 
his judgment advises. For many years he 
has held local office, serving as township trus- 
tee and supervisor and also as a useful mem- 
ber of the School Board. His father was a 
Mason, having joined the fraternity in New 
York, but Mr. Williamson is not identified 
with any secret society. 

W. LEWIS SHOEMAKER, president of 
the Day Drug Company, a large retail drug 
organization of Akron, is one of the leading 
business men of the city. He was born Oc- 
tober 10, 1869, in Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania. At the age of twenty-three years 
he left the home farm on which he had been 
reared and began work as clerk in a drug 
store, being thus employed first at Cumber- 
land, Maryland, and later at Wheeling, West 
Virginia. In April, 1899, Mr. Shoemaker 
came to Akron and engaged in a drug busi- 
ness. In November, 1905, The Day Drug 
Company was incorporated, with a capital 
stock of $15,000. Its officers are: W. Lewis 
Shoemaker, president and treasurer, and Sal- 
lie B. Shoemaker, secretary, which officials, 
together with Mark Gair and Scott House- 
keeper, constitute a board of directors. The 
business, entirely retail, is in a very prosper- 
ous condition. In addition to his drug inter- 
ests, Mr. Shoemaker is a stockholder and a 
director in the Dollar Savings Bank, and is 
also interested in Akron real estate. In De- 
cember, 1890, Mr. Shoemaker was married 
to Sallie Bradley, of Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania, and they have two daughters, Mary 



and Blanche. Mr. Shoemaker is a Knight 
Templar Mason and belongs to the Masonic 
club. 

LUCIUS C. MILES, vice-president of the 
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, is a 
leading citizen of Akron, whose activities 
have been directed along both business and 
political lines. He was born at Brookline, 
Massachusetts. 

In 1870 Mr. Miles came to Akron and com- 
pleted his education in the Akron High 
School. He entered into busines in partner- 
ship with Charles Dick, and they dealt in 
grain for a period of six years. He became 
identified with other business enterprises and 
subsequently was elected president of the Ak- 
ron Cereal Company, which was merged with 
the Great Western Cereal Company in 1901. 
Mr. Miles is on the directing board of the 
above company, and is also vice-president of 
the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. 

Mr. Miles married Harriet M. Seiberling, 
who is" a daughter of John F. Seiberling. Mr. 
Miles has been an active citizen and to such 
a degree that in 1895, he was elected treas- 
urer of Akron and of Summit County, was 
re-elected in 1896, and served for four years. 
Personally he is a man of business honor and 
of social standing. 

CHARLES S. SPANGLER, a representa- 
tive business man of Clinton, Ohio, who is 
dealing in general merchandise, was born on 
the old Spangler home farm in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, April 24, 
1859, and is a son of Joseph and Caroline 
(Smith) Spangler. 

David Spangler, the grandfather of Char- 
les S., came to Ohio from Adams County, 
Pennsylvania, with his vnie, Elizabeth 
(Boety) Spangler. and settled north of Clin- 
ton on a farm still in possession of the fam- 
ily, where the rest of their lives was spent. 
Their children were: Joseph, John, David, 
Ephraim, Henr\^ Jane and Elizabeth. 

Jo.=eph Spangler father of Charles S., was 
born on the home place in Franklin Town- 
ship, and grew^ up on the farm which he 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



827 



helped to clear. Mr. Spangler now lives a 
retired life at Akron, but still owns a farm in 
Franklin Township. He was married, first, 
to Caroline Smith, a native of Franklin Town- 
ship and daughter of Daniel Smith, who came 
from Pennsylvania and settled as a pioneer 
in Ohio. There were ten children born to 
Joseph and Caroline Spangler, of whom six 
died in infancy. Those who reached mature 
years were: Adam G. ; John, now deceased; 
Charles S. ; and Jennie C, who married 0. 
W. Baum. After Mrs. Spangler's death, Mr. 
Spangler married for his secozid wife Adeline 
Hoy, who was born in South Perry, Hocking 
County, Ohio. Three children were born of 
this union — David E., Irving H., and Joseph 
G. 

Charles S. Spangler attended the district 
schools in boyhood, and worked on his fath- 
er's farm until 1893, when he located in Clin- 
ton and went into partnership with P. M. 
Frase in a general store. After ten years of 
successful business dealings this partnership 
was dissolved, Mr. Spangler purchasing Mr. 
Frase's interesdis, and since that time he has 
carried on the business alone. Here he han- 
dles a fine line of general stock, while at 
Turkeyfoot Lake, where he established a 
branch store in 1906, he carries fancy and 
staple groceries. 

On October 3, 1881, Mr. Spangler was mar- 
ried to Eleanor H. Whitmyer, who was born 
in Franklin Township, on her father's farm, 
and is a daughter of George and Elizabeth 
(Haring) Whitmyer. Mr. and Mrs. Spang- 
ler have been the parents of four children — 
G. Howard, a graduate of Buchtel College; 
Clinton Grover; Charles Russell; and Eliza- 
beth Beatrice. Mr. Spangler is a member of 
the order of Maccabees, and in politics is 
a Democrat. He belongs to the Christian 
Church, in which he is an elder, and his son 
Howard deacon and superintendent of the 
Sunday School. ■ 

LUTHER KESLEY RANNEY, fruit 
grower and farmer, residing on his highly- 
cultivated farm of fifty acres, in Boston Town- 
ship, was born in Summit County, Ohio, Au- 



gust 19, 1856, and is a son of Luther B. and 
Caroline (Clapp) Ranney. 

The Ranney family Ls one of the oldest in 
.America and has produced many famous men 
and women. The ancestral line may be 
traced to one Thomas Raney, who came to 
the colonies from Scotland, subsequent mem- 
bers adding the other letteis which make the 
name as it now stands. The original settler, 
Thomas had a son, also Thomas, whose son 
Nathaniel, was the great-great-grandfather of 
Luther Kelsey Ranney. Nathaniel Ranney 
(1) died in 1766. 

Nathaniel Ranney (2), the great-grand- 
father, died in 1800, leaving a son. Comfort 
Ranney, who came as one of the earliest set- 
tlers to Boston Township, Summit Comity, 
Ohio, from a place which is now known as 
Cromwell, Connecticut. Luther K. Ranney 
has in his po.ssession a wooden bottle, holding 
a gallon of liquid, which was made in the days 
of the French and Indian Wars, which was 
carried by Comfort Ranney, and which his 
father had used during the Revolutionary 
War. It is said that on one occasion the great 
General Washington accepted a draught from 
its contents. 

Comfort Ranney was born March 20, 178S. 
His wife, Betsey Hubbard, to whom he was 
married in 1808, accompanied him to Ohio. 
He was a ship-builder by trade. He located 
first at Hudson, but soon afterward removed 
lo Cleveland, where he later acquired a large 
amount of land which subsequently became 
valuable, but, unfortunately for his descend- 
ants, not before it had passed out of his pos- 
session. He returned to Hudson and operated 
a sawmill, and after it was destroyed by fire, 
in 1820, he moved to Boston Township, pur- 
chasing the farm on which Euther K. Ranney 
resides. He died July 14, 1823. His widow 
subsequently married William Collier, and 
died January 4, 1868, aged seventy-eight 
years. There were two sons born to her 
.second marriage, M. J. and Fred M. Collier, 
both of whom made brilliant records during 
the Civil War. Both are deceased. 

When Comfort Ranney died, it seemed 
necessary to part vnth the homestead farm. 



828 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



This loss was keenly felt by his son, Luther B. 
Kanney, who was then a youth of fourteen 
years. He determined to regain possession of 
the old home and immediately accepted a 
proposition made by a neighboring farmer 
named Deacon Hudson. This was that Mr. 
iianney should receive the sum of five dol- 
lars a month for his service for a specified 
time, while Mr. Hudson should take up a 
pending mortgage and thus give Mr. Ranney's 
mother, brothers and sisters a home. Mr. 
Ranney continued to work for Mr. Hudson 
until he was twenty-one years of age, gradu- 
ally being able to command more pay, and he 
lived to see his commendable ambition satis- 
fied, becoming the proud owner of the old 
farm on the State road. While in Mr. Hud- 
son's employ, he hauled a portion of the brick 
for building the Western Reserve College. 

The farm now contains eighty acres, Mr. 
Ranney having added a few acres to the orig- 
inal tract after it came into his possession. 
He was a man of great firmness and determin- 
ation. Naturally gifted with a fine under- 
standing, he would doubtless have made his 
mai'k had he been afforded educational ad- 
vantages. As it was, he overcame difficul- 
ties that would have discouraged an ordinary 
man, took a leading part in the life of his 
community, and tis an exemplary Christian, 
set an example. He never united with aii\- re- 
ligious body, but was a great student of the 
Bible, reading it with a broad sense of its 
meaning, such as he could never find included 
in the tenents of any church. In all things 
moral and temperate he was praiseworthy, and 
so lived that his fellow-citizens commended 
him and pointed him out as an example to 
the rising generation, fn his political life 
he supported measures and candidates who 
could show their substantial claims to recog- 
nition, but in no sense was he ever a politi- 
cian, and the only office he ever held was that 
of township trustee. He was born November 
28, 1809. 

In 1833, Luther B. Ranney was married 
(first) to Salley M. Carter, who died July 29, 
1846, leaving the following children: Martha, 
who died aged eighteen years; Mary deceased, 



married Willis Leach; Comfort, residing at 
Lansing, Michigan ; Harriet Sophia, who died 
m 1907, was the second wife of Willis Leach; 
and Sarah M., residing with her half-brother, 
Luther K. Ranney. On April 6, 1847, Lu- 
ther B. Ranney was married (second) to Caro- 
line Clapp, who was born May 3, 1821, and 
died May 26, 1895. She was a daugh- 
ter of Rev. Richard and Anna (Alvord) 
Clapp, of Northampton, Massachusetts. 
There were three children born to the second 
union, namely: Julia Ann, who married 
John Criss, residing at South Frankfort, 
Michigan; Luther Kelsey ; and Carrie M., who 
married William H. Evans, residing at Akron. 
The family always has resided on the farm, 
with the exception of three years when they 
lived at Akron, coming to the city in order 
tc provide better educational facilities for the 
children. During the early western gold dis- 
coveries, in 1850, Luther B. Ranney went to 
California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, 
and was absent for four years, engaged in min- 
ing, and met with success. 

Luther Kelsey Ranney attended the dis- 
tiict schools until ho was seventeen years old, 
w hen he accompanied tine family to Akron, 
where. he entered the preparatory department 
of Buchtel College. There he worked hard, 
crowding the studies of three years so that he 
completed the preparatory' course m two years. 
He then enticed the classical department of 
the college^ taking the course but not com- 
pleting it. at the same time doing a large 
amount of extra Avork on the farm. He was 
especially proficient in Greek and Latin, and 
this led the faculty to urge on him the project 
of fitting himself for a profe.ssorship in- lan- 
guages. Mr. Ranney would have found in 
professional life, especially in this line, much 
that was congenial, l>ut he had to consider the 
failing health of his parents and the need they 
bad of his strength, judgment, and .services 
on the farm, and he speedily settled the mat- 
ter, by putting aside his own personal desires, 
and returning to Boston Township. 

On the homestead farm he carries on a 
general line of agriculture and makes the 
growing of fruit a specialty. His peach or- 





MR. AND MRS. JOHN T. FISHER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



831 



chards have partiuularly iiilertibted hiin, and 
he raises a large amount of all vaz'ieties of 
iino fruit and beiTies. His fruit stock has 
been scieutiticailj' selected, and under his fos- 
tering care produces in abundance. Foi-nierly, 
he did some trucking. He keeps about hf teen 
head of cattle and ships his milk to Cleveland. 
Mr. Ranney married Mary M. Ozman, who 
was a daughter of Abraham Neumau Ozman, 
oJ' Boston Township, and they had three chil- 
dren : Luther Carroll, Neuman Clinton and 
Caroline Eliza. Mrs. Ranney wa^ formerly 
a member of the Congregational Church at 
Hudson and a leader in Sunday-school work. 
Her death, which occurred July 27, 1897, re- 
moved a woman of most lovely Christian char- 
acter from her home and counnunity. Polit- 
ically, Mr. Ranney is an Independent Demo 
crat. He retains his membership in the Delta 
Tau Delta Greek letter fraternitj' of Buchtel 
College. He has a magniticient library of 
over 1,0U0 carefully selected volumes, and 
when other interests fail, Mr. Ranney can gen- 
erally be found finding plea^iure and recrea- 
tion in his books, toward which his natural in- 
clinations have always led. 

JOHN T. FISHER, a member of the firm 
of Fisher Brothers, lumber dealers and manu- 
facturers of doors, Siish and blinds, at Akron, 
was born in Portage County, Ohio, in 1859, 
where he was reared and secured a district 
school education. In early manhood Mr. 
Fisher learned the carpenter trade and learned 
it so thoroughly that for twenty-six years his 
work was in demand in every section he lived 
in, and it has all stood the test of time. Pie 
became a somewhat noted builder of bank 
barns, his record being of sixty-two of these 
substantial structures. The one he erected 
for AV. G. Hays & Son, near Ravenna, was 
200 feet long and 50 wide, with 32-foot posts, 
being the largest barn ever built in this sec- 
tion of the country. He also erected numer- 
ous residences of different styles of archi- 
tecture. For four years he was interested in 
n lumber business at Kent and came to Ak- 
ron in 1901, where, in a.ssocinfion with his 
brother Philip, his partner, he erected the 



planing mill and lumber plant at No. 945 
South Pligh Street. The firm of Fisher 
Brotliers do an extensive business and person- 
ally they stand high in public esteem. 

In 1887 Mr. Fisher wius married to Mary 
.Knapp, of Suffield, Portage County, Ohio, and 
they have three children, namely: Jennie, 
Edith and Esther. The eldest daughter was 
educated in the schools at Kent and Akron, 
and after graduating from the Akron Busi- 
ness College, became bookkeeper for the firm 
of Fisher Brothers and is a very capable 
young lady. Mr. Fisher and family belong 
to St. Bernard's Church. 

LUCIUS V. BIERCE. wlio has resided on 
iiis valuable farm of over 100 acres, situated in 
Tallmadge Township, for the past thirty-two 
years, is a member of a family which has made 
tlio name one of distinction in Ohio, ever since 
it journeyed down the Connecticut Valley 
t(i the Western Reserve. Lucius V. Bierce 
was born June 2_, 1827, in Athens County, 
Ohio, and is a son of William and Harriet 
(Hineman) Bierce. 

For seven years the grandfather of lAieius 
y. Bierce fought in the Patriot army, in the 
Revolutionary' AVar. The first of the family 
concerning whom reliable records have been 
found, was James Bierce, who was born in 
England prior to 1730, and who emi- 
grated and settled at Halifax, Plymouth 
County, Massachusetts, his son, Hezekiah 
Bierce being born on May 25th of that year. 
The latter married Deborah Sturtevant, who 
was born January 23, 1732, and they were the 
great-grandparents of Lucius A^. Bierce. 

AA^illiam Bierce, son of Hezekiah and Deb- 
orah Bierce, was born at Plymouth, Massa- 
chu.se tts, March 26, 1753, and he married 
Abigail Bell, who was born October 2, 1754. 
In April, 1775, AVilliam Bierce enlisted in the 
Continental army, in which he served until 
honorably discharged in November, 1783. He 
V)elonged to Colonel Herman Swift's regiment 
of Connecticut troops sent immediately after 
his enlistment, to Ticonderoga. This was 
thou considered, as if tndy was. an ontpo.«t 
of civilization, and with the rank of orderlv 



832 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sergeant, William Bierce did good service here 
as at other points, participating in the bat- 
tles of Monmouth, White Plains and Fort 
George, and starving with his comrades 
through the dreadful winter at Valley Forge. 
^0 better proof of the strenuous life these 
patriots led in those stormy times, can be 
found than the fact that when Sergeant Bierce 
left the army, every superior officer of his 
company had either been killed or died from 
hardship. Another unhappy condition was 
that the soldiers were paid in money that at 
the end of the war was not negotiable, and 
for his seven years of faithful service, Wil- 
liam Bierce found himself possessed of a bunch 
of script, of no use except as playthings for 
his children. He came to Nelson, Ohio, an 
old man, and his death occurred there. Early 
in life he was a miller. His grandson, Lucius 
"V. Bierce, preserves the old veteran's powder 
horn, of which he made good use at Ticon- 
deroga, in 1775, and which he carried during 
his seven years of service. Mr. Bierce also 
treasures a title deed to property, which was 
given his grandfather in 1803, which bears 
the signature of Thomas Jefferson, as Presi- 
dent of the United States, and of James 
Madison, Secretary of State. 

The children born to William and Abigail 
Bierce were the following: Lueretia. who was 
born July 30, 1787, died March 10, 1847, and 
became the mother of Judge Robert F. Paine, 
of Cleveland; Hannah, who was born March 
2, 1789, married Jeremiah Fuller and died 
at Nelson, Portage County, where they lived; 
Columbus, who was born at Litchfield, Con- 
necticut, March 8, 1791, became a physician, 
and moved to Athens, Ohio, and later to Cir- 
cleville, in Pickaway County, where he died; 
William, father of Lucius V., was born in 
Connecticut, in 1793 ; Lucinda, who was born 
December 20, 1796, married Dr. Hopkins, of 
Nelson, Ohio, where she died ; Marcus Aure- 
lius, who was born in Litchfield County, 
Connecticut, August 16, 1799, settled at Nel- 
son, Portage County, Ohio, where he was a 
merchant, but died in Indiana, and is sur- 
vived by a son, Ambrose Bierce, who is an au- 
thor, and Lucius V., who became so promi- 



nent in military life and so distinguished a 
citizen of Ohio. 

General Bierce was bom in the family 
home at Cornwall, Litchfield County, Con- 
necticut, August 4, 1801, from which place 
he moved to Athens, Ohio, where he entered 
the Ohio University, from which he was 
graduated September 11, 1822. He then went 
to the South, starting for South Carolina, Oc- 
tober 9, 1822, carrying his grip-sack in which, 
along with his clothing and small necessities, 
he had a splendid letter of indorsement to 
Robert J. Fennel, a lawyer at Yorkville, under 
whom he began the study of law, after he 
had recovered from his long walk to that 
point. In 1823, he was admitted to practice 
by the Supreme Court of Alabama, to which 
State he had subsequently removed, and the 
whole course of his life might -have been dif- 
ferent had he not listened to the entreaties of 
his father to return and comfort the latter's 
declining years. Again strapping the grip- 
sack on his shoulders, the young man started 
on his homeward trip of 1,800 miles, and 
reached Ravenna, Portage Count}', in time to 
be admitted to the Ohio bar in 1824. In 
1825, he was appointed district attorney, an 
office he creditably filled for eleven years, 
when he removed his activities to Akron. 
During 1837-8 he was prominently identi- 
fied with the militaiy operations along the 
border and had command of the forces at Fort 
Maiden. He then returned to Akron and re- 
sumed the practice of law until the Mexican 
War broke out, in which he took an active 
part. Aside from his military record, had 
well-deserved notoriety for professional ability 
and literary accomplishment. One of the valu- 
able results of his .studi&s is found in the two 
volumes of Digest cases which he compiled 
and arranged in alphapetical order. He also 
wrote a comprehensive hi.story of the ^Veste^n 
Reserve. He was an authority on historical 
matters and this interest has descended to his 
nephew, Lucius V., who has been identified, 
with the Tallmadge Historical Society since 
its organization, in 1858, has filled all its of- 
fices and is the only surviving member of its 
body of organizers. General Bierce was 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



833 



prominent politically and served as mayor of 
Akron until he declined to longer hold the 
office. As early as 1853, he was elected grand 
master of the Grand Lodge of Masons, in 
Ohio. 

William Bierce, father of Lucius V., was 
married (first) in 1818, at Athens, to Lucinda 
Culver, and they had two children: Mary N., 
who was born July 30, 1820, married Derastus 
Harper, and died when more than eighty 
years of age ; and James Culver, who was born 
in 1822, and resides in California. The 
second wife of William Bierce was Harriet 
Hindman and they had two children, Eliza- 
beth L. and Lucius V. Elizabeth L. Bierce 
was born in 1825, and is a resident of Tall- 
madge. She survives her husband, the late 
Spaulding Beach, vnth two children, Edward 
E. and Jessie. The latter resides with her 
mother. The former, Edward E. Beach, is 
manager of the Baldwin Piano Factory, at 
Chicago Heights, Illinois. 

Lucius V. Bierce came from Athens County, 
Ohio, to Portage County, when two years of 
age. His education was secured in the schools 
of Ravenna, and in 1843, he came to Tall- 
madge, where he completed his education 
under Gov. Sidney Edgerlon. Later he 
learned the carriage-trimming trade, com- 
mencing his apprenticeship in the Oviatt, 
Sperry Carriage Works, but in 1875, he turned 
his attention to farming, settling then on his 
present property, removing from Tallmadge 
Center, where he had previously lived. He 
has long been one of the township's leading 
citizens, taking an active part in its educa- 
tional, religious and political life. In his 
early years he was a Democrat, but for the 
whole life of the Republican party, has up- 
held its principles. At various times he has 
served in township offices and always to the 
satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. 

Mr. Bierce was married (first) to Delia 
Robinson, December 11, 1850, who died No- 
vember 15, 1856. They had two children, 
Alice Delia and Edmond Lucius, the latter of 
whom was born November 3, 1856, and died 
June 4, 1857. Alice Delia Bierce was bom 
December 4. 1851, and subsequently was mar- 



ried to A. E. Lyman, of the Lyman Lum- 
ber Company, of Akron. They have one son, 
Lucius Bierce Lyman, who married Laverne 
Bishop, of Medina County, Ohio, and they 
have one son, Richard. 

Lucius V. Bierce was married (second) to 
Harriet H. Camp, who can claim kindred 
with a number of the oldest and most promi- 
nent families of New England. Mrs. Bierce 
was born in Tallmadge Township, and is a 
daughter of Martin and Sallie (Coe) Camp. 
Martin Camp was born at New Preston, Litch- 
field County, Connecticut, October 6, 1791, 
and came to Tallmadge in 1815. He resided 
at the home of his uncle, Asaph Whittlesey. 
He purchased 200 acres of land northeast of 
Tallmadge, which became very valuable. On 
March 28, 1816, he married Sallie Coe, who 
was born at Granville, Massachusetts, and ac- 
companied her family who settled at Charles- 
ton, Ohio. She was a teacher at Charleston 
and Tallmadge Center. This , marriage was 
the first one celebrated at Charleston, Portage 
County, Ohio. 

Tracing the Coe branch of Mrs. Bierce's 
ancestry, it is found that Robert Coe lived at 
Litchfield at a very early date and died at 
Jamaica, New York, after 1687. He was 
a native of England, where he was born in 
1596. His wife Anna was born in England 
in 1591 and died prior to 1674, at Jamaica, 
New York. They had three sons: John, 
born in 1626; Robert, born in 1627, and 
Benjamin, born in 1629. In June, 1634, 
they settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, and 
in 1635 removed to Wethersfield, Connecti- 
cut, in 1641, to Stamford, in 1644, to Hemp- 
stead, New York, and in 1652, to Newton, 
New York, where the son John settled. Ben- 
jamin settled at Jamaica, New York, and 
there Robert Coe went in 1656. Robert, the 
second son, left his father at Stamford, Con- 
necticut, in 1644, and went to Stratford, 
where he married Hannah Mitchell. Their 
son, John Coe (3), married Mary Hanley and 
lived at Stratford, where their fourth son, 
Ephraim Coe, was born. He removed to Dur- 
ham, Connecticut, and later to Middletown. 
He married Hannah Miller and their son, 



834 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



fcamuel Coe, married Hope Hubbard. and they 
lemoved to Granville, Massachusette. Their 
aoii, Capt. David Coe, was born March 3, 1761, 
and died July '24, 1824. Captain Coe served 
in the Revolutionary War. He married 
Sarah Pratt, and in 1818, settled at Charles- 
town, where she died in July, 1828. Martin 
Camp died January 14, 1872, his wife having 
passed away September 17, 1850. They were 
pioneers in all the civilizing movements which 
benefitted the community. 

The children of Martin Camp and wife 
were: Heman Coe, now aged eighty-four 
years, who resides at Mentor, Ohio, married 
Samantha Clark, of Lake County; Henry 
Newton, aged eighty-one years, married Celia 
Wright, daughter of Amos C. Wright, and re- 
sides with a daughter at Detroit, Michigan; 
Leroy, aged seventy-nine years, married Har- 
riet Scott, of Tallmadge, and they reside "at 
Cleveland ; Mary Whittlesey, born in 1818, 
married Orestes "NA^right of Tallmadge, and 
died in February, 1883; Sarah C, born in 
1821, married John Emery, of Philadelphia, 
and died October 29, 1895 ; and Harriet H., 
the youngest of the family, who is the wife 
of Lucius V. Bierce. 

The children born to the second marriage 
of Lucius V. Bierce are the following, all 
prominent members of the communities in 
v.'hich the circumstances of life have placed 
them: Antoinette, born June 28, 1861, mar- 
ried Harry D. Reed of Weeping Water. Ne- 
braska, and they have three children, Donald, 
Robert and Helen ; Wallace Camp, born Sep- 
tember 5, 1863, married Mollie Hoge, of 
Kearney, Nebraska, and they have three chil- 
dren, Alice, Bruce and Marion; Flora Eliza- 
beth, born March 27, 1868, married Thoma.s 
J. Dee, of Chicago; Fannie Louise, born 
April 26, 1872, married Carlton B. Skinner, 
of Tallmadge, who died October 27, 1900, 
leaving one daughter, Charlotte Bierce and 
Henry Newell, born July 30, 1874, unmar- 
ried. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Bierce have been mem- 
bers of tlie Congregational Church for the 
past fifty years and they are widely known 
for their practical Christianity. Since he 



was twenty-two years of age, Mr. Bierce has 
been connected with the Masonic fraternity, 
and has been a member of the local Grange 
snice its organization. 

II. J. EMERMAN, senior member of the 
firm of H. J. Emerman and Company, of 
Akron, wholesale dealers in iron, steel and 
metals, was born in Germany, in 1880, and 
is a son of Benjamin Emerman. 

The father of JNlr. Emerman engaged in a 
clothing business at Akron, after coming to 
the United States. Later he removed his busi- 
ness interests to Erie, Pennsylvania, and 
makes his home at Cleveland. H. J. Emer- 
man attended school at Akron, after which he 
was engaged for eighteen months as a clerk 
m a grocery store, following which he served 
in the same capacity in liis father's clothing 
store for tw'o years. He then became a clerk 
for Emerman Brothers, who conducted a scrap 
iron business, and he continued eight years 
m that postition with the same firm. W^hen 
new yards were opened at Cleveland, H. J. 
lOmennan was placed in charge of the Akron 
Ijranch, and in 1904, the old firm was suc- 
ceeded by the present one. Mr. Emerman is 
interested in other Akron enterprises. 

On February 16, 1904, Mr. Emerman was 
married to Bertha B. Louer, who is a daughter 
of Meyer Louer. Mr. Louer is now a resident 
of Omaha, Nebraska, but for a number of 
years he was in the clothing business at 
Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Emerman have one 
son, Walter. They are members of High 
Street Temple, of the Akron Hebrew Congre- 
gation. 

Fraternally, Mr. Emerman is identified 
with the Masons and the Elks. Socially, he 
l)e]on.gs to the Kirkwood club. 

FRANK BUTLER, wlio., m partnership 
with his brother, John Butler, has been culti- 
vatin,g their excellent farm of 150 acres, in 
Boston Township, since 1870, is one of the 
loading agriculturists of this section, and is 
a son of Thomas and Catherine (Brennan) 
Butler. 

Thomas Butler was born in Countv Wex- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



835 



ford, Ireland, where he learned the trade of 
mason. After his marriage, he came to 
America and with his wife eight months later 
settled near Botzum, Northampton Township, 
Summit County. He worked at first on the 
old Clinton Air Line Railroad, but later pur- 
chased a farm of sixty acres, in Northampton 
Township. He was a very capable and indus- 
trious workman and built nearly all of the 
brick houses in his neighborhood, plastered 
himdreds of structures and built over 150 
cellars in Peninsula alone. He married 
Catherine Brennan and they had eight chil- 
dren, namely: Frank, John, Elizabeth, 
Mary, Sarah, Martha, Catherine and Chris- 
topher. 

Frank Butler was educated in the common 
schools of Boston Township, and in his youth 
did much work in the woods at lumbering, 
this being a heavily timbered region at that 
time. In the spring of 1864, he enlisted in 
Company B, 188th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and his services continued until the 
close of the war. His brother John Butler 
served in Company E, 124th Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the 
battles of Chicamauga, Lookout Mountain 
and Missionary Ridge. While on the march 
from Missionary Ridge to Knoxville, he was 
taken prisoner by the Confederates and was 
sent to Richmond, from whence he was re- 
moved to the prison at Belle Island, where he 
was kept for four months. It is stating the 
truth to say that while there, John Butler was 
nearly starved to death. He owes his life to 
a comrade, whose loyal friendship and per- 
sLstent entreaty secured recognition from 
some Confederate officers of ^Ir. Butler's piti- 
able condition. Both Frank and John But- 
ler were brave and gallant .soldiers, the cheer- 
ful, faithful, hard-fighting kind of men that 
made the Northern forces invincible.- Their 
war records are such as any man might well 
be proud to acknowledge. 

In 1870, the Butler brothers purchased their 
present farm, of which seventy-five acres are 
under cultivation, being devoted to hay, 
wheat, corn and oat.«, in addition to which is 
an apple orchard of 100 trees. In 1877, a fine 



residence was built by Frank Butler, a sub- 
staiatial structure having ten rooms. Mr. But- 
ler is a Republican in politics. 

LOUIS R. MAY, secretary and treasurer 
of the Frantz-Body Company, one of Akron's 
large and important manufacturing concerns, 
was born in 1876, at Akron, and is a son of 
R. A. May, of this city. 

Mr. May's happy boyhood was spent in 
studj' and play, in his native city, where he 
completed the High School course prior to 
taking a commercial course in a business col- 
lege at Buft'alo, New York, and later a general 
literary course at Buehtel College. For seven 
years he was connected with the Citizens Na- 
tional Bank, and when it was consolidated, 
with the Second National Bank, he remained 
with the new organization for one year, and 
then came to the Frantz-Body Manufacturing 
Company, with which he has been identified 
ever since, becoming secretary and treasurer 
at the time of its reorganization, in 1904. 

In January, 1905, Mr. May was married to 
Gertnide Wanamaker, who is a daughter of 
Hon. R. M. Wanamaker, of Akron. 

Mr. May stands deservedly high among the 
business men of Akron. 

JAMES SULLIVAN, a representative citi- 
zen of Boston Township, who owns an unu- 
sually fine farm, consisting of 151 acres, was 
born in County Clare, Ireland, August 14, 
1847, and is a son of Michael and Bridget 
(Ryan) Sullivan. 

Michael Sullivan, who was also a native of 
County Clare, Ireland, came to America in 
1850, bringing his family with him, and in 
1853 he purchased his first farm, which was 
in Twinsl)urg Township, Summit County, 
Ohio. In 1865, he removed to a farm on the 
State Road, in Boston Township, where his 
death occurred when he was over eighty years 
of age. He was a Democrat in politics. He 
married Bridget Ryan, who was also born in 
County Clare, Ireland, in 1825, and died in 
1 889. They had five children : James ; 
John, who is deceased; Delia, who resides at 
J Fudson : Lawrence, who lives in Boston 



836 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Township; and Agnes, who also resides at 
Hudson. 

James Sullivan went to school a part of a 
term in Boston Township, and the balance of 
his education was obtained at Twinsburg. He 
remained on his father's farm until twenty- 
six years of age, at which time he was mar- 
ried. Two years before marriage he pur- 
chased a fann, with his brother Lawrence, but 
in 1886 he sold his interest to his brother, 
and purchased his present property. At that 
time the land seemed barren, for not even a 
tree was growing on it, but Mr. Sullivan soon 
changed its appearance. He set out all of the 
beautiful shade trees which now are so thrifty, 
built an addition to the home then standings 
improved all the buildings, and has a substan- 
tial barn 32x102 feet, with 18-foot posts, and 
built a silo 16x32x32 feet. He has made 
this one of the best farms in Boston Town- 
ship. He cultivates about sixty-five acres, 
raising wheat, corn, oats and hay, and keeps 
about thirty head of cattle, disposing of his 
milk at Cleveland. Mr. Sullivan is a Demo- 
crat in politics. He is a member, of the 
Grange at Darrowville. For the greater part 
of the past twenty years he has been a mem- 
ber of the Board of Eudcation in Boston 
Township. 

Mr. Sullivan was married to Mary McGuire, 
who is a daughter of John McGuire, of Solon, 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio. They have five 
children, namely: Charles A., who resides 
in Hudson Township, has one child, Mil- 
dred; Hugh A., who resides in Hudson Town- 
ship; Laura, who married H. 0. Robinson, of 
Cuyahoga Falls, has one child, Gladys Mary; 
Elsie, who married H. A. Wolcott of Mace- 
donia, Ohio; and Lawrence C, who lives at 
home. Mrs. Sullivan is a member of St. 
Mary's Catholic Church, and is active in 
church and charitable work. 

CAPTAIN ADAM BOTZUM, one of the 
grand old men of Northampton Township, 
resided there for nearly a half century. He 
was born October 25, 1830, in Strasiburg, 
Germany, and died in Summit County, Ohio, 



October 15, 1907, and is a son of John 
George and Katherine (Dragaser) Botzum. 

John George Botzum was born in Germany 
in 1796, a son of John Botzum. He mar- 
ried Katherine Dragaser, who was born in 
1796, in the village of Urmmerspach, Ger- 
many, whose parents removed to Poland 
when she was seven years old, and whom she 
never saw again, she making her home with 
relatives until her marriage. In 1836, John 
George Botzum and his family left home and 
traveled by ox-team to the nearest seaport, 
where they took passage on the vessel 
Princessa for the United States, arriving at 
New York, November 17, 1836. Here they 
met an agent who persuaded Mr. Botzum to 
agree to go to South America, where he was 
told that a fortune awaited him, but before 
arrangements were completed, Mr. Botzum 
discovered from the authorities that it was 
merely a scheme to get Mr. Botzum and his 
family to that country to be sold into slavery. 
Soon after the family took passage on a flat- 
boat to Albany, went thence by canal to Buf- 
falo and by lake to Cleveland, where they 
, stopped for a time on account of illness in the 
family, and on resuming their journey 
traveled upon an open flat-boat to Niles, from 
whence they made their way to Ghent. Bath 
Township, Summit County, Ohio. There 
Mr. Botzum secured his first employment, 
being engaged at digging on a mill race, at 
fifty cents per day. There the family con- 
tinued to reside for two years, and while Mr. 
Botzum worked at digging, his wife went out 
into the wheat-fields, her gleaning the first 
season being eight bushels of nice wheat. The 
family then removed to Niles, where they re- 
mained for four years, and by the .strictast 
economy and frugalty were able at this 
time to purchase a farm in Northampton 
Township, where Mr. Botzum continued to live 
until his death in 1855. He and his wife 
were faithful members of the Catholic denomi- 
nation, and Mr. Botzum assisted to build the 
first church of that faith in Akron. John 
George and Katherine (Dragaser) Botzum 
had the follomng children : Michael : Susan, 
who was the wife of George Neiberg; 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



837 



Nicholas; George; Adam; Katherine, who is 
the widow of Conrad Buills ot Centralia, Illi- 
nois; John A., and Conrad, who reside,3 at 
Akron. Michael, Susan, Nicholas, George 
and John A. are deceased. 

Captain Adam Botzum wad six years old 
when the family came to America, aiid until 
seventeen years of age he made his home with 
his parents. At this time he became a driver 
on the Ohio Canal, an occupation he continued 
to follow for twenty years. In 1855 he built 
the canal-boat Germany, which he sold in 
1860, and he built the boat Democrat, which 
he sold two years later. In 1861, he quit the 
canal and located on the farm, which he had 
purchased three years previously. Mr. Bot- 
zum engaged in general farming from that 
time until his death, his eighty acres of fine, 
fertile land being in a high state of cultivation 
and yielding good crops. He marketed 
wheat, corn and potatoes, while for his own 
use he raised hay and oats. He kept about 
seven head of cattle, and he also fattened 
calves and hogs for the market. 

On June 22, 1857, Captain Botzum was 
married to Eliza Seeley, who was a resident 
of Cleveland. Ohio, and she sui'vives, as do 
also their six children: George A., who re- 
sides at Akron; Emma, who is the wife of 
Frank Averill, of Akron; Frank, who also 
resides at Akron; Stella, who is the wife of 
Clyde Bookwalter, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; 
Lida, who resides at home; and Lillian, who 
is the wife of Charles Worth, of Akron. 

The late Captain Botzum was a Democrat 
in political faith and from the age of twenty- 
one years until his death, he never missed 
casting his vote believing that every good citi- 
zen should exercise this privilege. He was 
frequently sent as a delegate to conventions 
of his party and frequently was elected to 
township offices. He served for eight years 
aa township trustee and for many years as 
school director. In. religious belief he was 
liberal-minded, depending largely on the vir- 
tues included in looking after the welfare of 
his family and doing his full duty to his 
neighborhood, his state and his countrv. 



DANIEL McGARRY, of the firm of Mo- 
Garry & McGowan, general contractors, at Ak- 
ron, was born in Ireland, in 1861, and came 
to Akron in 1873, where he obtained his edu- 
cation in the parochial schools. 

Mr. McGarry learned the brick-layer'a 
trade and worked for six years at brick-lay- 
ing before entering into general contracting. 
For the past twelve years he has been at the 
head of the firm of McGarry & McGowan, 
which has done a large part of the important 
work on the Ohio Canal, and a great amount 
of street paving, concrete laying and sewer 
building, at Akron. A large contract which 
this firm is engaged in filling at the present 
writing (1907) is the putting in of ten and 
one-half miles of sewer, at Ravenna, Ohio. 
Mr. McGarry owns an interest in the Storer 
Land Company. 

In 1884 Mr. McGarry was married to Mar- 
garet McGowan, and they have six children, 
namely: Stephen, who is engaged in news- 
paper work at San Antonio, Texas; James, 
who is associated with his father; Arthur, 
who is a student at Holy Cross College; and 
Belle, Elizabeth and Madge. Mr. McGarry 
and his family belong to St. Vincent's Catho- 
lic Church. He is a member of the Knights 
of Columbus and the Catholic Mutual Bene- 
fit Association. Formerly, Mr. McGarry took 
considerable interest in politics and at one 
time was a member of the city board of com- 
missioners, but in later j-ears he has not been 
active in public life. 

NICHOLAS KNAPP, trustee of Boston 
Township and a prominent agriculturist who 
resides on his valuable farm of 286 acres, was 
born in Rheinfalz, Hessen-Cassel, Germany, 
Augu.st 28, 1843, and is a son of Peter and 
Barbara (Knapp") Knapp. 

The father of Mr. Knapp was born in the 
same place as his son and came from there 
to America in 1844, the voyage lasting sixty- 
five davs from Liverpool to New York, joining 
some friends who had previously located in 
Portage County. Peter Knapp acquired a 
farm in Suffield Township some five years 
after locating in Ohio, on which he lived for 



838 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the remainder of his life, his death occur- 
ring in October, 1856, at the age of sixty-five 
years, his wife, liaving died in May, 1856, 
aged sixty yeare. Ahhough she was named 
Knapp before her marriage, she was no rela- 
tive of Peter Knapp. They had twelve chil- 
dren. 

Nicholas lynapp was the youngest of the 
family that accompanied their parents in an 
old sailing ship across the ocean to New York. 
In those days Ohio was reached by a still 
further voyage up the Hudson River to Al- 
bany, across New York by the Erie Canal, 
over the lake to Cleveland and by way of the 
Ohio Canal to Portage County. The father 
died when Nicholas was thirteen years of age 
and thus he had fewer advantages than many 
boys who had parents to provide for them 
into manhood. He was strong and industri- 
ous and won the favor of neighboring farm- 
ers, for whom he worked by the month until 
1859. In the early part of that year he 
hired himself to a farmer in Brimfield Town- 
ship, where he had every rea.son to think hft 
would find a good home and continued em- 
ployment, but the great frost of that year 
destroyed the crops and the farmer had no 
further use for his services. He then went 
to Ravenna, where he found work in a glass 
factory at six dollar's a month, and boarded 
himself, and remained there during one sum- 
mer and in the fall he secured a better op- 
portunity, doing chores for his Vioard. after 
work in the factory was done. In the fol- 
lowing spring he retm-ned to work again by 
the month, in Suffield Township, and in the 
next year he foimd a home with his brother, 
with whom he remained until 1861. 

At the beginning of the Civil War, Mr. 
Knapp -^'as on(> of the first young men to 
enlist in Battery A, First Ohio Light Artil- 
lery, which wa.'* sent to the western depart- 
ment of the army, and he served with faith- 
fulness for four years, lacking but twelve days. 
He participated in many engagements and 
went through the Atlanta campaign, and al- 
though almost constantly exposed to danger. 
was able to return from his military service 
unharmed. It was left for times of peace and 



m pursuance of the quietest of avocations, 
that Mr. Knapp experienced an injury which 
lost him his good left arm. By the accidental 
overturning of a hay wagon, he was caught 
in such a manner that the injury was so ser- 
ious that no mending of the shattered bones 
was possible. This accident occurred in 
1891. Mr. Knapp has borne this affliction 
with fortitude very remarkable. 

Mr. Knapp remained in Sufiield Township 
after his return from the army until 1874, 
when he moved to Stow Township, in Sum- 
mit County, Avhere he purchased a farm and 
lived on it until 1878, removing then to an- 
other in Franklin Township, on -which he 
lived until 1888. In this year he bought 
186 acres of his present farm in Boston Town- 
ship, to which he added the second 100 acres 
in 1907. About 150 acres of this land is 
under cultivation and he raises hay, wheat, 
corn, oats and potatoes, marketing from 300 
to 500 bushels of the tubers in a season. He 
keeps twenty head of cattle and sells his milk 
to the Peninsula Creamery, and has eight head 
of horses. In 1890 he erected his present 
comfortable residence. 

Mr. Kna]ip married Elizabeth Pero, for his 
first wife, who died February 22, 1873, aged 
thirty-two years. She had two children: 
Karl, who died at the age of nineteen years; 
and Park, of Portage County. Mr. Knapp 
was married (second) to Louisa Pero, who 
was a cousin of his first wife. She is a 
daughter of Nichola Pero. To this marriage 
seven children have been born, five of whom 
reached maturity, namely: Charles E., Pearl 
Ellen, Albert, Ralph H.,'and Orrin P. Pearl 
Ellen is deceased. She was the wife of Abra- 
ham Tischer, residing at Shalersville. 

For some years past Mr. Knapp ha.« been 
identified with the Democratic party. Form- 
erly he voted for both Abraham Lincoln and 
General Grant. For the past three years he 
has been a trustee of Boston Township, his 
re-election to this ofiice taking place on No- 
vember 5. 1907. While residing in Suffield 
Township, he served five years in the office 
of constable. He belongs to Northampton 
Grange, and to the Maccabees. No. 56, at 




GEORGE W. PLUjVIER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



841 



Peninsula. Mr. Knapp is recognized as a 
man of excellent business judgment. His 
many sterling traits of character have won 
him the respect and esteem of his fellow- 
citizens. 



ness interests of Akron, and George A. also 
of Akron. Mr. Plumer is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was 
a trustee for many years. He is a Thirty-sec- 
ond Degree Mason. 



GEORGE W. PLUMER, a retired citi- 
zen of Akron, and a veteran of the Civil 
War, for many years was closely identified 
with the business and financial interests of 
this city. He was born at Franklin, Ve- 
nango County, Pennsylvania, in 1840, and is 
a son of Hon. B. A. Plumer, formerly a 
prominent merchant in "Western Pennsylva- 
nia, where he was elected to responsible of- 
fices, serving for a long period a.s a judge of 
the courts of Venango County. 

George W. Plumer was reared and edu- 
cated in his native place, and for a number 
of years was engaged in the hardware trade 
at Franklin. In 1887 he came to Akron and 
went into the furniture business in partner- 
ship with B. L. Dodge, under the firm name 
of Dodge and Plumber, which a.ssociation con- 
tinued until 1899. He was one of the or- 
ganizers of the Security Savings Bank and 
continued as its president until January, 
1907, when this bank was sold to the Peo- 
ple's Savings Bank. Mr. Plumer owns stock 
in a number of Akron enterprises and also 
has busine.=s interests in Pennsylvania. 

In 1862 Mr. Plumer entered the Union 
armj' as second lieutenant of Company E, 
121st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer In- 
fantry, in which he performed the duties of 
a good soldier, both on the march and in 
battle, for two years, and was promoted to the 
rank of first lieutenant. He is a' valued 
member of Buckley Post, G. A. R.. and of 
the Loyal Legion. 

In 1867 Mr. Plumer was married to -Ten- 
nie M. AVhitaker. who is a daughter of Al- 
bert P. Whitaker, one of the prominent 
journalists of Western Pennsylvania for half 
a century. Mr. and Mrs. Plumer have three 
children, namelv: Marv Plumer. who mar- 
ried Dr. F. H. Lyder, D. D. S., of Akron; 
Lida Plumer, who married S. H. Kohler, 
who is prominently connected with the busi- 



LEVI MADISON LEESER, who owns and 
operates a tract of 106 acres of excellent land 
in Green Townshij), is a leading agriculturist 
of this section. He was born on his father's 
farm in Jackson Township, Stark County, 
Ohio, and is a son of Peter and Sarah (Buch 
tel) Leeser. 

Abraham Leeser,. grandfather of Levi M., 
came .from Pennsylvania to Stark County, 
Ohio, and entered a tract of land there in 
1815, on which the rest of his life was passed. 
He was the father of six children : John, 
Catherine, Elizabeth, Peter, Samuel and 
Nathan. Catherine became the wife of Rev. 
J. Eby. 

Peter Leeser was born in Lawrence Town- 
ship, Stark County, Ohio, and like his fath- 
er, cultivated land during all his active years. 
He died in Jackson Township in 1892, aged 
sixty-seven years. Peter Leeser was married 
to Sarah Buchtel, who was born in Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of John 
Buchtel, who was one of the pioneers of this 
county. Mrs. Leeser resides at Green.sburg. 
Five children were born to Peter Leeser and 
wife, namely : Catherine, who survives her 
husband, Samuel Devies; Eva; Levi Madison; 
Alma, who married Jasper Fry; and John R. 

Levi M. Leeser attended the district schools 
in his home neighborhood and spent his 
youth on his father's farm. One year after 
bis marriage he removed to his present farm, 
and this property he purchased in 1894, from 
liLs father-in-law's heirs. He has here en- 
gaged in general farming, and has been more 
than ordinarily successful. 

On January 27, 1881, Mr. Leeser was mar- 
ried to Emma Long, who was born on the 
present Leeser farm, and is a daughter of 
Christian and Anna (Heiss) Long. Mr. and 
^frs. Long, who are now deceased, were mar- 
ried in Pennsylvania, and with two children 
made the long trip overland to Summit 



842 



HISTORY OF SUMxMIT COUNTY 



Oounty, Ohio. To Mr. and Mk. Leeser there 
have been born four children : Maude, who 
is stenographer at the Mount Pleasant Hos- 
pital, Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Mamie, who 
died in infancy; and Raj' and Wihna. 

Mr. Leeser is a member of the Junior Order 
of United American Mechanics. With his 
family he attends the United Evangelical 
Church. Like his father, he is a Republican 
in politics and has been one of tlw nio.st act- 
ive workers in that party's ranks in Green 
Township, where he has served as trustee and 
school director, and fills the latter office at 
the present time. 

D. W. KENDIG, a well-known citizen of 
Akron, who has been finance clerk of the city 
postoffice for the past three years under Post- 
master Ebright, was born near Dayton, Mont- 
gomery County, Ohio, October 16, 1846. 

Mr. Kendig attended the district schools 
through boyhood and later entered Wittenberg 
College. He was eighteen years of age when he 
enlisted in Company H, Eighth Regiment, 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1862, and served 
until the close of the great stiniggle, his field of 
action being mainly West Virginia. The 
Kendig family was one of marked loyalty, 
three of his brothers also becoming soldiers 
in the Federal Army. One of these, Lee, 
enlisted in the Sixteenth Ohio Regiment, 
Volunteer Infantry, which was one of the 
first regiments to answer the call for troops, 
and he died in the service. Benjamin, a sec- 
ond brother, was a member of the 161st Reg- 
iment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he ac- 
companied General Sherman's army to the 
sea, and since the close of his military life 
has resided in Indian Territory. The third 
brother, Simon, now deceased, wa.^ in the 
100-day service in Ohio. 

Shortly after his return from the army, 
Mr. Kendig went to Missouri, where he re- 
mained for several years, and after he came 
back to Ohio, he was engaged in business at 
Mansfield for fifteen years. He came then to 
Akron, where he was in the employ of the 
Erie Railroad for one year, connected with 
the freight department. For the four follow- 



ing years he was engaged in the retail coal 
business, after which he became interested 
in life insurance, and for the next fifteen 
years he represented some of the best life 
companies of the country. Since closing out 
his insurance interests, he has been an official 
in the Akron postoffice. 

In 1869 Mr. Kendig was married at Mans- 
field, Ohio, to Frances E. Creigh, of that city, 
who died June 22, 1905. They had three 
children, viz. : Karl, residing at Akron, who 
is secretary of the Werner Company; Lee, 
who died at the age of twenty-seven years, was 
associated with the Akron Iron Company for 
five years, at New York City; and Katherine, 
residing at home. 

Mr. Kendig is more or less active in politics 
and supports the Republican party. He is a 
member of Buckley Post, G. A. R., and is a 
Master Ma.son. He belongs to the First Con- 
gregational Clnu-ch at Akron. 

URIAS GARMAN, whose fine farm lies on 
the old Portage Path Indian Trail road, in 
Portage Township, about one-half mile north 
of the city limits of Akron, was born in Me- 
dina County, Ohio, March 27, 1853, and is 
a son of Benjamin and Esther (Clause) Gar- 
man. 

Benjamin Garman and his wife were both 
born and reared in Lehigh County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and after their marriage they came to 
Medina County, Ohio, driving the long dis- 
tance with a one-horse wagon. They settled 
on a farm of 115 acres, in two tracts, in 
Homer Township, and this land Mr. Garman 
cultivated and improved for a number of 
years. In the course of time he decided to 
remove to Summit County, and on April 1, 
1862, settled on .a farm of 151 acres, in Por- 
tage Township, a portion of which is included 
in the farm of Urias Garman. He was ac- 
companied to Portage Township by his seven 
children, who were the following: Alfred, 
who resides on a farm of twenty-five acres in 
Portage Township, married Julia A. Norton 
and has four children; Rose, who is the 
widow of Louis Esselburn ; Elizabeth, who 
married J. F. Weygandt; Sarah, who died in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



843 



1906, wa5 the widow of Louis Andrews; 
Ui'ias, of Portage Township; Irene, who mar- 
ried Mandus Baughman, resides in Akron; 
and Mrs. ^lary Starks, resides in Akron. 

For several year's after moving to Portage 
Township, Benjamin Garman and his sons 
did general farming, and then he went into 
the stone business, in partnership with his 
eldest son, having excellent quarries on the 
land. After he retired, Alfred and Urias 
Garman carried on the business for some 
years. They also embai'ked together in a 
dairy business, which they conducted for six 
years. Benjamin Garman died in 1890, and 
his widow survived until December, 1902. 

Urias Garman has lived on his present 
farm since he was nine years old. He at- 
tended the district schools through boyhood 
and subsequent reading and mingling with 
the world has made him one of the township's 
well-informed men. He carries on a general 
line of farming and meets w^ith the success 
that usually attends industry and the follow- 
ing of excellent methods. For about nine 
years he woi'ked in the rubber shops of Ak- 
ron, otherwise his whole attention has been 
given to agricultural pursuits. In the spring 
of 1876 he erected the large frame residence 
which is a home of attractiveness and is full 
of comforts. 

In October, 1875, Mr. Garman was married 
to ilary Rogers, who is a daughter of Peter 
and Susan (Heberly) Rogers, and they have 
five children, namely: Frank, -n'ho married 
Allie Buss, has two children, Ralph and 
Mary, and he is a carpenter and contractor; 
Susan, w^ho married John Gammeter, of Ak- 
ron; Millie, who married Ralph Hogan. has 
one child, Garman; and Allie and Marjorie, 
both reside at home. 

CHARLES MERRIMAN, M. D., formerly 
a prominent physician and surgeon of Ak- 
ron, now lives retired on his farm in Portage 
Township, which is situated on the Merri- 
man road, about three quarters of a mile 
northwest of the city limits. Dr. Merriman 
was born in Massachusetts. Mav 21. 1829, and 



is a son of Charles and liai-riet (Allis) Mer- 
riman. 

Dr. Merriman's parents left Berkshire 
County, Massachusetts, with their possessions 
packed in wagons, and reached Ohio May 21, 
1835, and came to Summit County a few 
weeks later, settling on the fann in Portage 
Township, on which the son now lives. The 
father invested his money in 372 acres of 
land, which then was covered with native 
timber. 

On this farm young Charles Merriman 
grew to manhood, assisting his father to clear 
a large ptu't of it and put it under cultiva- 
tion. He attended the country schools and 
when sixteen years of age taught a term of 
school in Bath Township, and in the follow- 
ing year, two terms at Greensburg. He con- 
tinued his own education at Akron and Tall- 
madge, and had academic training 'at West 
Farmington, in Trumbull County. When he 
made up his mind to study medicine, he 
placed himself under the tuition of Dr. Wil- 
liam T. Huntington, with whom he read for 
two and one-half years, and in- the fall of 
1849 he attended the lecture course at the 
Cleveland Medical School. During his ab- 
sence, his preceptor. Dr. Huntington, died 
and he spent the summer and the following 
winter under Dr. Ackley, surgeon of the med- 
ical department of the Western Reserve Uni- 
versity. He W'OS graduated at this college, 
in 1858, having returned for his third course 
during the winter of 1857-8. Prior to this, 
however, he had studied and to some degree 
practiced, with his uncle, Dr. Andrus Merri- 
man, in Geauga, now Lake County, and in 
1851 he went to Brownsville, Kentucky. He 
remained there until the latter part of the 
winter of 1853, having a third interest in the 
medical practice of Dr. Tra H. Keller. He 
gained other medical instruction and practice 
at the Transylvania Medical College, at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, and at Dr. McDowell's col- 
lege, at St. Louis, Missouri. 

In looking over the country for a place to 
enter upon practice. Dr. Merriman noted that 
there was no physician established at Hills- 
l)orough, .Jefferson Coimty. Missouri, and he 



844 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



located there until the fall of 1857, when he 
returned for his la:!-t course of lectures. He 
practiced one year at Peninsula, and then 
settled at Montrose, Summit County, where 
he remained from the spring of 1859 until 
1873, when he came to Akron. This city 
was but a semblance of what it has since be- 
come, and the best location the young doctor 
could secure was a small office in Hall's Block, 
where he remained for several years. He 
moved from there to rooms over the City drug 
store and later established his office in his 
comfortable home on West Market Street. 
When he retired he sold his residence to Paul 
E. AVerner. His practice covered a period of 
fifty-three years and was one of unusual suc- 
cess. Dr. Merriman is held in high esteem. 

In 1856, at St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Mer- 
riman was married in Lavinia P. !Myers, who 
is a daughter of Samuel and Gertrude (Rob- 
inson) Myers. 

.JOSEPH KENDALL, who has been di- 
rector of the Akron City Infirmary for more 
than twenty years, was born March 15, 1828, 
in England, and has been a resident of Ak- 
ron since 1862. 

The death of his father when he was young, 
made his boyhood one of many hardships. 
For three years he tended the flocks of a 
hard-hearted .«hepherd, in the neighborhood 
of his home, with whom he Avas obliged to 
remain until he had completed the period for 
which he was bound. In 1848, being then 
twenty years of age, he determined to make 
his way to America, in £)rder to better his 
condition, and he crosse'd the Atlantic Ocean 
in one of the old sailing vessels of the day, 
which required nine -weeks to make the voy- 
age. He landed at New Orleans, and in 
search of work Mr. Kendall went up the Mis- 
sissippi River, and at Evansville, Indiana, 
he found employment, mainly along the 
river, which furnished him with .support and 
enabled him to save a little money, with 
which he came to Akron in 1862. Here he 
engaged for twenty-five years in the metal 
business and then went into dealing in hay 
and the wholesale buying and shijiping of 



grain. In the meanwhile he had built up an 
honorable business reputation and had gained 
influential friends. When the Akron City 
Infirmary was opened, Mr. Kendall was 
selected its director, and so capable and so 
honest has been his administration of the of- 
fice that a change has never been suggested. 
He is the oldest officeholder in the city, in 
point of continuous service. It is a matter 
of justifiaye pride with Mr. Kendall that in 
all this time not a single bill he has ever con- 
tracted for public use, has been questioned by 
the board of directors of this institution. 

In 1864 Mr. Kendall was married to 
Frances Booth, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
who died in May, 1887. They had two chil- 
dren, Elizabeth and Ruth. Ruth resides at 
home, tenderly caring for her father. Eliza- 
beth died in 1905. . She was a noble woman, 
and was deeply interested in Sunday-school 
work. Mr. Kendall was reared in the Episco- 
pal Church, but for many years has been an 
attendant of the Presbyterian Church. 

SCOTT H. MERRIMAN, whose fine truck 
fai'm of sixteen acres is situated on the Merri- 
man road, about two miles northwest of Ak- 
ron, was born in the old stone house in T\diich 
his father still resides, located on West Mar- 
ket Street, Akron, August 8, 1863. His par- 
ents were Wells and Alberta Merriman. 

Wells Merriman was born across the road 
from the farm which Scott H. now owns, in 
Portage Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
and is a son of Charles and a brother of Dr. 
Charles Merriman. During his younger 
years, Wells Merriman engaged in farming, 
then learned the machinist trade and for 
twenty-five years was employed in the stove 
works of the Taplin-Rice Company. He built 
the old stone house on West Market Street, 
in which he lives, and which was then sur- 
rounded by seven acres of land which was 
used as a truck farm. The old hoiise is a 
landmark in that part of the encroaching 
cit.y. He was married twice and the children 
of his first union were: Grove, residing at 
Akron ; Forrest, residing at Minneapolis, 
Ottawa County, Kansas; and Scott IL, resid- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Sib 



iug in Portage Township. The mother of 
these children died when her youngest son 
was small. ' To his second marriage, Wells 
Merriman had three children: Jesse, Mrs. 
Hattio Bechtol and Ruby, wife of Royal 
Scott. 

Scott H. Merriman was reared in the old 
home on West Market Street, Akron, and 
helped to cultivate the garden which is now 
covered with structures. He spent twelve 
years, after completing his education, in the 
packing business and in operating a hotel, 
at Omaha, Nebraska, but in 1889 he returned 
to Summit County and settled on his present 
farm. Mr. Merriman has made a success of 
the trucking business. He raises large crops 
of the choicest vegetables that can be grown 
in this climate and sells by wholesale. 

At Omaha, Nebra.ska, Mr. Merriman was 
married to Gertrude Finney, who is a daugh- 
ter of L. A. and Sarah (Oakley) Finney. 
They have four children : Claude and Byron, 
both born in Nebraska, and Albert and Dor- 
othy, born in Summit County. Mr. Merri- 
man is not active in politics, merely show- 
ing the interest of a good citizen in public 
matters. He takes great pleasure in improv- 
ing his tidy little farm and a plenteous re- 
turn is made him for his careful cultivation. 

JOHN WOLF, superintendent of the Mar- 
ket House at Akron, was formerly engaged 
in the mercantile business for many years in 
this city and established a name for biisiness 
ability and strict integrity. Mr. Wolf was 
born in Bavaria, Germany, January 25, 1837, 
and was a boy of fourteen years when he came 
to America. 

For two years prior to coming to Akron, 
Mr. Wolf was a clerk in a dry goods store at 
Aurora, Indiana, and after reaching this city, 
in 1853, he continued in the same capacity. 
In 1863 he became a member of the M. W. 
Henry Company, at Akron. In 1870, the 
firm of Wolf, Church & Beck was organized, 
which continued to do business until 1883, 
when Mr. Beck retired, the firm of Wolf & 
Church continuing until 1887, when Mr. 
Wolf became sole proprietor. He retired from 



the mercantile "business in 1893, and for some 
years devoted his attention to looking after 
the real estate of the Wolf family. For the 
past three years he has been superintendent of 
the Akron Market House, and has proven 
himself a careful and efficient officer. 

In 1864 Mr. Wolf was married to Anna 
Howe, who is a daughter of Capt. Richard 
Howe, who was one of the early pioneers of 
Akron, and who was a valuable assistant in 
the building of the Ohio Canal. Two sons 
were born to this marriage, Charles R. and 
Harry Howe, both of whom are prominent 
business men, the former being purchasing 
agent for the B. F. Goodrich Company, and 
the latter, president of a brick company at 
Muncie, Indiana. 

Politically, Mr. Wolf is a Republican and 
he has always been a patriotic supporter of 
the government. During the Civil War he 
served in the 100-day service,' as a member 
of Company F, 164th Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, and during* his period of 
army service was located at Fort Cochran, 
AVashington, D. C. He is a member of Buck- 
ley Post, Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. 
Wolf was formerlv a member of the Lutheran 
Church. 

NATHANIEL PETTITT. Among the 
many valuable farms arid hospitable homes 
in the environs of Akron, that owned and 
occupied by Nathaniel Pettitt deserves spe- 
cial mention in connection with its respected 
and esteemed owner. It lies on the Merriman 
road, about two and one-half miles northwest 
of the city limits and has been occupied by 
Mr. Pettitt for forty-four years. He was born 
in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, January 1, 
1823, and is a son of Claarles and Isabella 
(Karr) Pettitt. 

Charles Pettitt was born in New Jersey and 
was a son of John Pettitt, who moved to Mary- 
land when Charles was five years old. Later 
he moved to Bedford County, Pennsylvania. 
Charles Pettitt engaged in farming in Bedford 
County, Pennsylvania, until 1837, when 
he came to Ohio and rented a farm 
whicli was in Copley Township, then 



J 46 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in Medina County. This farm belonged to 
his brother, Rev. John Pettitt, who had come 
to this section in 1830, and was the pioneer 
founder of the Congregational Church at Ak- 
ron. Some years later Charles Pettitt bought 
this farm but sold it in 1854, and purchased 
another of 150 acres, which was situated in 
Portage Township, subsequently selling it 
also. Charles Pettitt died in 1867, aged 
seventy-seven years. He married Isabella 
Karr, who died in 1863, aged seventy-three 
years. They were i>eople who were held in 
esteem and affection by their neighbors. 

Nathaniel Pettitt lived on the farm in Cop- 
ley Township until he w'as thirty-one j'ears of 
age. He attended the district schools in hiB 
boyhood and was trained by a strict father 
to be a good farmer. Pie assisted in clearing 
up the land and as the country was not very 
well settled at that time, experienced hard- 
ships which the present generation would 
probably consider luisupportable. With his 
brother, John Pettitt, he rented the farm now 
OTvned by Aaron Teeple, at Fairlawn, where 
he stayed two years and then bought the farm 
now owned by the Benjamin Garman heirs, 
on which he lived for seven years and then 
bought his present farm. Mr. Pettitt found 
a great deal of clearing had to be done and 
after that was completed he started improve- 
ments, and has a very valuable property. 

On February 9, 1854, Nathaniel Pettitt was 
married to Rachel Ann Jones, who was born 
near Sharon Center, Medina County, Ohio, 
and is a daughter of John and Mary (Foster) 
Jones. Her father was born in Maryland 
and her mother in New York and they were 
married in Wayne County, Ohio. They 
moved to Sharon when Mrs. Pettitt was small 
and later to Copley Township, Summit 
County, where she was reared. Her mother 
lived to be a venerable lady, surviving for 
ninety years, passing the last eleven years 
with Mr. and Mrs. Pettitt, where she died in 
1896. Her husband died in 1867. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Pettitt were born seven children, 
namely: Mary Alice, who married Charles 
Brown; Charles Nathaniel, who operates the 
farm; Milton Howard; Myron Grant; Emma, 



who married Daniel Frederick; Elsie, who 
married A^inton Hardy ; and Homer, residing 
at home. Mr. and Mrs. Pettitt have been 
blessed in their children and they have four- 
teen grandchildren. 

A. II. STALL, M. I)., physician and sur- 
geon, at Barberton, has one of the best 
equipped ofhces and most complete medical 
libraries in Summit County. Pie was born 
July 7, 1876, at Hudson, Summit County, 
Ohio, and is a son of Hiram and Jennie (Gal: 
loway) Stall. 

The father of Dr. Stall died when he was 
a child of three years, after which his mother 
moved to Montrose, Summit County, and he 
attended the common and High School in 
Copley Township, following which he spent 
one session at Mt. Union College, at Alliance, 
and also attended the Ohio Normal University 
at Ada for one term. When eighteen years 
of age he began to teach school, and con- 
tinued in educational work through the town- 
ship for the succeeding three years, in the 
meantime preparing himself, by preliminary 
medical study, for entering the medical de- 
partment of the Western Reserve University, 
where he was graduated June 13, 1901, with 
his medical degree. 

By June 16, 1901, Dr. Stall was established 
as assistant to Dr. E. A. Bellford, at Barber- 
ton, with whom he remained until March, 
1903, T\hen he located at Johnson's Corners, 
in Norton Township, where he was made 
health officer, having previously served in that 
office at Barberton. He remained in that vil- 
lage until July, 1906, when he returned to 
Barberton, locating on the corner of Baird 
and Fourth Streets. Dr. Stall is an enthu- 
siast in his profession and keeps fully abreast 
of the times, continually adding to his valu- 
able equipment of surgical instruments and 
making additions to h'is already large scien- 
tific library. He is a member of the Ameri- 
can Medical Association and the Summit 
County, the Ohio State and the Barberton 
Medical Societies. 

On December 24, 1904, Dr. Stall was mar- 
ried to Edna Prange, who is a daughter of 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



847 



Herman Prange, who is superintendent of the 
McNeil Boiler \\'orkSj of South Akron. They 
had one son, Arthur, who died August 18, 
190l], aged eleven months, and they have a 
daughter, IMargaret, who was born June 22, 
1907. 

Dr. Stall i.s a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity and retains his connection with his 
college society, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon and 
the medical fraternity society Nu Sigma Nu. 
He is to some degree interested in politics 
and since 1904 ha.s been township clerk of 
Norton Townsliip. 

.JONATHAN HALE, a pioneer settler of 
Summit County, was a member of an hon- 
orable old New England family and the name 
is still one of note in many sections, espe- 
cially in the vicinitj' of Ghxstonbury, Connec- 
ticut, where he was born, April 23, 1777, 
while the country was engaged in the arduous 
.struggle of the Revolutionary AVar. 

In the summer of 1810, Jonathan Hale 
penetrated to Bath Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, being the first actual settler, 
Mr. Hale trading property in Glastonbury, 
Connecticut, for 500 acres, valued at $1,200, 
with Thomas and Lucinda Bull, also purchas- 
ing the interest of a squatter who had located 
on the land to await newcomers; Later in 
the year he was joined by other members of 
liis family, and thus the Hales w^ere estab- 
lished in what wa.s then a wilderness of the 
"Western Reserve. Indians were so numerous 
and unfriendly that when Jonathan Hale was 
drafted for the War of 1812, he was released 
on account of the dangers that would sur- 
round his helpless family in his. absence. 

On July 11, 1802, Mr. Hale was married 
(first) to Mercy S. Piper, who died May 14, 
1829. He was married (second) November 
2, 1830. to Sarah Cozad Mather. The chil- 
dren of the first marriage were: Sophronia, 
William, Pamela, Andrew, Abigail and James 
M. Those of the second marriage were : Jon- 
athan D.. Mercy A. and Samuel C. 

Mr. Hale was an active citizen and did his 
full duty in promoting the progre.«.s of the 
communitv in which he lived. It was throuirh 



his influence and from his suggestion that 
the township was given its name. He died in 
Bath Township, May 14, 1854. 

ABNER L. CALDAVELL, general farmer 
and formerly township trustee of Portage 
Township, owns thirty acres of land which is 
liighly valuable on accovuit of its clo^e prox- 
imity to Akron, on the north, he having al- 
ready sold forty acres for building puiposes, 
the Caldwell School building having been 
erected on it. Mr. Caldwell was "born at 
Springfield, Indiana, January 13, 1839, and is 
a son of Tarlton and Julia Ann (A'rooman) 
Caldwell. 

In 1841 the parents of Air. Caldwell moved 
to Missouri, where they remained for eight 
yeaa-s and then removed to California, where 
the father worked in the gold mines for 
twenty years. He acquired a mine of his own 
and after he gave up the hard life of a miner, 
he settled on a large rai\ch in Southern Cali- 
fornia and on that both he and hi.s wife died. 

Up to the age of sixteen years, Abner L. 
(Jaldwell had few educational advantages, 
during these early years being called on to as- 
sist his father. After that, however, the family 
was in easy circumstances and in 1857 he re- 
turned to Ohio and entered the preparatory 
.school at Hudson, where he remained two 
years and then went back to California. Air. 
Caldwell made five trips across the Isthmus of 
I'anama. As may be judged, he takes a great 
deal of intercut in the progi"es6 of the Govern- 
ment work at that point, at present. His rem- 
iniscences of those early trips are very in- 
teresiting. 

In 1861, Mr. Caldwell was married to Alary 
Pitkin, who is a daughter of the late Judge 
S. II. Pitkin, one of the early pioneers of 
Summit County and a man of great promi- 
nence. Judge Pitkin owned 186 acres of land 
in Portage Township, to which lie retired after 
serving as probate judge. He died at Akron. 
Air. and Airs. Caldwell were married at Hud- 
son. AVhile attending school at Hudson he 
l)oarded in the family of Judge Pitkin. After 
(lieir marriage. Air. and Airs. Caldwell lived 
five vears in Californa and then returned to 



8-18 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Summit. County, residing with Judge Pitkin, 
on the present farm, for a time, but subse- 
quently erecting a residence of tlieir own. 

jNIr. Caldwell has taken some interest in 
politics and, as one of the reliable and sub- 
stantial citizens, has been offered many posi- 
tions of responsibilitj', but he has declined all 
but that of township trustee, in which he has 
served several terms. 

DANIEL HOLIBAUGH, general farmer, 
residing on his excellent farm of sixty-three 
acres, which is favorably located just outside 
the city limits of East Akron, was born at Mul- 
berry, Stark County, Ohio, March 28, 1831, 
and is a son of Joseph and Lydia (Hosier) 
Holibaugh. 

Daniel Holibaugh was reared in Stark 
County assisting his father on the home farm 
and attending the district schools. His par- 
ents both died in Stark County, the father in 
1879, aged 'seventy-nine years, and the 
mother, in 1886, at the same age. 

On October 22, 1857, Daniel Holibaugh 
was married at Canton, Ohio, by Rev. P. A. 
Ilerbruck, to Mary Brumbaugh, who is a 
daughter of David and Mary (Zelier) Brum- 
baugh. ■ The mother of Mrs. Holibaugh died 
when she was fifteen years of age. Her father 
continued to live in Stark County for a few 
years and then removed to Akron, where he 
.subsecj[ueutly married the mother of Judge 
J. A. Kohler. Mr. Brumbaugh was a caipen- 
ter and cabinet-maker and later a farmer. 
He died at Akron. 

After marriage, Daniel Holibaugh and wife 
lived on the old Holibaugh homestead in 
Stark County, for twelve years. In 1869, 
they bought 111 acres of land in Portage 
'I'ownship, sixty-three of which they still own. 
and in February, 1870, -they settled on it. In 
the same year Mr. Holil)augh built his sub- 
stantial barn and in the following year his 
comfortal)le residence, and each year since 
he has done more improving. He carried on 
a general farming line and kept from five to 
ten head of cattle. On acount of his land be- 
ing so well located, Mr. Holil)augh has been 
able to sell as much as he has cared to part 



with, at good prices, for town lot sites, and in 
1907, he sold six acres to the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, the new branch passing through the 
land in such a way that the residence had to 
be moved. Mr. Holibaugh is rather proud of 
his orchards as he set out every tree himself. 

As Mr. Holibaugh and wife had on chil- 
dren of their own, they decided to adopt a 
child and found a beautiful little daughter, 
in Jennie E. Ringer. She was motherless and 
was the child of Louis and Matilda (Royer) 
Ringer. She was taken by Mr. and Mrs. 
Holibaugh when aged four aod one-half years 
and was reared as their own until her mar- 
riage, in young womanhood, to "William E. 
Hale. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have had five chil- 
dren, namely: Jessie May, who married Ora 
Rowh, has one cliild, Cirace Lucile; Harvey 
C. ; Alvin F. ; Frank, who died aged ten 
weeks; and Lenora. 

Mr. and Mrs. Llolibaugh are consistent 
members of Trinity Reformed Church, of 
North Hill. He has served both as deacon 
and elder in this church. They are most 
e.^timable people, kind, ho.spitable and chari- 
table, and they have a wide circle of friends. 

jMcCAUSLAND BROTHERS, leading 
brick manufacturers in Portage Town.ship, 
and general farmers, owning ninety acres of 
valuable land, succeeded their father, who 
was the founder of the business, in 1885. 
The firm is made up of John J. and James C. 
McCausland, sons of the late John McCaus- 
lan-d. 

John McCausland was a son of James Mc- 
Causland, and he was born in Ireland, where 
he remained until 1848, when he came to 
America. The aged fatlier subsequently 
came from Ireland and died in the home of 
his son. For several yeai-s he worked in the 
agricultural districts as a farm hand and after 
coming to Portage Townshij), Summit County, 
rented the old Simon Perkins farm, now 
known as the Fouse farm, and then liought 
seventy- five acres of the present home farm. 
To this he added until he had 180 acres. He 
continued to farm after 1871. when he started 
his brick business, in which his sons were prac- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



851 



tically brought, up. John McCausland built 
two brick houses ou his farm, the one in which 
lie resided until his death, being now the prop- 
erty of James Breen. He had commenced 
the erection of the large brick residence, in 
which his sons live, but did not survive to see 
it completed. His death occurred in Novem- 
beXj 1884. He was a man of great business 
enterprise and succeeded in whatever work he 
undertook. 

John McCausland married Mary McQuil- 
lan, who was a daughter of Charles McQuil- 
lan. She was born in Ireland and came to 
America in young womanhood. She died on 
Decoration Day, 189-1. They had six chil- 
dren, namely: James C, Margaret, John J., 
and Mary, who married James Breen. Two 
children died as infants. 

The two sons of John McCausland, as stated 
above, succeeded to tlieir father's interests and 
have continued together as they have been 
since boyhood. The older brother, James C, 
has never married. John J. McCausland mar- 
ried Anna M. Doran, who was reared at Akron 
and is a daughter of William Doran. They 
have three children : Leo, aged twelve years ; 
Helen, aged eleven years; -and Mary, aged 
four years. John J. McCausland ha.s served 
two terms as township treasurer and enjoys the 
full confidence of his fellow-citizens. Both 
brothers are members of St. Vincent Catholic 
Church and belong to the order of Knights of 
Columbus. 

The McCausland Brothers' brick plant has 
a capacity of about 4,000,000 building brick, 
and during the six months in the year that 
it is running, employment is given to about 
twenty-five men. It is one of the best estab- 
lished industries of Portage Township and its 
ownei-s are among the representative citizens. 

AULTMAN BROTHERS, bankers and 
■ lirokers, with offices in the Hamilton Build- 
ing, Akron, and with additional offices at 
Toledo and Cleveland, manage and control 
many large financial interests in this section 
of Ohio. The firm is made up of William 
J. and George W. Aultman. 

William J. Aultman was born at Orrvillo. 



Wayne County, Ohio, in 1875, in which place 
he w'as reared and educated, and wliere he 
was engaged for two years in the bicycle 
business. Then coming to Akron, he entered 
the employ of the B. F. Goodrich Company, 
Avith whom he remained for five years. In 
1892 the firm of Aultman Brothers was 
founded for dealing in mining stock, and 
they have since handled the most success- 
ful stocks of this kind in this section of 
Ohio. They carry on a banking and brok- 
erage business and their standing a? business 
men is very high. In 1902 William J. Ault- 
man was married to Ella Hostettler, of Orr- 
villc, Ohio, and they have one child, Gar- 
nett Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Aultman are 
members of the First Presbyterian Church at 
Akron. 

George W. Aultman, of Aultman Broth- 
ers, was born at Orrville, Wayne County, 
Ohio, in 1877. After leaving school he 
worked for three years at dentistry, later went 
into the bicycle business, and in 1890 came 
to Akron. For eighteen months he was con- 
nected wdth the Goodrich Company, and for 
the same length of time with the Diamond 
Rubber Company He then became associated 
with his brother, William J., in the brokerage 
business, making mining a specialty. In 
June, 1907, George W. Aultman was mar- 
ried to Edith McGurry, of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. 
and Mrs. Aultman belong to the First Pres- 
byterian Church. 

The material success which has attended 
this firm of enterprLsing young men is some- 
what remarkable. Both had practical busi- 
ness experience and with their ambition stim- 
ulated by enlarged opportunities, they found 
themselves qualified to accept new responsi- 
bilities and have rapidly built up a large 
and important' business. 

OTTO N. HARTER, president of the Ak- 
ron Pure Milk Company, with business loca- 
tion at No. 265 Bowery Street, Akron, was 
born April 4, 1866, at New Beriin, Stark 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Jeremiah Ilixr- 
ter. 

0. N. Harfer was twelve years of age w-hen 



852 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



his parents moved to Western Star, Summit 
County, where he completed his education 
and then entered into a milk and butter bus- 
iness. For a number of years he was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Harter Brothers, dealers 
in dairy products. In April, 1904, when the 
Akron Pure Milk Company was reorganized 
and incorporated, with a capital stock of $10,- 
000, which put it on a firm foundation, 0. 
N. Harter became president, A. II. Harter, 
vice-president, and A. G. Teeple, secretary 
and treasurer. The Akron quarters are com- 
modious a.nd sanitary. They have their but- 
ter manufacturing plant at Killbuck, Holmes 
County, where fine creamery Ijutter is pro- 
duced which finds a ready market on account 
of its superior excellence. Employment is 
given by this company to twenty-five people. 
In partnership with J. M. Sumner, Mr. Bar- 
ter organized the Sumner Company, exclusive 
dealers in dairy products, but he has disposed 
of his interest in this concern. Other enter- 
prises of considerable importance claim a part 
of his attention and he is a stockholder in 
several banks. 

On June 15, 1893, Mr. Harter was married 
to Rose M. Spidle, of Akron, and they have 
five children, namely: Frederick S., Flora 
C, Bessie May, Bert H. and Harry Lee. 

Mr. Harter is a good, solid citizen, taking 
an interest in all that concerns the real wel- 
fare of the country, but he has never devoted 
much time to politics. 

GEORGE HART ROOT, a leading citizen 
of Tallmadge Township, was born May 21, 
1833, on the farm and m the same house in 
which he lives, in Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a son of John Cole and Lydia (Hart) Root. 

The Root family is of English extraction 
and of Puritan ancestry. John Root, the 
settler, came from Badby, England, to Farm- 
mgton, Connecticut, with the first settlers of 
the place, in 1640. His father being decea.sed, 
he was adopted by a wealthy uncle, the latter 
of wliom was a zealous supporter of the great 
Protector. He insisted that his nephew, John 
Root, espouse Cromwell's cause against King 
Charles I. but the niephew was of a peaceable 



disposition and chose rather to ca^t in his lot 
with the little band of Puritans then on the 
verge of emigrating to the free land across the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

In the settlement at Farmington, John 
Root became a man of affairs and of much 
prominence. About 1640, he married Mary 
Kilbourn, who was born in 1619, at Wood 
Button, England, and died in Connecticut, 
in 1697, aged seventy-eight years. Her par- 
ents were Thomas and Frances Kilbourn. 
She came to the Colonies in the good ship 
Increase, in 1635. John Root, the settler, 
died in 1684, aged seventy-six years. 

The family record then goes to Ezekiol 
Root, who was born at Farmington, Con- 
nccti October 18, 1764, and was mar- 
ried February 17, 1786, to Cynthia Cole, 
of Kensington, Connecticut. She died at 
Tallmadge, Ohio, March 9, 1853. Ezekiel 
Root died in 1825, aged sixty years. He 
served for eight years dn the Patriot army 
during the Revolutionary troubles and for 
three years after the' close of the war he was 
an orderly sergeant at West Poijit He ciied 
at Farmington, in 1825. The children of 
Ezekiel Root and wife w^ere Horace, George, 
Fannie, John Cole, Cynthia and Hiram. 

Horace Root, the eldest son, was never mar- 
ried. He was born January 8, 1787. Just 
prjor to the War of 1812, he was visiting 
i^aston, Massachusetts, and while there was 
pressed on board one of the British ships of 
war and suffered the .same shameful treatment 
then accorded all Americans. It became so 
imbearable that with three companions he re- 
solved to attempt to swim ashore, although 
the distance w\as three miles. With one of 
liis fellow sufferers he was successful, and soon 
after joined the rank.? of the American army. 
He took part in the battle at Lundy's Lane, 
where Gen. Winfield Scott won his first pro- 
motion, and was with his regiment on the 
land near where Commodore Perry won his 
victory on Lake Erie. He assisted in digging 
the Erie Canal. His death .took place in 
Ohio. George Root, the second son, was Iborn 
at Farmington, Connecticut, February 13, 
1791 . He war; a merchant and moved to Mil- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



853 



ledgeville, Georgia, where he died, ;is did his 
wife and two children. Fannie Root was 
born at Farmington, April 5, 1793, and died 
at Freedom, Ohio. John Cole Root, was born 
at Farmington, October 18, 1795. Cynthia 
Root was born at Farmington, March 20, 
1798, and died in Ohio. Hiram, deceased, 
was born at Farmington, August 29, 1800. 

John Cole Root came intolTallmadge, Ohio, 
in 1828, and purchased the farm of sixty- 
three acres on which his son, George Hart 
Root resides, on which he lived until his 
death, December 20, 1862. He was married 
at New Briton, Connecticut, November 29, 
1819, to Lydia Hart, who was born there. 
May 13, 1796, and died in Tallmadge, March 
9, 1876. Her father died in Connecticut but 
her mother came to Summit County soon after 
the Roots came, and she died at St. Mar}''s, 
in Auglaize County. John Cole Root and 
wife had but one child, George Hart. 

George Hart Root grew up on the farm on 
which he was born and gave his father all 
needed assistance in clearing and Cultivating 
the property. He was given excellent educa- 
tional advantages, including a district school 
training, a season at the Tallmadge Academy 
and one year at Oberlin College. After leav- 
ing school he engaged in teaching during the 
winters for a time and taught six months at 
Akron. He then accepted employment with 
the Cleveland Construction Company and as- 
sisted in the building of electric railways from 
Akron to Cleveland, and also the IS^iagara 
Falls Railway, and later aided in the building 
of the line running from Cleveland to Wil- 
loughby. For a time he worked on the line 
from Lima to Piqua, as commdssarj'^ of the 
construction camp, and was considered a very 
useful man in that department. He has long 
since done little but look after his farming 
interests, and has now reached a time in his 
life when the labors of this industry can be 
easily shifted to younger shoulders. 

Mr. Root was maiTied at Tallmadge, Oc- 
tober 7, 1856, to Marie Phoebe Upson, who 
was born in Tallmadge, September 30. 1838, 
and they have had the following children : 
Ella Evelync : who wa~ born in Tallmadge. 



July 14, 1859 ; Eddie Harland, who was born 
June 28, 1862, died in December of the same 
year; and Frank Lewis, who was born March 
7, 1868. Ella E., the eldest daughter, was 
married to Edward L. Hinman, October 7, 
1879, who is a farmer residing near Ravenna, 
Ohio, Mr. and Mrs. Hinman have children 
as follows: Helen ilarie, born in Tallmadge, 
Ohio, March 28, 1881; Lewis Edward, born 
at Ravenna, Ohio, October 15, 1885 ; Florence 
Jennie, born September 19, 1888, and Mabel 
Harriet, born January 16, 1891. 

Frank Lewis Root wa.s married in Tall- 
madge, June 12, 1896, to Olive A. Skinner, 
also of Talldiadge, and their four children 
liear the following names: Charles Edward, 
born in Tallmadge, April 8, 1898; Gilbert 
Hart, born February 8, 1900; Marion Phoebe, 
born September 10, 1902; and Frank Oliver, 
born October 10, 1905. Fi-ank Lewis attended 
the public schools of Tallmadge and the West- 
ern ReseiTe Academy, and took a course in the 
Reserve Academy, and took a course in the 
Spencerian Business College at Cleveland. 
He is engaged in farming and is also the rural 
mail route carrier in Tallmadge. 

Both Mr. Root and son are stanch Re- 
publicans and both are men of the highest 
personal standing in the community. Mr. 
Root has always taken as active interest in the 
development of the township's resources and 
has devoted time, labor and means to many 
public-spirited enteiprises. He has been a 
warm friend of the public schools, in which 
both he and his children enjoyed advantages. 
During a part of his earlier life he taught pen- 
manship and although the winters of seventy- 
four years have pa.ssed over his head and 
bodily afflictions have fallen on him, his hand 
is steady enough to pen letters that show little 
trace of weakness, and which may be placed 
.«ide by side with those of a younger genera- 
tion, to the latter's discredit. 

GEORGE C. STANFORD, one of the rep- 
resentative men of Boston Township, who is 
carrying on agricultural operations on his fine . 
farm of 300 acres, was born April 18, 1839, 



854 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and is a son of George and Catherine (Carter) 
Stanford. 

James Stanford, the great-grandfather of 
George C. Stanford, was a native of Ii-eland 
and his wife of Pennsylvania, and they set- 
tled at Bristol, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, 
in 1802. They remained there for about 
three years, and then moved to Jackson Town- 
ship, Trumbull County, Ohio, where they re- 
sided for one year. About this time James 
Stanford joined a surveying party which was 
appointed to locate and survey what is now 
Boston Township, and when the survey was 
completed, in 1806, he brought his family to 
Sujnmit County and located on 1S9 acres on 
the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. In the 
following j'ear he traded lands with Alfred 
. Wolcott, securing then a part of the farm now 
occupied by George C. Stanford, and here he 
spent the remainder of his life. It was James 
Stanford who suggested the name of Boston 
Township, and its acceptance happily ended 
a disputed question. His son, Andrew John- 
son Stanford, was the first white child born 
in Boston Township. 

George Stanford, father of George C, was 
born at Bristol, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, 
October 9, 1800, and died March 3, 1883. He 
was a prominent Whig and was a justice of 
the peace for many years. On January 17, 
1828, he was married to Catherine Carter, who 
was born in 1809, and died December 20, 
1872. She was a daughter of James and 
Elizabeth Carter. They had eight children : 
Emily, who died in infancy; James M. and 
Ellen, both of whom died when about twenty 
years of age; William Irwin, who died in 
childhood; Perkins W., who enlisted as a pri- 
vate in the Second Regiment, Ohio Volun- 
teer Cavalry, was promoted to be sergeant of 
Company A, was taken prisoner in 1864, and 
died at Andersonville; Eliza, who died when 
three years of age; George C. ; and Catherine, 
who is deceased. 

George C. Stanford went to school in the 
second schoolhousc which was erected in this 
district, and he has always lived on his pres- 
ent farm, which now comprises 300 acres, 100 
of which arc under cultivation, being devoted 



principally to wheat and hay. Mr. Stanford 
has a fine silo, 19x20 feet, 26 feet high. In 
former years he kept from twenty-five to 
thirty head of cattle, but he now keeps only 
ten or twelve cows, and has a flock of sixty- 
five sheep. In politics he is a Republican, 
and he has sei-ved as a delegate to county con- 
ventions. He was elected justice of the peace 
and was re-elected, but resigned before the ex- 
piration of his second term. For three years 
he has been township assessor. He is a mem- 
ber of Meridian Sun Lodge No. 226, and Sum- 
mit Royal Arch Chapter No. 74 of Masons. 

Mr. Stanford was married to Eliza Lida 
Wefmore, daughter of William Wetmore, of 
Peninsula, and to this union there were born 
three children: Ellen, Perkins W., and Clay- 
ton J. The only daughter was born Febru- 
ary 6, 1871, and married Edgar E. Jobe. She 
lives with her father, and has one child, Cur- 
tis A., who was born January 17, 1905. Per- 
kins W., who was born May 2, 1874, resided 
in Indianapolis, Indiana, for eight years, 
where he received the main part of his school- 
ing. He enlisted in Company D, 158th Regi- 
ment, during the Spanish-American AVar, but 
was never called on to leave the country. He 
is a general merchant at Boston village, and 
is postmaster. He married Stella Morgan, 
and has two children, namely, George J., born 
December 7, 1904, and Dorothy, born June 
-19, 1906. Clayton J., who was born August 
4, 1877, married Catherine E. Coonrad, of 
Brecksville, Ohio. Mr. and Mi's. Stanford are 
members of the Methodist. Episcopal Church, 
of whicli Mr. Stanford is trustee and steward, 
in addition to having been superintendent of 
the Sunday-school for many years. He has 
been a member of the Summit County Agri- 
cultural Society for a long period. 

F. B. LIVERMORE, M.D., a leading 
physician and surgeon, at Barberton, for- 
merly demon-strator of Anatomy at the Cleve- 
land University of Medicine and Surgery, has 
Vjeen located at this place since October, 1899. 
Dr. Livermore was born at Port Henry, New 
York, December 28, 1871, and is n son of R. 
F. and Eliza Hester (Bates) Livermore. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



In 1878, the parents of Dr. Liverinore re- 
moved from Port Henry to Corry, Pennsyl- 
\ania, where his father embarked in a whole- 
sale and retail dry goods business. There 
Dr. Liverinore was educated, and after gradu- 
ating from the Corry High School, he entered 
Allegheny College, at Meadville, where he took 
;: preparatory course in medicine, following 
which he entered the Cleveland University of 
Medicine and Surgery, at Olev'eland, Ohio, 
from which institution he was graduted with 
his degree, in March, 1895. While Dr. Liver- 
more pjracticed at Cleveland, he held the chair 
of demonstrator in Anatomy in his alma 
mater, and was also one of the physicians at- 
tached to the Huron Street Hospital, in that 
city. The trainhig of two years which he en- 
joyed in hospital work was of inestimable 
benefit, giving him an opportunity to study 
diseases and injuries in a practical way. In 
October, 1899, Dr. Livermore came to Bax- 
berton, and although a number of other prac- 
titioners of excellent repute are located at thi^ 
point, he has built up a most satisfactory 
practice and in large degree enjoys the confi- 
dence and support of the leading citizens. 

In 1895, Dr. Livermore was married to 
Minnie A. Creel, who is a daughter of Ben- 
jamin Creel, of Parkersburg, "West Virginia. 

Fraternally, Dr. Livermore is connected 
with the Maccabees and the Knights of Pyth- 
ias, while also retaining membership with his 
college fraternity, the Delta Tau Delta. Pro- 
fessionally, he is a member of the Cleveland 
Medical Association and the Summit County 
Clinical Association. 

A. R. LODWICK, president of The Lod- 
wick Company, leaders in the grocery line at 
-Vkron. with business location at No. 10 East 
Market Street, has been a resident of this city 
for thirty-three years and during the whole 
period of his eommercial life has l>een identi- 
fied with grocery interests. Mr. Lodwick was 
lorn in 1870, at Clinton, Missouri, and was 
four years old when his parents brought him 
to Akron. 

In the schools of Akron. Mr. Lodwick se- 
cured his education. His father was engaged 



in the grocery business and very early the son 
l)ecame his a.ssistant and learned all the prac- 
tical details by the time he was ready to as- 
sume the responsibility of conducting a busi- 
ness of his own. For a number of years he 
was one of the stockholders in the Tanner 
Comi^any, grocers, at Akron, which was suc- 
ceeded in 1907 by the Lodwick Company. 
The latter was incorporated with a capital 
stock of $10,000, with these officers: A. R. 
Lodwick, president; A. M. Lodwick, vice- 
president; and I. A. Lodwick, .secretary and 
tieasurer. 

In April, 1901, Mr. Lodwick was married 
to Lilian Douglas who was born at Cuyahoga 
Falls, Ohio. 

Mr. Lodwick is affiliated with a number of 
the leading fraternal organizations. He is 
a 32nd degree Jlason, and belongs to the F>lue 
Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery at 
Akron, to Lake Erie Consist-ory at Cleveland. 
He is also a member of the Odd Fellows, the 
Royal Arcanum, the Protected Home Circle 
and the National Association of Letter Car- 
riers. He is identified with the Masonic club. 
He is not an active politician but always takes 
a good citizen's interest in public affairs, he 
gives liberally to charity and his civic pride 
is shown in the support he lends to public- 
spirited enterprises. 

WILLIAM AMOS MANSFIELD, M.D.. 

physician and surgeon, at Barberton, where 
he has been established since 1900, is one of 
the leading medical men of Summit County. 
He wiis born at Ravenna, Muskegon County, 
Michigan, February 28, 1859, and is a son 
of A. J. and Ann ^Ellithorpe) Mansfield. 

The father of Dr. Mansfield was born in 
Canada and was a son of Harry Mansfield, 
who was born near Plattsburg, New York, 
and was a son of an Englishman, who had 
settled very early in that city. The mother 
of Dr. Mansfield was l)orn near Toronto, 
Canada, where her English parents had set- 
tled. For a number of years the father of 
Dr. Mansfield was prominently identified with 
the lumber industry in Canada. He began 
a manufacturing business near Toronto 



856 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUiSITY 



shortly after liis marriage, but subsequently 
removed to Muskegon County, Michigan, 
where he bought large tracts of lumber and 
continued in the lumbering business, and the 
furniture manufacturing business, until his 
death, in 1906, the death of his wife having 
immediately preceded his own. 

Dr. Mansfield was reared in Muskegon 
County, Michigan, and first attended the dis- 
trict schools near his home and then entered 
Bryant and Stratton's Business College, at 
Buffalo, New York, where he took a two- 
years course. Equipped with a first-cla-ss com- 
mercial education, he then went to Boston, 
Massachusetts, and for two years Avas a stu- 
dent in the Emerson College of Oratory and 
Dramatic Art, graduating from that well- 
known institution, May 3, 1889. From prob- 
a.ble succe&s in business and celebrity on the 
stage, he then turned his attention to the sci- 
ence of medicine and entered the Cleveland 
Universit}^ of Medicine and Surgery, graduat- 
ing in the class of 1895. For the succeeding 
five years he practiced his profession in the 
city of Cleveland and then came to the pros- 
pering town of Barberton, where he has be- 
come a leading citizen. He is a member of 
the Summit County Medical Club, and is an 
enthu.siast in his profession. His fine office 
is equipped with modern appliances of all 
kinds, including an expensive X-ray machine, 
and he keeps thoroughly in touch with medi- 
cal progress. He served one term as health 
officer of Barberton, liaving been appointtd 
by the village council. 

In 1893, Dr. Mansfield was married to 
Lenno Mowry, and they have two children : 
EUithorpe and Marie. Dr. Mansfield is 
prominent in fraternal life, belonging to ti:c 
Masons, the Elks and the Knights of Fythias. 

WILLIAM HENRY MIDDLETON, resid- 
ing on a very valuable farm of over 200 acres, 
which he acquired in 1882, is one of the sub- 
.stantial agriculturists and leading citizens of 
Hudson Township. He was born. May 19, 
1856, in County Kent, England, and is a son 
of James and Mary Ann (Grigsby) Middle- 
ton. 



Both parents of Mr. Middleton wer_> born 
in County Kent, England, and in 1869 they 
came to America with their seven children. 
Tlie voyage was one of danger and disaster. 
The family set sail in the vessel the City of 
Hudson, which was wrecked on the banks of 
New Foundland and drifted backward help- 
lessly, for 500 miles, with three feet of water 
in the hold. The captain had lost all hope 
of saving his passengers, but fortunately kq^t 
up their courage when he lost his own, and 
finally help came and in the course of time the 
Middleton family reached East Cleveland in 
safety. The father was a brick-layer by 
trade. He died August 4, 1906, aged seventy- 
five years. The mother of William H. Mid- 
dleton died December 21, 1878. The father 
was married (second) January 7, 1880, to 
Mrs. Elizabeth Pincombe. The children born 
to his first marriage were as follows: Wil- 
liam H. ; George, residing at Mayfield Heights, 
Cleveland; Sarah Jane, who died October 12, 
1905; Alfred who died April 12, 1883; Eliza- 
beth, who married George Lintern, died in 
1894, at Cleveland; James, residing at Cleve- 
land'; Charles, residing in Hudson Township ; 
and Hattie, who married Julian Scott, resid- 
ing on the Streetsboro road in Hudson Town- 
ship. 

Wilham H. Middleton resided at East Cleve- 
land and at Glenville for about two years, 
and started a milk route which he continued 
until 1884, when he came to his present farm. 
He bought over 202 acres and has since added 
about twenty-seven acres. He operates his 
farm mainly as a dairy farm and ships his 
milk to Cleveland. 

On August 31, 1875, Mr. Middleton was 
married to Sarah Ann Pincombe, who was 
born at Plymouth, England, and was ten years 
old when her parents AVilliam and Elizabeth 
(Rockey) Pincombe, crossed the Atlantic 
Ocean. The father went back to England 
and died there. The mother, later in life, 
became the second wife of the father of Mr. 
Middleton, and died on the present farm in 
an adjoining house, December 3, 1894. The 
Pincombes had three children to grow to ma- 
turitv. namelv: Elizabeth, who married 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



857 



John Lintern. reading at Cleveland; Selina, 
■who married W. B. Hopkins, residing at Cleve- 
land ; and Sarah Ann, who married Mr. Mid- 
dleton. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton have five 
children, a.s follows; May Elizabeth, who 
married W. S. Mills, residuig at Twinsburg, 
has two children, Florence Elizabeth and 
Winnifred Ann; William, residing in Hud- 
son Township, married Pearl Beardsley; 
Emanuel Alfred, residing in Bedford, mar- 
ried Emma Po^t, of Macedonia; and Blanche 
"Winnifred and Bert Eli, both residing at 
home. Mr. Middleton and family belong to 
the Congregational Church at Hudson. In 
politics he is a Republican. Mr. Middleton is 
a tApe of self-made man and enjoys the posi- 
tion in which he finds him.self, in middle life, 
because through his own efforts he has 
brought his prosperity about. 

ELMER ROBINSON, residing on his valu- 
able farm of ninety acres, situated in Bath 
Township, where he is engaged in general 
farming and dairying, is one of the substan- 
tial men and reliable citizens of this section. 
Mr. Robinson was born in Wayne County. 
( )liio. October 6, 1835, and is a son of Robert 
;ind Sai'ali (Clapper) Robinson. 

The grandparents of Mr. Robinson were 
James and Sarah (Yates) Robinson, who were 
natives of Pennsylvania. James Robinson 
was a cigar-maker by trade, but after moving 
to Missouri in 1869, he followed farming. 
His children were: John and Robert, both 
f of whom are deceased; Jacob, residing in 
' Missouri ; Benjamin, residing in Wayne 
County; Joseph and Abraham, both, of whom 
are deceased: Katherine, residing in Missouri; 
and Elizabeth, who is decea-ed. 

Robert Robinson, father of Elmer, was born 
at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, October 2. 1839, 
* and died in Bath Town.-hip, Summit County, 
Ohio, July 30, 1900. He accompanied his 
parents to Mis.souri, where lie lived for two 
years and then came to Bath Township, where 
lie passed the rest of his life. He was a man 
nf education and taught school in Missouri 
:ind later in Wavne Countv. He was a stanch 



Republican and was elected a director of the 
Summit County Infirmary, to which position 
he was re-elected, and was the only member of 
his party who gained popular recognition at 
that time in this section. He died while serv'- 
ing in his second term. His widow still sur- 
vives and resides on the home farm in Bath 
Township. The children of Robert Robinson 
and wife were: AUie, who married Charles 
H. Francisco, residing in Copley Township; 
Elmer C, Mettie, who married Andrew 
Harris, residing in Copley Township, 
Edward, who married Lottie Leiby, resides in 
Sharon Township; Irene, deceased, who mar- 
ried James Myers; and Vera, Avho mamed 
Earl Rockwell, residing on the old home in 
Bath Township. 

Elmer Robinson M-as reared on the home- 
.stead farm and obtained his education in the 
schools of Bath Township. He remained as- 
sisting his father until his marriage, when he 
puichased his present farm, where he has 
made all the improvements, including the 
building of the substantial residence and 
farm stnictures. He is a man of practical 
ideas and thoroughly understands how to 
make every part of his land produce satisfac- 
torily, in other words, he is a successful agri- 
culturi.st. 

In 18S6, Mr. Robinson was married to 
Alpha L. Miller, who is a daughter of Ral.<- 
man and Sarah (Hershey) Miller, former 
residents of Bath Township, where the former 
died in 1897, and the latter in 1899. Mr. 
and Mrs. Robinson have had four children, 
namely: Glenn, who died aged eight years; 
Pearl; Wayne; and a babe that died in in- 
fancy. 

Mr. Roliiiison is a member of the East 
Granger Disciples Church, in which he is one 
of the deacons, and is superintendent of the 
Sunday-school. Politically he is a Repub- 
lican and is serving in his fifth year as town- 
ship trustee. He is one of the directors in 
the Farmers' Mutual Cyclone Association, 
and the Bath Horse Protective Association, 
and is president of the latter organization. 
He is aiuember of the Grange of Bafli Cen- 
ter. 



858 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



IRA L. UNDERWOOD, residing on Lis 
valuable farm of 152 acres, situated on tlie 
township line road, between Bath and Rieh- 
field, in Bath Township, was born in Granger 
Township^ Medina County, Ohio, February 
18, 1857, and is a son of Henry and Han- 
nah (Dunsha) Underwood and a grandson 
of Henrj^ Underwood. 

The Underwood ancestors came to New 
York from Scotland. The grandfather was 
born in New York and came to Wayne 
County, Ohio, prior to the birth of liis son, 
Henry Underwood, who was a boy when his 
parents settled in Granger Township, Medina 
County. He died in Medina County, but 
his widow sui^v-ived some years and died on the 
farm of her son Ira L., in Bath Township. 

Ira L. Underwood was reared in Granger 
Township, remaining at home until his 
twenty-first year, when he came to Bath Town- 
ship, where he has since resided. In 1900, 
he came to his present property, which is a 
finely improved tract of lancl, and here he has 
engaged in general farming and dairying, 
keeping about twenty cows. Mr. Underwood 
also owns a small tract of seven acres in Ghent. 
He is very well known in his vicinity, and his 
fellow-townsmen elected him assessor for two 
terms. 

In 1881 Mr. Underwood was married to 
Louisa jNIiller, who is a daughter of Ralseman 
jililler, and to this imion there have been 
born two children: Edith: and Miller H.. 
who married Opal Fulmer. 

SMITH D. TIFFT. .senior member of the 
firm of Tifft and Vogan, dealers in carriages 
and agricultural implements, at Cuyahoga 
J'alls, is a leading citizen and representative 
Inisiness man of this section of Summit 
County. He was born in Norton Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, March 16, 1840, a,nd 
is a .son of John D. and Anna (Bangs) Tifft. 

John D. Tifft, father of Smith D., was born 
in the State of New York, and died at Cuya- 
hoga Falls, in 1876, aged seventy years. He 
remained on the home farm until he reached 
maturity and then came to Ohio, securing 
work at Cleveland, where he a.ssisted in clear- 



ing the virgin forest from the present sites of 
the beautiful Wilson and Euclid avenues of 
that city. After -two years at Cleveland, 
about 1840, he settled at Johnson's Corners, 
near the present site of Barberton, and in the 
fall following the birth of his son. Smith D., 
he came to Cuyahoga Falls. Here he kept 
a livery stable and also engaged in a meat 
business. The year 1847 he spent in Chicago, 
but returned to Cuyahoga Falls, where he be- 
came one of the substantial citizens, during 
the following seven or eight yeare. An un- 
lucky speculation in hogs caused his business 
failure and from then to the close of his life, 
he engaged in the manufacture of immerous 
patents and machines, of which he was the 
inventor. He first patented a fanning mill, 
for cleaning grain, his rights to which he sub- 
sequently sold. Later he patented and sold 
his rights to a certain kind of fence and still 
later, he patented an invalid's spring bed, also 
selling his rights in this valuable invention. 
All of his inventions were of such recognized 
utility that they came into general use, and 
before his death he had become again a man 
of ample means. Early in life he was a 
Whig, but after 1852 he was identified with 
the Republican party. He was a man of Ster- 
ling character and at the time of his death 
was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist 
Church. 

The mother of Smith D. Tilft was liorn in 
Vermont and died in 1884. She was the 
youngest of a family of seven children, all of 
whom were remarkably long-lived, only two 
dying before the age of eighty-eight years, 
and .several living to be over ninety. The 
four children of John D. Tifft and wife lo 
reach maturity were: Smith D. ; Eliza ^L 
(deceased), who married W. A. Allen, of 
Akron ; Horace, residing in ihe Soldier's 
Home at Dayton, who is a veteran of the Civil 
War, and Alice, who married Charles Hawn, 
of CuyaJioga Falls. The mother of this 
family was a consi.stent member of the Metho- 
dist Epi.scopal Church through life. 

Smith D. Tifft was educated in the common 
and High Schools at Cuyahoga Falls, and en- 
tered into business on his own account in the 




GEORCIE T. BISHOP 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



861 



meat and cattle industry, in which he con- 
tinued for eleven years. From 1867 until 
1869, Mr. Tifft was in partnership with W. A. 
Taylor, speculating in cattle, after which he 
became the "Co." of the then well-known car- 
riage and wagon shop of ^^^ A. Allen & Co. 
He continued with this firm for nine years 
and then sold out to his partner and resumed 
speculating in cattle. Some six months later 
he started a meat market and continued in 
the meat business until 1885, when he traded 
it for a farm, which he operated for one year. 
He left farming in order to go out on the 
road as the traveling representative for the 
milling concern of Howe & Company. Mr. 
Tifft i-emained with the above firm until 1891, 
when he engaged in an agricultural imple- 
ment business beginning in a modest way and 
conducting it alone until January 26, 1896, 
T.'hen he entered into partnership with F. D. 
Vogan. The firm of Tifft & Vogan has pros- 
pered from the first and has desei"ved the 
name of being the first lousiness house at this 
place, to handle "everything for the fai'mer." 
The bu-siness ha.s increa.?ed to such proportions 
that it won the prize — a check for $100 — 
vhich was offered by the International Har- 
vester Company, of Cleveland, for handling 
the largest volume of business of that com- 
pany's products, through a certain area. This 
could not have c-ome about without excellent 
business management and a fine equality of 
goods. Mr. Tifft is interested in other en- 
terprises which contribute to the prosperity 
and good name of Cuyahoga Falls. He was 
one of fhe organizers of the Falls Sa^^ngs and 
Loan Association and has been its president 
for the past eighteen months. He is also a 
director of the Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank. 
On January 29, 1863, Mr. Tifft was mar- 
ried to Julia E. Allen, a daughter of George 
Allen, of Cuyahoga Falls. For forty years 
Mrs. Tifft has been a devoted member of the 
Episcopal Church, and Mr. Tifft is a liberal 
contributor to its various beneficent enterprises. 
Politically, Mr. Tifft is a Republican, and he 
served as village clerk for six years. In 1863, 
he united with the Masons and is a member of 
Star Lodge, No. 187, at Cuyahoga Falls. 



GEORGE T. BISHOP, formerly president 
of the Northern Texas Traction Company, 
and president of the Washington, Baltimore 
& Annapolis Street Railway, for many years 
has been prominently identified with electric 
railways and has also been concerned in 
other important business enterprises, but 
since 1901 he has made his summer home 
on his farm in the township where his boy- 
hood was spent. Mr. Bishop was born at 
Ravenna, Ohio, October 11, 1864, and is a 
son of Clark Benjamin and Arvilla (Taylor) 
Bishop. 

Mr. Bishop's American ancestors were of 
New England birth and training. His great- 
grandfather, Benjamin Bishop, on the occa- 
sion of Lafayette's visit to America, in 1824, 
took that Revolutionary hero and friend of 
Washington from Burlington, Vermont, to 
Montpelier, that State, in a coach drawn by 
four white horses, with outriders. 

Mr. Bishop's grandfather, Orin Azro 
Bi.shop, was born at Richmond, Vermont. 
He married Celina Lillie, who, like himself, 
graduated at the Jericho Academy, at Jeri- 
cho, Vermont, and who after her graduation 
taught school. In 1831, after their marriage, 
they came to Northfield Township, where 
life mast have .seemed crude and hard in 
those early days. Here Grandfather Bishop 
erected a log cabin west of Northfield Center, 
and in 1838 built a tavern or public house, 
which still stands, as a landmark, on the 
southwest corner of the Square at Northfield 
Center. This was the first tavern in North- 
field Township, a commodious two-story build- 
ing which was quite a notable building in 
its prime, and was conducted under the name 
of the Washington Inn. By the premature 
discharge of a cannon, on training day, Mr. 
Bishop was so injured that he died one year 
after the accident. His three children were: 
Clark B., George L. and Orin Azro. 

Clark Benjamin was born September 12, 
1833, in the little log cabin home in North- 
field, and was reared to his father's pursuits. 
.After his marriage he removed to Ravenna, 
Ohio, where he engaged with his father-in- 
law, in conducting a hotel, and during the 



862 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Civil War they operated the Exchange Ho- 
tel, but in 1866 Mr. Bishop took charge of 
the American House, in Cleveland. Return- 
ing to Northfield in 1873 he purchased the 
farm one and one-fourth miles west of North- 
field Center, returning to the quiet of coun- 
try life as a means of regaining his health. 
Eight years on the farm restored him to his 
former robustness and on his son George T. 
Bishop's seventeenth birthday, he returned 
to Cleveland. He died April 3, 1899. Dur- 
ing his residence in Northfield Township, he 
served in public offices and was a representa- 
tive man of his section. Politically, he was 
identified with the Republican party. He 
was a member of Summit Lodge, No. 281, 
F. & A. M., of Twinsburg. 

On September 17, 1862, he married Ar- 
villa Taylor, who died February 3, 1904. 
She was a daughter of Timothy Taylor, of 
Twinsburg. They had two sons, George T. 
and Hal F., the latter now residing at Cleve- 
land. 

George T. Bishop's boyhood was mainly 
passed in Northfield Township. In his sev- 
enteenth year he accompanied his father to 
Cleveland, and in the following year entered 
the employ of the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern Railroad, in the traffic department. 
He was connected with the steam railroad 
business until 1895. during the last few years 
being general agent of the Toledo, St. Louis 
& Kansas City Railroad. In the above men- 
tioned year he became interested in financing 
and building electric railroads. He was 
president of the Northern Texas Traction 
Company, which built and financed the pio- 
neer interurban electric railway of Texas, the 
line connecting Dallas and Fort Worth. 
After disposing of his interests in Texas, Mr. 
Bishop became interested in other sections 
and, as mentioned above, fills the office of 
president of a very important electric line, 
which has great future possibilities. He is 
a director of the Cleveland Trust Company 
and is concerned in a number of other en- 
terprise.s in diff^erent sections. 

In 1901 Mr. Bishop gave way to a natural 
impulse in turning to the home of his child- 



hood, purchasing the old Baum property and 
converting it into an elegant summer home. 
Mr. Bishop has not spared expense in im- 
proving the old place and his improvements 
include making over the public highway in 
the vicinity. Mr. Bishop received a hearty 
welcome from his fellow citizens of North- 
field Township. He has named his place 
Sagamore Summit, the latter part of the 
name being suggested by its natural elevation, 
which is among the highest in Ohio, and 
the former coming from the beautiful stream 
of water named Sagamore Creek, which has 
its rise on his farm. The Common Council 
of Macedonia, in recognition of his public- 
spirted entei-prise in repairing the highway, 
\oted that henceforth it should bear the name 
of Sagamore Road. 

Mr. Bishop owns some of the finest Jer- 
sey stock in this section of Ohio, taking a 
great deal of interest in it, but not engaging 
in farming to any extent. 

Mr. Bishop married Anna L. Swearer, who 
i.s a daughter of Alfred Swearer, of Browns- 
ville. He is affiliated with the Republican 
]iarty but is not active. He is prominent in 
Masonry, belonging to Tyrian Lodge, F. & 
A. M., of Cleveland; Webb Chapter, R. A. 
M. ; Oriental Commandery, K. T. ; Lake Erie 
Consistory, and Al Koran Temple of the 
Mystic Shrine. 

THOMAS BLACKBURN, a well-known 
citizen and retired farmer of Hudson Town- 
ship, was born October 9. 1833, near Gains- 
borough, on the River Trent, Lincolnshire, 
I'ngland, and is a son of William Blackburn, 
who died during the Civil War. 

Thomas Blackburn came to America in 
1858 and located at Peninsula, with his 
brother John, who had come to America four 
years previously. In September, 1861, he en- 
listed for seiwice in the Civil War, entering 
Battery D, First Ohio Light Artillery, under 
Captain Conkle, and after the clo.se of his 
first enlistment, he re-enlisted in 1863, and 
was honorably discharged July 15, 1865. 
His first service was in the Western armv but 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



863 



after the Atlanta campaign, he was connected 
with the Southern force. 

After his return from his military ser- 
vice Mr. Blackburn rejoined his brother 
at Peninsula, and in the following year 
was married and then settled on a farm 
which was owned by his father, in Hudson 
Township. It contained sixty-six acres and 
he rented the estate for five years, and culti- 
vated it antil six years since. To the original 
tract he added sixty-eight acres, and to this 
his son has added eighty more, making 215 
acres. It is well stocked, and under the care- 
ful management of Mr. Blackburn and son, 
has been developed into a fine place. The 
aged mother lived with Mr. Blackburn until 
her death, at the age of ninety-three years, 
during the latter part of her long life being 
blind. Mr. Blackburn has two brothers, 
namely: John, who lives near Peninsula; 
and Henry, who lives at Cleveland. 

On April 10, 1868, Mr. Blackburn was 
married to Hannah Cowlej^, who was also born 
in England, being four years of age when her 
parents brought her to America. They w'ere 
Joseph .James and Hannah (Hunt) Cowley. 
Her father settled at Middlebury, where he 
carried on a blacksmith business. Mr. and 
Mr.?. Blackburn have had six children, as fol- 
low.? : Florence J., Harry James, Lotta, Mary 
Edna, and two who died in infancy. Flor- 
ence J. married Frederick Stauffer and at her 
death, January 6, 1903, left two children: 
Alice and Louise. Harry James married 
Clara Shaffer, and they have four children : 
Grace Augusta, Meta Aileen. Helen and Har- 
net. On May 13, 1898, he enlisted for three 
years as first lieutenant of Company B, Eighth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served under 
General Shafter at Santiago, Cuba and was 
honorably discharged at Wooster, Ohio, No- 
vember 21, 1898. Prior to the Spanish- 
American War he had been a member of the 
Ohio National Guards, entering April 23, 
1893. in the following July was made corporal, 
on May 12, 1894. sergeant, on .Tune first, 
1896. second lieutenant, and first lieutenant, 
July 15, 1896. After the close of the Span- 
i.^h-American War he retained his commis- 



sion as fii'st lieutenant, and in September, 
1899, he was elected captain and so continued 
until he resigned his commission in 1902, 
when he was honorably discharged. He is 
bookkeeper in the First National Bank at 
Akron. Mr. Blackburn's second daughter, 
Lotta, married R. E. Miller, and they reside 
in Hudson and have one daughter, Claire 
Louise. 

In politics, Thomas Hudson is a Repub- 
lican. For twelve yeaxs he served as a trustee 
of Hudson Township and took an active in- 
terest in public affairs. He is a member and 
liberal supporter of the Congregational 
Church. He belongs to W. T. Sherman Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic, and Mrs. Black- 
tiui-n is serving her fifth year as president of 
the Woman's Relief Corps. 

L. H. OVIATT, county commissioner of 
Summit County, residing at Hudson and 
awning farming and cattle interests near 
Hudson, has his official residence in the 
Court House at Akron. He was born in Por- 
tage Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 
1860, and is a son of Salmon F. Oviatt. 

The grandfather of Mr. Oviatt was Benja- 
min Oviatt, who, with his brother, Herman 
Oviatt, came to Ohio from Connecticut, and 
settled near Hudson, Summit County, in 
1802, when this whole country was a wilder- 
ness. Benjamn Oviatt resided there until 
1847, w'hen he removed to Twinsburg Town- 
ship, where he lived until his death. Salmon 
Oviatt, father of L. H., resided at Hudson, 
where he was born in 1827, until his father 
moved to Twinsburg Township, and he still 
re.sides on the same farm, having reached the 
age of eighty years. He has long been a 
prominent citizen of that section, 

L. H. Oviatt was reared and educated at 
Twinsburg and subsequently became an ex- 
tensive farmer and cattle raiser. Ever since 
a^ttaining manhood he had been active in 
politics, and has served in all the important 
township offices, having been a member of 
the School Board. a.ssessor and trustee. In 
the fall of 1901, Mr. Oviatt was first elected 
countv commissioner, and assumed the duties 



864 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of the office in the fall of 1902. His re- 
election took place in the fall of 1904. Mr. 
Oviatt has been chairman of the building 
commission for the erection of the Court 
House, and is also a member of the Sunmiit 
County Agi'icultural Socity. 

Mr. Oviatt was married in September, 1881, 
to Nina E. Slocum, who is a daughter of John 
Slocum, who was born in New York and be- 
came later a resident of Akron. Mr. and 
Mrs. Oviatt have two children: Ida, who is 
the wife of Silas E. Sawyer, who is en- 
gaged in a grocery busines.s at Falls Junction, 
Ohio, and Fayette L., residing at home. Mr. 
and Mrs. Oviatt are members of the Congre- 
gational Church at Twinsburg. Mr. Oviatt 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias. 

KENT A. FULMER, a representative citi- 
zen of Bath Town.ship, who owns forty acres 
of excellent farming land one mile east of 
Hammond's Corners, was born in Sharon 
Township, Medina County, Ohio, February 
27, 1862, and is a son of Jacob and Matilda 
(High) Fulmer. 

Jacob Fulmer was born in Northumberland 
County, Pennsylvania, and as a young man re- 
moved to Wayne County. Ohio, subsequently 
going to Sharon, Medina County, where for 
thirty years he was in the potash business. 
He then engaged in farming, and at the time 
of his death, in 1892, owned a tract of sev- 
enty-one acre.*, in Sharon Township. Mr. 
Fulmer was married to Matilda High, who is 
a daughter of Abraham and Hettie (Whis- 
tler) High, the former of whom was an uncle 
of County Treasurer U. G. High, of Sum- 
mit County. Mr. and Mrs. Fulmer had the 
following children : Ida E.. who married 
William Wagar; Norman Ij., Kent A., Jen- 
nie E., who married Alexander Steese; Abbie, 
who married Harland Ganyard, and one child 
which died in infancy. Mrs. Fulmer was 
married (second) to Andrew Kaskey, who 
died in 1903. Mrs. Ka.skey now makes her 
home with her son, Kent A. 

Kent A. Fulmer was reared in Sharon 
ToAvnship, where he carried on farming until 
he attained his majority, at which time he 



went to .Vkron, where, for three years, he 
worked in the boiler works. He then entered 
the employ of the Goodrich Rubber Company, 
with which he remained seven years, after 
which he worked one year at the Diamond 
Rubber Works, and for three years more, he 
was employed at the Whitman-Barnes Rub- 
ber Works. In 1900 he purchased his pres- 
ent fai'm, buying fi-om Jeff Mull, and here 
he has carried on agricultural pursuits quite 
successfully, and in addition thereto performs 
the duties of constable of Bath Township, 
having been elected to that office in 1901, on 
the Republican ticket. He is a member of 
the Knights of the Maccabees. 

In January, 1884, Mr. Fulmer was mar- 
ried to Annie Ritchie, who is a daughter of 
George Ritchie, and they have one child. 
Opal, who married Miller Underwood. 

CHARLES BOLTZ, a well known citizen 
of Bath Township, who owns 178 acres of 
fine farming land located about one mile 
east and one-half mile south of Hammond's 
Cornel's, was born Jvme 19, 1866. ju.st south 
of Ghent, Bath Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, and is a son of Peter W. and Elizabeth 
(Sheets) Boltz. 

Peter W. Boltz was born and reared in 
Pennsylvania, where he was married. After 
the birth of three children, Mr. Boltz came 
to Ohio and settled first in Bath Township, 
where he engaged in work by the day. I^ater 
he rented the present property of J. Hershey, 
in West Bath, and there resided for eighteen 
years, but at the end of this time removed 
to William Hardy's place, one-half mile east 
of Botzum, in Northampton Township, rent- 
ing this farm for three years. The next year 
was spent on the W. B. Doyle farm in Port- 
age Township, and the family then removed 
to a farm of sixty-seven acres near Harris 
Mill, in Bath Township, which Mr. Boltz had 
purchased in the previous year. The house 
on this farm burned down while Mr. Boltz 
was sick, and he was removed to the old Wil- 
liam Barker farm, where he died while his 
own house was in course of being rebuilt. 
Mr. and Mrs. Boltz were the parents of eleven 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



865 



children, all al' wLoin but unu are living, 
namely: ^Vmelia, who is the widow of W. 
Bennage; Thomas, who resides at Cuyahoga 
Falls ; Jane, who is the wife of Alfred Cai-ver, 
of Akron; Charles, Sadie, who is the wife of 
George Snyder; John, who lives at Akron; 
Albert, who resides in Bath Township; Sher- 
man and Sheridan, twins, and Carl. Clara 
died when eleven years of age. Mrs. Boltz 
still sun'ives and makes her home in Bath 
Township. 

Charles Boltz was educated in the schools 
of his native section and until marriage re- 
sided at home. After this, he and his wife 
went to housekeeping on a rented farm in 
Northampton Township, where they resided 
for one yeai", then removed to a farm in Bath 
Township, which they rented for two years, 
and subsequently located on the old Stephen 
Dales farm in Copley Township. After two 
years on this place, they lived at Hammond's 
Corners, for a year, and then came to the 
pi'esent farm. Mr. Boltz rented a large part 
of the farm for five yeai's before he purchased 
it, and to the original tract, he subsequently 
added sixty-three acres which adjoined it. 
bringing it up to 178 acres. He carries on 
general farming and dairjdng, keeping from 
ten to twenty cows. 

In 1890 Mr. Boltz man-ied Lydia Myers, 
and they have three children, namely: Edith, 
Harley and Irma. 

BURT DONCASTER, funeral director at 
Hudson, was born in Tallmadge, Summit 
County, Ohio, August 1, 1865, and is a son 
of James and Louise (Collins) Doncaster. 

The gTandparents of Mr. Doncaster were 
William and Hannah (Darley) Doncaster, 
who Avere born and married in Lincolnshire, 
England. After coming to America they lo- 
cated at Streetsboro, Portage County, Ohio, 
Vnit later moved to Hamden, Geauga County. 
The grandfather met an accidental death at 
Chardon. 

James Doncaster. father of Burt, wa« born 
July 20, 1836, in Streetsboro Township, Por- 
tage County, and died at Hudson, March 30, 
1906. He learned carriage-making at Tall- 



madge and followed this trade after coming 
to Hudson, together with undertaking, be- 
coming a member of the firm of Wadhams & 
Doncaster, in 1871, later buying Mr. Wad- 
ham's interest. He married Louise Collins, 
who was born at Brimfield, Summit County, 
August 7, 1837, who was a daughter of John 
Collins, who came to Ohio from Pennsylva- 
nia. The two children born to this marriage 
are : Burt and Grace, the latter of whom was 
born July 13, 1867, and both reside at Plud- 
son. James Doncaster was a Republican in 
his political views and frequently filled public 
office, serving many years as township trustee, 
also iis a.ssessor, and for thirty years was su- 
perintendent of the Hudson cemetery. He 
belonged to Hudson Lodge, F. & A. M. 

Burt Doncaster was two years old when his 
parents came to Hudson, where he acquired 
a common school education. He became an 
employe of the Adams Express Company and 
remained with them for twenty years, during 
one year of that period living at Cleveland, 
and during three and one-half years at Cuya- 
hoga Falls. He succeeded his father in the 
undertaking business, and later attended an 
embalming school at Sandusky. Mr. Don- 
caster has well-equipped quarters and is pre- 
pared to answer every call in his line of busi- 
ness. 

On October 23, 1887, Mr. Doncaster was 
married to Nellie Scott, who was born at 
Bedford and is a daughter of De Witt Clin- 
ton and Adlantha (Acker) Scott. They have 
four children: Hazel, born January 12, 
1889: Harlev. born Februarv 3, 1891; Lena 
Rose, born .June 22, 1898, and Clarine Mil- 
dred, born June 30, 1902. Mr. Doncaster is 
a Republican. 

HORACE LAWRENCE DEACON, resid- 
ing on the old home farm, in Hudson Town- 
ship. Summit County. Ohio, on which he was 
born May 1, 1833, is one of the representa- 
tive citizens of this section. His parents were 
•Tohn and Julia Ann (Lawrence) Deacon. 

The grandfather of Mr. Deacon was Mar- 
maduke Deacon, who was born in Ireland. 
In 1805 he came from Washington County, 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Pennsylvania, to Summit County, Ohio, buy- 
ing 160 acres of land in Hudson Township, 
which was a portion of the present home 
farm. To his original purchase he added, 
buying from the Connecticut Land Company, 
and he became a large owner of valuable 
lands in this section. His wife, Mary Carter, 
died in July, 1806, in the little log cabin 
which had been completed in the previous 
April. She left motherless . the little four- 
year-old son, John, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania. He grew to sturdy manhood and 
cultivated 101 acres of the land now owned 
by his grandson, L. W. Deacon. John Dea- 
con married Julia Ann Lawrence, who was 
born at Seabrook, Connecticut, in 1813, and 
was a daughter of Martin Lawrence, who 
came to Hudson Township in 1817. They 
had the following children: Horace Law- 
rence, John Wesley, formerly a resident of 
Hudson Township, where he died aged sixty 
years; Mrs. Caroline Campbell, who is de- 
ceased; David, residing at Hudson; Mrs. 
Emily Slubaugh, widow, residing at Cleve- 
land; Cyrus B., who died at Hudson; Ed- 
mund, residing in Bath Township; Louis; 
Lucinda, who is deceased ; Frederick, residing 
at Akron, and Louisa, who married John 
Musson. 

Horace L. Deacon spent his childhood in 
the old log house which was built by his 
grandfather. On this land he has continued 
to carry on agricultural pursuits, and is con- 
sidered one of the excellent farmers of Hudson 
Township. He lived for a short time in 
Boston Township, but his home has mainly 
been in the vicinity of his birth. On May 
12, 1863, he was married to Electa Johnson, 
who was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 
and is a daughter of Clark and Polly (Ferris) 
Johnson. Her grandfather came from Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Deacon have three 
children: Emma, who married Frank Oviatt, 
residing in Northfield Township, have two 
children, Cliff and Opal; Julia May, who 
married Van Nostram, residing in Northfield 
Township, have two children, Mildred and 
Arleen, and Lawrence, who married Beatrice 
Delia Van Nostram, has had two children, 



Harold Lawrence, deceased, and Kenneth 
Samuel. In politics, Mr. Deacon is an inde- 
pendent voter. 

JOHN KEMERY, a well-known resident 
of Bath Township, who owns a fine 160-acre 
farm, was born March 1, 1842, in Wayne 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, and is a son 
of Daniel and Susanna (Yergin) Kemery. 

Daniel Kemery came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, from New York, and was here married. 
He rented farming land in Wayne Town- 
ship, on which he lived until his death in 
1850. He left a widow and five children, 
namely: Catherine, deceased, who was the 
wife of Benjamin Allman ; David, who died 
in the fall of 1906 ; Caroline, who is the wife 
of Jared Sheldon ; John and Samantha Jane, 
who married Silas Payne, of Richfield. 

John Kemery was about eight years of age 
when his father died, and the oldest of the 
children was not more than fourteen. Both 
he and his brother, David, were put out to 
work for neighboring farmers at an early 
age. In 1851 the mother removed to Rich- 
field Township, where she owned a tract of 
fifteen acres, and there John Kemery was 
principally reared. The mother died in Rich- 
field Township in 1883. Prior to his mar- 
riage, Mr. Kemery was engaged in the lum- 
ber business and in operating a sawmill, but 
afterward settled on a farm he bought in 
Richfield Township, from which he removed 
in 1882 to his present property, this being 
purchased in partnership with Israel Baum- 
gardner, whom he later bought out. Mr. 
Kemery has made many improvements, in- 
cluding the erection of all the buildings, the 
clearing of about fifty acres and setting out 
of trees. He has one of the best cultivated 
farms in the town.'^hip and has been very 
successful in his farming and dairying in- 
dustries. In 1900 Mr. Kemery served as real 
estate appaiser of Bath Township. 

Mr. Kemery was married in Richfield, in 
1865, to Mary A. Peach, who is a daughter 
of David and Elizabeth Peach, and they have 
one son, Melvin Orlando, who was born Au- 
gust 31. 18<56. He is engaged in farming 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



867 



the home place. He married Anna Snyder, 
•who is a daughter of Isaac and Pauhne 
(Powell) Snyder. 

WILLIAM F. MILLER, general farmer 
and stockraiser of ' Bath Township, who re- 
sides on his well-improved property of fifty- 
two acres, was born September 6, 1853, at 
Canton, Ohio, and is a son of David and 
Mary (Killinger) Miller. 

David Miller was born in Lebanon County, 
Pennsylvania, where he was reared, and 
shortly after his marriage he came to Can- 
ton, Ohio, where he worked at shoemaking 
and also carried on farmmg. In 1856 he re- 
moved to Copley Township, Summit County, 
where he purchased a farm of eighty acres, 
one mile north of Copley, on which he re- 
sided until retiring from agricultural pur- 
suits in 1875, when he removed to Copley 
Center, and there his death occurred in April, 
1904, aged ninety-four years. His wife had 
died in August, 1876. They were the parents 
of the following children: Mahlon, who died 
an infant at Canton, Ohio; Alice, who mar- 
ried Albertus' Kellar, of Portage County, 
Ohio; Caroline, who is the widow of Urias 
Miller, lives at Battle Creek, Michigan ; Eliza- 
beth, who is the wife of William Vickers, 
who is a farmer of Fulton County, Michigan, 
and William F. 

William F. Miller was reared in Copley 
Township, and all of his mature life has been 
spent in farming, with the exception of six 
years, when he was engaged in teaming at 
Akron. He remained at home until he was 
married, when he rented a farm in Copley 
Township for one year, and then removed 
to Richfield Township, to what was first called 
Baldi^an's, and later Miller's Corners, just 
across the Bath Township line. He purchased 
a farm of eighty acres in 1877, but in 1893, 
removed to Akron, where he lived for six 
years, and then returned to his farm for an 
equal period. In 1905 Mr. Miller sold that 
farm and purchased his present one. 

In 1876 Mr. Miller was married to Mary 
Goodman, who is a daughter of Peter and 
Mary (Jackson) Goodman. She was born 



and reared in Pennsylvania, and moved to 
Copley when about twelve yeai^ of age, at 
which place the father died in 1888. Her 
mother still lives at Copley. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller the following children have been 
born: Clarence, who died at the age of 
eighteen months; Marcia, who died when 
twenty-five years old, was the wife of Harry 
Brock, and left one child, Clarence Brock, 
who lives mth Mr. Miller; Earl, who is a 
shipping clerk for a large Cleveland shoe 
house, married Gertrude Vallen; Maude and 
Dana, who live at home, and Leta, who died 
at Akron, aged si.x years. 

PHILIP J. HEINTZ, a highly esteemed 
resident of Bath Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, where he owns and operates ninety-six 
and three-quarters acres of excellent farming 
land, was born in Germany, Januai-y 20, 1839, 
and is a son of Philip and Mary (Baird) 
Heintz. 

Philip J. Heintz was six and one-half years 
old when his parents left Germany for 
America, and on June 15, 1845, the family 
arrived at Akron, Ohio. One month later 
they removed to Coventry Township, where 
the father had purchased a farm of fifty acres. 
On this farm the parents of Mr. Heintz spent 
the remainder of their lives. 

Philip J. Heintz was the next to the oldest 
and is now the oldest living, of a family of. 
eleven children. He was reared in Coventry 
Township and was trained to be a farmer 
on the home place, on which he remained 
until March, 1878. On Thanksgiving Day, 
1877, he purchased his present property, to 
which he moved when he left the homestead. 
He erected the house and barn, and after the 
destruction of the barn by fire in July, 1892, 
he built his present substantial one, which is 
38x66 feet in dimensions. 

On November 23, 1865, Mr. Heintz was 
united in marriage with Mary Hendricks, 
who is a daughter of Jesse Hendricks. She 
was reared in Pennsylvania, and when the 
other members of her family removed- to 
Iowa, she accompanied her sister to Akron. 
Mr. and Mrs. Heintz have one child : Henry, 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



who wa.s born August 20, 1809. Jk' is un- 
iiiiirrifd and helps his father to operate tlie 
farm. 

EDWARD E. ROGERS, one of HucLion's 
prominent citizen.s. who has been identified 
with its important interests during a long 
and useful life, was born in Hudson Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, January 14, 
1836. He is a son of Norman and Minerva 
(Lusk) Rogers, and a grandson of Henry and 
Mary (Day) Rogers, who came from Massa- 
chusetts and settled in Deerfield Township, 
Portage County, in 1800. 

Norman Rogers was born at West Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, and he was twelve yeais 
of age when he accompanied his parents to 
Deerfield Township, where he lived four years 
and then came to Hudson Township. He 
became a man of influence here and for a 
number of terms served as a justice of the 
peace. In early political life, he was a 
Whig, but later became affiliated with the Re- 
publican party. He died in 1862. He mar- 
ried Minerva Lusk, who was born in New- 
York and died in 1839. She was a "daughter 
of Capt. Amos Lusk, who was an officer in 
the War of 1812, and his wife, Mary (Adams) 
Lusk, the latter of whom was a cousin of John 
Quincy Adams. They had a farm two miles 
northeast of Hudson. They reared five chil- 
dren, namely: Amos, who died aged eighty 
years, residing at that time in Michigan ; 
Laura, who died in 1877 ; Mary, who died in 
1895; Horace, who died in 1894: and Ed- 
ward E. The late Horace Rogers resided 
with his brother Edward until his death. He 
was a well-known artist and the work of his 
pen and pencil may be seen in the old atlas 
of Summit County. 

Dr. Rogers has passed the greater part of 
his life in Hudson and is one of her most 
highly esteemed citizens. From the local 
schools he attended a preparatory course in 
the Western Resen-e, and when twenty-four 
years of age began the study of dentistry, 
which he practiced for a short period in Me- 
dina County, but afterward returned to Hud- 
son. Occasionally, Dr. Rogers still practices, 



but to no great extent. For some thirty 
years, he has also been interested in a fire and 
accident insurance business, repjreseuting 
some of the leading organizations of the 
country. Dr. Rogers is identified with the 
Republican party and has been a leading and 
influential factor for many years. He served 
two terms as mayor of Hudson, for twenty- 
five years was a justice of the peace, and for 
over that time served as township clerk. 

On March 13, 1867, Dr. Rogers was mar- 
riwl to Catherine A. Whedon, who was born in 
the residence which the family occupies, at 
Hudson, in which she has lived all her life. 
Her parents were John B. and Catherine 
(Wells) Whedon, the latter of whom was 
horn in Connecticut, and the former in Ohio. 
Her father built the present residence and a 
drug store adjacent, the latter of which he 
conducted for many years. Mrs. Rogers is 
an accomplished pianist and for a number 
of years taught instrumental music. They 
have two daughters, Elizabeth Minerva and 
Catherine Wells, both residing at home. The 
former has been a teacher in the State insti- 
tution for the Feeble-minded, at Columbus. 
The latter has been a stenographer at Cleve- 
land. Dr. Rogers and family belong to the 
Episcopal Church. 

COULSON MONROE FOSTER, general 
farmer and representative citizen of Twine- 
burg Township, w'here he operates a large 
farm, owning 135 1-4 acres, was born in Bos- 
ton Township, Summit County, Ohio. May 
13, 1846, and is a son of Edwin Francis and 
Ann Elizabeth (Deisman) Foster. 

Pardon Foster, the grandfathcT. came to 
Summit County from Rochester, New York, 
when Edwin Francis was nine years of age. 
The latter grew to manhood here and ac- 
quired a large amount of land in Summit 
County, one farm of seventy-five acres, one 
of 128 acres, a third of 135 acres, and still 
another of 180 acres. 

Coulson M. Foster attended excellent schools 
through boyhood and even into manhood, 
enjoying advantages at Boston, Oak Hill and 
Brandvwine. He remained with his father 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



S71 



until almost twenty-one years of age, and then 
spent ten yeai"s working by the month, after 
which he came to his present farm, which 
he purchased of his sister. This property he 
has managed very successfully, and in addi- 
tion has bought a number of timber tracts 
which he has cleared and sold. Mr. Foster 
has had accident and sickness to contend with, 
and has overcome many difficulties which 
would have completely discouraged a less 
brave and cheerful man, but in .spite of all 
these drawbacks he has prospered. 

On December 31, 1876, Mr. Foster was 
married (fii-st) to Polly Maria Carter, who 
died October 4, 1904, after many years of in- 
validism. Two children were born to this 
macriage, namely; Martin Monroe, residing 
at Cleveland, married Blanche Strickler; and 
Edna Anna, resdddng in Bedford, who married 
George Strickler and has two children, Nettie 
and William. Mr. Foster wa.- married (sec- 
ond) to Rosanna Schuerman. who was born 
in Gennany. 

In politics Mr. Fo.ster is a Republican. 

CHARLES E. THOMAS, vice president 
and secretary of the Moody & Thomas Mill- 
ing Company, at Peninsula, and treasurer of 
both Boston Township and Peninsula cor- 
poration, is a leading citizen of this section 
of Summit County. He was born in 01m- 
stead Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 
March 14, 1861. and is a son of George C. 
and Rhoda M. (Burrington) Thomas. 

George C. Thomas was born in Bangor 
Township, Franklin County, New York, and 
died in 1902. aged seventy-eight years. In 
early manhood he came to Cuyahoga County, 
Ohio, and worked for a number of years in 
n sawmill, then rented a mill and also pur- 
chased a farm in Middlebiiry. Later he dis- 
posed of hi? first farm and bought the farm 
in Olmstead Township on which his son, 
Charles E. was born. Here he also conducted 
ii flour mill. In 1881, in partnership with 
his son Oscar, under the firm name of George 
Thomas & Son. he purcha.sed the Peninsula 
mill, which he operated until ISS,*!, when the 
property was purchased by Moody & Thomas. 



Mr. Thomas then retired to his farm in Olm- 
stead Township, where the remainder of his 
life was spent. He was a man of local con- 
sequence, a Republican in his political faith, 
and for yeai-s held township offices. He 
married Rhoda M. Burrington, who died in 
1887, aged fifty-live years. She was a con- 
.>istent member of the Presbyterian Church. 
They had four children: Oscar, residing at 
Peninsula; Hattie, who married George Yes- 
berger, residing in Olmstead Township; 
Charles E., and Edna, who married Sumner 
Ryder, residing at Cleveland. 

Charles E. Thomas was educated in the 
district schools of Olmstead Township. At 
the age of eighteen years he went to Cleve- 
land and entered into a flour and feed busi- 
ness with Chandler R. Jloody, under the firm 
name of Moody & Thomas. He made his 
home at Cleveland until the firm purchased 
the Peninsula mill in 1885, since which time 
he has resided at Peninsula. 

The Peninsula Mills stand on the west 
bank of the Cuyahoga River, where there is 
a natural fall of about six feet. Taking ad- 
vantage of this, Harmon Bronson, in 1832, 
tunneled through the rock and secured a 
good water power of considerable volume 
without building a dam. This mill, erected 
in 1832, remained standing until 1902. In 
1849 the mill came into the possession of 
H. V. Bronson, son of the founder, who op- 
erated it until 1863, when it was sold to 
Pomeroy & Fisher, who operated it for three 
years. Afterwards it changed hands several 
times until, in 1872, it was bought by W. F. 
i- C. E. Bois, who sold it in 1881 to George 
Thomas & Son. 

In the following year it was completely 
remodeled, the new finn putting in a full 
line of rollers, this being the first mill in 
Northern Ohio to adopt the roller system. 
In 188.5. as noted above. Moody & Thomas 
secured the mill and operated it continuously 
until 1902. when, as their large and increas- 
ing trade had outgrown the capacity of tho 
old mill, it was razed and the present fine 
structure took its place. This fine mill, witli 
it~ modern equipments, was ready for opera- 



8';2 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tion by the beginning of 1903. At this time 
the firm erected a concrete dam across the 
neck of the peninsula, increasing the fall of 
the stream to nine feet, in thi? way securing 
ample power to operate the new plant. A 
corporation was also formed to succeed to the 
old partnership, the officers being: 0. R. 
Moody, president and treasurer, and 0. E. 
Thomas, vice president and secretary. In 
addition to the Peninsula property, the com- 
pany owns a large warehouse and elevator 
at Cleveland, where an immense business is 
done in flour, feed, baled hay and straw, and 
from there the product of their mill is dis- 
tributed all over the city. 

The Peninsula mill and elevator are two 
buildings in one and stand on a stone foun- 
dation. The dimensions of the mill house 
are 38 by 48 feet, three stories above the 
basement. The elevator part is 38 by 24 
feet, while the wheat bins have a capacity of 
25,000 bushels. The power for the wheat 
mill is furnished by a 48-inch Little Giant 
water-wheel, and the power for the elevator 
and feed side by a 36-inch wheel of the same 
make. The construction is such that the 
power of these wheels can be united at any 
time. The mill machinery is all of the latest 
and most modern type, heating is done by a 
steam system and power transmission is so 
arranged that by throwing clutches in or out, 
any part of the mill can be stopped and 
started without affecting the rest. 

In addition to his large interests as above 
stated, Mr. Thomas owns a fine stock farm 
of 140 acres, which he purchased in 1905 
of Horace Beers. He has about one-half of 
the farm under cultivation, but makes a 
specialty of raising Duroc red swine. He 
also raises horses and cattle for market, keep- 
ing about twenty-one head of cattle at all 
times. He personally supervises operations 
but has two trained men to look after his 
farm and stock business. It is a fine prop- 
erty and his industries there would be an 
ample fortune for a man without additional 
enterprises. 

Mr. Thomas married Georgia Johnson, 
who is a daughter of Adair H. Johnson, a 



vvell-known resident of Peninsula. They 
have had three children, the two survivors 
being Amy and Henry. Mrs. Thomas is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
In politics Mr. Thomas is an ardent Re- 
publican and on many occasions has been 
elected to office on that ticket. He has fre- 
quently served as trustee of Boston Town- 
ship, and for a decade has been treasurer 
both of the township and of the town. He 
belongs to Rising Sun Lodge, No. 266, F. 
& A. M., of Richfield; also to General Sheri- 
dan Lodge, K. P., of Hudson; to the Elks, 
at Akron, and to the Maccabees at Peninsula. 

HENRY MYERS, residing on his valuable 
farm of 159 acres, situated in Hudson Town- 
ship, is a representative citizen of this sec- 
tion and is a man who in a large degree com- 
mands the respect and enjoys the esteem of 
bis fellow citizens. He was born in Luzerne 
County, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1832, and 
is a son of Philip and Margaret (Erode) 
Myers. 

The father of Mr. Myers was born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and was 
a son of John Myers, who was born at New- 
ark, New Jersey. The grandfather had two 
brothers in the Revolutionary War, both of 
whom were killed at the Battle of Bunker 
Hill. Philip J. Myers owned a farm of some 
300 acres in Northampton County and subse- 
quently operated a store in Luzerne County. 
Henry Myers has one brother and four sisters. 
The former resides in the old home neighbor- 
hood. His sisters are: Mrs. Christiana 
Lutsey, residing at Green Bay, Wisconsin; 
Mrs. Maria Spade, residing at Dorrance, 
Luzerne County; Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, re- 
siding at Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Mrs. 
Priscilla Jones, residing in Slocum Township, 
Luzerne County. 

When he was about twenty-one years of 
age, Mr. Myers went to Shalersville, where he 
was clerk in a hotel for three months, and 
then bought a farm adjoining his wife's prop- 
erty in Freedom Township, and engaged in 
farming. For two years, while living in Lu- 
zerne County, he was fireman on the railroad, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



873 



and he was the first fireman and his brother 
George was the first engineer that ever ran a 
train over that part of the Pennsylvania 
system. He subsequently sold both farms 
and came to Hudson, and bought a farm of 
102 acres for a son who was educated in the 
Western Reserve College. In 1902, he sold 
his own farm of seventy-two acres. 

On June 20, 1857, Mr. Myers was married 
to Ruth Ann Woodruff, with whom, in 1907, 
he has had the privilege of celebrating their 
Golden Wedding. Mrs. Myers was born at 
Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, 
and is a daughter of Col. Daniel AVoodruff, 
who served as an officer in the War of 1812, 
as coast guard in Connecticut. A cannon ball 
fired during that time is preserved in the 
family, its mission to the fort having been 
the killing of Col. Woodruff and his brave 
men, which fortunately it did not accomplish. 
He lived to establish a home fii-st in Hud- 
son and later in Freedom Township, to 
which he moved in the spring of 1840, where 
he died in 1855. He married Sarah Ann 
Mills, who was born in Connecticut. Colonel 
Woodruff was county surveyor of Portage 
County, before Summit was divided from 
Portage. Mrs. Myers is the only living cousin 
of John Brown, of immortal fame. Mr. and 
Mrs. Myers have one son, Daniel Woodruff. 
He was born in Freedom Township, and was 
a student in the Western Reserve College be- 
fore it was moved to Cleveland. Daniel W. 
Myers was married (first) to Lelia J. Bediant, 
and they had four children : Maud Eliza and 
Mabel Anna, twins, and Marian and Daniel 
AVoodruff, Jr. Mr. Myers was married 
(second) to Carris P. Downing, and their one 
little daughter, Margaret Janette, died aged 
three months and one day. 

Henry Myers is a Republican in politics 
and has served as supervisor of his district. 
He is a member of the Congregational Church 
at Freedom, and is a liberal supporter of 
church and educational movements. 

T. S. MYERS, county treasurer of Summit 
County, elect, is president of the I. S. Myers 
Company, one of the leading clothing houses 



at Akron, in which city he has maintained 
his home for about a quarter of a century. 
He was born in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, in 1862, and is a son of Peter 
and Jlary (Stump) Myers. 

Peter Myei-s was one of the early settlers 
in Stark County, just across the line of Sum- 
mit County. In 1860 he moved to Green 
Township, Summit County, of which town- 
ship he later became a prominent citizen, serv- 
ing as one of its trustees. He was a self-made 
man and was very highly esteemed. The 
mother of I. S. Myers was a daughter of John 
Stump, who came with his wagons across the 
wild country from Pennsylvania, and settled 
in Franklin Township, - Summit County, in 
1832. He was one of the newly-settled re- 
gion's most reliable and substantial men. 

I. S. Myers remained on the home farm, 
assisting with the farm work and in the mean- 
tice acquiring a good education in the local 
schools, where he began teaching at the age 
of seventeen, when he came to Akron and en- 
gaged as a clerk in a clothing store until 
1893. He then embarked in a clothing busi- 
ness for himself, under the firm name of 
Myers, Ganyard & Stump, which firm con- 
tinued for one year, when Mr. Stump sold his 
inteiest and the firm name became Ganyard & 
Myers, until 1900, when Mr. Myers bought 
his partner's interest. In 1902 the firm of the 
I. S. Myers Company was incorporated, with 
a capital stock of $55,000, with I. S. Myers 
as president. This is an extensive business 
and its method are along modern line. A 
branch store is operated at Wadsworth, which 
is also doing well. The firm deals in clothing 
and manufactures hats, having both a -large 
wholesale and retail trade, and gives constant 
employment to from twenty-eight to thirty 
people. A marked feature of its management 
is that all employes who have continued with 
the firm for a certain length of time, have a 
financial interest in the company, this liberal 
policy resulting in a better feeling and more 
satisfactory results than seem to prevail in 
many large concerns where different methods 
are followed. The Wadsworth store is a fine 
concrete structure, 114 by 80 feet in dimen- 



874 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sions, while their ^Vkron establishment is a 
three-story building, 30 by 100 feet, with a 
basement. Mr. Myers is also the owner of a 
plant for the manufacture of concrete blocks. 

In the fall of 190a Mr. Myers was elected 
to the important office of county treasurer, 
and a better selection could scarcely have been 
found. He is a man of great business faculty, 
has proven himself an able financier in his 
own affairs, and commands the confidence and 
esteem of his fellow-citizens for his pergonal 
high character. He assumes the duties of the 
office in September, 1907. 

In 1887, Mr. Myers was married to Mary 
Sisler, of Manchester, who is a daughter of the 
late John Sisler. They have one daughter, 
Ruth, who is a student at Painesville, Ohio. 

Mr. Myers belongs to the Odd Fellows and 
the Elks.'^ both at Akron. 

G. E. GARDNER, M. D., an experienced 
physician and surgeon, who has be«n engaged 
in practice at Barberton since the autumn of 
1905, coming to this place from a field of 
successful professional work in Wayne 
County, ^\■as born near Danville, Knox 
County, Ohio, and is a son of John and Mary 
(Breckler) Gardner. 

Dr. Gardner spent his boyhood on his fath- 
er's farm and obtained his primary education 
in the country schools. His inclinations did 
not lead him in the direction of an agricul- 
tural life and as soon as the opportunity of- 
fered he began the study of medicine, reading 
for two years with Dr. Black, a physician lo- 
cated in the village of Democracy, near Dan- 
ville, and two years more, with Dr. William 
Balmer, at Mt. Vernon, during this time also 
attending the Normal School at Danville. Dr. 
Gardner entered Starling Medical College, 
where he was graduated April 5. 1891. His 
high medical standing brought him the ap- 
pointment of house physician of St. Francis 
Hospital, at Columbus, where he served one 
year, and this was followed by a year at St. 
Anthony's Hospital. He thus gained what 
every young medical man desires, hospital 
ftractice and experience, before entering upon 
regular professional work. 



In May, 1893, Dr. Gardner took up his 
practice at Doylestown, Ohio, where he re- 
mained until 1905, when he came to Barber- 
ton. In 1896 he was elected county coroner 
of Wayne County, on the Democratic ticket, 
and served two years in that office. He has 
met with a hearty reception at Bai'berton, has 
gained the confidence of the community and 
has a satisfactory professional connection. 
His offices are located on the corner of Baird 
and Fourth Streets, Barberton. 

On September 29, 1897, Dr. Gai'dner was 
married to Abbie M. Trotter, who is a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Trotter, of Doylestown, Wayne 
Count3^ They have two children, Mary and 
Geraldine. Dr. Gardner and family belong 
to St. Augustine Catholic Church. He is a 
member of the Knights of Columbus, of the 
Elks, of the Knights of St. John, and of the 
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

HARVEY A. SNYDER, M. D., physician 
and surgeon, at Barberton, was born in Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a son of John G. and Susanna (Kepler) 
Snyder. 

Dr. Snyder had the advantage of country 
rearing, remaining through boyhood and 
youth on his father's farm in Coventry Town- 
ship. After completing the common school 
course, he taught three terms in his native 
township and then entered Heidelberg Col- 
lege, at Tiffin, and was graduated in the clas- 
sical department in 1896, when he resumed 
educational work. For two yeare he served 
as school superintendent at Bonner's Ferry, 
Idaho, and for the same length of time filled 
the same office at Kirkland, Washington. 
Prior to going to Washington, Dr. Snyder 
had commenced his medical studies in the 
Pacific Coast Medical School, now known as 
the Hahnemann Medical College, during this 
period teaching medical Latin in the institu- 
tution. In 1908, he entered the senior class 
of the Cleveland Medical College, and was 
graduated in the spring of 1904. Prior to lo- 
cating at Barberton, lie sen'ed'as an interne 
at the Huron Street Hospital, Cleveland, 
where he gained valuable experience. He is 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



875 



an active member of the Northern Ohio Medi- 
cal Society. 

Dr. Snyder's fraternal connections are with 
the Masons, the Knights of Pythian and the 
Modern Woodmen, and is examining physi- 
cian for the latter organization. 

On September 5, 1907, Dr. Snyder was 
married to Bessie Banning of Stow Corners, 
a daughter of J. H. Banning, a resident of 
that place. 

H. B. MANTON, treasurer of the Robinson 
Claj' Product Company, with which he has 
been identified ever since leaving school, was 
born in Summit County, Ohio, in 1867, and 
is a son of the late James B. Manton, who was 
one of the founders of this industry. 

M. B. Manton was reared and educated at 
Akron, graduating from the Akron High 
School in 1886, immediately becoming book- 
keeper for plant No. 4, of the Robin.'«on 
Brothers Company. In 1891. he was made 
secretary of the Crown Fire Clay Comjmny, 
at Canal Dover, Ohio, which office he held un- 
til 1894, when he came to the main office 
and held official postition in the different de- 
partments. When all the plants were merge-d 
under the style of the Robinson Clay Product 
Company, in 1902, Mr. "Manton was made 
treasurer. He is interested in other enter- 
prises and is a director of the Second National 
Bank. 

In 1892 Mr. Manton was married to Mary 
B. Seiberling, and they have two children: 
Margaret and Harriet. Mr. Manton and 
family belong to the First Presbyterian 
Church, of which he is a member of its Board 
of Trustees. He belongs to the Portage 
Country club. 

H. H. GIBBS, secretary, treasurer and gen- 
eral manager of The Buckeye Sewer Pipe 
Company, and secretary and treasurer of The 
Summit Sewer Pipe Company, at Akron, 
has been a resident of this city since he was 
ten years of age. He was born at East Liver- 
pool, Ohio, in 1861, and is a son of Henry A. 
and Eliza (Parker) Gibbs. 



The late Henry A. Gibbs was born in Con- 
necticut, October 4, 1834, and while he was 
a boy, after several removals, his parents set- 
tled at East Livei-pool, Ohio, where Henry 
attended school and worked in the pottery 
shops, first assisting his father and later mak- 
ing the manufacture of pottery the main busi- 
ness of his life. At the time of his death he 
was associated with a number of Akron's lead- 
ing business enterprises and was a man of 
large means which he had accumulated hon- 
estly through the avenues of trade. In 1862, 
Henry A. Gibbs enlisted in the 115th Regi- 
ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served 
until the close of the war. During his term 
of service, while sick in a hospital, a mistake 
was made in the administration of his medi- 
cine on one occasion which produced gastric 
troubles from which he never recovered and 
which, in all probability hastened hLs death. 
He w'as an honored member of Buckley Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic, at Akron. He 
was connected with the Odd Fellows at East 
Liverpool. Mr. Gibbs was a resident of 
Akron for about thirty-six years, during a 
part of this time being employed in the Whit- 
more-Robinson factorj'. Later, when he 
found that the William Shenkle property was 
about to prove a failing investment, he showed 
his business acumen by purchasing the prop- 
erty, with his sons, and until his death the 
business was operated as the Ohio Stoneware 
Company. 

On March 8, 1856, Mr. Gibbs was married 
to Mrs. Eliza Parker, a young widow and a 
resident of East Liverpool, who had two chil- 
dren: George Parker, who is president and 
general manager of the Ohio Stoneware Com- 
pany, and Mrs. Charles Chapman, of Akron. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs had two sons, E. H. and 
H. H. 

H. H. Gibbs was reared and educated at 
Akron and when he entered into business it 
was in the capacity of bookkeeper for the 
Strawboard Company, with which he re- 
mained one year and for two years was as- 
sociated thus with the Akron' Goal and Iron 
Company, of Buchtel. Ohio. In 1882, he 



876 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



became bookkeeper for the Buckeye Sewer 
Pipe Company, of which he is now so im- 
portant a part, and great credit is due him for 
the strength which has been introduced into 
this business organization. He is vice- 
president of the Central Savings and Trust 
Company; is a director in the Permanent 
Savings and Loan Company ; a director in the 
Cleveland-Akron Bag Company, which was 
consolidated with the Akron Paper Company, 
of which he was one of the prime movers. In 
July, 1889, Mr. Gibbs, with other members of 
the family, organized The Summit Sewer 
Pipe Company. 

In 1883, Mr. Gibbs was married to Elanor 
Lucretia Baldwin, who is a daughter of the 
late Joseph A. Baldwin. Mr. Gibbs is a mem- 
ber of the First Congregational Church. 

JOHN WINFIELD ESSIG, one of the en- 
terprising young agriculturists of Green 
Township, where he is cultivating 140 acres 
of excellent farming land, was born on his 
father's farm in Plain Township, Stark 
County, Ohio, November 7, 1880, and is a son 
of John A. and Julia (Oberlin) Essig. 

Adam Essig, the great-grandfather of John 
W., secured land from the Government, in 
Stark County, Ohio, and his son, Jacob E. 
Essig, the grandfather, settled on it as one of 
the early pioneers. The children of Jacob 
E. Essig were: Sarah, John A., Ida, Simon, 
Curtis, Charles and two who died in infancy. 
Sarah married H. Bender, of Michigan and 
Ida married Cahdn Firestone, of Stark 
County. 

John A. Essing was born in Plain Town- 
ship, Stark Count}', Ohio, and has been en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits all of his ma- 
ture life. He now resides on his 148-acre 
farm in Jackson Township, Stark County, 
and he is also a part-owner of the farm 
operated by his son John W., his daughter 
Bertha also having an interest in this prop- 
erty. Mr. Essig wa.s married to .Julia Ober- 
lin, who is a daughter of John Oberlin. He 
came to Ohio from Pennsylvania, when Mrs. 
Essig was six months old, and died in this sec- 



tion. Eight children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Essig, namely: Henry B., of 
Green Township, married Clara Swartz; 
Bertha, residing with her brother, John W. ; 
L. Etta, who married H. A. Hartong, resides 
at Zion City, Illinois ; John Winfield ; Magda- 
lena, living at home; and Walter J.; Nancy 
0.; and William S. 

John Winfield Essig received a common 
school education, and was reared to agricul- 
tural pursuits. In the spring of 1904, with 
his sister. Miss Bertha Essig, he came to their 
present home, which their father had bought 
of the Samuel Wise heirs, and here he has 
carried on general farming and as he is enter- 
prising and industrious, his land has proved 
very productive. In political matters Mr. 
Essig is a Democrat. Both Mr. Essig and 
sister belong to the Lutheran Church. 

SAMUEL HARING, a highly respected 
citizen of Green Township, who is engaged in 
general farming, owns 147 acres situated 
about one mile south of East Liberty. He 
was born December 2, 1844, in Green Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Louis and Margaret (Kepler) Haring. 

Louis Haring came from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio with his parents in boyhood and they 
settled in the woods of Green Township. 
Here he grew to manhood and married Mar- 
garet Kepler, who was a daughter of Andrew 
Kepler, who came to Green Township in 
1809, where one of his brothers had settled 
one year before, Mr. Kepler and his brother 
being the first settlers in what is now known 
as Green Township. They entered 320 acres 
of land lying one mile north by one-half mile 
east and west, and this they divided length- 
wise, Andrew taking the east half, and on 
this the remainder of his life was spent. 
The Keplei-s were friendly with the Indians, 
who often came to the home of Andrew for 
food, for which they gave him lead, which 
they found around Turkeyfoot Lake. The 
old log barn which was erected by Andrew 
Kepler is still standing, and is still in use and 
in good condition, being; one of the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



877 



baxns in Summit OounU'. After marriage 
Louis Haring and his wife went to housekeep- 
ing on a farm one and one-half miles south 
of the present farm of Samuel Haring, and 
here were born all of their seven children, all 
of whom are now deceased with the exception 
of Mrs. Leah Bittler and Samuel. 

Samuel Haring came to the farm which he 
now owns when ten years of age, and here he 
has practically been located ever since. He 
now carries on general farming and stock- 
raising, and has a well-improved, fertile prop- 
erty. Mr. Haring was married to Rebecca A. 
Wise, who was born in Green Township, and 
is a daughter of William Wise, one of Summit 
County's early pioneers. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Haring there were born eleven children, 
namely : Parvin, who lives in Akron ; Orvin, 
■who lives at Manchester, Ohio; Hattie, who 
married Solomon Kepler of Green Town- 
ship ; Minnie, who married J. 0. Wagoner 
of Akron ; Samuel, who lived at Turkeyfoot 
Lake; Ida C, who married George Cesdorf; 
Celia who died at the age of twenty-one years ; 
William, who lives at home; Cassie, who mar- 
ried Samuel D. Wolt: Hiram, living in 
Franklin Township; and Clara A., who mar- 
ried Nelson Miller. 

FRANK WARNER, residing on the old 
Warner home place of ninety acres, which is 
situated in the northwest corner of Green 
Township, is a leading citizen of his com- 
munity. Mr. Warner was bom July 28, 
1867, in Summit County Ohio, in the old log 
house that formerly stood on his present farm, 
and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Thornton) 
Warner. 

Samuel Warner, father of Frank, was bom 
in Coventry Township, Summit County, in 
1829. his parents having settled there when 
they came from Pennsylvania. Samuel wa<5 
the fifth in a family of eight children, the 
other? being: John, William. Jacob, Adam, 
Abraham, Solomon and Daniel. Samuel 
Warner grew up on his father's farm and 
assisted to clear it of the heavy timber which 
then covered it, doing the work with teams of 



strong oxen. He married Sarah Thornton, 
who was born in Pennsylvania and died in 
1900, aged sixty-three years. After mar- 
riage, Samuel Warner and wife settled on the 
present farm, which had belonged to the 
Thorntons in early days, and found domestic 
happiness living in the old log house that 
.stood for many years. During the strength 
of youth and manhood, Samuel Warner was a 
very industrious man, carrying on his farm- 
ing and stockraising and also threshing 
through the country, having one of the old- 
time horse-power machines, which were then 
considered entirely adequate. He resides 
■ndth his son Frank but owns a farm of sixty 
acres separate from the one under considera- 
tion. Six of his large family of children 
reached maturity, as follows. Harriet ; Marj', 
who married Henry Hauff; Ellen, who mar- 
ried Grant Stahl; William; Frank; and 
Martha, who married Harvey Rex. 

Frank Warner may be said to have spent 
his whole life on his present farm for here 
his main interests have always centered. 
After leaving school he w^orked for a time in 
the rubber factories at Akron and the sewer 
pipe works at Barberton, but shortly returned 
10 the life which makes a man independent, 
that of a farmer. He has a fine property 
and he has placed it 'under an excellent state 
of cultivation. There is a natural lake on the 
land which but adds to its value, and the 
beautiful shade trees around the residence 
make most attractive surroundings. 

Mr. Warner married Bessie Carmany, who 
is a daughter of Benjamin and Louisa 
(Bower) Carmany, and they have two chil- 
dren, Marie and Gertrude. Mr. and Mrs. 
Warner belong to the Evangelical Church. 
Politically, he is a Republican and for three 
years he sen'ed as township constable. 

AMI CORVIN GOUGLAR. general farmer 
and good citizen -of Green Town.ship, residing 
on his valuable farm of eighty acres, which is 
situated one mile south of East Liberty, be- 
longs to an old Penn,sylvania family which 
was established in Ohio by his grandfather. 



878 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Ami C. Gougler was born iii Green Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, October 8, 1869, 
and is a son of Samuel and Clarissa (Har- 
tong) Gougler. 

Samuel Gougler was a small boy when he 
accompanied his father, John Gougler, to 
Green Township, who settled on the farm 
which is now owned by Henry Obelen. 
Later, John Gougler moved to Springfield 
Townsnip, where he died aged eighty-six 
years. His father was a soldier in the War 
of 1812. The children of John Gougler were 
the following: George, Samuel, Betsey and 
Elias, all deceased except Betsey, who married 
Jacob King. Samuel Gougler spent the 
great of his life in Green Township, his 
occupation being farming, and before he 
died, in October, 1903, he divided his large 
estate of 460 acres, situated in this township, 
so that each of his five children received a 
farm. His first ^^^fe and their one child died 
early. His second marriage was to Clarissa 
Hartong, who still' survives, residing at 
Greensburg, where Mr. Gougler had lived re- 
tired for six years prior to his demise. The 
children born to the second union are: Ed- 
ward, residing in Green Township on his 
farm; Monroe, also residing on a farm 
in Green Township; Corella, who married 
John Foltz; Anna and Clinton. 

Ami Corvin Gougler attended the district 
schools and assisted on the home farm, and 
has made agricultural work his business in 
life. Like his sister and brothers, he received 
his farm from his father, who also erected 
the fine brick house and substantial barn. In 
February. 1897, Mr. Gougler was married to 
Clara Renninger. who is a daughter of Frank 
and Catherine (Reese) Renninger. The 
Renninger family is an old and well-known 
one in Coventry Township. The parents of 
Mrs. Gougler now reside at Akron. Mv. and 
Mrs. Gougler belong to the Evangelical 
Church. 

JERRY J. GARMAN. an honored old 
veteran of the great Civil War, who is post- 
mast'Cr at Inland, conducts a general mer- 



chandise business at this point. He wa-s bom 
on the corner where his store now stand?, in 
Greensburg, Summit County, Ohio, Septem- 
ber 3, 1841, and is a son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Husburger) Garman. 

Jacob Garman was born in Lancaster 
County, Pennsylvsmia, and when a young 
man came mth his parents to Ohio. He seit- 
tled in what is now Green Township, Sum- 
mit County, then a part, of Stark County, but 
later removed to a hotel that stood on the 
present site of J. J. Garman's store. This 
hotel was destroyed by fire in 1841. Mr. 
Garman was a skilled carpenter, and helped 
to build the brick hotel near the Little Reser- 
voir, which is still standing. He spent his 
latter years on a farm near Greensburg, where 
he died at the age of seventy-six years. Mr. 
Garman was married to Elizabeth Husburger, 
who was a daughter of John Husbvu-ger, and 
she survived her husband for some time, dy- 
ing at the age of seventy-seven. They were 
the parents of eight children : William ; Mar- 
garet, who married E. Foster; Harry; Jerry 
J. ; Frank, who died at the age of nineteen 
years; Catherine, who married John Souers; 
Samuel, who died when seventeen years old; 
and Jacob. 

Jerry J. Gannan spent his boyhood days on 
liis father's farm, and attended school, first 
in the old log district schoolhouse, and later 
a small brick school-house. At the age of 
eighteen years he went to Canton and com- 
menced work in the Aultman Harvester Com- 
pany, but at the outbreak of the Civil War, 
in 1861, he enlisted in Company F. Fourth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Captain ^^'allace, 
and .served throughout the war. Through- 
out the long and bitter stniggle Mr. Garman 
.sensed his country faithfully and cheerfully, 
and his gallantry in action soon won him 
the rank of sergeant and later that of captain, 
the rank he held when the war ended. At 
the close of the war Captain Garman enlisted 
with the rank of sergeant in Troop M. Second 
United States Cavalry, and .served three years 
in this company. After having .served in the 
military of his country for so long a time 




A. P. JAHANT 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



881 



Mr. Ganiian then returned to civil life and 
began work for the Union Pacific Telegraph 
Company. He put in the first office equip- 
ment at Cheyenne, Utah, which was installed 
in a tent. After three year.~ spent in the em- 
ploy of this company he returned to Greens- 
burg, and for some time afterward worked in 
the Buckeye Works at Akron, also at Canton, 
Ohio. In 1870, he settled at Green.sburg, 
where he ha.s since remained, for the first five 
years conducting a hotel, and then embark- 
ing in the mercantile business. On May 12, 
1897, Mr. Garman was appointed postmaster 
ait Inland by the late President McKinley. 

Mr. Garman was married in July, 1870, to 
Leah Harsherger, and they have two chil- 
dren : Mayme, who married John Haider- 
man, of Akron ; and Kirk, who married Ger- 
trude France, of Akron. The latter has two 
children, George and Maiy. Mr. Garman is 
a Republican. 

A. P. JAHANT, proprietor of the Jahant 
Electric Company, whose plant is located at 
No. 121 South Howard Street, belongs to an 
old French family which has been estab- 
lished in Summit County for a period of 
100 years. He was born in Akron, in 1881. 

A. Jahant, the father of A. P. Jahant, 
wa.s born in 1845, in Coventry Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of Fran- 
cis Jahant, who was one of the very early 
settlers here, coming to this county directly 
from France. He brought all his effects with 
him and engaged in farming as a means of 
livelihood. At that time Canton was a small 
village and Akron still smaller. A. Jahant 
was a boy when he came to Akron, where, 
for many years he was engaged in the manu- 
facture of furnaces. 

A. P. Jahant was reared and educated in 
his native city, and his interests remain cen- 
tered here. From boyhood he has been in- 
terested in experimental electricity, gradu- 
ally acquiring the knowledge which enables 
him to safely and efficiently harness this 
mysterious element. He organized the Ja- 
hant Electric Company, of which he is sole 



owner. He deals in all kinds of electrical 
appliances and does electrical contracting 
and repairing. 

Mr. Jahant was married September 4, 
1907, to Miss Lena M. Henry, of Akron, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Jahant is a member of St. Vincent's 
Catholic Church and he belongs to the order 
of Knights of Columbus. 

JAMES T. FLOWER, proprietor of the 
Flower Mantel Company, of Akron, was bom 
in this city in 1865, and is a .son of the late 
James Flower, who was formerly a prominent 
merchant here, where he settled in 1837. 
James Flower was born in Sheffield. England, 
and died at Akron, in 1877. 

James T. Flower was reared at Akron and 
obtained his education in the schools of his 
native city, after which he started to learn Ms 
present business, entering the employ of the 
Akron Cabinet Company. Later he em- 
barked in business for himself, continuing 
until 1896, when the Flower Mantel Company 
was organized. After fourteen months, Mr. 
Flower bought the interest of his partners 
and since that time has been sole proprietor 
and is the leading mantel dealer ait Akron. 
He deals also in tile and marble flooring, and 
keeps a fine stock continually on hand at his 
place of business on South High Street. 

In 1889, Mr. Flower was married to Ella 
Rothrock, who was born in Copley Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and they have three 
children : Esther E., James T. and Rachel 
S. With his family, Mr. Flower belong to 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

Politically, Mr. Flower is a Republican and 
in 1901 he was elected a member of the School 
Board on which he has served ever since. 
He is a Royal Arch Mason and belongs also 
to the Knights of Pythias. 

WILLIAM ALLEN McCLELLAN, who is 

engaged in a general contracting and manu- 
facturing business at Akron, with plant lo- 
cated at No. 273 Water Street, was bom in 
Springfield Township, Summit County, Ohio, 



882 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT. COUNTY 



December 30, 1838, and is a son of William 
McClellan, who settled in Springfield Town- 
ship in 1818. 

The McClellan family has long been one 
of prominence in Summit County and its 
name frequently appears on the old records 
which tell the story of how Springfield 
Township was changed from primeval condi- 
tions to its present fertility and civilization. 
William McClellan married Jane File and 
they had three children, namely: Robert A., 
Elizabeth Jane, who married Urias Cramer, 
residing at Wichita, Kansas; and W. A., re- 
siding at Akron. 

W. A. McClellan was reared on the home 
farm, where he remained until the age of 
twenty-one years, in the meanwhile obtain- 
ing his education in the schools at Mogadore 
and at Westminster College, New Wilming- 
ton, Pennsylvania. For several years prior to 
coming to Akron, in 1864, he taught school 
during the winter seasons, but after reacliing 
this city he learned the carpenter trade, at 
which he has worked ever since. In 1872, 
he began contracting and may be called the 
dean of the contracting guild in this city. 
For twenty-seven years he has operated his 
own factory on Water Street, and many of 
the most substantial buildings of Akron have 
been erected under his supervision. He is a 
stockholder and director in the People's Sav- 
ings Bank, of Akron, and he own 2,300 acres 
of land in Cuba. He has ever been a man of 
personal enterprise and is numbered with the 
city's capitalists. 

On June 28, 1871, Mr. McClellan was mar- 
ried to Alice R. Russell. liVaternally he is 
a Mason and belongs to the Blue Lodge, Chap- 
ter and Commandery at Akron, and for years 
was treasurer and a director of the Masonic 
Temple. 

J. D. SLATER, a thoroughly representative 
business man of Akron, president of the Lim- 
bert-Smith Plumbing Company and superin- 
tendent of the Star Rubber Company, has 
been a resident of Akron for the past twenty- 
three years, but he was born at London, Eng- 



land, and was eight years old when his par- 
ents came to America. 

Mr. Slater was reared and educated at New- 
ton, Kansas, where he resided until the age 
of twenty years, when he came to Akron 
For eight years thereafter he worked in the 
Smith Chemical plant, for the next six years 
was employed by the Aultman-Miller Com- 
pany, and then embarked in business for him- 
self. In partnership with J. W. Miller he 
organized the Faultless Rubber Company, of 
which he was superintendent until December 
15, 1906, when the plant was removed to Ash- 
land, Ohio, Mr. Slater selling his interest in 
it at this time. Returning from a winter in 
California, in March, 1907, he re-entered the 
business field at Akron. In association with 
H. A. Hine, J. W. Miller, D. B. Duff, of 
Cleveland, S. E. Duff, of Beaver, Pennsyl- 
vania, and others, he organized the Star Rub- 
ber Company, an organization still in its in- 
fancy, but with every indication of healthy 
growth and lasting importance. A fine plant 
has just been erected near that of the Fire- 
stone Rubber Company, on a tract covering 
three and one-half acres. The company is 
capitalized at .$100,000, and its officers are: 
S. E. Duff, president ; J. W. Miller, vice presi- 
dent; H. A. Hine, secretary and treasurer; 
and J. D. Slater, superintendent. The busi- 
ness of the Star Rubber Company is the man- 
ufacturing of druggists' sundries in the rub- 
ber line. Mr. Slater has other interests and 
is president of the Limbert-Smith Plumbing 
Company, also an important busine^ enter- 
prise of Akron. 

In September, 1895, Mr. Slater was married 
to Sarah A. Hall, a lady born and reared in 
Akron, a daughter of John W. Hall. Mr. and 
Mrs. Slater have one son, Ernest C. Slater. 

JAMES W. ORR, treasurer and manager 
of the Christy Steel Company, at Akron, has 
been associated with large manufacturing 
concerns in this city ever since he left col- 
lege. He was born at Akron, and is a son 
of William A. Orr, a prominent journalist of 
this city. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



James W. Orr prepared for an active busi- 
ness life by attending the public schools until 
he was graduated from the Akron High 
School, and later the Hammel Commercial 
College. He secured employment first with 
D. H. McBride & Company, and second, with 
F. D. Kridler, remaining one year with each 
firm, and then became bookkeeper for the 
Franz Building Company for two years, for 
three subsequent years was associated with 
the Barberton Pottery Company, and later 
with the Sterling Boiler Company, and came 
from the latter to the Christy Steel Company 
as treasurer and general manager. Step by 
step Mr. Orr has steadily advanced until he 
has secured very substantial standing among 
the business men of this great manufactur- 
ing city. 

Mr. Orr was reared a Catholic and is a con- 
sistent member of St. Mary's Church. He 
belongs to the Knights of Columbus, one of 
the most influential fraternal organizations in 
America. 

JOSEPH E. WESENER, a resident of 
Akron for more than sixty years, and for a 
large part of that time a prominent factor in 
its business world, was born May 7, 1827, 
at Frankfort, Pennsylvania, and is one of a 
family of twelve children born to his parents, 
who were Christopher and Charlotte Wesener. 

The Wesener family settled at Canton, 
Ohio, in 1840, and there Joseph E. Wesener 
was employed as a clerk until 1846, when he 
came to Akron, making the trip on horseback. 
He resumed clerking here, and by 1850, he 
had accoumulated enough capital to become 
a partner with the late Allen Hibbard and 
Gibbons J. Ackley, in a general mercantile 
business, their place on Howard street be- 
ing known as the Old Green Store. In 1851, 
they lost by fire, and in the following year Mr. 
Wesener embarked in business for himself. 
He later admitted Cornelius A. Brouse and 
David Wahl to partnership, and continued 
in the general mercantile line, with some 
specialties, until 1878. when Mr. Wesener 
retired from this firm. 



In 1880, in partnership with Albert C. Loh- 
man, he opened up a dry goods business in 
the Academy of Music Building, where the" 
Everett Building now stands, and they con- 
ducted the leading store of its kind in Akron 
until 1882, when Mr. Wesener sold his in- 
terest. For over forty years Mr. Wesener 
was one of the prominent wool-buyers in this 
part of Ohio. He became a man of large 
capital and has been a generous distributor of 
the same. He formerly -owned considerable 
valuable real estate, including a beautiful 
summer home and a fine farm adjacent to 
Akron, which have all been disposed of. 

Ever since becoming a resident of Akron, 
Mr. Wesener has been anxious to promote her 
best interests. In early days he was an active 
member of the fire department, one of the 
most important organizations a town could 
have, when much wood was employed in its 
construction, and he can recall 100 nights 
when he responded to the alarm and that on 
eighteen occasions he was seriously burned. 
He has been a liberal contributor to both pub- 
lic and private benevolent objects, gave gen- 
erously to the Memorial Chapel, and pre- 
sented the tower bell and clock to the First 
Congregational Church. 

Oh September 8, 1849, Mr. Wesener was 
married (first) to Philura Spalding, who died 
July 6, 1852. She was a daughter of Judge 
Rufus Spalding. The three children of this 
union all died in infancy. Mr. Wesener was 
married (second) to Anna J. Hopkins, who 
died January 1, 1876. On September 5, 
1876, Mr. Wesener was married (third) to 
Alphonsine D. C'e Chevier. They have four 
children : Joseph E., Marj' A., Anna C, de- 
ceased, and Henry Huntington. The beau- 
tiful family home is situated at No. 22 Nelson 
Place. Mr. Wesener lived for over fifty years 
at No. 129 North High Street, the former 
home of Judge Spalding. 

Politicaly, Mr. Wesener is a Republican. 
In 1851 he served on the Board of Infirraarv 
directors of Summit County, and in 1855 
and 1856, he was village recorder, but for 
many years past he has taken no active in- 



884 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



terest in politics. The family belong to the 
Episcopal Church. 

JOHN B. CAMPBELL, president and 
manager of the McNeil Boiler Company, at 
Akron, has been identified with Akron en- 
terprises and interests since 1873. He was 
born at Clinton, Summit County, Ohio, in 
July, 1864, and is a son of John D. Camp- 
bell. 

Mr. Campbell beai-s a distinctive Scottish 
name and is of Scotch parentage, hLs father 
having been born in the Highland.?. The 
latter came to Summit County about 1832, 
and subsequently- was superintendent of the 
old Chippewa coal mines. He now lives re- 
tired, at the home of his .son, John B., having 
reached the age of seventy-five years. 

J. B. Campbell completed his education in 
the Akron High School and then became an 
employe of the Akron Sewer Pipe Company, 
for one year. He then came to the McNeil 
Boiler Works, where, from rivet driver he 
worked up, step by step, until he has become 
president and genei'al manager of this large 
industry. He is interested in otiier basiness 
enteiprises, and is a member of the l>oard of 
directors of the Akron Base Ball club. 

On September 15, 1886, Mr. Campbell was 
married to Margaret M. Berger, who is a 
daughter of Alexander Berger. Mr. and 
Mrs. Campbell are members of the First Pres- 
byterian Church at Akron. 

Fraternally, Mr. Campbell is a 32nd de- 
gree Mason, an Odd Fellow and an Elk. 

JACOB LAUBY, general farmer and 
trucker, who cultivates seventy-one acres of 
land in Green Township, was born on his 
father's place east of Greensburg, Green 
Township. Summit County, Ohio, April 27, 
1851, and is a son of John A. and Elizabeth 
(Steib) Lauby. 

John A. Lauby was born in Germany, and 
there learned the weaving trade. He came to 
America in 1839, settling near Canal Fulton, 
Ohio, but two years later removed to Green 
Township, Siunniit County, where he con- 



tinued to follow his trade until his death in 
November, 1867. In his native country he 
was married to Elizabeth Steib, who died in 
1898, and they had the following children: 
John G. ; Caroline, deceased, who was the wife 
of S. Yearick ; Henry, who is deceased ; Levi ; 
Jacob; and Louisa, who married J. Hum- 
bert. 

Jacob Lauby was eleven years old when he 
came with his parents to his present home in 
Green Township, then a wild tract of laud on 
which was situated a log hoase, with three 
windows. This property he helped to clear 
and has cut down white oak trees that meas- 
ured five feet across the stump. He attended 
the district school, and when he reached man- 
hood, he learned' the mason's trade, which he 
followed for some time, during which he as- 
sisted to build eight school-houses and many 
dwellings in this section. 

Until his marriage, he resided at home, 
but since then has been engaged on his own 
account, having purchased his property from 
his father's other heirs. He carries on gen- 
eral fai'ming and raises early vegetables for 
a trucking businei^s, finding ready sale for all 
he can produce, at Canton. He has replaced 
all the original buildings on the farm and has 
made many improvements. 

In March, 1883, Mr. Lauby was married to 
Mrs. Ellen Goodyear, who was born at Green- 
town, Stark County, Ohio, and is the widow 
of Charles Goodyear. She had one daughter. 
Pearl, who married ^l. Marker of Barberton, 
Ohio, and they have three children, Marie, 
Ray Benton, and Daisy Belle. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lauby: 
Dora Alice, and AValter Edwin. The former 
married Thomas Gross, and they have one 
child, Roy Edwin. Walter Edwin is a school 
teacher. In politics, Mr. Lauby is a Dem- 
ocrat. With his family, he attends the Lu- 
theran Church. 

JOHN A. WARNER, residing on his ex- 
cellent farm of fifty acres, which is situated 
in Coventry Town.ship, is a member of one of 
the pioneer families of this section. He was 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



885 



born in Coventry Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, December 5, 1847, and is a son of Adam 
K. and Elizabeth (Renninger) Warner. 

Adam K. Warner was born in Pennsyl- 
vania and was brought to Ohio in infancy 
by his parents, Henry and Mary Wai-ner, who 
settled at a very early day in Coventry Town- 
ship. For a number of years they lived in 
the same old log hoase, which had been their 
earliest home. On one occasion the other 
membei-s of the family returned to find the 
aged father sleeping his last sleep, in his old 
arm chair. He was the father of eight stal- 
wart sons, all of whom became leading men 
in Summit County, and all survive, with the 
exception of Adam K. and Daniel. They 
were named as follows: John, Abraham, 
Solomon, William, Samuel, Daniel, Adam K. 
and Jacob. Two of the above, William and 
Jacob, served in the Union army during the 
Civil War and are members of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. 

Adam K. Warner assisted his father and 
brothers to clear off the farm and with the 
latter attended the old log school-house where 
they learned to read and write. In early 
manhood he was married to Elizabeth Ren- 
ninger, who was born in Coventry Township 
and died here in 1895, aged sixty-six years. 
She was the eldast of eight children born to 
her parents, John and Mary Renninger, who 
journeyed to Ohio from Pennsylvania', with 
an ox team. They settled in the woods in 
Coventry Township and, like other early set- 
tlers, cut 'down many dollars' worth of valu- 
able timber in clearing up their land. John 
Renninger died on hLs farm in advanced age. 
His widow died at the home of a daughter, 
Mrs. Weaver, at Loyal Oak. The Renninger 
children were: Elizabeth, Catherine. Rebec- 
ca, Mary, Susan, Solomon, George and John. 
They have numerous descendants and it is 
a pleasant custom mth them to hold family 
reunions at stated times. Adam K. Warner 
died in 1897, aged' seventy-two years. The 
children of Adam K. Warner and wife were: 
Henry, who is decea.«ied ; John A. ; Mariah, 
-who married D. Rothrock: Jane, who married 



R. A. Messner; Levina, who married Frank 
Bowers; and George and Frank. 

John A. Warner attended the district 
school in boyhood and was well grounded in 
reading, writing and arithmetic, the founda- 
tion stones of all book learning, but he be- 
gan hard work on the farm when but twelve 
years old, even then being able to handle a 
plow very effectively. Although he has car- 
ried on farming for many years, he has a 
natural talent for working with machinery, 
and when he was nineteen years of age he 
learned wagon-making and conducted a shop 
of his own at East Liberty, until 1874. He 
then turned his attention to the threshing bus- 
iness, and he operated a threshing machine 
and a steam sawmill up to recent years. He 
was one of the early threshers traveling 
through this section and was a very capable 
and successful one. In 1894 he purchased 
his present farm from George Shutt, since 
when he has carried on general farming and 
has done many dollars' worth of improving 
on his valuable property. 

On December 21, 1871, Mr. Warner was 
married to Hattie 0. Rininger, who is a 
daughter of Christian and Rachel Rininger, 
who reared a family of seven children, name- 
ly: Lucinda, Mary, William, Christina, 
Maria, Hattie 0. and Sadie. The father of 
Mrs. Warner died in Green Township, aged 
seventy-five years, and the mother, aged 
sixty-two years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Warner have had three chil- 
dren, namely; Ofie, who died aged two yeai-s 
and five months; Chloe, who married Byron 
Bowers, residing near Mr. Warner, has three 
children, Ralph, Howard and Myron; and 
Ru.sj*ell Glen, who resides with his father. 
The Warners are Democrats. They belong 
to the Evangelical Church. 

C. A. KEMPEL, one of Akron's substan- 
tial citizens and representative men of busi- 
ness, who is engaged in a general mercantile 
line at No. 2<34 Wooster Avenue, was born at 
Akron, Ohio, in I860, and is a son of the 
late George Kempel. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



The father of Mr. Kempel was bom in Ger- 
many and came to Akron in boyhood. In 
1849, when twenty years of age, he was one 
of a party of forty miners who left Akron 
and went to California, where he remained 
for three years. He then came back to Ak- 
ron and subsequently married Barbara Ho- 
noddle. They had five children, the three 
survivors being: F. J., residing at Ashtabula 
Harbor; C. A. and George, both living at Ak- 
ron. For some years the father of the above 
family engaged in a shoe business at Akron 
and later in a brewery business, continuing 
in the latter until within two years of his 
death, which occurred in 1867. He was a 
well-known citizen. 

C. A. Kempel learned the tinning trade 
after leaving school and followed it for four 
years and then went into the grocery business. 
This he developed, gradually adding to his 
stock, until now he operates a general mer- 
cantile store and for the past twenty-one years 
has been at his present location. He erected 
his present building, a commodious structure 
with dimensions of 38 by 57 feet. 

In 1885 Mr. Kempel was married to Louise 
M. Fricker, who is a daughter of the late 
John Fricker of Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Kem- 
pel have the following children : Frank, who 
is a student at Canisius College, at Buffalo; 
and Caroline, Karl, Florence, Ernest, Freda 
and Augustine, residing at home. The fam- 
ily belong to St. Mary's Catholic Church. 

R. H. DUNCAN, general farmer, residing 
in Northfield Township, was in Londonderry 
Township, Guernsey County, Ohio, March 13, 
1858, and is a son of John and Mary Jane 
(Karr) Duncan. 

Adam Duncan, the grandfather, was an 
early settled in Guernsey County. John 
Duncan, father of R. H., continued to live 
on the home farm until 1878, when he moved 
to Adams Township, where he resided until 
his death, in 1905, at the age of seventy-one 
years. He was a man of sterling character 
and on account of his judgment and reliabil- 
ity was frequently elected to township offices. 



He married a daughter of Robert Karr, of 
Coshocton County, Ohio, and they had the 
following children : R. H. ; Martha, de- 
ceased, who married Charles Jackson, of Mich- 
igan; Mrs. Kenney, residing in Minnesota; 
Laura, deceased, who married James Dew- 
huirst, of Huron, Ohio; Andrew Calvin, re- 
siding on the home farm in Adams Town- 
ship ; and James Boyd, residing at Cleveland. 
The mother of the above family died in 1871. 
She was a consistent member of the United 
Presbyterian Church. John Duncan was 
married (second) to Helen Francy, but no 
children were born to this union. 

R. H. Duncan was reared in the comfort- 
able old home and in boyhood attended the 
district schools. He was nineteen years of 
age when, as his services were not needed on 
the home farm, he started out for himself, 
coming to Summit County. He found re- 
munerative work as a farm hand for five 
yeare, after which he rented a farm for two 
years and in 1885, he operated a creamery, 
at New Concord. 

In January, 1886, Mr. Duncan married 
Lillis Means, who is a daughter of A. S. 
Means, of Northfield Township, and in April 
of that year settled on the Wilson farm which 
he rented and operated for the following 
thirteen years. In December, 1898, he came 
to the present farm which formerly belonged 
to his father-in-law. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan 
have two children : John Andrew and Lois. 
The family belong to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

CHARLES D. HARDY, a well-known res- 
ident of Northampton Township, who fol- 
lows an agricultural life, cultivating a large 
body of land, was born in Summit County, 
Ohio, April 23, 1864, and is a son of Norton 
Rice and Mary Rebecca (Belden) Hardy. 

Norton Rice Hardy was born in Northamp- 
ton Township, where he received his educa- 
tion in the common schools. When twenty 
years old he went to California by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama, where he remained for 
one year, engaging in mining, and was for- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



887 



tunate enough to locate a paying mine near 
Georgetown, from which he took considerable 
gold. Upon the urgent solicitation of his 
mother, who grieved over his absence, he 
started home after a year of mining, leaving 
prospective wealth behind. On the return 
trip, during a terrible storm, one of the steam- 
er's shafts broke, and even the officers gave 
the ship up for lost, but good seamanship 
enabled it to weather the storm, and after 
repairs were made it completed the voyage. 
On his return home Mr. Hardy purchased the 
farm now occupied by his youngest son, Nor- 
ton, and later he purchased one-half of the 
old homestead, on which he lived until 1872. 
He also bought and remodeled the residence 
at No. 22 West Street, AkrOn, where he lived 
retired from then until his death. His widow 
returned to the farm, where she resided ten 
years, but after her son's marriage she again 
made her home in Akron. Mr. Hardy was 
a Republican in politics, and he served as 
township trastee. Near the close of the Civil 
War, he served 100 days in the Home Guards 
at Cleveland. He was a member of the Odd 
Fellows at Akron. 

Mr. Hardj' was married to Mary Sophia 
Belden, who was born in Boston Township, 
Summit County, Julj' 27, 1842, and is a 
daughter of Champion and Mary (Pratt) Bel- 
den, natives of Quincy, Massachusetts. Mrs. 
Hardy's parents came to Boston Township, 
Summit County, with their two eldest chil- 
dren, and the father died when she was a 
small child. Their children were: Daniel 
Chester, Champion Edson, Charles Wright 
and Mary Sophia. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy had 
three children : Lilly Rebecca, Norton Rice 
and Charles D- Mrs. Hardy is a faithful 
member of the Congregational Church. 

Charles D. Hardy began his education in 
Northampton Township and finished it at Ak- 
ron, and then returned to the homestead to 
take charge, at the age of sixteen years. He 
has continued here ever since, renting the 
property from the heirs of the estate. It con- 
tains 360 acres, Mr. Hardy operating about 
250 acres of this, and he owns 270 acres. 



which he rents out. He gives special atten- 
tion to his large dairy, keeps on an average 
twenty-five cows, and sells his milk to the 
Akron Pure Milk Company. He has a circu- 
lar silo 12x30 feet, raises from 300 to 400 
bushels of wheat, and in addition to what he 
uses for his stock, markets from fifteen to 
twenty tons of hay. Mr. Hardy is a Repub- 
lican in his political principles, and has served 
as township trustee for two terms and a num- 
ber of years as supervisor. 

Mr. Hardy was united in marriage with 
Mary Leona Carter, who was born in Portage 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
daughter of Thomas Carter, an agriculturist 
of that section. To Mr. and Mrs. Hardy 
there have been born two children, namely: 
Margerj' R. and Daniel C. 

CAPT. GURDEN P. HARRINGTON, 
postmaster at Everett, where he is engaged in 
a mercantile business, is a leading citizen of 
Boston Township. He was born in North- 
ampton Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
August 16, 1838, and is a son of .Jeremiah and 
Hannah (Thompson) Harrington. 

The grandfather, Abraham Harrington, 
was the founder of the family in Ohio, com- 
ing from Massachusetts and settling in iSTorth- 
ampton Township, Summit County. Jere- 
miah Harrington was born in Massachusetts, 
accompanied his father to Ohio and died in 
1842, aged thirty-two years. For a number 
of years he lived on what is known as the 
Botzirm farm, in Northampton Township. He 
married Hannah Thompson, who was born 
in Massachusetts, and was one of a family of 
eleven children. Her father, Robert Thomp- 
son, came to Summit County, where he fol- 
lowed shoemaking, being a traveling work- 
man, carrying his kit of tools from one house- 
hold to the other, as was the early custom. 
Jeremiah Harrington and wife had four chil- 
dren : Amanda, deceased ; Gurden P. ; Betsey, 
who married Nathaniel Point, of Boston 
Township, both deceased ; and Russell M., de- 
ceased. Mrs. Harrington contracted a second 
marriage, with Walter Hawkins, and they 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



had one son, Perry W., who resddes with Cap- 
tain Harrington. 

The father of Captain Harrington died 
when he was four years old and he was taken 
into the family of his uncle, Dudley Thomp- 
son. Mr. Thompson shortly afterward re- 
moved from Northampton Township to Kent 
County, Michigan, settling near Grand 
Rapids, and there his nephew was reared and 
educated in the public schools. He was about 
eighteen years of age when he returned to 
Boston Township and began to work on the 
canal, beginning as a driver and continuing 
on the water until he became commander of 
several boats. For a number of years no man 
was better or more favorably known to canal 
men than was Captain Harrington. He 
purchased the Ararat, when it was new, which 
he ran for a long time, and he was captain of 
the Mtna, in the Akron and Cleveland trade. 
He commanded a boat during the big wheat 
trade in 1862, and continued until 1867. For 
ten years afterward he had charge of a gang 
of men who made repairs on the canal. 

After leaving active work on the water. 
Captain Harrington worked at wagon-mak- 
ing for several years at Everett, but in 1880 
he embarked in his present mercantile enter- 
prise. He owns a first-class general store, 
which is eqviipped with modern fixtures, cash 
register and other improved methods of do- 
ing business, and he carries a very complete 
and well-selected stock of seasonable goods. 
In 1889 he was appointed postmaster and has 
continued in office ever since. He is a Re- 
publican in his political preference, but dis- 
claims being anything of a politician. 

For a number of years Captain HaiTingion 
has been identified with the Masonic frater- 
nity, and is a member of Meridian Sun Lodge, 
No. 266, F. & A. M., of Richfield, and North 
Star Chapter, R. A. M., of Bedford. He be- 
longs to the Disciples Church. Captain Har- 
rington has never married. 

CHARLES E. BISHOP, a highly esteemed 
citizen of Peninsula, residing on a fine farm 
of 250 acres, 160 of which are under cultiva- 



tion, was born in York Township, Medina 
County, Ohio, October 27, 1849, and is a son 
of Zephaniah and Ellen M. (Waterman) 
Bishop. 

The grandparents of Charles E. Bishop 
were John and Jane (Wilson) Bishop, who 
came to York Township from the state of 
New York, where they lived during the re- 
mainder of their lives. John Bishop died in 
1863, aged seventy-five years. Of his chil- 
dren, Zephaniah, father of Charles E. Bishop, 
was born in New York and was eight years 
old when he accompanied his parents to Ohio. 
The family home had probably been at 
W'hitehall, near Lake Champlain, but many 
of the old family records have been lost and 
some points cannot be clearly established. 
This is the case with many of the old fam- 
ilies whose ancestors became pioneers in a 
far distant locality from the original home. 

Zephaniah Bi.shop attended the old Mallet 
Creek school. With the exception of ten years, 
which he spent in Litchfield Township, his 
whole life was passed in York Township, 
where he owned 125 acres of land, on which 
he carried on general farming and sheep-rais- 
ing. In politics he was a Republican and 
he held various township offices. He married 
a daughter of Elisha Waterman, who, for 
many years was one of the leading citizens 
of Medina County, Ohio. The latter was a 
soldier in the War of 1812, and was a son 
of a Revolutionary soldier, who served 
through the whole seven years of that war. In 
1843 Elisha Waterman brought his family 
from Otsego County, New York, to York 
Township, Medina County, Ohio. He mar- 
ried Diana Young and they had four chil- 
dren, namely: Lawson, Onesimus, Marietta 
and Ellen. The family of Zephaniah Bishop 
and wife consisted of three children, namely: 
Charles E., Henry and Frederick, the 
latter of whom died at the age of five 
years. The parents were members of the 
United Brethren Church. Zephaniah Biship 
died Januars^ 11, 1901, and his widow died 
vSeptember 30, 1907, having reached the age 
of seventy-nine years. . 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



891 



Charles E. Bishop attended the schools of 
Litchfield and York Townships, more or less 
regularly, until he was twenty years of age, 
after which he came to Peninsula and entered 
the employ of his uncle, the late Lawson 
Waterman, for whom he worked for seven 
years by the month. Since that time he has 
had entire control of the farm, the manage- 
ment of which requires the work of himself 
and son, with the assistance of two capable 
men. The great jdeld of grain from the farm 
is used in the feeding of the stock, as each 
year some stock is fattened and marketed. 
About twenty cows are kept and many Po- 
land China hogs. The apple orchard covers 
about six acres and produces choice fruit. 
This land is valuable in many way.s. There 
are two fine sandstone quarries, one of which 
was sold to the Cleveland Stone Company in 
1897, while the other is leased to the Inde- 
pendent Stone Company, also of Cleveland". 
Mr. Bishop's residence was built in 1852, by 
his uncle, and is yet one of the finest in thi.s 
section. It is situated on an elevation which 
commands a beautiful view and is suri-ounded 
by a well-kept sloping lawn, shaded by trees. 

Mr. Bishop married Catherine A. Boodey, 
who is a daughter of Merrill Boodey, of Pen- 
insula, and they have one son, Fred. 

In politics, Mr. Bishop is nominally a Re- 
publican, but, like many thoughtful men of 
the times, resei-\es the right to vote independ- 
ently on many questions. Fraternally he is 
connected with Meriden Sun Lodge, No. 266, 
F. & A. M., of Richfield. 

For some years Mr. Bishop has given a 
great deal of attention to promoting athletics 
at Peninsula, especially the great national 
game of ba.^e ball. For the past five years 
he has managed the ball team at this point, 
w^hich is made up entirely of local players 
and it ha.'^ developed considerable talent. He 
is a broad-minded, genial man, one whom it 
is pleasant to know, and one who enjoys wide 
popularity in the community where he ha.« 
pas-ed the nio.<t important years of his life. 



GEORGE HEINTZ, general farmer, resid- 
ing on his well-improved farm of fifty acres, 
situated in Coventry Township, about two 
miles south of the city limits of South Ak- 
ron, was born in an old log house, on his 
present farm, January 28, 1847, and is a son 
of Phillip and Mary (Beard) Heiutz. 

Phillip Heintz, father of George, was born 
in Germany, in 1810, and went to school 
until it was time to learn a self-supporting 
trade, when he chose that of weaver, although 
he was apt in almost any kind of mechanical 
work. He then served his allotted time in 
the Germany army. He married Mary 
Beard and after the birth of four children, 
they decided to emigrate to America. They 
took passage in a sailing vessel March 15, 
1845, and spent forty days in covering the 
di;stance which the ocean steamers of the 
jiresent day cover in seven days. They 
landed safely, however, and in a few^ weeks 
were settled on the farm w^hich George Heintz 
now owns. At the time they came here the 
land vias not very attractive, as a large 
amount of timber was still standing and 
burnt stumps marked the spots where the 
trees had been cut, but the ground was fer- 
tile, and with industry the land was developed 
into an excellent farm. An old log house 
was on the place, in which the family took 
up their residence, and here the father died 
in 1876, aged sixty-six years. His wife, who 
was born in 1812, survived to the age of 
eighty-four. After coming to America the 
family was increased by the birth of five more 
children. Those born in Germany were: 
Catherine, who married Philip Laubert.: 
Philip J., Louise, deceased, who married 
Frank Knapp, and John. Those who were 
born in America were: George, subject of 
this sketch: Mrs. Esther Glass. Mary, who 
married Unas Cramer; Lena, who married 
Eli Pcatro, and Matilda, who married Walter 
Sherbondy. 

George Heintz grew up on the old farm 
and began farm work while still young, in 
the meanwhile going to school as opportunity 
afforded. He then learned the potter's trade, 
which proved remunerative, and in eight 



892 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



. years he made enough to purchase the old 
homestead from the other heira. This was 
in 1878, and ten years later he tore down 
the old log house and erected his present 
comfortable nine-room frame residence. Not 
stopping there, he made many other substan- 
tial improvements which have added to the 
value of his property. Beautiful shade trees 
and green lawn make it very attractive. Mr. 
Heintz also owns property in Akron. 

On November 15, 1877, Mr. Heintz was 
married to Mary M. Beck, who is a daughter 
of Greorge and Catherine (Blose) Beck. Mrs. 
Heintz's parents came from Germany about 
1845, but she was born in America, her par- 
ents having been married in the United 
States. Five children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Heintz, namely: George Philip, 
who died in April, 1897, aged eighteen years; 
William A., who married Theresa Canfield, 
and Ernest Walter, Adella and Earl Forest. 
Mrs. Heintz is one of a family of six chil- 
dren, as follows: Catherine, who married F. 
Schultz; Christiana, deceased, who married 
William Gayer; Mary; Carry, who married 
William Thornton, and John and George. 
George Beck and wife died in Coventry 
Township. Mr. Heintz and family belong to 
the German Reformed Church. They are 
kind, industrious and worthy people who en- 
joy the esteem of the community in which 
they lived so long. 

LAWSON WATERMAN. Few citizens of 
Peninsula, Summit County, passed off the 
stage of life followed with more sincere ex- 
pressions of respect and esteem, or left be- 
hind a better record of a useful, blameless life 
than did Lawson Waterman, who was born at 
Decatur, Otsego County, New York, January 
21, 1811, and died after a short illness. Sep- 
tember 21, 1892. 

At the age of nineteen years he went to 
Rochester, New York, where he found em- 
ployment in a ship yard, and in the follow- 
ing summer went on the lakes as a sailor, a 
calling he followed for several yeare. In 
1836 he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he 
met Angeline C. Roger, whom he married 



October 24, 1840. She was born April 11, 
1821, in Kingsville, Geauga County, Ohio, 
and died on the home place at Peninsula, 
January 12, 1906. They had two children, 
George Lawson, and a child that died in in- 
fancy. George Lawson Waterman was a gal- 
lant soldier in the Civil War, and was pro- 
moted to the rank of lieutenant. He died 
September 19, 1863, from a wound received 
while quelling a mob, at Dayton, Ohio. 

The parents of Lawson Waterman were 
Elisha and Diana (Young) Waterman. 
Elisha was a son of a Revolutionary soldier, 
who served through the entire seven years, 
settling at Decatur, Otsego County, New York, 
where Elisha was born. In 1791 he married 
Diana Young, who was born at Decatur, New 
York, and was a daughter of a Revolutionary 
soldier, the wife of a soldier of the War of 
1812, and the grandmother of an officer in 
the Civil War. She was a woman of noble 
character and impressed herself on her chil- 
dren. Elisha Waterman enlisted at the open- 
ing of the War of 1812, and was taken prispn- 
er by the British at the battle of Queenstown, 
but was soon released on parole and eventu- 
ally discharged. He had four children: 
Lawson, Onesimus, Marietta and Ellen. In 
1843 he brought his family to Ohio and set- 
tled on a farm in York Township, Medina 
County, where he died at the age of eighty- 
four years and his wife at the age of eighty- 
six years. 

After marrage Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Water, 
man came to Peninsula and for many years 
he engaged in the manufacturing of canal 
boats, and prospered because of his energy, 
prudence and upright dealing, amassing a 
modest but honest fortune. He was a man 
of sterling character, charitable to a fault, be- 
stowing benefits in a quiet way and always 
giving a petitioner the benefit of the doubt. 
His friends were numbered only by those 
who had come to his acquaintance. His pass- 
ing away was that of going to sleep and when 
he was no more, the community in which his 
kind and exemplary life had been led. had 
lost a good man. 

Politically he was a Democrat, for a num- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



893 



ber of yeaa^ was postmaster at Peninsula and 
served in town aiid township offices. He be- 
longed to Meridian Lodge, No. 266, A. F. & 
A. M., West Richfield. 

NORMAN WISE, millwright for the 
Cleveland-Akron Bay Company at Boston 
Mill, in Boston Township, was born at East 
Liberty, Green Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, April 26, 1865, and is a son of William 
J. and Mary A. (Bower) Wise. 

William J. Wise was born January 6, 1840, 
and for many years carried on agricultural 
pursuits in Tallmadge Township, where he 
still owns a large farm, although he is now 
retired from active pursuits and is living a 
quiet life at Akron. He was married to Mary 
A. Bower, who was the daughter of John 
Bower, of Newheim, and they had two sons 
and four daughters, Norman being the eldest 
child. Mr. and Mrs. Wise were members of 
the Presbyterian Church. 

Norman Wise was educated in the common 
schools of Green Township, and when he was 
sixteen years old left the home farm and went 
to Cuyahoga Falls, where he began to learn 
the trade of machinist, in the plant of Tur- 
ner* Vaughn and Taylor. Later he went to 
Cleveland, where he followed his trade in dif- 
ferent shops, and subsequently went from 
place to place, both in the East and West, gain- 
ing varied and valuable experience. In 1887, 
when he entered the employ of the Cleveland 
Paper Bag Company, Mr. Wise's ability was 
recognized, and he held a prominent position 
with that firm for three years, when he went 
to the Taylor and Boggis Foundry Company, 
and was in charge of their machinery for ten 
and one-half years. In the spring of 1900, 
Mr. Wise came to his present position, to in- 
stall the machinery of the paper mill, the 
erection of the building having been started 
in the fall of 1899. To gain some idea of 
the machinery which comes under Mr. Wise's 
care, one need only glance at the following 
equipment of the plant: one 84-inch paper 
machine, one 124-inch paper machine, four 
rotary boilers, two rope cutters, two dusters, 



a devil-picker, one 60-horse-power engine and 
coating machine, seven boilers, two feed water 
pumps, one fire pump with a capacity of 750 
gallons per minute, one supply pump with a 
capacity of 1,000 gallons per minute, one 
rotary pump with a capacity of 550 to 600 
gallons per minute, two water wheels manu- 
factured by the Dayton Globe Iron Works 
with a capacity of 400 horse-power, a 1,000- 
horse-power cross compound Hamilton Cor- 
liss engine, one Snyder Hughes condenser, 
1,398 feet of pipe line, composed of 6, 8, 10 
and 12 inch pipe to a dam in the woods near 
the mill, which has a twelve-foot head of 
water and delivers water at a pressure of 
twenty-eight pounds, and a 4,600-gallon fire 
tank at an elevation of 120 feet, the plant 
being supplied with automatic sprinklers 
throughout. The plant has a machine ship 
equipped with drills, lathes and all other ma- 
chinery necessary to make repairs on equip- 
ment, and Mr. Wise has the services of com- 
petent assistants. 

Mr. Wise was married to Rose Wolfe, who 
is the daughter of Adam Wolfe, of Cleveland, 
and they have three children: Daisy G., 
Norman and Marion. In political matters 
Mr. Wise is a Republican. In 1901 he was 
elected justice of the peace of Boston Town- 
ship, and he is now serving his second term, 
which continues until 1910. He has been a 
member of the Board of Education since 
1905. Fraternally Mr. Wise is connected 
with Pavonia Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of 
Cuyahoga Falls. 

ALLEN WELTON, formerly a very prom- 
inent citizen of Boston Township, where he 
carried on agricultural pursuits on a large 
body of land which once aggregated 300 acres, 
was born July 18, 1809, in Vermont. 

Mr. Welton was given but limited educa- 
tional opportunities in his youth, and for a 
number of years his fortunes fluctuated. As 
a young man he began to clerk in a store 
in his native state, and later went to New 
York. There he was variously employed, 
finally acquiring a wood yard and on one oc- 



894 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



casion he chopped 400 cords of wood, only 
to see it swept away by the sudden uprising 
of a river. Prom New York he tlien went to 
Cleveland, Ohio, which city was but a small 
village, and from there to Bedford, and 
shortly afterward to Boston Township, south 
of Peninsula. He settled on the farm on Oak 
Hill, now owned by his widow, which was 
then covered with timber and this he cleared 
and cultivated in the course of years, accu- 
mulating 300 acres. A large part of this land 
has since been sold, the farm now containing 
187 acres. For a niunber of years Mr. Wel- 
ton conducted a dairy, and at one time milked 
forty cows. He was a man of many practi- 
cal ideas and began making cheese at home, 
the industry soon growing to such proportions 
that he built a cheese factorj', which wiis the 
first one in Summit County, and later oper- 
ated another factory at Bath, which his son 
Frank helped him to conduct. For many 
years he was a member of the Ohio Dairy- 
men's Association. 

Mr. Welton was married (first) in New 
York, to Sarah Strieker, and they had five 
children, namely: Francis, who is deceased; 
George W., who lives at Akron ; William H. 
H., also a resident of Akron; John N. ; and 
Ellen E., who is the widow of Andrew Oz- 
mun, of Bath Township. On March 17, 
1852, Mr. Welton was married (second) to 
Louise Thompson, who is a daughter of Mills 
and Catherine (Allen) Thompson, who was 
born at Hudson, Ohio, January 14, 1831. 
The following children were born to this 
marriage: Frank E., who is a railroad con- 
ductor, residing at Akron, married Ella Han- 
cock, and they have had three children, Park 
and Harry, living, and Clara, deceased; Cora 
A., who married Walter Hunt, who carries 
on the home farm, has one son, Elwin Wel- 
ton ; Emma C, who married Ira O. France, 
residing at Akron; Hattie J., who married 
Bert Lee. residing in Boston Township, has 
one child, Chester; Ira Glenn, residing at 
home; and Jessie and Alice, both of whom 
are deceased. 

The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Welton 



was the first physician to settle in Summit 
County. Mills Thompson, her father, was 
born at Waterbury, Connecticut, but at the 
time of his mari'iage he lived at Akron. Dui 
ing the building of the Ohio Canal, he was 
an overseer of a part of the work for a time, 
but his life was mainly spent as an agricul- 
turist. 

Allen Welton made two trips to Kentucky 
and Nashville, Tennessee, to visit his sons, 
who contracted serious illness during their 
service in the Civil War, and on one of these 
trips brought his son John home with him. 
He had many thrilling experiences, and on 
a number of occasions narrowly escaped cap- 
ture by roving bands of guerrillas. A stanch 
Republican in politics, Mr. Welton was often 
elected to positions of trust, and served as 
county commissioner and township trustee. 
During his long and useful life he was very 
active in church and charitable movements, 
and was the founder of the Congregational 
Sunday-school, which is still in existence in 
the neighborhood of his former home. 

EDWARD ROEPKE, a highly esteemed 
retired farmer of Portage Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, whose comfortable home 
is on the Dayton Street extension, just across 
from the new Caldwell school, was born No- 
vember 10, 1841, in Zemmen, Prussia, and 
i.< a son of William and Frederica (Dittben- 
ner) Roepke. 

Edward Roepke was reared to manhood in 
his native country. During his youth he 
worked as a hired man on a farm, receiving 
twenty-two dollars per year and his board, 
and also spent two years as a waiter in a pri- 
vate house in Berlin, for which service he re- 
ceived four dollars per month, his board and 
washng. 

When he was twenty-one years of age, with 
Ills parents and their other children, Mr. 
Roepke started for America, from Hamburg,, 
Germany, in the sailing vessel Wnshington, 
and after a voyage of fourteen weeks landed 
at Quebec, Canada, in September, 1862, In 
April, 1863, they removed to Ottawa, where 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



895 



the men of the family endeavored to secure 
employment on the new Government bnild- 
ings being erected there, but faiHng in this 
they came to Akron, Ohio, Mr. Roepke liav- 
ing seen in an advertisement that men were 
needed in the construction of the Atlantic 
and Great Western Railroad. On arriving in 
this city difficulty with the language embar- 
ra.ssed them as none of the family could read 
or write in English, nor could they speak or 
understand it with the exception of an oc- 
casional common word. They already had 
suffered misfortune. Their passage had been 
paid to Akron by way of Oswego and Cleve- 
land, but between Hudson and Akron they 
lost all of their belongings, even their bed- 
ding and household effects, which they had 
brought that far from Germany, and their 
sole possessions were the clothes they wore. 
However, here the father and five sons found 
work, each receiving eleven shillings per day 
for eleven hours' labor. After three months, 
they entered the employ of George Wolven 
as quarrymen, and here their w'ages were one 
dollar and fifty cents for ten houre' work, 
and tliey continued for two years working in 
the quaiTies. In 1864, Albert Roepke. the 
second eldest brother, enlisted in the Sixth 
Ohio Cavalrv% and served nine months in the 
Federal Army, and as in addition to his 
monthly salary of sixteen dollars he received 
a bounty of $.500. he felt almost rich, and 
hastened to better the family fortunes. With 
this sum four- acres of land were purchased 
in Akron, on which was situated a stone 
quarry, and Edward and Albert Roepke and 
a half-brother, William Moss), engaged in 
business, the firm going into debt for an ad- 
ditional $500. The stone quarry was oper- 
ated for five years, stone selling at one dol- 
lar per load, and at the end of this time they 
engaged in contracting, and Edward Roepke 
was made superintendent of the business, 
which proved verv successful. Later this land 
was sold off in lots and Edward Roepke pur- 
chased a farm of 108 acres in Portage Town- 
ship, on which he built a fine house and barn 
and engaged in general agricultural pursuits. 



although he still contiiuied his contract ing 
operations, and did much road construction 
work for the county. In 1900, Mr. Roepke 
sold his farm and took a trip to California, 
where he remained several months. After re- 
turning to Akron, he went to Detroit, Michi- 
gan, where he spent three summers, his win- 
ters being passed in Florida. In November, 
1905, the present Mrs. Roepke purchased 
from Robert Turner the lot on which thoy 
now reside, at Cuyahoga Falls, and Jlr. 
Roepke erected here a beautiful home, in 
which they have since lived. 

In 1864 Mr. Roepke was married (first) to 
Caroline Myers, who died in 1894. She was 
a daughter of Ernest Myers. To this union 
there were born eleven children, as follows: 
Charles, who lives at Akron ; Rosa, who is the 
wife of John H. Rice, of Mansfield, Ohio; 
Edward A., who is in the fertilizing business 
at Akron ; Emma, who married Richard Dohl, 
a stove and furnace merchant of Ravenna, 
Ohio; William, whose death occurred Au- 
gust 81, 1905; Clara, who is the wife of L. B. 
Jennings, a baker, of Ravenna, Ohio; George, 
who for three years was a member of the 
United Statas Anny in the Philippines; John, 
who lives at Ravenna, Ohio; ilary, who is 
the wife of Adam Fichter, an architect of 
Akron; Ida, who is a stenographer at Mans- 
field, Ohio ; and Harry, who also resides in 
Mansfield. In 1905 Mr. Roepke was united 
in marriage with Henrietta Huge. 

Mr. Roepke has been much interested in 
public matters in his township, and for nine- 
teen years served on the School Board, and 
for four years in the office of road superin- 
tendent. He is a Republican and is Town- 
ship Committeeman of his party. He is an 
excellent example of a self-made man. 

JOHN M. FOUSE, general farmer and 
well-known citizen, residing on his valuable 
farm of twenty-five acres, which is situated 
on Dan Street, ju.st east of the city limits of 
Akron, and in Portage Town.ship, was born 
in Lake Township, Stark County, Ohio, Oc- 



896 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tober 7, 1851. He is a son of Frederick and 
Elizabeth (Gaerte) Fouse. 

Frederick Fouse was born on the old Foiise 
homestead in Stark County, which his father, 
John Fouse, bought from the Government, 
when he came as a young man pioneering in 
Lake Township. He was a native of Blair 
County, Pennsylvania, and died on the farm 
he had worked so hard to secure and improve 
when his son Frederick was three months 
old. His widow remained on the farm which 
consisted of 140 acres, where she reared her 
two children, Frederick and Savilla, the lat- 
ter of whom later married Isaac Madlem. and 
is now deceased. Grandmother Fouse subse- 
quently came to Portage Township, where 
she lived until her death, at the age of eighty- 
seven yeai's.. 

As soon as Frederick Fouse attained suf- 
ficient strength and judgment he took upon 
himself the mafiagement of the farm and 
when he reached manhood, he married Eliza- 
beth Gaerte, who was a daughter of Jacob 
Gaerte and was reared in Lake Township. 
All of their nine children were born and 
reared on the Stark County farm, as follows: 
Malinda, who married Philip Fulmer, resides 
in Portage County; John M., of Portage 
Township; Reuben, Jacob, Edward P., Mil- 
ton W., Fernando and William F., all reside 
in Portage Township; and Ira, who died at 
the age of twenty-seven years. 

In 1873, Frederick Fouse sold the farm in 
Stark County and bought 107 acres in Sum- 
mit County, John M. Fouse's farm being a 
part of this tract. Mr. Fouse lived on his 
new purchase until his death in January, 
1884. He erected new buildings and im- 
proved his land in many ways. His widow 
survived until April, 1904. They were worthy 
people in every way and enjoyed the esteem 
of all who knew them. 

John M. Fouse was trained in agricvdtural 
pursuits from his boyhood and has never 
turned his attention to any degree to an>i.hing 
else. For twenty-eight years he was in the 
milk business and had an Akron route, but 
in January, 1907, he discontinued his dairv. 



He married Susan Royer, who is a daughter of 
Abraham Royer, of Stark County, and they 
have a fine, intelligent family of ten children, 
namely: Bertha, Aquilla, Austin J., Fred- 
erick, Clarence, Claude, Mabel, Floyd, Gladys 
and Elva. The eldest son, Aquilla Fouse, 
married Edna Sprague, and they have three 
children : Ruth, Helen and Harold. 

When the home farm was divided at the 
time of the father's death, John M. Fouse 
purchased twenty-five acres of the land, which 
is exceedingly valuable on account of being 
so desirable for city building extension, to- 
gether with the buildings, the substantial 
barn having been put up in 1880, and the 
fine frame dwelling, in 1881. 

Mr. Fouse is one of the recognized lead- 
ing men of the township and is a member of 
the Board of Education together with the 
folloT\ang prominent citizens: John Mc- 
Dowell, president, Roland Koplin, W. W. 
Washburn and Abner Caldwell. Mr. Fouse 
belongs to the order of Pathfinders. 

FRANK A. WILCOX, capitalist, who has 
been a resident of Akron since 1882, is exten- 
sively engaged in a general contracting and 
real estate business here and is identified with 
a large number of the successful enterprises 
from which the city has gained its name as 
an important commercial center. He was 
born at Richfield, Summit County, Ohio, 
May 17, 1852, and is a son of Dr. J. C. Wil- 
cox, one of the county's pioneers. 

Frank A. Wilcox remained at Richfield 
until he was eighteen years of age, securing 
his preparatory education there, and then en- 
tered Oberlin College. Here he was gradu- 
ated in 1878, and immediately afterward be- 
gan the study of law in the office of T. E. 
Burton, at Cleveland, Ohio. After one year 
there he accepted the position of superintend- 
ent of the schools of Glenville, which he 
filled for three years. Mr. Wlicox then 
bought the abstract books of Summit County 
and from 1882 to 1898, he did the abstract, 
real estate and insurance business which is 
now controlled bv the firm of Bruner. Good- 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



897 



hue & Cook, being associated the most of the 
time with A. H. Noah. He still retains an 
interest in the business. He was then secre- 
taoy of the India Rubber Company for one 
year, and in 1899 took charge of the Penn- 
sylvania Rubber Company, serving as vice- 
president, treasurer and general manager. He 
remained with this company until March 1, 
1907, and is still on its board of directors. 
Mr. Wilcox is now engaged in a general con- 
tracting and real estate business. His large 
real estate interests occupy much of his time. 
He is a stockholder in the Akron Selle Com- 
pany and in other concerns, being treasurer 
and general manager of the Arcturus Lithia 
Springs Company. 

In 1893, Mr. Wilcox was married to Delia 
M. Doyle, who is a daughter of the late Wil- 
liam B. Doyle. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox lost an 
interesting little son, Doyle, who died at Erie, 
Pennsylvania, aged but six years. They have 
one daughter, Margaret, and an adopted 
daughter, Elizabeth L. 

While residing at Glenville, Mr. Wilcox 
served as a member of the City Council, and 
from 1885 until 1887, he served on the Akron 
City Council. He was the founder of the 
order of Maccabees at Akron and is past mas- 
ter of the order here, and he is also past grand 
of Akron Lodge, No. 547, I. 0. 0. F., and 
was sent as a representative to the Grand En- 
campment of the state of Ohio. He belongs 
also to the Akron lodge of Elks. At Jean- 
nette, Pennsylvania, he united with the First 
Presbyterian Church. Akron has few more 
progressive, enterprising and public-spirited 
citizens than Mr. Wilcox. 

CLINT W. KLINE, Clerk of Courts, was 
born in Green Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, January 14, 1860 ; he is the sepond son 
of David and Elizabeth (Chisnell) Kline, now 
living in Greensburg, Ohio. 

Mr. Kline was reared on his father's farm 
and obtained the usual country school edu- 
cation : subsequent to this he was a student 
in the Akron High School, and was a student 
at Buchtel college and also at Hiram college. 



At the age of seventeen he began teaching 
country schools, which profession he followed 
for seven years, after which he took a course 
in stenography at Springfield, Ohio. 

In 1885 he came to Akron and engaged in 
the retail grocery business with his brother, 
Oliver J. Kline, under the firm name of Kline 
Bros., which partnership continued until 1903 
when Mr. Kline entered upon his duties as 
Clerk of Courts, thus terminating the partner- 
ship. 

Mr. Kline has always been a Republican 
and has always been active in local politics, 
having served as chairman of the Republican 
City Central Committee for a number of 
years and vice-chairman of the Summit 
County Executive Committee. In 1895 he 
was elected to the Board of Education from 
the famous Old Fourth ward, the Democratic 
stronghold of the city, in which capacity he 
served during 1895 and 1896; he did not 
stand for re-election, having received the Re- 
publican nomination for member of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Ohio. 

Mr. Kline was elected to the office of Clerk 
of Courts at the election of 1902 and assumed 
his duties as such in 1903 ; in 1905 he was re- 
elected to a second term, which will expire 
in August, 1909. Mr. Kline is connected 
with a number of our banking institutions 
and is vice-president of The Dime Savings 
Bank. He is also a stockholder in a number 
of Akron's flourishing enterprises. 

In 1886 Mr. Kline was married to Minnie 
E. Burnham, a popular teacher of the Akron 
public school; they have two children. Vera 
B. and Helen B. Mr. Kline is prominent in 
fraternal matters, affiliating with a great 
many fraternal bodies. 

CHARLES TSCHANTZ, a highly es- 
teemed citizen of Portage Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, who resides on the old 
Good farm and is engaged in farming and 
dairying, was born September 21, 1855, in 
Switzerland, and is a son of John and Chris- 
tina Tschantz, both of whom died in the old 
countrv. Charles Tschantz was reared in his 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



native country, where he received a good edu- 
cation, his father being a school teacher, and 
at the age of sixteen yeai's he came to Amer- 
ica, locating at once on the farm of Abe 
Mosier in Wayne County, Ohio. After re- 
maining there for two years Mr. Tschantz 
removed to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, 
where for two years he worked in a dairy, 
and subsequently went to Putnam County, 
Ohio, where he lived for seven years. After 
his marriage, Mr. Tschantz went to Ashta- 
bula, Ohio, where he continued to reside for 
six years, and in 1897 located on the old 
Sacket farm in Copley Township. Two years 
later he purchased forty acres of land in Cop- 
ley, where he resided for three years, at the 
end of which time he purchased a residence 
and ten building lots in Akron. Mr. Tschantz 
removed to his present home in 1899, and in 
1905 purchased thirty acres of land, which 
he farms in connection with the 298 acres 
that he rents from Edward Good. He makes 
a specialty of dairying, having for this pur- 
pose a herd of from twenty-five to thirty finely 
bred cattle. 

Mr. Tschantz was man-ied in Putman 
County, Ohio, to Anna Vungunton, and to 
this union there have been born seven chil- 
dren: Lena, who married Allen Wright; 
William, who married Margaret Hodgson, 
and has one child, Buelah Margaret; Otto, 
who resides in Oregon ; .Tohn, also a resident 
of Oregon ; Charles, who lives at home ; Anna, 
who is a stenographer of Akron; and Lizzie. 
With his family Mr. Tschantz attends the 
Christian Church. 

C. H. PALMER, who is identified with a 
number of Akron's greatest business enter- 
prises, is still in the .vigor of middle age, hav- 
ing been born in 1850, in old Middlebury, 
now- Akron, and is a son of Albert and Ann 
Elizabeth (Hoyc) Palmer. 

Stephen Palmer, the grandfather of C. H.. 
was one of the earliest manufacturers of 
this section. He established a fanning mill 
factory which his son, Albert Palmer, con- 
tinued to operate until about 1850, in which 



year he to went to Tennessee, where, for a 
time he was engaged in the same business. 
In early manhood, Albert Palmer was a 
school teacher. He still survives, and resides 
at Akron, having reached hLs eighty-third 
year, while his wife has rounded out her 
seventy-seventh. 

C. H. Palmer was educated at Kingsville 
Academy. He was only twelve years old 
when he was sent out on his father's wagon, 
to sell matches, and thus from boyhood he 
has been connected with the great corporation 
now known as the Diamond Match Company. 
From the humble position of match boy, Mr. 
Palmer, through diligence and industry 
worked his way up, step by .9tep, through the 
different grades of service until he now occu- 
pies the responsible positions of vice-president 
and general superintendent of the Diamond 
Match Company, as well as a director in the 
same. Mr. Palmer is largely interested in 
many other flourishing enterprises of this 
prosperous city and section. He is president 
and director of the Granite Clay Company; 
trea.surer and a director of the Akron Smok- 
ing Pipe Company ; a director of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Akron ; a director of the Bar- 
berton Savings Bank, at Barberton, and other 
concerns of less magnitude. 

In 1876, Mr. Palmer was married to Ma- 
rion Peckham, who wa.s born, reared and edu- 
cated at Middlebury, and who is a daughter of 
Thomas H. Peckham, one of the earlie.st set- 
tlers at Tallmadge, Summit County. Mr. 
and Mrs. Palmer have one son, Thomas A., 
who is manager of the Barberton branch of 
the Diamond Match factory, and vice-presi- 
dent and a director of the Granite Clay Com- 
pany. He was educated at Case's School of 
Applied Science. Mr. Palmer is a member 
and one of the trustees of the First Church 
of Christ, at Akron. 

WILLIS G. MARSHALL, a well-known 
citizen and general farmer of Norton Town- 
.ship, residing on his farm which lies one-half 
mile north of Johnson's Corners and about 
one-half mile south of Norton Center, was 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



899 



born on this farm, in .Sununit County, Ohio, 
March 2, 1855, and is a son of Robert G. and 
Louisa (Vickers) Marshall. 

Robert Marshall was born in Perry County, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of Joseph Mar- 
shall. He came to Sununit Covnity a.s a 
young man and after his marriage Ixnight the 
farm on which Willis G. resides. Both he 
and wife died on this farm. They had 
twleve children, Willis G. being the youngest 
of the family. 

Willis G. ilarshall wa.s reared on thi.s fine 
old farm and went to school at Norton Center. 
In 1878 he was married to Mary S. Betz, a 
daughter of Alvin D. Betz, and she was reared 
within a half mile of the farm on which Mr. 
Marshall grew up. They have three children 
—Roy G., Leonard E., ^md Nellie M. The 
eldest son is foreman of the hose room of the 
Rubber Products Company, at Barbert-on. He 
married Mabel Cooper and they have three 
.children— Ethel M., Cloyd C, and Ruth I. 
Leonard, the second son, is also employed in 
the Rubber WorlvS. He married Doxie 
Tawney. Miss NelHe resides at home. Both 
sons have built and are living on the place, 
which is now the West corporation limit of 
Barberton. 

Following his marriage. Mr. Marshall lived 
for two years at Norton Center, and then 
ino\'ed to a farm south of Johnson's Corners, 
on which he remained for four yeai-s. He 
then moved to Wayne County, for a three 
years' residence. He moved back to Norton 
for one year and then returned to Wayne 
County, where he remained for fourteen 
years. In the .spring of 1902, he bought the 
old home farm and has carried on agriculture 
here ever since. For three years he also car- 
ried on a dairy, but has discontinued that in- 
dui5try. The family is one that is very highly 
respected in this neighborhood. 

IRVIN R. MANTON, superintendent of 
factory No. 3, Robinson Clay Product Com- 
pany, at Akron, has been connected with this 
large business enterprise ever since he com- 
pleted his education, and his industry, ca- 



{)acity and fidelity have contributed in full 
measia-e to the success of the concern. He 
was born at Akron, Ohio, January 24, 1874, 
and was educated in the schools of Akron, 
with three years of instruction at Saltsburg, 
Pennsylvania. After completing his school 
studies he entered the factory of the Robin- 
son Clay Product Company, of which he has 
been superintendent for the past four years. 
He has engaged rather extensively, also, in 
the breeding of fine horses, at present own- 
ing about fifteen head, they possessing quali- 
ties which make them exceedingly valuable. 
On April 5, 1898, Mr. Manton was mar- 
ried to Fredericka Wickdal Hurxthal, a 
member of one of the old and substantial 
families of Canton, Ohio. They have one 
child, Laona. Mr. Manton is a member of 
the First Presbyterian Church. He has nu- 
merous social connections, being a member of 
the Portage Country Club, the Canton Coun- 
try Club, and the Gentlemen's Driving Club 
of Akron. 

IRVING C. RANKIN, M.D., specialist in 
surgery and diseases of women, is a leading 
practitioner at Akron. He was born at 
Akron, Ohio, -in 1871, and is a .son of George 
T. Rankin. 

Following his graduation from the Akron 
High School, in 1888, Dr. Rankin entered the 
Syracuse University, where he was graduated 
in 1892 with his degree of Bachelor of Phi- 
losophy. He received his Master's Degree 
in 1894. In 1895 he was graduated from the 
medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, and after serving one year as 
an interne in the Allegheny General Hos- 
pital, at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, he located 
at Akron, in 1896. He has been in con- 
tinuous practice in this city ever since, with 
the exception of a part of the year 1904, 
which he spent at Berlin and Vienna, tak- 
ing a post graduate course in the famous 
medical institutions of those cites. Dr. 
Rankin is gynecologist of the Akron Hos- 
pital, and surgeon for a number of the large 
industries of this city, notably, the Quaker 



900 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Oats Company, the' Northern Ohio Traction 
and Light Company, and the Taplin and Rice 
Company. He also carries on a general prac- 
tice. He is a member of the Summit County, 
the Ohio State, the Cleveland, and the North 
Eastern Medical Societies. For three of the 
eleven years in which he has been engaged 
in practice at Akron, Dr. Rankin served as 
city physician. On November 1, 1898, Dr. 
Rankin was mariied to Lena J. Schreuder, of 
Syracuse, New York. Dr. Rankin retains 
membership in his Greek letter college frater- 
nity, the D. K. E.; also belongs to the Ma- 
sonic order. 

JOHN "W. PAYNE, city engineer at 
Akron, was born at Port Clinton, Ottawa 
County, Ohio, in 1857, and like many other 
men now in professional life, was educated 
in the district schools and was reared on the 
paternal farm. 

When Mr. Payne decided to adopte civil en- 
gineering as his profession he entered the en- 
gineering department of the University of 
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was graduated 
in 2883, with his degree of a working Bache- 
lor of Science. Following his departure from 
the university, he worked for the Govern- 
ment, for two years, on the Mississippi River 
survey, and for two years on the Missouri 
River. The death of his brother, who had 
been in the dry goods business at Port Clin- 
ton, recalled him to that city and he took 
charge of that business, removing to Akron, 
Ohio, in 1887, and disposed of it in 1894. 
In 1892, he first began work in the city en- 
gineer's office as assistant, and continued in 
that capacity until 1899, when he was made 
city engineer, an office he has filled evei- 
since. 

In 1886, Mr. Payne was married to Martha 
A. Orchard, of Lima, Ohio, and they have two 
children, "William A. and Mildred. The latr- 
ter resides at home. William A. Payne is 
a student in the engineering department of 
the University of Michigan. Mr. Payne and 
family belong to the Woodland Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee. 



He has been prominent for a number of 
years, in the order of Odd Fellows, is a mem- 
ber of the Encampment, and belongs also to 
the Pathfinders. Formerly he was president 
of the Ohio Engineering Society and still re- 
tains his membership. 

ELMER I. McCAMAN, whose excellent 
farm of 100 acres is situated in Coventry 
Township, about two and one-half miles 
southeast of Barberton, is a native of Summit 
County, Ohio, and was born on the banks of 
Long Lake, in Coventry Township, August 
30, 1871. He is a son of Elihu and Louisa 
W. (Foust) McCaman. 

Isaac McCaman, the grandfather of Elmer 
I., was the founder of this family in Ohio. 
He was born in Ireland and came to America 
accompanied by two brothers, one of whom 
settled first in Maryland, while the other, with 
Isaac, settled in Virginia. In a short time, 
Isaac McCaman pushed north to Ohio and set- 
tled near what is now the town of Uniontown, 
where he died aged forty-five years. His 
widow survives him into old age and died at 
Akron. Of their large family there are two 
survivors, namely : Percilla, who is the widow 
of Adam Cormany, and Lucinda, who is the 
Widow Gruber, residing at Akron. 

Elihu McCaman was reared on the farm 
on which his father had located and through 
youth assisted in clearing the same. In 
young manhood he bought the 3Iary Ellen, 
a tidy little canal boat, on which he and his 
mother lived for a number of years, during 
which time he followed a profitable business 
on the water. After his marriage he retired 
from the canal and disposed of his boat, fol- 
lowing agricultural pursuits in Coventry 
Township until his death, in December, 1899, 
when sixty-eight years of age. In middle 
life he married the widow of Michael Dixon, 
who was a daughter of George and Nellie 
Foust. One of the three children of her first 
marriage still survives, Delilah, who married 
Levi Gaugler. Two children were born to 
her marriage with Elihu McCaman : Elmer 
I., and Ella J., the latter of whom married 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



901 



Charles Rhodenburger and is deceased. By 
a second marriage, to Orange Cook, one child 
was born, George L. The mother of Mr. Mc- 
Caman resides at Barberton. 

Elmer I. McCaman was nine years old 
when his parents moved to the farm in the 
southwest corner of Coventry Township, 
where he went to the old District No. 9 school, 
after which he worked in the shops at Barber- 
ton until his marriage. After this event, he 
went into a sawmill business with his half- 
brother, George Cook, and was a partner in 
the G. L. Cook Lumber Company, of Barber- 
ton, which engaged in business there for four 
years. Mr. McCaman then sold his interest 
to Mr. Cook, and in 1904, he bought his 
present excellent farm, from the Dickerhoof 
heirs. The property was improved to some 
degree, but Mr. McCaman has added to the 
value of the land very materially, by his care- 
ful cultivation and excellent agricultural 
methods. 

Mr. McCaman was married February 13, 
1895, to Clara N. Stefifee ,who is a daughter of 
Amos and Alice (Fairbanks) Steffee. They 
have five children, namely: Carrie, Ellery, 
Edwin, Forest, Orwin, and Sadie B. Mrs. 
McCaman is the eldest of her parents' family 
of four children, the others being: Leon, 
Blanche, and Almira, the latter of whom died 
young. The mother of Mrs. McCaman died 
March 26, 1907, aged fifty-four years, but 
the father still survives. The maternal 
grandfather, Edwin Fairbanks, was a native 
of New York and was one of the earliest set- 
tlers in Copley Township. 

Mr. and Mrs. McCaman are members of 
the United Brethren Church at Lock wood 
Corners, in which he is one of the stewards. 
He is a Democrat. Formally he was a mem- 
ber of the Knights of Pythias, at Barberton. 

HIRAM HANCHETT WALLACE, a 

highly esteemed citizen of Northfield Town- 
ship, was engaged in farming for many years 
but is now retired from active management 
of his farms, though still residing in a com- 
modious residence which he built on one of 



them several years ago. He is the second son 
of the late James W. and Adeline (Hanchett) 
Wallace and was born February 18, 1843, in 
Northfield Township, Summit County, Ohio. 
This branch of the Wallace family became 
American through Robert Wallace, the great- 
great-grandfather of Hiram, who removed 
from Scotland early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury to Londonberry, Ireland, and thence to 
Londonderry, New Hampshire. To Robert 
was born James, and to James came two sons, 
George and Robert, not mentioning the nu- 
merous collateral branches. These brothers, 
George and Robert, having the spirit of ad- 
venture in them, and perhaps being restive 
under the strict New England discipline of 
those days, put good axes over their broad 
shoulders and fat bags of beans on their backs, 
and, leaving their native town of Ackworth, 
New Hampshire, directed their foot-steps west- 
ward. By aid of the axe they supplemented 
the provender in the bags and after traversing 
some six hundred miles of sparcely settled 
country they reached Youngstown, Ohio, 
where they were engaged by a Mr. Samuel 
Menough to chop wood at twelve and one-half 
cents per coid. The two brothers must have 
done more than chop well, for George cap- 
tured the hand of Mr. Menough's daughter 
Harriet, and her sister became Robert's wife. 

In 1806 George Wallace removed to 
Cleveland and purchased twelve acres of land 
on what is now Superior Avenue N. W., run- 
ning from the site of the old Weddell House 
(the present Rockefeller Building) to the 
river, and built thereon a log hotel building. 
It is said that Mr. Wallace paid three hundred 
dollars for this land which, with improve- 
ments at the present time, is worth millions. 

In the latter year Mr. Wallace removed 
with his family to the southern part of North- 
field Township to escape the malarious air 
of Cleveland and to develop a fine water-power 
on a beautiful stream to which Mrs. Wallace 
gave the name of Brandywine. 

Here George Wallace purchased a largo 
tract of land and built and operated a grist- 
mill, saw-mill, woolen-mill and a distillery, 



902 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



making Brandywine the greate.st business 
point between Cleveland and Pittsburg. He 
remained active in his many enterprises until 
his death in 1846, at the age of seventy-three. 
Though not a church member he was a liberal 
supporter of the Presbyterian Church, his 
day-book now in possession of his grand-son 
Hiram, .showing among other items the entry 
of ten gallons of whiskey armually towards 
the minister's stipend ; the good liquor of that 
day and locality being known as "Brandy- 
wine currency." He left four children: 
James AVaugh, George Young, who was one of 
the early sheriffs of Portage County, Eme- 
line, and Perkins, a physician. 

James W. Wallace, father of Hiram, be- 
came one of the most widely known and uni- 
versally respected of the older residents of 
Smnmit County. Born in Youngstown, No- 
vember 27, 1803, he Avas three years of age 
M-hen the family removed to Cleveland and 
began the limited school curriculum of the 
time. Early in life he was intrusted with 
business interests by his father, at the age of 
fifteen managing alone the general store at 
Brandywine with its large and varied stock of 
goods. About 1825, in company with his 
brother George Y., he took immediate charge 
of the different branches of the Brandywine 
business including a twelve hundred acre 
farm on which were kept 2,000 to 2,500 sheep, 
seventy to seventy-five head of cattle and ten 
to fifteen horses. As an index to the time it 
is interesting to note that the total tax on this 
property was then but five dollars. Later, m 
a.ssociation with his father, he built many 
miles of the Ohio Canal and the aqueduct at 
Roscoe. Large tracts of the AVestern Reserve 
were faaniliax to him, as for years he was the 
representative of the Land Company which 
(iriginally owned tliat section of Ohio. This 
together with his otJier diversified interests, 
brought him ^Aade acquaintance in the ter- 
ritory between Cleveland and Pittsburg. His 
unfailing courtesy to all, combined with just 
but considerate business methods, made him 
the grand old man of the time and section. 

On September 8, 1836, Mr. Wallace mar- 



ried Adeline Hanchett, daughter of lliraui 
and Mary Hanchett. Previous to 1841 Mr. 
Hanchett built the "Lady of the Lake," the 
first good vessel built on Lake Erie, wliich is 
said to have paid for herself in two trips to 
and from Buffalo. From this union there 
were seven children: George, deceased; 
Hiram Hanchett, the subject of this sketch; 
Mary, wife of Mr. Lorin Bliss, treasurer of 
Northfield Township; AA^arner AA^, a retired 
farmer of Lexington, Ky. ; Leonard C. a re- 
tired farmer of Macedonia, Ohio; Jo.seph, 
who died in infancy ; Margaret Stanhope, 
wife of Mr. II. R. P. Hamilton, architect, 
Cleveland. After residing for several years 
in the .substantial homestead built liy the 
head of the family and overlooking the Fails 
of the Brandywine, Mr. and Mrs. AVallace re- 
moved, in 1870, to Maple Mound on the road 
leading from Macedonia to Hudson where in 
comfortable retirement, with childi'en and 
grandchildren about them, they enjoyed their 
later years, Mrs. AA'allace living until March 
15, 1885, and her husband until September 
28, 1887, their lives fully rounded in all 
relation,s of the home, the world and the 
church. 

Their second son, Hiram Hanchett Wal- 
lace, received his education in the Northfield 
public schools and at AVestern Reserve Col- 
lege, and remained at the home in Brandy- 
wine until his marriage Decemljcr 18, 
1867, to Marianna Mearns, daughter of Air. 
John Mearns of Cecil County, Maryland. To 
them were born : Adeline Rebecca, now 
deceased ; Belle Alearns,' who became the wife 
of Air. Clark Dillow of Brecksville and is 
deceased, leaving two children, James Hiram 
and Elizabeth; Anna AVaugh, married to the 
Rev. Mr. AVm. T. Hammond of Northeast, 
Maryland, both deceased, leaving a daughter, 
Rebecca; Alargaret, deceased; George H., an 
intelligent farmer of Northfield who married 
Miss Emma Rudgers of Brecksville and has 
an infant daughter; Schuyler J., a promising 
young attorney of Cleveland; Harvey Bald- 
win, a.s.sistant manager of a large manufactur- 
ing concern in Detroit, who married Miss 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



903 



Olive Snyder, and also has an infant daugh- 
ter; Marianna Mearns, who since infancy 
has been as a daughter to her aunt, Mrs. Lorin 
Bliss, Mrs. Wallace dying February 18, 
1887, shortly after childbirth. 

In 1891 Mr. Wallace married (second) 
Mary Jane, daughter of the late Mr. James 
Fayen^veather of Boston Township. 

Soon after his firet marriage ]\Ir. Wallace 
settled in Pocahontas County, luwa, in the 
same neighborhood as his brother George, 
where he fanned extensively until 1879, when 
he sold hL-> holdings and, returning to North- 
field, bought the Proctor farm. Lot 04. In 
1885 he increased his acreage by the purchase 
of the- Boyd farm, Lot Ho. and on a .-igluly 
eminence well removed from the public high- 
ways, he erected hLs present handsome resi- 
dence, which was completed in 1891. Beau- 
tiful shade trees, fruitful orchards, well kept 
gardens, a large barn with the lusual outbuild- 
ings, and an inexhaustible pure water supply, 
on an automatic system, make evident the 
thrift and comfort which prevail. His farms, 
through intelligent care and foresight, have 
been kept up to the high standard which 
might be expected and are now managed by 
his first son who resides in the substantial 
brick dwelling built sixty years ago by Mr. 
Daniel Proctor. 

Mr. Wallace's religious training and be- 
liefs are Presbyterian, of which church he is 
a supporter; his politics are Republican and 
he has served .several terms as township trus- 
tee in Iowa and for years he was a leading 
spirit in the Northfield Board of Education 
which has brought to a high standard the 
schools that he attended as a child. Natu- 
rally Mr. Wallace is widely known and enjoys 
an enviable reputation in the esteem of his 
extended acquaintance. 

WILLIAM JACOB FRYMAN, general 
farmer and stockraiser, owns ninety-one 
acres of excellent farming land in Bath Town- 
ship, which has been his home for the past 
twenty years. He was Ijorn January In. 18B1, 
in Copley Township. Summit Covnity, Ohio. 



and is a son of Joel and Mary Jane (Simons) 
Fryman. 

Daniel Fryman, the grandfather of Wil- 
liam J., was a native of Pennsylvania, who 
came from that State on foot, with his dog 
and gun, and continued his walk through 
Sunmiit County to Medina County, Ohio, 
where he later spent many years on his farm 
south of \\^xdsworth. He subsequently re- 
turned to Summit County and settled in Cop- 
lev Township, where ho died in October, 
1874. 

Joel Fryman was born and reared in Me- 
dina County, Ohio, and in early manhood 
came to Copley Township, Summit County, 
where he was married. In 1870, he went to 
Williams Countj', Ohio, but after three years 
returned to Summit County and purchased a 
farm in Portage Township, where he and 
his wife still live. He was married to Mary 
Jane Simons, who was born at Lockwood'.^' 
Corners, in Coventrj' Township, and is a 
daughter of Henry Simons, a native of Eng- 
land, who secured the fii'st marriage license 
taken out in Summit County, Ohio. He set- 
tled in Coventry Township at an early day, 
and there became the owner of a large tract 
of land. Mrs. Fryman's mother died when 
she was five years old, and she went to live 
with here uncle, William Carpenter, and was 
known on this account as Mary Jane Carpen- 
ter. To Mr. and Mrs. Fryman there were 
boi-n eight children : Sarah, who is the wife 
(jf Frank Swift ; William J. ; Arvella, who 
married Thomas Carter; Mary, who died 
when three years old; Ella, who married 
Heiu-y Moeler; Plomer; Frank, who died 
when thirteen years old; and Cora, who died 
aged about one year. 

Until twenty-one years of age, Wilhani 
Jacob Fryman remained on the home farm in 
Portage Township, and he then started to 
work as a farm liand. In Febinjary, 1895, 
he bougtit two-thirds of a farm of 116 acres, 
formerly the McMillan property, which is lo- 
cated one and one-half miles west of Montrose, 
but as there was a dispute as to the title, he 
was obliged to repurchase it. He cultivates 



904 



■HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the whole 116 acres and in addition forty-six 
acres belonging to his father-in-law, Norton 
Hubbard, whose home is almost across the 
road from Mr. Fryman's, in Copley Town- 
ship. Mr. Fryman has engaged very exten- 
sively in raising draft horses, and a number 
of fine animals belonging to him are in the 
service of the Akron Fire Department, the 
Lyman Lumber Company and the Akron 
breweries. 

On December 27, 1883, Mr. Fryman was 
married to Lena Hubbard, who was born in 
Copley Township, on a farm in sight of her 
present home, and is a daughter of Norton 
and Harriet (Miller) Hubbard. The mother 
of Mrs. Fryman died December 30, 1888, 
and her father November 4, 1907. Norton 
Hubbard was born at Batavia, New York, and 
on Christmas night, 1830, was brought by 
his uncle to Copley Township and they set- 
tled in a little log cabin. He lived in Sum- 
mit County for seventy-seven years and was 
one of its most highly esteemed citizens. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Fryman one child was bom: 
Eex, who resides at home. 

Mr. Fryrnan is a member of the National 
Protective Legion, to which all of the family 
belong. He is a deacon in the Church of 
Christ at Copley. 

PHILANDER D. HALL, JR., capitalist 
and traveler, who owns a vast amount of valu- 
able realty in and about Akron and is identi- 
fied with a number of the city's prosperous 
enterprises, was born at Bridgeport, Connecti- 
cut, July 10, 1854, and is a son of Lorenzo 
and Mary J. (Hubbell) Hall. 

The late Lorenzo Hall was one of the early 
merchants of Akron and for years was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Hall Brother, a name that 
for a long period stood for business acumen 
and commercial integrity. Lorenzo Hall ac- 
quired a large fortune and became one of 
Akron's most valuable citizens. He died 
January 9, 1892. He married Mary J. Hubbel, 
and they had two sons, Frank L. and Phi- 
lander D., Jr., The former is one of the lead- 
ing attorneys of the city of New York. He 



was a student in the office of David Dudley 
Field, in New York, and is a graduate of Yale 
College and of the Law School of Columbia 
College. 

Philander D. Hall, J., who bears the hon- 
ored name of his uncle, the late Philander 
D. Hall, was four years of age when his father 
came to Akron. He was reared in this city, 
attended first the primary and then the High 
School here, and then became a student in the 
Columbia preparatory school, of New York 
city. He continued there for two years and 
completed his education at Strasberg, Ger- 
many, where he took a special course. Upon 
his return to his native land, he engaged in a 
wholesale hardware business at San Francisco, 
for a period and then came to Akron and took 
charge of the Hall Brothers store, which he 
managed for five years, or until the death of 
his venerable uncle. After selling the store, 
Mr. Hall was engaged for a considerable time 
in looking after the large amount of real estate 
which had come into his possession. He is 
interested in the Colonna Tire and Rubber 
Company, and the Swinehardt Rubber Com- 
pany, and is a stockholder in a number of like 
concerns. He is one of the directors of the 
National City Bank of Akron and has in- 
terests in New York. During the past year, 
Mr. Hall has been a resident of London, Eng- 
land, where he has represented the Firestone 
Rubber Tire Company. He has spent much 
time in travel and is familiar with various 
parts of Europe, having but recently returned 
from visiting France and Italy. 

On June 28, 1894, Mr. Hall was married 
to Eva M. Grant, of Cleveland, and they 
have one son, Frank Hurlburt. Mr. Hall 
was reared in the Episcopal Church and is a 
vestryman of the Church of Our Savior at 
Akron. 

E. C. SHAW, general manager of works 
of the B. F. Goodrich Company, at Akron, 
has been a resident of this wide-awake city 
since 1893, and is numbered with her suc- 
cessful business men. Mr. Shaw was born in 
1863, at Buffalo, New York. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



905 



After receiving au excellent public school 
training in his native city, Mr. Shaw entered 
Yale College, where he was graduated in the 
class of 1886. Upon his return to Buffalo, 
he engaged in an electric light business until 
1893, when he came to Akron to take charge 
of the Akron Electric Light Company, re- 
maining with that organization for that year 
and in 1894 coming to the B. F. Goodrich 
Company in the capacity of a mechanical and 
electrical engineer. Mr. Shaw soon became 
assistant superintendent of this great concern, 
later was made superintendent, and since 
January 1, 1907, has been general manager of 
works of a company whose products are of 
world-wide fame. In 1897, Mr. Shaw was 
married to Jennie L. Bond, of New York 
city. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and 
is a popular member of the Poi-tage Country 
club. 

ISAAC LEIBY, one of Copley Township's 
most respected citizens, owns a valuable farm 
of 131 1-2 acres, which has been managed 
by his son since Mr. Leiby retired from active 
life. He was born on his father's farm in 
Columbia County, Pennsylvania, November 
10, 1821, and is a son of Jacob and Mary 
Leiby. 

Mr. Leiby comes of Pennsylvania Dutch 
stock, of people noted for their industry and 
honesty. His father was also born in Penn- 
sylvania and engaged in farming and dis- 
tilling. He servived his wife and lived to 
the unusual age of ninety years. They had 
a family of thirteen children, and all but one 
of these reached maturity and all have passed 
to their final reward except Isaac, and his sis- 
ter Emeline, who married Charles Krum. 

Isaac Leiby worked with his father until 
he was about twenty years old and then 
learned the carpenter trade. He has worked 
at this more or less all his life and even at 
the age of eighty-six years can do a good piece 
of work in this line. He had very little 
chance to go to school in his boyhood and 
never learned the English language until he 
was grown, the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect 



being used entirely in the neighborhood in 
which he lived. When he was twenty-five 
years old he was married to Mary Heimbaug, 
and about two year later, with his wife and 
two little ones, the youngest but a few weeks 
old, he started in a one-horse wagon, with the 
intention of acquiring land and settling in 
Norton Township, Summit County,- Ohio, 
both of which he accomplished. When Mr. 
and Mrs. Leiby reached Akron they found a 
small village, which then had no railroad 
connection, and the houses then standing were 
not of the kind Mr. Leiby afterward built all 
through this section. 

Mr. Leiby came to Summit County a poor 
but honest, temperate and industrious man, 
and it was not very long after he settled 
here that he bought his first tract of land, 
twenty acres, from a ilr. Myers, and then 
forty acres from S. J. Spake, and to this 
he soon added thirteen and one-eighth acres, 
bought of David Miller. From time to time, 
as a good piece of land came upon the mar- 
ket, he bought until he owned 141 1-2 acres. 
Recently he has sold ten acres. W^hen hfi 
settled here he lived for a short time in the 
log house that was standing, but before long 
put up the nice residence which has stood for 
fifty years. Its construction w^as so substan- 
tial that no repairs have been necessary until 
recently, when Mr. Leiby put down a ne^y 
porch floor, and it was well done. 

The wife of Mr. Leiby died September 14, 
1899. They had seven children, as follows; 
Leander, who married Amanda Houghlan; 
Charles, who married Mary Miller; Henry, 
who married Jennie Jones; Aaron, who man- 
ages the home farm ; Lovena C. ; Mary Eliza- 
beth, who married L. Squires ; and Samantha 
Jane, who married W. Stonebrook. 

In politics Mr. Leiby and his son Aaron axe 
both stanch Democrats. During the time he 
served as road supervisor, the township prof- 
ited by his good judgment and close attention 
to the work in hand. He is a leading mem- 
ber of the Reformed Church in his neigh- 
borhood, in which he has served as deacon for 
many years and elder for the past five years. 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



W. A. SACKETT, M.D., a prominent 
medical practitioner at Akron, was born in 
Copley Township, Summit County, Ohio, in 
1866, and is a son of the late William C. 
Sackett, a well-known citizen. 

William C. Sackett was born at Warren, 
Connecticut, in October, 1827, and died in 
Summit County, in November, 1902. He 
was a son of Aaron and Huldah Camilla 
(Tanner) Sackett, and was ten year old when 
his parents emigrated to Tallmadge Town- 
ship, Summit County. He was a representa- 
tive man of his section, deeply interested in 
its development and evinced public spirit and 
enterprise. In 1851 he went to California. 
later to Oregon, and after four j'ears in the 
far W^est, he returned to Ohio. Here he pur- 
cha'ied a large farm from George Sackett, 
his brother, and carried on extensive agricul- 
tural pursuits until 1893, when he moved 
to a farm in Portage Township. Here he 
continued to reside until 1898, removing then 
to a farm he bought in Coventry Township, 
where his death occurred. For a period of 
five years he w;as president of the Summit 
County Agricultural Society. On March 18, 
1857, he married Harriet L. Galbraith, who 
was a daughter of Henry H. and Ann (Lang- 
worthy) Galbraith. 

Dr. W. A. Sackett graduated from the 
Akron High School in 1885, and from Ober- 
lin College, in 1890, with the degree of A. B. 
In 1893 he was graduated from the iVIedical 
Department of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and the A. M. degree has since been 
conferred on him by Oberlin College. Dr. 
Sackett immediately located at Akron, where 
he has met with hearty recognition. He is 
a member of the Summit County, the Ohio 
State Sixth Councilor District and the Ameri- 
can Medical Association. 

Until her lamented death in Janu.ary, 1906, 
the venerable mother of Dr. Sackett resided 
upon the farm in Coventry Township. She 
was born at Mogadore, Summit County, Ohio, 
July 25, 1837, and was a daughter of Henry 
Galbraith, who was born near Belfast, Ireland. 
He came to Canada in bovhood and in 1836 



to Summit County, where he became a well- 
known citizen. He survived until 1893. 
Fraternally, Dr. Sackett l-< a Mason. Ke- 
ligiously, he is a member of the First Con- 
gregational Church. 

S. A. KEPLER, dairyman, and owner of 
forty-three acres of excellent farming land, 
situated in Coventry Township, five miles 
south of Akron, was born December 9, 1864, 
on the home farm, in the old log house situ- 
ated on the hill, in Coventry Township. 
Summit County, Ohio. His parents are 
Samuel and Susanna (Swigart) Kepler. 

Samuel Kepler was born in Green Town- 
shil). Sununit County. Ohio, and is a son of 
Jacob Kepler, who owned nuich land in Green 
Township and also worked as a mechanic. 
Samuel was the eldest son of Jacob, and on 
him fell many of the heavy duties of the farm. 
In early manhood he was married to SiLsanna 
Swigart, who was one of a family of fifteen 
children born to George Swigart, who lived 
in Franklin Township, Summit County. 
Samuel Kepler and wife had seven children, 
namely: Uriah, residing in Kansas; Anuh, 
the widow of H. C. Preyer, residing at Cleve- 
land; Jacob, residing at Barberton; Samuel 
Adam; Minnie, who married Dr. Roden- 
tjaugh, residing at Barberton; and Jefferson 
and Rahama, both of whom died young, of 
scarlet fever. Mr. and Mrs. Kepler reside 
in a fine large residence, at No. 56 South 
Broadway^ Akron, moving there after .selling 
a farm of 19(5 acres. He still owns 138 acres 
in Coventry Township. 

Samuel Adam Kepler grew up on the old 
home place and attended District School No 
6, when home duties were not too pressing. 
He remained assisting his father until 1888, 
and when he married he bought his present 
farm from his father. At that time there 
were no buildings on the place and all the 
improvements, house, barns and other struc- 
tures he has put here. His barns, where his 
milk is handled, are model buildings, with 
cement floors and with every convenience and 
sanitary condition required in modern days. 




J. R. CAMPBELL 



AND KEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



909 



Hi^ dairy products are fir.~t-clasri in t-very par- 
ticular and meet with ready i^ale. 

On September 23, 1893, Mr. Kepler was 
married to Maggie B. Grubb, who wa.s born at 
Manchester, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
daughter of William and Ro.<e (Mills) 
Grubb. The father of Mrs. Kepler is de- 
ceased. The mother rasides with Mr. and 
Mrs. Kepler. For twenty years she was ma- 
tron of the Summit County Children's Home. 
They had sL\ children: Harry, residing at 
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Edwin, residing 
at Paine, Ohio, where he is a physician : 
Maggie B. ; Catherine, who married E. Baum- 
gardner; Artie; and Elma, who married 
Charles Adams. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kepler have one son, Chester 
Sterling. 

In his fraternal relations Mr. Kepler be- 
longs to the Masonic lodge at Barberton. and 
he is prominent as a Knight of Pythias, hav- 
ing twice represented his lodge at Sandusky 
and the Grand Lodge of the order at Colum- 
bus. He is one of the substantial men and 
successful agriculturi.sts of Coventrv Town- 
ship. 

J. R. CAMPBELL, who is interested in a 
real estate and insurance business, with of- 
fices in the Arcade Building, Akron, is a sur- 
vivor of the Civil War, having spent several 
years in the sei"vice of his country. Mr. 
Campbell was born in Green Township, 
Wayne County, Ohio, December 15, 1843, 
and L< a son of John Campbell, who formerly 
conducted a tannery at Smithville, Wayne 
County. 

J. R. Campbell was reared and educated 
in his native place, where he learned the 
tanning busines.*. On August fi, 1862, he en- 
listed in the Union army for three years, en- 
tering Company H, 102nd Regiment, 0. V. 
I. In February, 1863, he was honorably dis- 
charged on account of disability, but in May, 
1864, he re-enlisted, becoming a member of 
Company A. 169th Regiment, 0. V. I., and 
was stationed at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia, 
until the expiration of his second term of 



service, when he was again honorably dis- 
charged. He returned to his home and be- 
gan work as a tanner, his father purchasing 
a tannery at Smithville. ThLs plant Mr. 
Ca.mi)bell purchased of his father in 1872, 
Init the venture proved disastrous on account 
of the panic of 1873. In 1879 he came to 
.\kron, and being without capital, went to 
work for James Christy & Sous for $1.25 a 
day, pending better business pros{>ects. For 
,-i.\ months he lived frugally and economic- 
ally, when things took a turn for the better, 
and now Mr. Campbell owns property val- 
ued at $6,000. In his case, energy, patience 
and perseverance brought a sure reward. For 
( leven years he was at the head of the mal- 
leable department of the Whitman-Barnes 
Company, and in 1897 he was elected justice 
of the peace, in w^hich oltice he served nine 
years, or three terms. He made an excellent 
(ifticer and was noted for his wise decisions 
and incorruptible judicial attitude on all oc- 
casions. Since retiring from that office he 
has devoted himself to the real estate and in- 
surance business, and although competition 
is keen at Akron, he has had no trouble in 
securing a large part of the businet*s along 
these lines. He has been prominently iden- 
tified with the beneficiary order of Royal 
Arcanum for a number of years, and has 
done much to build up that organization in 
this section. 

In 1867 Mr. Campbell was married to Mary 
M. Bacheman, who is a daughter of Rev. 
Bacheman, a minister of the Reformed 
Church, and they have three children, 
namely: Arietta C, Homer C. and Carrie 
M. The latter is the widow of Robert E. 
Patterson, and resides at home. The older 
daughter is the wife of C. F. Tobey, residing 
at Cleveland. Homer C. Campbell, a practic- 
ing attorney at Cleveland, graduated with 
second honors at the Akron High School 
and later at the Adelbert Law School. 

Mr. Campbell is a member of the First 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Akron and 
has been identified with its Charity Associa- 
tion. He is serving in his twelfth year as 
chaplain of Buckley Post, G. A. R.. ha«! been 



910 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



all through the chairs of the organization, 
and was commander in 1895. He is serving 
also as secretary of the county board of the 
Soldiers' Relief Commission. 

WILLIAM SOUERS, a prominent citizen 
and retired agriculturist of Summit County, 
who resides in his beautiful home at Ken- 
more, was born May 16, 1841, in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son 
of David and Catherine (Smith) Souers. 

Phillip Souers, the grandfather of William 
Souers, brought his family from Pennsyl- 
vania to Green Township, Summit County, 
and settled as a pioneer in the woods, where 
he lived for about forty years, clearing a 
small farm and pursuing the carpenter trade. 
In his later years he removed to Roanoke, 
Indiana, near Fort Wayne, where he died at 
the ripe old age of ninety years. His first 
wife having died in Green Township in 
1851, Phillip Souers was married a second 
time in Indiana. To the first union there 
were bom five children: David; Allen; 
Sarah, who married Daniel Wiltrout; Mary, 
who married George Weston; and Elhanon, 
all now deceased. 

David Souers, father of William, was just 
a boy when the trip to Ohio was made in 
wagons, and his youth was spent in helping 
his father to clear the home farm. When 
still a young man he learned the carpenter 
trade, at which he worked until his marriage, 
when he bought a farm of about eighty acres 
in Franklin Township, which he sold after a 
number of years, in 1857, buying 120 acres 
of land from John R. Buchtel. This land, 
now known as the Cobern Allotment, cost him 
fifty dollars per acre, and here he carried 
on operations for three years, when he traded 
it off and removed to the Reservoir farm in 
Coventry Township, where his death occurred 
September 29, 1888, at the age of seventy- 
eight years, his widow surviving him until 
April 17, 1892, when she died aged seventy- 
seven years. In 1840, Mr. Souers was mar- 
ried to Catherine Smith, whose family also 
came from the East, and to this union there 



were born six children: William; Daniel, 
who resides in Akron; Ellen, the widow of 
Daniel Warner; Sanford, who is deceased; 
Frank, who lives at Akron ; and Charles who 
is a resident of Coventry. 

William Souers was bom in one of the 
first frame houses erected in this section of 
Franklin Township, and grew up on the 
farm, where most of his boyhood was spent. 
He attended the district school, which was 
situated about four miles from his home, and 
also worked for some time at New Portage. 
He lived with his father until thirty-one 
years of age, when he rented the farm where 
Kenmore is now located, a tract of seventy- 
five acres, from George Strawhecker. After 
living there about ten years, Mr. Souers pur- 
chased the farm at ninety dollars per acre, 
and here he continued to operate another ten 
years, when he sold the property to W. A. 
Johnson for about $12,000, and removed to 
his beautiful residence in Kenmore, where he 
and his wife have since lived in quiet retire- 
ment. At the time Mr. Souers first located 
on this property it was a barren waste of 
land, and he has seen it grow into one of the 
most beautiful sections of Coventry Town- 
ship, the town of Kenmore. In business 
circles Mr. Souers is regarded as a man of 
good judgment and clear insight, while as a 
citizen and as a neighbor he is held in high 
esteem. In political life he is a Republican, 
but he has sought no political preferment. 
With his family he belongs to the Evangelical 
Church at Kenmore, in which he is class 
leader. 

William Souers was married in 1864, to 
Susan Weaver, who was born in Coventry 
Township, and is a daughter of Daniel E. 
and Rebecca (Renninger) Weaver, the 
former of whom was a native of Ohio and 
the latter of Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs 
Souers there have been born four children, 
namely: One who died in infancy; John, 
who died when twelve years old ; George, 
who died at the age of nine years; and 
Mary, who married Aaron Faylor, and resides 
at Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Faylor have one 
child, Ray. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



911 



FRED W. WOLF, dealer in staple and 
fancy groceries and smoked meats, who has 
an excellent business location at No. 41 Ad- 
ams Street, Akron, was bom in 1867, at 
Cuyahoga Falls, and was brought to Akron 
in his infancy, where he was reared and edu- 
cated, graduating from the Akron High 
School in 1885. 

Following his graduation, Mr. Wolf be- 
came identified with a business house, the 
Whitman & Barnes Company, with which 
he remained for thirteen years, during five 
years of this period being employed at the 
branch conducted at West Pullman, Chicago, 
After leaving West Pullman, Mr. Wolf en- 
gaged, in 1899, in a grocery business at 
Akron and purchased the stock of Mr. Ely 
and isubsequently the property at No. 41 
Adams Street, a building two stories high, 
with basement, its dimensions being 22x60 
feet. In the rear he has a warehouse which 
is 24x30 feet. Business men generally con- 
sidered it an excellent investment. Mr. Wolf 
is also one of the stockholders of the Aladdin 
Rubber Company, the Tyler Wholesale Com- 
pany, the Akron Brewing Company, and 
others. In 1890^ Mr. Wolf was married to 
Helena McMullen, of Akron, and they have 
three children: Cecelia, Howard and Ralph. 
Mr. Wolf is a Mason, belonging to Blue 
Lodge, Chapter, Council, and Commandery, 
and is also a member of the Masonic club. 

WILIAM M. VANDERSALL, who owns a 
valuable farm of ninety-four acres in Co- 
ventry Township, situated about five miles 
south of Akron, belongs to an old pioneer 
family of this section and was bom in Green 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, June 8, 
1851. He is a son of Samuel and Susanna 
(Yearick) Vandersall. 

Samuel Vandersall was born in Lancaster 
County, Pennsylvania, and was a son of 
Jacob Vandersall, who was born in Germany 
and sailed for America, in childhood, with 
his parents. They were unfortunate in their 
choice of a sailing vessel, as it lost its course 
and before landing was made, many of the 



poor emigrants star\'ed to death. Perhaps 
this would have been the fate of the Vander- 
sall family had not Jacob found a place in the 
hold of the vessel where rats had a nest and 
at night when the rodents came out, he would 
catch them and thus provide food which kept 
the party from starving. The Vandersalls 
settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
and Jacob Vandersall, the grandfather of 
William M. became a preacher there in the 
Evangelical Church and preached also after 
he came to Stark County, Ohio. He had 
the following children: Jacob, John, David, 
Samuel, Mary A., Catherine and Elizabeth. 

On the Stark County farm, Samuel Van- 
dersall grew to manhood, helping to clear the 
land and also learning the wagon-making 
trade, having a shop of his own for several 
years. After his marriage he moved to Sum- 
mit County and settled on a farm in Green 
Township, on which he lived for forty-five 
yeare, his death taking place there in 1892, 
at the age of seventy-nine years. He was 
married January 21, 1834, to Susanna Year- 
ick, who was born on her father's farm m 
Green Township and who still sundves, now 
being the oldest woman in that township, hav- 
ing passed her ninety-second birthday, June 
17, 1907. She has often told her children of 
her girlhood, when she used to pasture the 
cows on the site of the present great reservoir. 
The children of Samuel and Susanna Vander- 
sall were the following: John, residing on 
his farm of 160 acres in Coventry Township ; 
Mary, who married George Gougler; Abra- 
ham, at present preaching at Wellsville, Ohio, 
in the Evangelical Church; Simon, an Evan- 
gelical preacher, residing at Salem. Oregon; 
Sarah, residing on the old homestead with 
her venerable mother ; Joseph ; Elias Wesley ; 
William Madison,- Cornelius, who is deceased; 
and Daniel 0. 

William M. Vandersall grew to manhood 
on his father's farm in Green Township and 
obtained a good education for the time and 
locality, attending the district schools and a 
private school at Greensburg. He was, how- 
ever, expected to do his share of farm work 



912 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and thus he was trained both physically aii'l 
mentally. Shortly after his marriage he j air- 
chased his present farm, from William 
Shutt, his father-in-law. For a few years he 
lived with his family on his father's farm 
and for two years at Pleasant Valley, and then 
returned to this farm wliere he has remained 
ever since. He has always carried on a 
general line of farming and is numbered with 
the township's successful men. 

On September 1, 1876, Mr. Vandersall was 
married to Samantha Shutt, who is a daugh- 
ter of William and Susan (Cook) Shutt. 
They have had five children, namely : Clara 
E., who is a successful and valued teacher in 
the public schools of Akron; Herman M., 
who is a carpenter; Gomer, who died aged 
fourteen months; Laura C, residing at Ken- 
more ; and Ora, residing at home. Mr. 
Vandersall and family belong to the Evan- 
gelical Church at Kenmore, and at various 
times he has served in church offices. He 
is. one of the sterling men of the town.ship 
and he and family are all held in great es- 
teem. 

CHARLES SWITZER, one of Sunnnit 
County's mast substantial citizens whose mag- 
nificent farm of over 200 acres is situated in 
the southeastern corner of Coventry Town- 
ship, was born August 28, 1822, in York 
County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of An- 
drew and Eva (Stumer) Switzer. 

The grandpai'ents of Charles Switzer, who 
spelled the name Schweitzer, came from Ger- 
many and settled in York County, Pennsyl- 
vania, where they spent the remainder of 
their lives. They had two sons, the young- 
est of whom was Andrew, the father of 
Charles. Andrew Schweitzer grew up on the 
farm in York County, Pennsylvania, bu]t 
about twelve yeai's after marriage removed 
with his wife and five children to Indiana 
County, Pennsylvania, where they settled on 
a rented farm. In about 1832-3 the family 
went, to Portage County, Ohio, making the 
journey by four-horse team and wagon, and 
liere Mr. Schweitzer purchased a farm of sev- 



rnty-llve acre,-^, four acres of which were 
cleared and a log house built thereon. With 
the lielp of his children he cleared this prop- 
erty, and here made his home until after the 
death of his first wife, when he removed to 
Greensburg, Ohio, .south of East Liberty, and 
here his death occurred in his eighty-second 
\"ear. Andrew Schweitzer was married (first) 
to Eva Sturmer, whose parents had also come 
from Germany to, York County, Pennsyl- 
vania, where she was born. She died on the 
Portage County farm in her fifty-sec- 
ond year, having been the mother of 
six children : Elizabeth, who married a 
Mr. Hilderbrand; Christiana, who mar- 
ried George Enders, lives in Califor- 
nia, aged ninety-three years; Catherine, 
who married Adam Yerick ; John, who died 
at the age of ten years; Charles; and Sarah, 
who married Franklin Tousley. Mr. 
Schweitzer was married (second) at Greens- 
burg, Ohio, to Barbara Sweitzer, who survived 
him ten years. 

Charles Switzer had to contend early in 
life with a lack of educational opportunities, 
as his services were demanded on the home 
farm, first in York County, Pennsylvania, 
and later in Indiana County, even before he 
had reached his tenth year. In his native 
State he received about- one month's school- 
ing, and after the family located in Portage 
County, Ohio, he attended school for short 
periods at odd times, and later received about 
two and one-half months' educational train- 
ing in Sunnnit County. When about twenty 
years of age Mr. Switzer left home to make 
his own way, going to East Liberty, Ohio, 
where he worked for John Castitter at farm- 
ing, receiving twelve dollars i:>er month and 
his board, which were considered very high 
wages in that day. He continued with Mr. 
Castitter for two summers and then spent 
one season in the employ of Adam Yerrick. 
After his mariage, Mr. Switzer rented a part 
of his present property, which was then owned 
liy his father-in-law, John Tousley, and here 
he has made his home ever since. By 1853, 
he had accumulated enough capital to enable 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



913 



him to j)urclia.'^e tliis exi-ellent i(roi)erty, a 
tract of over 200 acres, and here he erected 
a large eight-room frame hourie, a substantial 
barn and good outbuildings. Although re- 
tired from active pureuits for the past twenty 
years, Mr. Switzer still superintends the opera- 
tion of his farm, which is conceded to be one 
of the finest in Ihiii section of the county. 
In 1880, a fine vein of <?oal was discovered 
on a part of this property, and for twelve years 
it was mined by the Todd Stanbaugh Com- 
pany.. iSIr. S\\atzer has been a stock holder 
in the People's Savings Bank since that insti- 
tution's organization, and is a stock holder 
and director in the Dime Savings Bank at 
Akron. 

On October 6, 1844, Charles Switzer was 
married to Rebecca Tousley, who was the 
daughter of John and Rebecca Tousley, and 
to this union there were born five children, 
namely: John A., who married Anna Leach; 
Joel B., who married Mary Yerick; Orlando, 
who died at the age of three years: Almira, 
who married John Brown ; and Daniel Scott, 
who married Mazie Stoolberrv'. The mother 
of these children died in 1862. aged thirty- 
seven veal's. In October, 1884, Mr. S'vvitzcr 
wa-: man-ied (second) to Lydia j\I. Boone, who 
was the daughter of George Boone. Here 
death occurred in April, 1904, at the age of 
sixty-two years. 

Mr. Switzer is a Republican. He has al- 
ways taken an interest in the affairs 
of his community and has l>een found at the 
head of movements calculated to be of public 
benefit although he has never .-nought political 
office. 

WILLIAM F. LAUBACH, treasurer and 
general manager of the Akron People's Tele- 
phone Company, was born at .'Vllentown. 
Pennsylvania, and was four years old when 
his parents moved to Ix)yal Oak, Summit 
County, Ohio, where he received his early 
educational training. Later he attended 
tlie Copley High School. 

When fifteen years of age, Mr. Laubach 
came to Akron and began to learn the jewelrv 



trade under one of the leading jewelei"s of the 
city, devoting his evenings to advancing his 
knowledge, especially along the line of com- 
mercial college work. From 1878 until 1883, 
Mr. Laubach served an apprenticeship under 
the supervision of the firm of Foltz & F'rank, 
and continued wnth them as a clerk until 
1892, when he was admitted to partnership 
and remained active in the business until 
1900. Failing health warned him to change 
his occupation, and he then identified himself 
with the Akron People's Telephone Com- 
panj', becoming treasurer and general man- 
ager. 

In 1898, Mr. Laubach was married to 
Grace Henry, who is a daughter of M. W. 
Henry, one of Akron's pioneer merchants. 
They have one daughter, Martha. Mr. Lau- 
bach is a member of the First Congregational 
Church and one of its board of deacons. His 
fraternal connections are mainly with the va- 
rious Masonic bodies, as follows: member of 
Adoniram Lodge, No. 517; Washington 
Chapter, No. 25;' Akron Council, No. 80; 
pa.st eminent commander of Akron Com- 
mandery, No. 25 ; member of Lake Erie Con- 
sistory, and a thirty-second degree Mason. 

CHARLES E. WISE, who owns 160 acres 
of fine land in Franklin Township, which 
lies along the dividing line from Green Town- 
ship, is one of the representative farmers of 
this section, and one of its sub.stantial and 
reliable men. He was born on the farm of 
his grandfather, in Coventry Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, December 29, 1865, and is 
a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Kepler) Wise. 

Daniel Wise, the grandfather of Charles 
E., was born in Snyder County. Pennsyl- 
vania, and was a son of Peter Wise, whose 
whole life was pas.sed in Pennsylvania. His 
children were: Peter, John, Jacob, William, 
Daniel, Samuel, Betsey, Catherine and Lydia, 
all now decea«ed except Betsey, who married 
Peter Miller. 

Daniel ^A'Lse was the first of the family 
to come to Ohio, and he walked all the way 
to Summit Countv from Bucks County, Penn- 



914 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sylvania. He located in Green Township 
among the earlj' pioneers and began to clear 
land, and when opportunity offered, worked 
at his trade — that of stone-mason. After a 
time he was joined by his brother Samuel, 
who made the long journey with a horse and 
wagon. The brothers married sisters, Samuel 
espousing Catherine, and Daniel, Sarah Ra- 
ber, both being daughters of Henry Raber, 
a pioneer farmer in the locality. At one 
time Henry Raber owned 1,000 acres of land 
in Summit County, and he gave each >of his 
children a farm. In early times he carried 
his wheat by wagon, to Cleveland, where he 
sold it for from forty to fifty cents a bushel. 
He died on his original homestead farm of 
160 acres, when almost ninety years of age. 

After his marriage, Daniel Wise gave the 
larger part if his attention to farming. He 
died in Green Township, owning at that time 
three farms, aged eighty-two years, and his 
widow died within three days of one year 
later. Daniel and Sarah Wise had the follow- 
ing children: John D.; Henry, father of 
Charles E. ; Louisa, who married John Neal ; 
Daniel, residing in Illinois; Frank and Cal- 
vin, both residing in Green Township; and 
Sarah, now deceased, who married L. Preere. 

Henry Wise was reared on his father's farm 
in Green Township, assisting from boyhood 
in the heavy work which was made necessary 
by the wild condition of a large part of his 
father's property at that time. For a short 
period he attended the old log school-house 
and sat on the rough benches which were con- 
sidered perfectly suitable in those days, but 
he had time to acquire no more than the rudi- 
ments of knowledge. From 1861 to 1863 he 
was engaged in drilling oil wells at Oil City, 
Pennsylvania, but with that exception, his 
whole life was spent in Summit County. For 
a time he resided south of Barberton, but later 
moved to the north of that town, where he 
died November 25, 1905, aged sixty-two years. 
He married Elizabeth Kepler, who was born 
and reared in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Jacob and 
Susan (Mar.>h) Kepler, both of whom sur- 



vive. They had four children: Charles El- 
mer, Olive, Harvey A., and Ida A., all now 
living, except the youngest, who died aged 
four years. Ida A. married Martin Ling. 

Charles Elmer Wise was born while his 
parents lived in the house now owned by Hus- 
ton Keppler, which was the home of his ma- 
ternal grandfather. In a short time they 
moved to Franklin Township and located on 
the farm where Harvey Wise now lives, and 
where the three other children were born. 
It was on that farm that Charles E. Wise lived 
until his marriage, in the meanwhile obtain- 
ing his education in the district schools. For 
one year following his marriage, Mr. Wise 
farmed for his father-in-law at Norton, re- 
moving from there to a farm in Franklin 
Township, where he remained until 1891, 
when he settled on his present place which he 
secured from his father. In addition to car- 
rying on general farming, Mr. Wise operates 
a portable sawmill. He has added to the orig- 
inal farm acreage and has much improved the 
property. In 1893 he built his substantial 
barn all of his buildings are kept in good 
order, his farm machmery is sufficient for his 
needs, and his surroundings indicate thrift 
and good management. In addition to this 
A'aluable property he owns the residence site 
at No. 76 Fay street, Akron. 

In February, 1888, Mr. Wise was married 
to Cora A. Miller, who is a daughter of Jacob 
J. and Theresa Miller, and they have one son, 
Walter A. Mr. Wise is a good citizen, but he 
takes no very active interest in politics. 

FRANK CORMANY, residing on his valu- 
able farm of fifty-one acres in Coventry Town- 
ship, is the owner of 112 acres, the balance 
being situated in Long Lake Park. Mr. Cor- 
many was born March 12, 1855, on the old 
Cormany homestead in Coventry Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of John 
and Rebecca (Harter) Cormany. 

.Tohn Cormany was born in Pennsylvania 
and died in 1859. With his brothers he 
came to Summit County in early days, and 
they bought a large tract of timber land in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



915 



Coventry Township, which they set about 
clearing. When the land was subsequently 
divided, each brother secured about forty 
acres. John Cormany married Rebecca Bart- 
er who was born in Pennsylvania and died 
in Ohio, in 1906, aged eighty-five years. 
She was a daughter of Jacob Harter, who 
settled in the green woods of Summit County, 
on the site of the present city of Barberton. 
To her marriage with John Cormany there 
were born eleven children, namely: Jere- 
miah, who died aged five months; Phillip; 
Catherine, who married George Pow; Mrs. 
Araminta Miller; Mrs. Rohama Allen; Levi; 
Lushia, who is deceased; Frank; Aaron, who 
is deceased; Mary, deceased, who married 
Frank Shick; Mrs. Emma Wartsbaucher. 
Mrs. Cormany later contracted a second mar- 
riage with Moses Shick, to which no children 
were born. 

Frank Cormany remained with his mother 
for a short time after the death of his father, 
and then went to assist his uncle, Samuel 
Cormany, with whom he remained until the 
latter's death. In the meantime he had be- 
come a skilled farmer and after his marriage 
he purchased land, first from Samuel Peifer 
and ne.xt from Samuel Cormany, his uncle. 
His land is well improved and would com- 
mand a high price if placed on the market. 
For some years he has been practically retired 
from agricultural work, his stalwart sons be- 
ing capable of looking after the property, 
and they also are engaged in all kinds of 
teaming. 

In July, 1877, Mr. Cormany was married 
to Malinda Sellers, who is a daughter of Ja- 
cob and Catherine (Rinninger) Sellers, both 
of whom, in Coventry township, died in ad- 
vanced age. Mrs. Cormany has the following 
brothers and sisters: Mary, who married 
Daniel Thomas; Maria, who married Robert 
Bidiker; Henry; Hiram; Malinda, and Joel. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cormany have had five chil- 
dren, namely: Anna, who died in infancy; 
In'in, who married Miss Wagner, resid&s 
near his father, and they have children ; Sam- 
uel, who married Miss Mosier, has one child. 



and they reside at Barberton; and Clinton 
and Grace. 

Politically, Mr. Cormany is a Republican. 
In March, 1907, he was elected, with Allen 
Swartz and William Bergdorf, road superin- 
tendent in Coventry Township, and has 
proved a careful and efficient public official. 

JOHN ROSE, a representative citizen of 
Coventry Township, residing on his fine tract 
of 125 acres, was born on his father's farm in 
Lake Township, Stark County, Ohio, October 
29, 1838, and is a son of George and Susan 
(Pontious) Rose, and a grandson of Philip 
Rose. 

George Rose was a native of Berks County, 
Pennsylvania, and was one of a family of 
five children, his only brother dying unmar- 
ried, at the age of twenty-one years. .He 
was young when the family came to Stark 
County, Ohio. After his marriage, in 1867, 
Mr. Rose sold his farm in Stark County, and 
came to Coventry Township, Summit County, 
where the rest of his life was spent. Both he 
and his wife reached advanced age, and died 
at the home of their son John. Reared to 
agricultural pursuits, George Rose continued 
to be a farmer all his life, and prospered to 
such an extent that he was able to give each 
of his children a start in life. George Rose 
was married in Stark County, Ohio, to Susan 
Pontious, who was also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and who came to Stark County with 
her parents when about twelve years old. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Rose there were born three chil- 
dren: Jacob, who moved to Indiana, where 
he became a man well thought of, and died 
at the age of sixty-nine years; Susan, who 
married Joseph Young, also moved to Indi- 
ana and later to Kansas; and John. 

John Rose received his education in the dis- 
trict schools of Stark County, and was reared 
on his father's farm, where his youth was 
spent in hard, honest toil. For about four 
years after his marriage he carried on farm- 
ing in Stark County, and then moved to Cov- 
entry Township, Summit County, and pur- 
chased his present farm from John Donner. 



916 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



lie cleared ott' the timber, f;tiinip.s and built 
a substantial barn, and has done much to 
make his farm one of the best in the town- 
ship. Mr. Rose has always beeii an indastri- 
oiLS, hard-working farmer, and has the respect 
and e-steem of the entire community. 

Mr. Rase was married in Stai'k County, to 
Sarah Garl, who was born in Portage County, 
Ohio, and she died April 6, 190'6, at the age 
of sixty-seven years. Nine children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Rose, namely: Mary, 
who married E. P. Fouse; Christina, who 
married M. Fouse; Jacob, who married 
Amanda Focht; Lydia, who married F. 
Fouse; Elsie, who married Adam Warner; 
Amanda, who married J. Hicks; Daniel, who 
married Julia Willems, resides on his father's 
farm, and has three children, Chester, Wil- 
liam and Irene; Chai'les, who married Mary 
Hembauch; and Eli, who married Tillie 
Yankcr. 

In political matters Mr. Rose is a Demo- 
crat, and he has served as township trustee 
for twenty-three years. He and his family 
belon.ii' to the Reformed Church. 

FRANCIS X. ADAMS, M.I)., a very suc- 
cessful general medical practitioner at Akron, 
with well-equipped offices at No. ,7"2S South 
Main Street, has been engaged in ]iriitVssioiial 
work in this city since 1898, and has built up 
a large and very satisfactory jiracticc. He was 
born in Cambria County, Pennsvlvania. When 
Dr. Adams wius a youth of fifteen years, his par- 
ent* removed to Kent, Portage County. Ohio, 
when' he (-(nnplcted liis literary education, 
after wliicii be entered tlie Eclectic Medical 
Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, wliere he was 
graduated in 1885. Dr. Adams .settled at 
Kent, where be continued to practice until 
1888, when be removed to New Portage, Siun- 
mit County, and subsequently to Akron, in 
Se}itember, 1893. Dr. Adams is a progressive 
member of his ])rofession and keeps well 
posted on all matters pertaining to it, belong- 
ing to the Ohio State Eclectic and the North- 
eastern Ohio Eclectic Medical Societies. 

Dr. Adams was married, in 1877. to Cath- 



erine L. Sheridan, of Kent, Ohio, who died in 
October, 1908. She is survived by two daugh- 
ters: Gertrude R., who married Clyde Orr, 
who is in busines.s at Akron; and Geraldine, 
who is still at school. Dr. Adams and his 
daughters belong to St. Marj-'s Catholic 
Church. He is a member of the Catholic Mu- 
tual Benefit A.s.sociation, the Knight.s of Co- 
lumbus, and the Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, at Akron, and the Ohio State Eclectic 
Medical Society. 

WALTER L. SACKMANN, manufac- 
turer, ^\■ith a general machine shop located 
(in Sweitzer Avenue, Akron, does a large 
liusiness in the manufacture of steel 
stamps, .stencils and seals, brass and alumi- 
num checks, steel letters and figures. He was 
born at Cleveland, Ohio, in December, 1876, 
and is a son of the late Henry Sackmann, 
who settled in Cleveland in 1844 and carried 
on a manufacturing business there for a num- 
ber of years. 

From the schoolroom, ilr. Sackmann en- 
tered the manufacturing plant of his brother, 
who was engaged in the manufacturing of 
steel .stamps and stencils, and after four years 
of experience there, entered the employ of A. 
II. Dickey, in the same line. In 1900, he 
ciinie to Akron and engaged in the mold let- 
liriug business for the Goodyear Rubber Com- 
]iany. and in May, 1901, he embarked in the 
stamj) and .stencil business. In his machine 
.<h())) he manufactures .special maehinery, 
molds of all kinds, blanking and forming 
dies and also does ])unch pre.ss work. The 
t)usiness is one which demands special train- 
uig and a large amoiuit of care and accuracy 
from every employe. In 1908. Mr. Sack- 
mann was mari'ied to Emmy M. Droz. of 
Cleveland. 

R. M. AMLSON, manager of the .\kron 
Laundry Company, which operates the larg- 
c>t and most modern laundry in Akron, was 
born in Summit County, Ohio, in 1S!;2. and 
is a sou of the late Jonathan Wilson. 

Since completing bis (>dncation, Mr. Wil- 




CAPT. SUMNER NASH 




HOPHNI NASH 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



921 



son has been mainly engaged in the laundry 
busines:?, operating a plant of his own. In 
1901 the Akron Laundry Company was in- 
corporated, with a capital stock of $20,000, 
with N. P. Goodhue, president; E. J. Alder- 
fer, vice-president; and R. M. Wilson, secre- 
tary and treasurer. The company has erected 
a fine brick building, 42 by 132 feet in di- 
mensions, and two stories in height, which 
they have equipped with all modern appli- 
ances for the rapid, thorough, and sanitary 
conduct of their industrj'. They give work 
to forty-five employes and have five wagons 
in continual use. Their efforts to plea.se the 
]>ublic have been generously recognized. In 
1892, ^Ir. Wilson was married to Sophia M. 
Smith, of Akron. Mr. Wilson is an Elk and 
i.- a trustee of the Akron branch of this order. 



CAPT. SUMNER NASH, for years secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Akron Belting 
Company, and a member of the board of di- 
rectors of The Permanent Savings and Loan 
Company, and of The Abstract Guarantee & 
Tmst Company, at Akron, is now numbered 
with the retired manufacturers of this citv. 
Captain Nash was born May 10. 1836, in Bath 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Hophni and Lovisa (King) Nash. 
The ancestors of Captain Nash on both pater- 
nal and maternal sides were of Scotch-Irish 
extraction and were early settlers in Massa- 
chusetts, where both the Nash and King fam- 
ilies have been identified with important 
public affairs for generations. 

Hophni Nash was born in AVilliamsburg, 
Hampshire County, Massachusetts, January- 
10, 1797. At the age of twenty years, in 
the fall of 1817, he came to Ohio and during 
the following winter taught school in the vi- 
cinity of Ghent, Summit County. In 1819 
he was elected the first to\raship clerk of 
Rath. In the same year, he returned to his 
native State and was married to Miss Lovi.sa 
King, at Chesterfield. Soon after they settled 
on a farm near the center of Bath. He was 
re-elected and served as clerk of Bath Town- 
ship for many years, which office was in later 



years held by each of his three sons. He 
followed his chosen occupation of farming 
during the whole of his active life. He died 
at the home of his son, Sumner, in Akron, 
.\pril 17, 1882, at the age of eighty-five 
years. After his death, the widow resided 
with Dr; E. K. Na<h at Montrose, in Bath 
Township, where she survived until January 
6, 1892, dying at the ripe old age of ninety 
years. They had born to them five children, 
namely: Harriet, married Curtis D. Barber 
and settled at Plymouth, Sheboygan County, 
Wisconsin ; later she married a Mr. Williams, 
and for many years resided in Rock County, 
Minnesota. Again left a widow, she spent 
her few remaining years with her children, 
Mr. and Mi's. George B. Whitney, at Beaver 
Creek, Minnesota, where she died December 
2, 1907, at the age of eighty-two. Dr. E. K. 
Nash entered the U. S. service in 1862 as 
as,si'stant surgeon, was assigned to duty in 
the Fourteenth 0. V. I. Regiment, in the 
Department of the Cumberland. He was in 
service on the field and in hospital at 
Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Mission 
Ridge, Atlanta, and thence with Sherman to 
the sea. In July, 1835 he returned home 
with the rank of major. He practiced medi- 
cine at Montrose for many years, and re- 
cently removed to Akron. Nancy Ellen, 
widow of R. D. Pierson, now resides at Lin- 
coln. Nebra.ska, with her dangliter Marv A. 
Freeland. Thomas W., on October 3, 1861, 
enlisted in the 29th Regiment, 0. V. I., for 
three years; at the expiration of this period 
he re-enlisted i)i the same regiment. He 
was in service in the Department of the 
Potomac and ])articipated in all impor- 
tant t)attles until captured at Port Re- 
])ublic. He was prisoner for four months, 
was transferred with the Eastern Army 
to the Army of the Cumberland at 
Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, then on to 
Atlanta, etc. He was discharged July, 1865, 
with rank of captain of Company B. He 
is now bookkeeper and private secretary at 
Akron, Ohio, for A. M. Barber, a millionaire 
of Chicago, 111. He married (second) Mrs. 
Chira Yiyu Oi-inan. of Akron. 



922 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Sumner Nash was born in a log cabin on 
the farm, near Bath Center, had the usual 
district school education and also an academic 
course at Richfield. He was of a somewhat 
venturoas disposition, and when but nineteen 
years of age, left home and penetrated into 
the wilds of Wisconsin. He had many ex- 
periences with Indians, while driving the 
stage-coach between Oshkosh and New Lon- 
don. The Sheboygan aiid Fond du Lac 
Railroad Company was then constructing its 
line from Plymouth, Wisconsin, westward, 
and Mr. Nash secured the contract for clear- 
ing off the timber and making it into rail- 
road ties and cordwood, wiiieh contract he 
filled to the satisfaction of both parties. In 
the fall and winter of 1856-57, at Oshkosh, 
he had entire management of a hardware 
store for Mr. E. H. Barber, during the lat- 
ter's absence in the Southern States. In 
1857 he returned to Ohio, and again attended 
the Richfield Academy, later farming for his 
father during several summers and teaching 
school through the winters. On August 6, 
1862, he enlisted in Company G, 115th Regi- 
ment 0. V. I., and served with courage and 
fidelity until the close of the war. He was 
mustered out July 7, 1865, as first lieutenant, 
although for months he had held the position 
of captain and was the commanding officer 
of Company A of said regiment. He entered 
the service as private of Company G, 115th 
Regiment, 0. V. I., August 6, 1862. He was 
promoted by being elected by vote of the com- 
pany to Orderly Sergeant August 12, 1862 : 
Second Lieutenant, Augu.st 21, 1862, and 
First Lieutenant of Company A, August IT, 
1864. 

Service. — His regiment was organized at 
Camp Massillon, Ohio, and mastered into U. 
S. service for three years, on September 18. 
1862. The regiment was ordered to Cin- 
cinnati. Ohio, September 27, 1862; to Camp 
Chase. Ohio, October 4. 1862 ; was on duty 
there till November; then to Maysville, Ken- 
tucky, remaining on duty there till Novem- 
ber 18, when it was ordered to Covington, 
Kentucky, where it remained on duty till 
June, 186.3. He was detailed to command 



an expedition from Covington to Boone 
County, Kentucky, to enforce Burnside's 
general order No. 6. Also in command of a 
detachment to follow the rebel, General Mor- 
gan, in his raid through Ohio, to collect 
Government property and property aban- 
doned by him, amounting to between 1,000 
and 2,000 horses and mules, together with 
much other property, all of which was turned 
over to the post quartermaster at Cincinnati, 
Ohio. He was on duty in Cincinnati from 
July, 1863 to October. He was detailed by 
Gen. J. D. Cox, commanding tlie Depart- 
ment of Ohio, to take command of the forces 
and post at Dayton, Ohio, during the October 
election for governor, at which time and place 
political strife became intensely heated, re- 
sulting in several persons being shot by "Val- 
landingham Copperheads." George L. Wat- 
erman, Second Lieutenant of Company C, 
and one of its noblest soldiers, was fatally 
wounded while on duty in said city. After 
election he was ordered to Chattanooga, Ten- 
nessee, where Mr. Na.sh remained, while 
Hood occupied Lookout Mountain and until 
just before the latter was routed from the 
mountain never to return. Thence he went 
to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. First Brigade, 
Third Divi.sion, Twelfth Corps, Department 
of the Cumberland. In November; 1863, he 
was detached in command of sixty men to 
garrison Blockhouse No. 4, at Lavergne, Ten- 
nessee. Ill November, 1864, he was detached 
on staff duty by order of General George H. 
Thomas. He was assigned to duty as assist- 
ant inspector of railroad defenses, under Ma- 
jor James R. Willetts, First U. S. Engineers. 
He was assigned to duty on the Nashville & 
A¥estern Railroad, owing to Hood's advance 
and capture of said road. He was then as- 
signed to general staff duty in Nashville, be- 
ing placed in absolute charge of the Con- 
script Division, which was engaged in estab- 
li.shing and perfecting the defenses in and 
around that city during Hood's investment, 
December 1 to 14, and the battles of Decem- 
ber 15th and 16th, which resulted in the 
defeat of Hood and complete route of his 
entire armv of 70.000 men. .\fter Hond's 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



923 



retreat South, he was assigned as assistant 
inspector of raih-oad defenses on the Nash- 
ville & Clarksville Railroad headquarters at 
Springfield, Tennessee, from December, 1864, 
to Febraary, 1865. After getting all garri- 
sons on this road established and equipped, 
he was transferred on same duty to Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee, and in charge of all gar- 
risons and defenses of all railroads East and 
Sou til of Chattanooga in the Department of 
the Cumberland, from February to June, 
1865. On June 22, 1865, by order of Gen- 
eral Thomas he returned to the regiment at 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, thence forward in 
command of Company A, 115th Regiment. 
He was honorably discharged at Cleveland, 
Ohio, July 7, 1865, thence home to Bath, 
place of enlistment. The three brothers 
all in the Civil War from two to four 
years, till the close of the war and all re- 
turned held a family reunion at the old 
homestead. All are members of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and Sumner is a 
member of the Loyal Legion. Ohio Com- 
mandery, of Cincinnati. 

In the fall of 18'65 Sumner Nash, in com- 
pany with his brother, T. AV., took Greeley's 
advice, went west and purchased a farm of 
160 acres near Chatsworth. Illinois. Return- 
ing to Ohio, Sumner taught school the fol- 
lowing winter at Bath Center. 

Captain Na.sh was married March 8. 1866, 
til Rebecca M. Means, daughter of Captain 
.lohn A. Means, of Northfield, Summit 
County. Ohio, and at once they settled on 
their Illinois farm, which they worked till 
the fall of 1868. when, owing to the failing 
health of Mrs. Nash, they returned to Sum- 
mit County, where Mrs. Nash died .July IS, 
1869. at her father's home, leaving one child, 
Maude il. Sumner Na-^h worked his father- 
in-law's farm for the following two years. In 
the year 1872 Mr. Nash was appointed 
Deputy County Clerk, which position he 
filled to the close of John A. Means' term, 
when he was reappointed and ser\'ed in the 
same capacity through two term.« of three 
years each for Clerk George W. Weeks. He 
was himself elected clerk in 1878 nnd in 



1881, serving two full terms of three years 
each. Mr. Nash was married (second) June 
23, 1874, to Linnie S. Cross, of Columbus, 
Ohio, since which time they have resided 
continuoiisly in Akron at No. 275 East Mar- 
ket Street. 

In 1891 M. Maude Nash married Dr. J. 
W. Rabe, of Cleveland, Ohio, after which 
the doctor has followed his profession in Ak- 
ron. They have two children, Mary .\de- 
laide and .James W., Jr. 

In 1885, after the close of his second term 
as clerk of courts, Sumner Nash raised a 
stock company for the manufacture and sale 
of leather belting and other mill supplies. 
The company was duly organized and in- 
coiporated under the laws of Ohio with a 
capitalization of $50,000, in the name of 
"The Akron Belting Company," he being 
chosen its secretary and treasurer, which of- 
fices he held for many years. Under his 
management the business prospered as a new 
company till the quality of its manufactured 
goods, the "Akron" brand of belting, had 
proven itself to be what was claimed for it — 
"Second to None," requiring only extended 
patronage to insure correspondingly large 
profits. In 1895 "The Brigger Belting Com- 
pany," of South Akron, being unsuccessful 
financially, at its own solicitation, was pur- 
chased by "The Akron Belting Company." 
including its "liabilities," etc. Mr. A. S. 
Rinehart, former president of "The B. B. 
Company," was placed in charge of the Ad- 
vertising and Sales Department of "The A. 
B. Company." Under this corribined man- 
agement, the anticipated increased patronage 
was secured. The capitalization of the com- 
pany was increased to $100,000. and the 
building capacity has been doubled and 
quadnipled to keep pace with the output of 
the goods manufactured. These goods have 
given general satisfaction and gained such 
a reputation at home and abroad that they 
are now shipped to all parts of the United 
States and to many foreign countries. The 
output has increased from a few thousands 
to nearly half a million dollars annually. 
In 1904 he resigned as treasurer of said com- 



924 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



pany. For many years the company has de- 
clared a liberal quarterly dividend from its 
surplus earnings, which suiplus is largely in 
excess of its capitalization. The present of- 
ficers are: President, A. B. Rinehart; vice 
president, Sumner Nash; secretary and 
treasurer, George Wince, and superintend- 
ent, Webster Thorj). 

Mr. Nash has visited the Island of Cuba 
two or three times and became so delighted 
with the climate that he, with an equal part- 
ner, purchased about 1,200 acres of timber 
land situated between the Cubitas Mountains 
and the north coast, an exceedingly fertile 
valley, the nearest point of which is only 
one mile distant from La Gloria, in Porto 
Principe Province, the largest and oldast 
American Colony in the island. The climate 
and soil are well adapted to citrons and other 
tropical fruits. Mr. Nash owns an improved 
farm . of 280 acres near Emporia, Lyon 
County, Kansas, 100 miles west of Kansas 
City, Missouri. Politically, Mr. Nash has al- 
ways been a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Na~h 
and daughter are members of the First Con- 
gregational Church of Akron. 

ST. CLAIR STEELE, who is successfully 
engaged in a general mercantile business at 
Silver Lake Junction, or Old Village, as the 
place is generally denominated by residents 
of Cuyahoga Falls, was born in Stow Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, September 13, 
1842. He is a son of Isaac and Margaret C. 
(Steele) Steele, a grandson of Isaac, and a 
great-grandson of Adam Steele. 

Adam Steele served through the Revolu- 
tionary AA^ar and his son Isaac, in boyhood, 
served as a bugler and a mail carrier for the 
fighting patriots. Adam Steele moved to 
Ohio from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and 
settled in Stow Township, Summit County, 
among the pioneers, where he died in 1811. 
His son, Isaac, was born in Pennsylvania, and 
settled permanently in Stow Township, in 
1820. He participated in the AVar of 1812. 
He married Betsey Galloway, and their chil- 
dren were: John, Isaac, Mary, Eliza, Anna, 
and Margaret, all long since passed away. 



Isaac Steele, son of Isaac, was born in 1812, 
and died May 27, 1883. In 1842 he married 
Margaret C. Steele, a distant cousin, who died 
September 21, 1853. They had the following 
children : St. Clair, Nancy, Henderson, 
Ellen E., and Thomas, both daughters being 
deceased. 

St.. Clair Steele was educated in the district 
schools of Stow Township and assisted on the 
home farm until the outbreak of the Civil 
AA'ar, when he was one of the first to offer 
his ser\'ices to his country. Mr. Steele en- 
listed in April, 1861, in Company K, Nine- 
teenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
but was taken sick soon after reaching Camp 
Taylor, and was sent home. On September 
10, 1861, he re-enlisted, entering Battery D, 
First Ohio Light Artillery, and continued in 
the serv'ice until October 17, 1864. Dvu-ing 
this last summer of the war, Mr. Steele filled 
the position of a non-commissioned officer 
and for a short time acted as a commissioned 
officer, in the drilling of the troops. He was 
taken prisoner at Munford.sville, Kentucky, 
but was paroled, on condition that he would 
remain with the Confederate Array until per- 
mission was given him to leave. AA^'ith his 
comrades he ran away and joined the Union 
lines, 110 miles distant, subsequently reach- 
ing the parole camp at Columbus. On Feb- 
ruary 22d, following he was exchanged and 
then went back to the front with his regi- 
ment. 

Following the closing of the war, Mr. Steele 
engaged in business as a wholesale butcher 
and bought and sold livestock for eighteen 
months, after which, for two years, he was 
with a Cleveland lumber company. He then 
engaged in farming, threshing and lumber- 
ing until 1880, when he took charge of th'^ 
shop at the State Penitentiary for nearly two 
years. He then went to work for his brothei-s 
Henderson and Thomas, as sawyer, this be- 
ing about 1897. In 1892 he built his store 
building and stocked it with groceries, but in 
a short time sold that stock and rented the 
building. In 1897 he again took possession 
of his former store and since then has been 
engaoed in a general mercantile biisiness. He 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



925 



is a reputable business man and honored citi- 
zen. 

Mr. Steele niarried Sarah J. McCauley, of 
Hudson, who is a daughter of Peter and 
Mary McCauley, and they have two children : 
Harry C, who is connected with the street 
railway; and Mabel M., who married Wil- 
liam Taylor, who is employed in her father's 
store. The family belong to the Episcopal 
Church. 

Peter McCauley, father of ^Irs. Steele, was 
born in Ireland and was a small child when 
he accompanied his mother to America. Here 
he learned the shoemaker trade which he fol- 
lowed for many years at Sti'eetsboro, Portage 
County, Ohio, later moving to Hudson, where 
he spent the rest of his life on a farm, dying 
in April, 1863. He married Mary O'Brien, 
V, ho was born at Hudson, Ohio, and who was 
a daughter of Harry O'Brien, a Protestant 
Irishman, who came from Ireland and set- 
tled in Portage County in the year that Ohio 
became a State. 

Politically, Mr. Steele is identified with the 
Republican party. He ser\-ed as trustee of 
Stow-Township for two terms and was a mem- 
ber of the City Council of Cuyahoga Falls for 
one term. He is one of the active members 
of Eddy Post, G. A. R., at Cuyahoga Falls. 

MATTHIAS COFFMAN, a highly es- 
teemed retired farmer who resides on his well- 
cultivated fann of seventj'-five and one-half 
acres of excellent farming land in North- 
ampton Township, wa< born January 4, 
1835, in Berlin Township, Trumbull (now 
Mahoning) County, Ohio, and is a son of 
Samuel and EliKibeth (Swartz) Coffman. 

Samuel Coffman was born in 1802, in 
Pennsylvania, and there received his educa- 
tion. After his marriage he removed to Ber- 
lin Township, Summit County, Ohio, where 
he acquired 100 acres of land, on which he 
raised principally flax, a crop not generally 
grown now in this section. He and his wife 
were members of the United Brethren 
Church, but because there was no church of 
that denomination in their vicinity, they at- 
tended the German Reformed Church. 



Mr. Coffman died in 1861 . He was 
married to Elizabeth Swartz, who was also 
born in Pennsylvania and was a daughter of 
]\Iatthias Swartz, and they had the following 
children: Mary Ann, Zacharias and Samuel, 
all deceased; and Matthias. Tobias and Abra- 
ham. 

Matthias Coffman received his education in 
the district schools of Berlin Township, and 
began to teach while still a pupil, completing 
the term when the regular teacher had been 
taken sick. He also taught a second term, 
in Deerfield Township, in Portage County, 
but when eighteen or nineteen years of age 
started to work out among the farmers of his 
section, having a preference for farm work. 
From 1855 to 1858 he engaged iii the manu- 
facture of pearl and soda, ash on his own 
icccount, having previously worked for his 
brother-in-law for three years in the same 
business, one carried on at that time where 
land was being cleared to a large extent. In 
March, 1865, Mr. Coffman enlisted in Com- 
} any B, 188th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served in the Civil War for seven 
months in Tennessee, being a faithful sol- 
dier. His present farm he purchased in 1863, 
and later he added ten acres thereto, but sub- 
sequently sold them again, the farm now be- 
ing its original size. Mr. Coffman has done 
some dairying, but his attention is given 
chiefly to general farming. He has a circular 
silo 12 X 24 feet and other substantial build- 
ings on his farm, which is kept in the finest 
condition. He owns a registered Jersey bull 
pud nine registered Jersey cattle. Mr. Coff- 
man is a stanch Prohibitionist, and although 
he has never had political aspirations, he has 
served two years as township trustee. For- 
merly he was identified with the United 
Brethren Church, in which he was a class 
leader for some time, but there is no church 
of that denomination in this locality now. 

On August 16, 1857, Mr. Coffman was 
married to Sarah Jane Bean, who is a daugh- 
ter of Henry Bean, of Northampton Town- 
ship, and to this union there has been born 
one daughter: Mary Ploney, who is the wife 
of Nelson Alden Bucklin, who is the pres- 



926 



•HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ent manager of the farm. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bucklin have one daughter, Ardis Auverne. 

JOHN WALDKIRCH, who is a success- 
ful general farmer, residing on the old home 
place of sixty acres of excellent land, which 
is situated in Coventiy Township, was born 
December 9, 1860, in Norton Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and is a son of Christian 
and Mary (Stortz) Waldkirch. 

Christian Waldkirch was born in Germany, 
where he lived into manhood, when he and 
his brother, John Waldkirch, came to Amer- 
ica and both settled in Summit County. 
Christian found employment in the McDon- 
ald Hotel, at South Akron, and later w"orked 
on the Van Hyning farm. After his mar- 
riage he rented a farm in Norton Town- 
ship and operated that for a number of years 
or until he was prepared to buy his firet farm, 
w^hich was situated near the reservoir in Cov- 
entry Township. In the following year he 
sold that place and moved to Akron, where he 
was employed in a shop for about eight years, 
after which he rented a farm on the Copley 
road, on which he lived for eight years, and 
then bought the present farm, from Frank 
Horssler. Christian Waldkirch lived on this 
farm until the end of his life. He was an in- 
dustrious, frugal man, who lived at peace 
with the world, and in dying left a fair estate 
to his family. His death occurred in August, 
1904, at the age of eighty-five years. He 
married Mary Stortz, who was also born in 
Germany, a most excellent woman, who died 
in 1891, aged sixty-seven years. They had 
four children: Norman, Christian, John and 
Louisa. 

John Waldkirch grew up on the home farm 
and has always done his full share in develo])- 
ing and improving it. He was educated in 
the public schools at Akron, but in his boy- 
hood there was too much to be done on the 
farm to allow his attendance to be very con- 
tinuous. The farm was left by the father to 
to Mr. Waldkirch and his sister Louisa, the 
latter of whom married Joseph Mitchell. She 
has three children: Alice, Fred and Ernest. 



Mr. Waldkirch is a Republican and always 
exercises his right of citizenship at the polls, 
but he has never permitted his name to be 
used in any contest for office. He is w-ell 
known in his neighborhood and enjoys the 
respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He 
is the only one of hi.s family who is unmar- 
ried. 

JOHN K. WILLIAMS, president and gen- 
eral manager of the Williams Foundry and 
Machine Company, of Akron, has been a resi- 
dent of this city for a quarter of a century. 
He was born in 1856, in southern Wisconsin, 
where he was reared and attended school and 
later learned the machinist's trade. 

In 1882, Mr. Williams was called to Akron 
to put in the machinery for the Portage 
Strawboard Company, and the big Quaker 
Oats mill, on Howard street. He found this 
city a promising field and in 1884 he started 
into a machine business for himself, which he 
carried on until 1897, when the Williams 
Foundry and Machine Company was incor- 
porated. The capital stock of tliis company 
is $50,000, and the officers of the company 
are : John K. Williams, president' and gen- 
eral manager; C. H. Williams, vice-president; 
and C. Franze, secretary and treasurer. The 
company does a general jobbing and machine 
business, giving employment to about seven- 
ty-five inen, and engaging only .skilled labor. 
The plant is a four-story building, 150 by 40 
feet, with a foundry attached, two stories in 
height and with dimensions of 100 by 50 feet. 
The work turned out from this plant bears 
the mark of efficiency, and each year the busi- 
ness is expanded, now ranking with other 
large enterprises of Akron. In 1882, Mr. 
Williams was married to Mamie Weston, of 
Springfield Township, Summit County. Mr. 
Williams is affiliated with the Masons and the 
Odd Fellows. 

WILLIAM A. WARNER, one of Coven- 
try Township's most highly esteemed citi- 
zens, who filled the offices of township treas- 
urer and treasurer of the Board of Education 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



927 



1(11- liver a, quarter of a century, was born on 
a farm at East Liberty, Summit County, 
Ohio, October 5, 1845, and is a son of John 
;:iid Elizabeth (Weaver) Warner. 

Henry Warner, the grandfather of ^^'illiam 
A., came from Maryland to Ohio when a 
young- man, making the journey with ox- 
Icams, and settled near Canton for a short 
time, subsequently locating in the woods of 
Coventry Township. His wife and children 
a.ssi.sted him in clearing the farm, and here 
the rest of his life was spent. Indians were 
numerous in those early days, and they often 
came to Henry Warner's home to beg tobacco, 
liud provisions. Mr. Warner lived to 
lie seventy-five years of age, passing away 
while resting in his chair. His widow lived 
to the sajue age, dying some years later. 
Henry Warner was married in Maryland, to 
Elizabeth Kepler, and to them were born 
eight sons, all of whom lived to maturity: 
•lohn, Jacob, Samuel, William, and Abraham 
survive. Adam, Solomon and Daniel, are de- 
ceased. Jacob and William Warner sei'ved 
in the Civil War and they are raenibei"s of 
the Grand Army of the Republic. 

John Warner, father of William A., was 
born on the farm near Canton, Ohio, June 22, 
1821, and in boyhood came with the family 
to Summit County, where he has ever since 
resided, and has long been a highly respected 
citizen of Norton Township. He is one of the 
few men still living in the count j^ who helped 
l:uild the reservoir, on which he worked as a 
l)oy. He married Elizabeth Weaver, who was 
liorn in Summit County, Ohio, and died in 
October, 1904, aged about eighty-two years. 
Six children were born to this union, as fol- 
lows: William A., Henry, Samuel, Maiy, 
John J., and Adam. Mary died aged five 
months. When William A. Wamer was 
about three years of age his parents settled 
on land near his present home, and shortly 
thereafter the Steese Company opened a coal 
mine, where he .subsequently worked for two 
and one-half years, after reaching manhood. 
He grew up on the farm, and being the eldest 
child, much of the work of clearing the place 



fell to him. His education was secured in 
the log schoolhouse, Avhich he attended about 
four months each year, this affording what 
was thought to be a good education in those 
diiys. Through his hard work in the mines, 
for which he received two dollars per day, he 
saved over $600, which he put out at interest. 
During this tmie Mr. Warner had been mar- 
ried and he and his wife went to live on the 
old home place of his grandfather, a farm of 
108 acres, which he cultivated on shares for 
about ten years, and then purchased. At 
first he had to be cont-ent with the old log 
liuildings then standing, but later he replaced 
these with some of the finest stractures in 
the township. He followed general farming 
imtil he retired from active pursuits, when 
he gave over the management of his farm of 
seventy-five acres to his son-in-law, William 
J. Farriss. 

In December, 1865, Mr. Warner was mar- 
ried to Sarah Spittler, who died May 21, 
1905, aged sixty-five years. She was born in 
Springfield Towaiship, Summit County, Ohio, 
pnd two children were born to them, namely: 
William J., who died when abovit six months 
old; and Mary E.. who married AVilliam J. 
Farriss. 

Mr. Warner is a Democrat. He was firet 
elected treasurer of Coventry Township, in 
1880, and has filled that office continuously 
for the ])ast twenty-five years. His last term 
expired in December, 1907, when he defi- 
I'itely declined to accept the office again. His 
long i^eriod of official life has been one to 
which ho can look with honest pride through 
the remainder of his life. With his family, 
he belongs to the Methodist Ejiiscopal Church 
at South Akron. 

John Farriss, the grandfather of William 
J. Farriss, was a native of England who emi- 
grated to America and settled in Seneca 
County, New York, where he died at the age 
of eighty-five years. Of his family of six 
children, William Farriss was next to the 
eldest. He was born in England, and was 
three years of age when the family came to 
America. He grew up on his father's farm. 



928 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



and when a young man learned the car- 
penter's trade, at which he worked for a num- 
ber of yeai-s, for a time at Cleveland, Ohio, 
where he helped to finish the Chadwick home, 
which has been frequently mentioned in 
the past few years, in the newspapers, in con- 
nection with the late Mrs. Chadwick. Later he 
went back to New York, where he spent sev- 
eral years. On his return to Cleveland he 
worked at his trade for a short time, and then 
settled on a farm in New Portage, Summit 
County, Ohio. In 1899 he sold this property 
and retired from active business, and now re- 
sides at Barberton. William Farriss was mar- 
ried in Cleveland, Ohio, to Susan Brooker, 
who was born February 15, 1840, and is a 
native of Settingborn, England. Mr. and 
Mrs. Farriss had six children: Carrie, who 
married Timothy Hunsberger; William 
James; Nora Jane, who married M. High; 
John Lewis; Lewis Brooker, who married 
Blanche Allen; and Susie A., who married 
H. Werntz. 

William James Farriss was born in New 
York, July 12, 1862, and was about six years 
old when his parents removed from New 
York to New Portage, Ohio, and there he 
grew to manhood on his father's farm. 

On December 12, 1889, Mr. Farriss was 
married to Mary E. Warner, who is a daugh- , 
ter of William''H. and Sarah A. (Spettler) 
Warner, and four children have been born to 
this union : Lottie May, who died in in- 
fancy, June 3, 1891 ; Sarah Esther, born De- 
cember 14, 1894 ; William Albert, born March 
20, 1896; and Adela Maude, born June 6, 
1898. 

For nine years after his marriage, Mr. 
I'arriss resided on his present farm, although 
for the last three of these he was engaged as 
{1. traveling salesman for the Akron Cultiva- 
tor Company. Then for four years he lived 
on his old family home at New Portage, but 
at the end of that time returned to the Warner 
home, which he purchased from his father- 
in-law, in 1905. He has a fine fai'm, on 
which are all the conveniences of a city home, 
including waterworks, Uunidrv and other im- 



provements, these having been put in by Mr. 
Farriss. He built the firet entirely concrete 
,«ilo in Ohio, and Mrs. Farriss was the first 
woman in the State to feed a fodder cutter, 
operated by a gasolene engine. His dairy 
products are sold to the Buchtel Hotel. 

Mr. Farriss and wife belong to the South 
Main Methodist Episcopal Church and have 
always taken an active interest in church 
matters. 

HARRY E. LOOMIS, general manager 
of the National Coal Company, at Akron, 
with offices in the Hamilton Building, is an 
old experienced coal man, having been con- 
nected with this industry for many years. 
He was born at Wadsworth, Medina County, 
Ohio, in 1860, and is a son of E. G. Loomis, 
a prominent railroad and coal man, who was 
a pioneer in the latter business in this section. 

Harry E. Loomis worked in the coal mines 
while still a schoolboy. In 1878 he was made 
superintendent of three mines of the Silver 
Creek Mining and Railway Company, of 
which Jiis father was president and general 
jnanager, and during the great miners' strike, 
proved of great value to the company, with 
which he continued to be connected for about 
five years. He completed his education at the 
Western Reserve College, and in 1880 came to 
Akron. He then studied law in the office of 
Attorney L. D. Waters, was subsequently ad- 
mitted to the bar and practiced for a short 
time, but then returned to the coal business. 
For several years he was general manager of 
the Loomis Coal Company, and then, for 
several years more, was engaged in the prac- 
tice of law, but subsequently he again became 
identified with the coal interests of this sec- 
tion, becoming secretary and manager of the 
National Coal Company, which operates three 
mines in the Cambridge District, having an 
output of 2,000,000 tons annually. This is 
one of the most extensive coal mining com- 
panies in the State and owns the three largest 
producing mines in the county. Mr. Loomis 
is interested in other coal companies and 
coal banks. He is probably as well informed 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



931 



conceniing tlii.-; imiiortunt industry as any 
c-ne in the State, and having made it hia 
main business in life, has the satisfaction of 
Icnowing that his efforts have been crowned 
by sucess. 

Mr. Loomis has one daughter, who is the 
wife of Forrest Firestone, a well-known at- 
torney at Akron. He is a member of St. 
I'auls Episcopal Church. Fraternally, he is 
a Thirty-second Degree Mason and belongs to 
the leading social clubs of Akron. 

.JOSEPH HILL, one of the older residents 
of Portage Township, yet one of her most act- 
ive and cajjable men, owns a large body of 
land aggregating 250 acres, the larger amount 
being in Portage and fifty acres in Northamp- 
ton Township. He was born in Vermont, 
November 30, 1824, and is a son of Tyler 
and SaUie (Fish) Hill. 

In 1836, the parents of Mr. Hill came out 
to Ohio, crossing the Green mountains and 
following the road to Albany, taking the 
canal from there to Buffalo and then the old 
ship, •■'Portage," to Cleveland. What a world 
of adventure came into the lives of these 
quiet, farming people in this long journey 
by land and water. At that time there was 
yet a chance to select excellent land and the 
father bought 140 acres in Twinsburg and 
later his children bought 200 acres of the old 
Stoyers tract. Both parents of Mr. Hill died 
on their farm, advanced in years. 

Joseph Hill learned the carpenterV and 
joiner's trade in liLs youth and worked at it 
in Solon, while tilling a farm of Go 1-2 acres, 
which he had purchased. This land he sold 
in 1855 and came to Portage Township, 
where he bought 200 acres, to which he later 
added fifty acres lying in Northampton Town- 
ship. A part of his land has been sold to 
the old Valley Railroad which runs through 
his farm. "When he first came to the place 
he cut timber and made up rafts and floated 
them on the canal to' the stave-mill at Akron, 
but for many years he has devoted himself 
to general farming and to stock-raising. 
His first house stood far back on the farm, 
and it served the purpose of n pleasant linnie 



until he built the fine modern brick house 
in which he now lives. Mr. Hill's good 
judgment was shown when he purchased 
this land with its standing timber. He 
has sold over 15,000,000 feet of lumber ofif 
this place. 

Mr. Hill wa;= married, first, to Mehitable 
Drake, who died September 17, 1888. To 
this marriage twelve children were born, as 
follows: Lilly Louise -who died at Solon, 
aged six years; Leander, who died at Solon, 
aged four years; a daughter, Lisa, born at 
Solon, who died in Portage Township, at the 
age of five years; Charles, who resides at 
home; Jesse, who was accidentally killed by 
a falling tree, at the age of thirty five years; 
Isa May, wife of Frank Morris of Akron; 
Joita Juba, residing with his family on his 
'father's farm, assists in operating it; Schuy- 
ler, who resides with his family at Akron; 
Aquilla and George, both of whom live at 
home; Viva and Francis both died when 
about thirteen months old. 

On March 1, 1889, Mr. Hill married for 
his second wife Mrs. Rosalie A. Spang, who 
was born on the old Drake farm in Boston 
Township, Summit County, but was reared 
in Hudson Township. She is a daughter of 
Augustine Warriner and Emily (Drake) 
Warriner, and the widow of Frederick 
Spang. Augustine Warriner, father of Mrs. 
Hill, was born at Chardon, Ohio, and was 
married to Emily Drake, January 22, 1846. 
They had four children but Mrs. Hill is the 
only survivor, and she was born March 6, 
1855. She had three sisters, as follows: 
Delia A., born April 9, 1847, married Wil- 
liam M. Russell and died in Missouri, Au- 
gust 29, 1904; Amelia Marana, born March 
7, 1849, married Lester Squires and died 
January 18, 1876; and Cecelia Lizzie, born 
December 8, 1850, married Charles E. Tur- 
ner, and died in April, 1876. Augustine 
Warriner died October 4, 1854, in North- 
ampton Township. He was survived many 
yeai-s by his widow, who died May 19, 1890. 
By her first marriage, Mrs. Hill had five 
children, namely: Hendricks Peter, who 
died in infancv: Emilv Henrietta, who mar- 



932 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ried Joita Juba Hill, son of Joseph Hill; 
Melveda Christian; who died in infancy; 
Delia May, \Yho married Myron G. Pettit; 
and Stella Augusta, who died aged ten years, 
eight months and 26 days. Mrs. Hill has 
six grandchildren. 

To Joseph Hill's second marriage three 
children were born, as follows: Adilda, who 
married Percy J. Horn; Zorada Minerva; 
and Lettie A'lola. Mr. Hill has three grand- 
children named Morris and three with the 
name of Hill. This is a large, happy and 
intelligent family, one that is widely known 
and that occupies a prominent place in the 
pleasant social life in their neighborhood. 

H. FREDERICK BOLANZ, general 
farmer, owning a fine, unincumbered prop- 
erty of 268 acres, in Northampton Township, 
is one of the representative men of his sec- 
tion. He was born in Baden, Germany, Feb- 
ruary 2, 1853, and is a son of Frederick and 
Mary (Eng) Bolanz. 

The parents of Mr. Bolanz died when he 
^vas small and he was reared by relatives who 
afforded him a common school education. 
AVhen" fourteen years of age he started to 
learn the florist businass which he followed 
until 1879, when he came to America, his sole 
capital at that time being $200. He settled 
first at Wadsworth, Ohio, where a brother was 
living, and after working on a farm in that 
vicinity for eighteen months, he entered the 
employ of Mrs. Hamilton Alexander Cum- 
mings, of Akron, with whom he continued for 
five years. His salary was $25 a month, and 
in the period above mentioned he saved 
$1,200. This is pretty fair proof that he is 
& jnan of steadfast purpose and able to exer- 
cise self-denial. There are others who started 
cut with just as good and even better pros- 
pects, who are still working for a small 
monthly salary, probably less than Mr. Bo- 
lanz pays his help. 

In 1886, with the capital that he had 
earned by his hard work and saved by his 
lirudence, Mr. Bolanz started into the florist 
Vinsine.ss with his brother Julius, under the 
firm name of Bolanz Brothers. Thev estab- 



lished themselves at Akron, where they con- 
tinued until 1899. They owned their own 
greenhouses and did a good business. In 1893, 
together the brothers bought the old White 
farm of 263 acres, and in 1899, li. Fi'ederick 
Bolanz sold his interest in the florist business 
to his brother, and bought the latter's interest 
in the farm, which he has continued to cul- 
tivate and improve ever since. He devotes 
100 acres to hay, wheat, corn, oats and pota- 
toes, keeps fifteen head of cattle and sends his 
milk to Cleveland. He raises all the corn he 
uses for feed and all his own cattle and horses. 
His farm is well equipped with modern farm 
machinery and implements, and the land, 
buildings and rolling stock would bring a 
large amount of money if ever placed on the 
inarket. Mr. Bolanz gives his estimable wife 
a large amount of credit for his success. 

Mr. Bolanz was married to Louisa Ruch, 
who was born in Baden, Germany, December 
28, 1868, and Ls a daughter of Stephen and 
Sophia (Wohleb) Ruch, the former of whom 
was born in Gei-many, in December, 1822, 
and died April 6, 1892. He had three chil- 
dren, namely: Louisa; Sophia, residing at 
Baden ; and Adolph, residing in Hessen, Ger- 
many. Mrs. Bolanz is a lady of education 
and prior to coming to America, she was a 
hospital nurse for six years. She is a con- 
sistent member of St. Bernard Catholic 
Church at Akron. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bolanz have four children : 
Fredeinck Alexander, Marie, Margaret and 
Henry Nicholas. They are all intelligent, 
bright young people, credits to their parents 
and to their community. In politics, Mr. 
Bolanz votes independently. He has never 
sought political office to any degree, but has 
served as road supervisor. He is a member 
of the order of Maccabees, at Peninsula, and 
of the Odd Fellows at Akron. 

WILLIAM STEIGNER, whose fine farm 
of eighty-one acres is partly situated in the 
city limits of South Akron and partly in 
Coventry Township, was born July 1, 1856, 
on the present farm and in the old pioneer 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



933 



log hou.se which has recently been replaced 
by a modern residence. His parents were 
Jacob and Gotleben (Gans) Steigner. 

Jacob Steigner was born in Germany 
and died in Coventry Township, Sximmit 
County Ohio, in 1867, aged seventy-two 
years. When he came to America he 
immediately made his way to Summit 
County and settled at Summit Lake, 
buying a part of the land from the 
Government. It was all woodland at that 
time and the present busy city of Akron, 
with its many interests, .some of which encir- 
cle the world, was represented by just one log 
cabin standing in a little clearing. Jacob 
Steigner was a quiet, industrious, pereever- 
ing and worthy man and lived_ on his fann 
on which he first settled until his death, at 
wliich time he was respected by all who knew 
him. He was married three times. His first 
wife died in Germany, leaving two children, 
Godfrey and Peter, both now deceased. With 
his second wife he came to America, where 
she soon died, having borne three children, 
namely : Elizabeth, who married Park Gear, 
l^oth deceased; Mary, who married George 
Swenderman, deceased; and a babe, also de- 
ceased. His third marriage was to the estima- 
ble lady who still .survives, being now in her 
eighty-seventh year. She was born in Ger- 
many and came to' America when eighteen 
veal's of age, finding her first employment 
in a hotel in New York city, from which 
point she came to Summit County on account 
of the excellent wages offered. She worked in 
a hotel at Canal Fulton, where she met Jacob 
Steigner, whom she later married. There 
were four children born to this union, 
namely: Jacob, residing in Coventry Town- 
.shi]); William, and two babes that died in in- 
fancy. 

William Steigner has spent a happy and 
useful life on this fine old farm of fertile 
fields and rich pastures, where great crojjs are 
grown and herd; of cows are fed, for he is a 
large farmer and dairyman. Here he has 
reared his estimable family and kept open 
liis hospitable door to his many friends. He 
had but few chances to obtain an education, 



the most of his time through boyhood being 
spent at work in the woods. From childhood 
he attended the Gerrrfan Reformed Church, 
and he remembers how he often went bare- 
footed, with his companions, and sat on the 
hai-d benches through many a long sermon, 
and this was a large part of his educational 
training. On attaining his majority he ob- 
tained a part of his farm from his father, and 
shortly after his marriage he began to cany 
on dairying to a large degree, and establish 
a wagon route to Akron, which he continued 
for four years. He now sells by wholesale 
and keeps abovit twenty-seven head of cattle 
for dairying purposes. His beautiful new 
lesidence is built on an eminence overlooking 
Summit Lake. 

On May 20, 1877, Mr. Steigner was mai--' 
ried to Catherine Craft, who is a daughter of 
Samuel and Catherine Craft, and they have 
had the following children: Samuel; Mag- 
gie, who married Charles Koser, has one child, 
Hazel; George; Ella; Catherine; and Bertha, 
who died aged four years. 

Politically, Mr. Steigner is a Democrat but 
has declined to fill any office except that of 
school director, in which position he has given 
faithful attention to the needs of his school 
district for several years. With his family 
he belongs to the German Reformed Church, 
on Broadway, Akron. 

HARRY NELSON SHERBONDY, gen- 
eral farmer and well-known citizen of North- 
ampton Township, resides on his valuable 
farm of seventy-two acres. He was born at 
Akron, Ohio, March 11, 1858, and is a son 
of Hiram and Louisa (Sherbondy) Sher- 
bondy. 

The father of Harry N. Sherbondy was 
born on a farm on Sherbondy Hill, Summit 
County, Ohio, and died in his native county, 
on hLs own farm, December 7, 1897. Shortly 
after his marriage he settled on a farm of 
twenty acres, in Copley Township, which he 
devoted to truck gardening, and found a 
ready sale for all his products at Akron. For 
some years he was a trustee of Portage Town- 
sliip. He was a .son of Peter Sherbondj-, who 



934 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



was the fii-st settler on Sherbondy Hill. Peter 
Sherbondy was born in Germany and after 
coming to the United States, lived for a time 
in Pennsylvania, and then took up a large 
body of land in Portage Township, where he 
built his log cabin. He was a man of con- 
siderable importance in his day and left many 
worthy descendants. He died in 1870, aged 
sixty years. He was a Democrat, but his 
son Hiram was identified ^yith. the Republi- 
can party. Hiram Sherbondy married Lou- 
isa Sherbondy, who died in 1892, aged fifty- 
six years. She was a distant relative, being 
the daughter of Uriah Sherbondy. Hiram 
Sherbondy and wife had but two sons : Harry 
Nelson and Milton Jay, the latter of whom re- 
sides at Akron. 

Harry Nelson Sherbondy obtained his edu- 
cation in the public schools of Akron, learned 
the carpenter trade and was employed as a 
wood-worker until 1905, in the meanwhile 
paying some attention also to farming. In 
1908, he resigned his position as forman with 
the manufacturing concern with which he 
had long been connected. It was with regret 
that he separated himself from employers and 
co-workers, between whom and himself existed 
the most cordial feelings. He had com- 
menced to i-ealize, however, the great possibili- 
ties of agriculture and made the decision to 
devote his future energies to that line. He 
purchased his present farm and has met vnth. 
success. He grows corn and wheat to market, 
and hay, corn and oats for his own use. He 
feeds eleven head of cattle which he sells to 
local butchers, and carries milk from the 
farmer? of this section to the Pure Milk Com- 
pany of Akron. All his activities are in a 
prosperous condition. 

Mr. Sherbondy was married to Mrs. Charles 
Thomas, of Cleveland. Her maiden name 
was Flora Bright. She has one son by her 
former marriage, Harry Edward Thomas. 
Mr. and Mrs. Sherbondy have one son, Mil- 
ton LeRoy. 

Politically, Mr. Sherbondy is a Republican 
and on numerous occasions has been sent as 
a delegate to county conventions. He has 



served in the office of trustee of Portage 
Township. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, 
belonging to JSTemo Lodge, No. 746. 

HARRY WILLIAMS, cashier of the Na- 
tional City Bank of Akron, has been identi- 
fied with the banking business during almost 
all his mature life and has been a resident of 
Akron for the past twenty years. He was 
born at Brimfield, Portage Comity, Ohio, in 
1869, and was reared and educated in his 
native place. 

After completing his schooling Mr. Wil- 
liams came to Akron and was employed as 
clerk in a confectionery store for eighteen 
months. He then became a clerk in the City 
National Bank, subsequently going to the 
Citizens' Saving Bank, where he continued 
until 1893, as assistant in charge of the 
branch at East Akron. He then returned to 
the City National Bank, in the capacity of 
bookkeeper, remaining until the expiration 
of its charter, in 1903. The company took 
out a new charter under the style of the Na- 
tional City Bank, and Mr. Williams has been 
cashier of the bank ever since its reorganiza- 
tion. He is highly thought of in banking 
circles, and through his habitual courtesy and 
pleasing personality, has won and retained 
a wide circle of friends, not only for himself, 
but also for the institution with which lie has 
so long been associated. 

In 1895, Mr. AVilliams was married to Nina 
Moulton, who is a daughter of J. B. Moul- 
ton, of Brimfield, Portage County, and they 
have two children — jNIildred and Jeannette. 
Mr. Williams is a member of the Kirkwood 
club, the Portage Countrj^ club and the Akron 
Gun club. 

LEONARD ELI GAYLORD, proprietor 
of Clear Spring Farm, a fertile tract of forty 
acres of land which is situated in Stow Town- 
ship, was born March 29, 1840, in Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of Eli and Mary 
(Wolcott) Gaylord. 

In 1809, Jonathan Gaylord, the grand- 
lather of Leonard Eli. started from Middle- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



935 



town, Connecticut, and with ox-teanis traveled 
through what was then mainly an unsettled 
country to Summit County, and settled on lots 
15 and 16, in what is now Stow Township. 
He cleared up a place in the primeval forest 
on which to erect his cabin of logs, and he 
and his family became identified more or less 
with the subsequent development of this sec- 
tion. He was a ship carpenter and worked 
at this trade in Cleveland, making trips from 
there to Monroe Falls, on foot, and on one of 
these he met his death, his lifeless body being 
found in a strip of woodland through which 
he generally passed. 

Eli Gaylord was born in 1816, at Monroe 
Falls, Summit County,. Ohio, and was the 
youngest member of a large family of chil- 
dren born to Jonathan and Margaret Gay- 
lord. Eli Gaylord followed farming and 
stock-raising and paid much attention to 
dairying, becoming in the course of years a 
jnan of ample means. He married Mary 
Wolcott, in 1838, and in 1888, with her, cele- 
brated their Golden Wedding day. Thej'^ had 
two sons and one daughter: Leonard Eli, 
Alfred and Clara, the latter of whom died at 
Daphne, Alabama, where Alfred resides. She 
was the wife of W. D. Randall. In his po- 
litical views, Eli Gaylord is identified with the 
Reiuiblican party. Both he and wife were 
charter membere of the Disciple? Church at 
Stow Corners, in which he has been elder and 
deacon. Their home is in the northern part 
of Stow Town.ship. 

Leonard Eli Gaylord grew to manhood on 
the home farm, and in tilling the fields and 
raising the stock he was the equal of any 
joung agriculturL'ft of his neighborhood. To 
such as he the call to arms, when the Civil 
War wa.s precipitated, came as a shock, but 
no readier response was given than by the 
loyal young men who hastened from their 
peaceful pursuits and donned the equipments 
of war. Mr. Gaylord was one of tliose who en- 
listed during the firet year of the war. He 
joined Company D, Twenty-ninth Regiment 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, October 10, 1861, and 
was mustered into the United States service 



from Sunuuit County, at Camp Giddings,, 
Jefferson, Ohio, October 27, 1861, his officers 
being Col. Lewis P. Buckley and Capt. Pu- 
laski C. Hard. He had contracted for three 
years, but was honorably discharged at Wau- 
hatchie, Tennessee, December 21, 1863, by 
reason of his re-enlistment as a veteran, and 
was nmstered in the same company and regi- 
ment, as corporal, under Capt. Myron T. 
AVright and Col. William T. Fitch, to serve 
three more years if necassary. 

The Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Infantry, 
was organized at Camp Giddings, August 26, 

1861, and was among the first to answer the 
call of the President for the three years 
service. The regiment was transported to 
Camp Chase, Columbus, where it remained 
until January 17, 1862, when it was ordered 
to Cumberland, Maryland, and it remained 
there until the fall of 1863. While there it 
was brigaded with the Fifth, Seventh and Six- 
ty-sixth Ohio Regiments and the One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment and placed under the command of Col. 
E. B. Tyler, of the Seventh Ohio. The Divi- 
sion was commanded by General Lander until 
his death, March 1, 1862, when he was .suc- 
ceeded by Gen. James Shields. The regi- 
ment was connected with and a part of the 
Army of the Potomac. It participated in the 
engagement at Winchester, Virginia, March 
23, 1862, and at Point Republic, June 9. 

1862. It was sent to Now York to aid in en- 
forcing the draft, in May, 1864, and it joined 
in the Atlanta campaign, at Bridgeport. Ala- 
bama, and under General Sherman partici- 
pated in a number of battles. The Twenty- 
ninth Regiment left Atlanta November 15, 

1864, and was with the force that marched 
through Georgia and reached within four 
miles of Savannah on December 10, 1864, re- 
maining there until January 27, 1865, when 
it accompanied the rest of the army through 
South and North Carolina to Goldsboro, in 
the latter State. On April 10, 1865, the regi- 
ment w^ent to Raleigh, leaving on April 29, 

1865. for AVashington City, arriving at Alex- 
andria, Virginia, May 17, 1865, leaving eight 



936 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



days later. It passed over the Potomac River 
to Washington and took part in the Grand 
Review. Its next camp was near Blanden- 
burg, Maryland, where it remained until June 
10, 1865, when it marched through Wash- 
ington and took the cars for Parkersburg, 
Virginia, where it was met by transports and 
conveyed to Louisville, Kentucky, where it 
ngain went into camp for a few days and 
started then for Cleveland, and on its arrival 
at Camp Taylor, the men were paid off and 
honorably discharged. Thus came home the 
remnant of the gallant band which had so 
bravely born the heat of battle and mauA' of 
whom bore marks of conflict. 

The li.st of the battles in which the Twenty- 
ninth Regiment participated reads as fol- 
lows ; AVinchester, Virginia, Mai-ch 23, 1862 
Point Republic, Virginia, June 9, 1862 
Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Aug. 9, 1862 
Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862; Chancellor.s- 
ville, May 1 to 5, 1863 ; Gettysburg, July 1 to 
3, 1863 ; Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, No- 
vember 24. 1863; Ringold Station, Georgia, 
November 27, 1863 ; Dug or Mill Creek Gap, 
Georgia, Mill Creek, May 7, 1864 ; New Hope 
Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864; Dallas, Geor- 
gia, May 29, 1864 ; Kenesaw Mountain, Geor- 
gia, June 9, 1864 ; Pine Knob, Georgia, June 

19, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 

20, 1864; Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, Julv 22 
to September 2, 1864; March to the Sea,' No- 
\ ember 15 to December 10, 1864; Siege of 
Savannah, December 10 to 21, 1864; Avervs- 
l3oro. North Carolina, March 16, 1865. This 
list does not include minor engagements or 
innumerable skirmishes. 

On June 15, 1864, the color-bearer of the 
regiment was shot and the colors fell to the 
ground. They were seized by Corporal Gay- 
lord who bore them forward, and at dress 
parade it was announced that his duties there- 
after would be those of color-bearer, and he 
proudly bore his company's banner through 
all the rest of the Atlanta campaign. Mr. 
Gaylord was too active a soldier to escape 
without some of the misfortunes of war. On 
.\ugust 9, 1862, at Cedar Mountain, he was 



captured by the Confederates, and was sent to 
Libby Prison, where he was confined for one 
long month, and then taken to Belle Isle, 
from which place he made his escape Ijy 
adroitly slipping in with a body of 500 ex- 
changed prisoners who were being removed 
from that fortress. When he was cai^tured 
he weighed 150 pounds but was so reduced by 
stan-ation and exposure that he weighed but 
1 00 pounds when he came away. He received 
a sun-stroke while on a forced march of one 
day and night to Gettysburg, and was picked 
up unconscious and was confined in a' field 
hospital for a few days. On the march from 
Atlanta to the Sea, he was detailed as an or- 
derly to a topographical engineer. . This 
corps was disbanded at Savannah and he re- 
ceived orders to report to General Williams' 
iieadquarters as a non-commissioned officer 
to take charge of twenty orderlies and horses, 
remaining on this duty until finally dis- 
charged from the service. Mr. Gaylord was 
always to be found at hLs post, performing 
all the duties required of him, participating 
in all the engagements of his company, as 
above outlined, and won commendation from 
his superior officers and the admiration of his 
comrades for his brave and meritorious serv- 
ice. Mr. Gaylord was finally discharged at 
Louisville, Kentucky, July 19, 1865, by rea- 
son of the end of the war. 

After returning to peaceful tiursuit- ^Ir. 
Gaylord followed the house-painter's trade 
until his marriage, which took place Septem- 
ber, 19, 1867, to Julia C. Darrow, who is a 
daughter of Charles Darrow. Her brother, 
Norman Darrow, enlisted for service in the 
Civil War and died ten weeks later. Her ma- 
ternal grandfather, Nathan Wilcox, was a sol- 
dier in^the AVar of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Gay- 
lord have an adopted daughter, Bessie May, 
vdio is the wife of Dr. S. C. Lindsay, of the 
State Hospital, at Independence, Iowa. 

Soon after his marriage, Mr. Gaylord pur- 
chased sixty-seven acres of farming land, but 
it has been reduced to forty by a new railroad 
taking twenty-seven acres. He has carried on 
general farming, paying much attention to 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



m- 



grain, and he has the reputation of having 
raised some of the best horses ever bred in 
Stow Township. 

Mr. Gajdord is a member of W. T. Sher- 
man Post, No. 68, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, in which organization he has held various 
offices. Mrs. Gaylord has been very active 
in the Woman's Relief Corps for the past fif- 
teen years and has efliciently filled the offices 
of conductor and junior vice president. Both 
Mr. and ilrs. Gaylord belong to the Disciples 
Church. Politically, he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM ISAAC CHAMBERLAIN, one 
of Hudson's best-known men, who has at- 
tained prominence as educator, editor, lec- 
turer and agriculturists, was born at Sharon 
Litchfield County, Connecticut, February 11, 
1837, and is a son of Jacob and Anna (Nut- 
ting) Chamberlain. 

Tlie parents of Mr. Chamberlain came from 
Connecticut to Ohio in May, 1838, and settled 
in Summit County, locating in Hudson 
Town.ship on the present home farm of "Wil- 
liam I. Chamberlain. It was then known as 
the Dr. Metcalf farm and consisted of 147 
::eres. Jacob Chamberlain was aL=o born at 
Sharon. Connecticut, and belonged to an old 
established colonial family, three brothers of 
the name having come from England a short 
time after the landing of the Mayflower. 

William I. Oiamberlain received his adu- 
cationa.1 training in the "Western Reserve Col- 
lege, in which his uncle, Rufus Nutting, had 
been, earlier, professor of Greek. He grad- 
uated with the degree of A. B., in 18.50, and 
two years later received the degree of M. A. 
For three years he was engaged as instructor 
in Greek and Latin, at Shaw Academy, after 
which he became a member of the "NA^estern 
Reser\-e faculty, in the same branches, teach- 
ing, in all, about ten years.' In 1863 he first 
turned his attention seriously to agriculture 
and purchased the old home farm adjoininsc 
the village of Hudson. In 1880 he was elected 
state secretary of agriculture and resided at 
Columbus durins: the six years he ably filled 
the office, and then accepted a call to be- 



come president of the Iowa Agricultural Col- 
lege, at Ames, Iowa. He served at the head 
of this institution for five years, leaving it in 
" better condition in every way than he found 
it. After he returned to Hudson, he became 
associate editor of the Ohio Farmer, in which 
capacity he has since continued, retaining hi-; 
home at Hudson and going daily to his office 
at Cleveland. 

During all this period, Mr. Chamberlain 
has continued to follow the occupation of 
agriculture not, however, as his forefathers 
had done, but with every aid that modern 
science can lend. Mr. Chamberlain keeps his 
farm books in a careful manner, and at the 
end of a sea.son can tell precisely the earn- 
ing power of his land under his management, 
and decide where other methods may be best 
employed, or if no change should be made. 
For the past ten years the earnings have aver- 
aged fifteen per cent, on the value of the farm, 
and have gone as high as twenty-three per 
cent for a single year. In 1906, 8,000 bush- 
els of apples were marketed from a ten-acre 
orchard. His present orchard covers twenty- 
three acres. 

On July 16, 1863, Mr. Chamberlain was 
married to Lucy Marshall, who was born at 
Hartford, Connecticut, and who is a daugh- 
ter of David and Orissa (Woods) Marshall. 
David Marshall was born at Lunenburg, ^las- 
sachusetts. He came to Hudson and became 
the head of the publishing and binding firm 
of D. Marshall & Company, subsequently re- 
moving to Pittsburg, Penn.svlvania, in the 
same line of business. His death took place 
at Sewickley, Pennsvlvania. His wife was 
l)orn at Brattleboro. "\''ermont. She was a sis- 
ter of Mrs. Estey. wife of .Jacob Esty. founder 
of the s:reat organ and piano manufacturing 
firm. Mrs. Chamberlain's earlv education 
was at Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain's 
family included the following children: -Ten- 
nie married Professor Hosford. residing at 
Crete, Nebra.ska : Herbert William, who died 
in Ttalv, in 1899, aged thirty-one years, was 
an honor graduate of the Boston Institute of 
Technology, an architect by profession, and 



i)38 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



had been a foreman in the firm of Burnhani 
& Root; Jo.5eph Scudder, who is a chemist in 
the Depai'tment of Agriculture, at Washing- 
Ion, graduated from the college at Ames, 
Iowa, and entering Johns Hoi^kins Univer- 
sity on honor fellowships, took the degree of 
Ph. D. ; Clifton Marshall died in 1891, aged 
sixteen years; Carroll Cutler died in 1881, 
aged two years. Mr. Chamberlain and his 
family belong to the Congregational Church, 
in which he served as a trustee for many 
years. Politically, he is a Republican. He 
is a member of the Daxrow Street Grange. 

Although Hudson has been Mr. Chamber- 
lain's home practically since he was one year 
. old, his field of usefulness has by no means 
been confined to this locality. As a lecturer 
he has appeared in nearly every state in the 
Union, and in Canada as well. His most 
notable achievement, perhaps, has been the 
establishing of the Ohio Farmers' Institutes 
in the various counties, organizations which 
have had a great influence in bringing into 
use soientific methods of farming, thcrebv 
increasing production and adding tn agricul- 
tural wealth. Through his efforts 250 insti- 
tutes have been organized in Ohio and every 
state in the miion has taken uii the work. His 
only work in book form l=: on Tile Drainage, 
which is published by the A. T. Root Com- 
pany, Medina, Ohio, and has had a wide sale. 

CAPTAIN D. F. BERGER, one of Akron's 
leading citizens for many years, now living 
retired, was born at East Akron, Summit 
County. Ohio, in 1835, but when he was two 
years old, his parents moved to Union town. 
Stark County, and two years later to Grepns- 
burg, Summit County. 

Captain Berger was reared to miinhood in 
the latter place and was educated in the 
Marlborough Union school. For several years 
prior to entering the armv for service in the 
Civil War he was engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits at Greensburg, to which place he re- 
turned at the close of his period of enlist- 
ment. He was made captain of Company H, 
lB4th Regiment, Ohio National Guards, when 



he enlisted May 7, 1864, and was discharged 
in the following August. His company was 
stationed at iirlingtou Heights during this 
interim. After the battle of Chickamauga he 
visited that city in order to assist in nursing 
a cousin. Captain Berger continued his mer- 
cantile interests at Greensburg until 1884, 
when he came to Akron, and for about four 
years was agent for the Westinghouse peo- 
ple, selling their engines and threshers, since 
when he has lived retired. 

In 1858 Captain Berger was married to 
Arnestena C. Hinkle, of Ashland County, 
Ohio, and they have six children, namely: 
Sheriden G., who is postmaster at Ontarid, 
California; Arthur F., who is with the Fault- 
less Rubber Company, of Ashland Ohio: 
Homer E., who, for sixteen years was in the 
office of the county treasurer, serving four 
years as treasurer of Summit County, and who 
is now enjoying a trip to Cuba, and is one of 
the most popular citizens of Akron; Lottie C. 
who married C. J. Hazen, residing at Akron; 
Arline E., residing at home; and -John H., 
who is president and manager of the People's 
Ice Company, of Akron. 

Captain Berger has always been a promi- 
nent factor in politics in Summit County, 
where he is well and most favorably known. 
He belongs to Buckley Post, Grand Army of 
the Republic, and his fraternal connections 
include the Masons and Odd Fellows. 

JOHN H. BERGER, president and man- 
ager of the People's Ice Company, at Akron, 
an industry of considerable importance in tliis 
city, was born in ISTfi, at Greensburg, Ohio, 
and is a son of Captain D. F. and Arnestena 
C. (Hinkle) Berger. 

AMien Mr. Berger was about eight years 
of age his parents came to Akron, and, after 
completing his attendance at school, he be- 
came a messenger boy for the Western T^nion 
Telegrajih Company. Later he worked for 
a short time at the phnnbing trade, and for 
three years was employed in the shipping de- 
partment of the Warner Company. During 
the period that his brother, Homer Berger, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



939 



wa^ treasurer of Summit Couuty, which cov- 
ered four yeai"s, John H. was employed iu his 
office. Mr. Berger vasited California and while 
there engaged in a fruit business, and when 
he returned to Akron he became manager of 
the Renner Ic© Company. He continued 
with that form for seven years. "Wlien the 
People's Ice Company was organized, an en- 
terprise that is incorporated with a capital 
stock of $25,000, he took charge of the col- 
lection department, and April 27, 1907, he 
bought the buvsiness. His previous experience 
in this line he found useful and his natural 
energy and enterprise assures the continued 
prosperity of this company dealing in what 
is a nece.-sity of modern life. Mr. Berger 
was married July 12, 1901, to Etta M. Par- 
ri.«h, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and they have two 
children, Ruth and Edith. He is an active 
citizen in all that pertains to the general 
welfare and has a wide acquaintance, and, 
like other membere of his prominent family, 
many friends. 

WILLIAM P. IRISH, a well-known citi- 
zen and successful agriculturist of Norton 
Township, residing on his farm of ninety- 
eight acres, which is situated on the old stage 
road, the first one in use in this section, has 
spent a number of years in other parts of the 
country, but has never given up his resi- 
dence in Summit County. ilr. Irish was 
born in Norton Township, Summit County. 
Ohio, one-half mile north of Norton Center. 
]\Iav 6, 1835. and is a son of Abel and Sallie 
CMcNeil) Irish. 

Abel Irish, who served through the War 
of 1812. was bom at Danby, Rut- 
land County, Vermont, where his people 
were farmers. He was left an or- 
phan in boyhood and was reared by an 
older brother. In 1816 he left Vermont and 
came to Ohio, locating on a farm in Norton 
Town.ship. which was then a part of Portage 
County. In the previous year he had mar- 
ried, and he and wife brought with them 
their infant daughter. Betsey, who died when 
aged sixteen years. Abel Irish bought the 
farm which is now known a* the Rpul)en 



Ilartzell farm and lived here and improved 
it for sixteen years. Hard times then be- 
ing on, he found it impossible to pay off the 
mortgages on his land and accordingly lost 
all the work of the many years that he had 
lived on it. Subsequently he bought the 
farm on which his .son, William P., was born, 
this farm being now known as the Cyrus 
Miller farm; and when the child was about 
six months old lie bought the Thomas 
Holmes farm, on which he settled in No- 
vember, 1835. This is the farm on which 
William P. Irish resides and this land has 
never since been out of the family, William 
P. purchasing it in the spring of 18o8. His 
parents then moved to Ingham County, 
Michigan, where Abel Irish died in 1873, 
in his eightieth year, Iseing survived but one 
year by his widow. They were estimable 
people, kind neighbors and hospitable 
friends. 

Mrs. Irish was a daughter of Thomas Mc- 
Neil, who served in the Revolutionary War, 
and Mr. W. P. McNeil .still has in his i>os- 
session the old tin box carried through the 
war by his grandfather for the safe keeping 
of his papers. Mr. McNeil died in Norton 
Township, and is buried at Norton Center, 
Ohio. 

William P. Irish was reared to be a farmer 
and from boyhood became practically ac- 
quainted with everything about a farm. He 
went to school in the neighborhood, and se- 
cured as fair an education as any of his com- 
panions. Much travel and mingling with 
the world have broadened Mr. Irish and 
made him a well-educated man, one well 
qualified for public office, though he has no 
aspirations in that direction, prefemng to 
give all his attention to agriculture. Mr. 
Irish, his two brothei-s, and .six nephews, 
served in the war of the Rebellion. Mr. Irish 
belonging to the Sixtv-fourth Regiment, 
O. V. I. 

In 1860 Mr. Irish was married to Sophia 
Shoemaker, who is a daughter of Daniel 
Shoemaker, and who was reared in Suffield 
Township. Portage County. They ha.ve 
eleven children, all of whom arc still living 



940 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



— a large happy family — as follows: Lura, 
Jennie, who married W. A. Burdick, 
lives in California; George W. is pro- 
prietor of the George W. Irish livery, 
at Barberton; Flora, who married Wen- 
dell Dunnell, resides in the historic old 
Pilgrim town of Kingston, Massachusetts ; 
Charles Wesley resides in San Francisco; 
Delbert William is proprietor of the D. B. 
Irish Coal Company, of Barberton; Cora 
Belle who married Frank Waters, r&sides 
near Boston, Massachusetts; James Ham- 
ilton, resides at Barberton; Alice, who mar- 
ried Seaman D. Filson, of Cleveland, has one 
child, Karl Robert; Henry Marshall, resides 
at Barberton; Mildred May, married Wil- 
liam Poirier, of Plymouth, Massachusetts; 
and Daisy Edna, who married Marehall 
Grenney, of Collingwood, a suburb of Cleve- 
land. 

Mr. Irish has in his possession a most 
valued souvenir in a cane carried by his 
father, during the time that Andrew Jack- 
son ran for President in 1832, and this cane 
has been carried either by Mr. Iri.sh or his 
father during every Presidential election 
from Jaclcson to Roosevelt. Besides this 
cane, Mr. Irish has in his possession a col- 
lection of canes, one of which was cut from 
the battlefield of Gettysburg. The cane that 
he has carried through all the Presidential 
elections was cut from the farm now owned 
by Mr. Irish and the handle was made from 
the horn of a deer killed on the same farm. 

The year of 1887 Mr. Irish .spent largely 
in travel, making a trip to Cuba, from New 
York, on a sailing vessel. Later he went to 
California, returned in August of the same 
year, and went back to California in Se]> 
tember, making two trips to the Golden 
State in one year. Mr. Irish remained at hi.-> 
home until 1894 and then made a third Irip 
to California. After remaining a year in the 
West, he returned once more to his home in- 
terests, but in 1896 again went back to Cali- 
fornia, where he remained seven years, 
spending ten years in all in that beautiful 
land. He resided in some of its most noted 
cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles 



and Pasadena, and tried gold mining for a 
few months. During 1887 and 1888, he 
traveled a distance of 17,000 miles. But, 
after all home called him back, and since 
1902, he has remained on his farm, remem- 
bering with pleasure the beauties and at- 
tractions of other parts, but acknowledging 
the solid advantages of Ohio. 

RALPH HUGH LODGE. The completed 
life of a successful man, in any avenue of 
life's activity, cannot fail of being an inter- 
esting study, and it becomes one of real bene- 
fit when its results show the blending into a 
harmonious whole, of those marked charac- 
teristics and ennobling virtues which be- 
longed to the late Ralph Hugh Lodge. To 
cherish beautiful ideals from boyhood, to 
bear them undimmed through youth and to 
carry them to their fullest fruition in man- 
hood, was a notable achievement, and this 
alone would have perpetuated his memory, 
had not personal attributes been equally po- 
tent in winning the respect, admiration and 
the warm afFection of all those whose life 
closely touched his. Did our philosophy per- 
mit us to believe that inanimate things were 
sentient, one might wonder if the soft breeze 
that stirs the placid bosom of Silker Lake 
did not oft times bear ^^^th it a sigh for the 
departed one, whose life work for thirty years 
was the perfecting of its beautiful surround- 
ings. 

Ralph Hugh Lodge was born August 3, 
1830, at Monroe Falls, Summit County, Ohio, 
and was a son of George Horner and Rebecca 
(Smith) Lodge, and a descendent of an old 
Huguenot family that found refuge in Eng- 
land. When William Penn, in 1682, came 
to America with his band of colonists and re- 
ligious enthusiasts, he was accompanied by 
a representative of this family, whose views 
undoubtedly were in accord with those of 
the great Quaker. From the founder of 
Pennsylvania he received a grant of land in 
New Jersey, a fertile tract lying along the 
Delaware River, about fifteen miles below the 
city of Philadelphia. This land remained in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



941 



the possesison of the family for more than 
220 years, and on the patrimonial acres 
George Horner Lodge was born in 1801. He 
married Rebecca Smith in Philadelphia, and 
probably in the same year, 1829, started with 
his bride to what was then the far West, Ohio. 
The journey was made over the newly-com- 
pleted Erie Canal, then considered a remark- 
able engineering feat, to Buffalo, thence by 
vessel to Cleveland, where they took the old 
packet boat on the Ohio Canal to Old Portage, 
or Akron. They settled on a small farm in 
Stow Township, Summit County, which 
George H. Lodge cultivated, although he was 
not a farmer in the general acceptance of the 
term, having learned the trade of mason. 
They resided on that farm for some seven 
years. 

In 1836 came about the era of land specu- 
lation in this section of Ohio, and Edmund 
Monroe, a Boston capitalist and promoter, 
bought up large tracts in this vicinity and 
founded what is now the village of Monroe 
Falls. Here all the children of the Lodge fam- 
ily were born. Ralph being the eldest, the five 
others being : Emma ; George H. ; Mary ; Cor- 
nelia, who married George J. Parks; and Mrs. 
Caroline Combes. 

The father of Ralph Lodge in the mean- 
time was kept busily employed at his trade 
and often required the assistance of his eldest 
son. He laid a part of the walls of the E. N. 
Sill stone house on Front Street. Cuyahoga 
Falls, now one of the landmarks of the place, 
and in 1846, prior to removing to Cleveland, 
did the lathing, plastered the rooms and built 
the fireplaces and chimneys in the Thorndike 
House, known as the Gaylord home, opposite 
Silver Lake, which is now the residence of 
William R. Lodge, secretary and manager of 
the Silver Lake Park Company. The family 
settled in Cleveland in 1846 and durine 
1847-48 resided near the corner of Euclid 
Avenue and Pnan Street. Removal wa« then 
made to the Leonard Case farm, then so far 
in the countrv that it wa.= possible to oper- 
ate a large dairy, nnd during the six yenrs the 
family resided there, ymmg Ralph was hi.« 



father's helper and for one year of the time 
ran a milk route. At that time Cleveland was 
an overgrown town having but 12,000 inhabi- 
tants and much of the land round about had 
been but partially cleared. The building of 
the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad right 
through the Case farm and the erection of 
railroad shops soon made that a busy sec- 
tion, now being known as St. Clair Street. 
With other young men, Ralph Lodge secured 
work in the new industry and for several 
years was employed as fireman on the con- 
struction train and at the round house. About 
1855 the family home was again changed, re- 
moval being made to a 100-acre tract east 
of Willson Avenue, now Fifty-fifth Street, 
their home, in w'hich they lived for seventeen 
years, being a site almost opposite the pres- 
ent Central High School. 

Ralph H. Lodge was now called to take 
an active part in the extensive fruit grow- 
ing and market gardening operations opened 
up, and, being the eldest son, gradually as- 
sumed the management which he continued 
until 1872. In the meantime he purchased 
a piece of property on Ontario Street, on 
which he established a grocery, this enterprise 
pro\'ing a very successful business venture. 
His life on the farm had but encouraged a 
natural inclination, a love of the soil, of all 
growing things and an appreciation of the 
bounteous beauties of Nature. In his boy- 
hood he had cherished dreams of a time when 
he might make his home on the banks of the 
beautiful lake, not far from his birthplace. 
Hither his feet wandered whenever an hour 
of recreation came into his rather practical 
life, and here he knew every tree, plant and 
mo.'is, and had not only made friends of the 
birds of the woods, but also of the .shy wild 
creatures in the thickets. At that time the 
consummation of his dream seemed far away, 
but it came to pa.ss. 

On .January 10. 1874. the beautiful, pel- 
lucid bit of water known as Silker Lake at 
present, but in pioneer days as Stow Lake, 
was purcha.?ed from Horace A. Miller, whose 
wife wa= a granddaughter of the original pro- 



942 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



prietor of Stow Township. Mr. Lodge pur- 
chased thii-ty-live acres of the surrounding 
land, it being his idea to develop here a pleas- 
ure resort. This charming stretch of water 
has been likened to Lake Constance, at Como, 
but it is far more beautiful in its natural en- 
vironment. Even when it came into the pos- 
session of Mr. Lodge, in 1874, in its natural 
state it was beautiful in the extreme, in all 
that makes wild Nature attractive. Taking 
up his residence on this ground, in April, 
1876, Mr. Lodge made it his permanent home 
and lived here until his death, May 22, 1907. 

After .secm'ing the prize which he had hon- 
estly coveted from boyhood, Mr. Lodge be- 
gan immediately to fit it up for a pleasure 
resort, taking away none of the natural beau- 
ties, but adding conveniences and attractions 
that have brouglit thousands from all over 
the country to spend happy summers, and 
have sent them back to their rounds of fash- 
ion or pursuit of business refreshed and with 
a better appreciation of the grandeur, beaiity 
and pleasure awaiting them in this quiet cor- 
ner of Ohio. The lake and its surroundings 
were perfect as they were to Mr. Lodge, whose 
poetic love for Nature was so sincere, but he 
recognized the demands of modern life and 
determined that Silver Lake should have 
every added attraction that the expenditure 
of time, laibor, thought and money could pro- 
cure. An interesting event was the planting 
of 1,000 hard maple trees which had all come 
from the seed of one tree. He .^let them out 
along the west border of the natural timber, 
where they have flourished and stand in their 
beauty, after the hands that placed them have 
become quiet. To the development of this 
property along the lines mentioned. Mr. 
Lodge devoted the remainder of his life, mak- 
ing it take the place of travel, recreation, so- 
ciety, everything which he otherwise would 
have enjoyed. 

Silver Lake Park, as it is today, is the most 
popular summer resort in this part of Ohio. 
Tt has grown each year in popularity, partly 
on account of its beauty of location and part- 
Iv on account of the careful wav in which it 



has always been managed by the Lodge fam- 
ily. It has its own electric lighting plant, 
water woi'ks system, sewerage system, bakery, 
laundry, police, iaxva, garden, hotel and jusi- 
tice of the peace. Excellent facilities are pro- 
vided for all kinds of athletic sports. Among 
the numberless attractions is a minature steam 
railroad with its track winding around 
through the shiiibbery and running along 
the lake shore. A herd of sixteen Shetland 
Ironies are kept for the use of the children. A 
number of cottages have been built, many of 
the best people of Akron and elsewhere 
throughout the country making this spot a 
permanent summer home, transportation be- 
ing of the best to many points. A sheet of 
about 100 acres of water offers delights to 
the yachtsman, and a number of steamers and 
boats ply liack and forth. A visitor in speak- 
ing of the delightful summer spent in this 
truly beautiful spot, mentions the loveliness 
of Silver Lake when its night illuminations 
are seen, the reflecting water making a picture 
not equaled by any storied spot in any other 
land. 

Visitoi-s to Silver Lake soon became ac- 
quainted mth the kind, una.ssuming man who 
proved a mo.st interesting companion when 
his friendship was gained. He could recall 
so much from a, long past that was in- 
.«tructive and entertaining that he never failed 
of auditors. His religious rearing had been 
after the precepts of the Society of Friends 
and in his nature and manner was much of 
their simplicity. He was a strong advocate 
of temperance and Silver Lake Park excludes 
every intoxicating feature. 

On April 7, 1869, Ralph Hugh Lodge was 
man-ied to Julia A. Plum, of Cuyahoga Falls, 
and nine of their ten children stirvive, name- 
ly: Dr. Edward Ballard, residing at Cleve- 
land; Mrs. Duncan P. Wolcott, residing at 
Kent, Ohio; Mrs. William R. Irvin, residing 
at Cuyahoga Falls; and Lillian P., William 
R., George H., Louis P., Laura C. and Ralph 
H., residing at Silver Lake Park. 

In summing up the life and character of 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



943 



the late Ralph Hugh Lodge, we quote from 
the words of one who knew him well: 

"To his family aud friends he was kind, 
lovable iuid. generous; he had a nature free 
from ostentation, led a simple life, and what^ 
ever publicity he attained, was a result, not 
a means. He was born almost within sight 
of the spot, where, after a long and busy life, 
he laid down to rest. He wished no man 
ill; he gave everyone his due in all fidelity; 
he lived his life true to his best light. He be- 
lieved in the Golden Rule, in the Fatherhood 
of God and the Brotherhood of man." 

SAMUEL A. CLICK, residing on his well- 
improved farm of seventy-three acres, sit- 
uatt'd in Coventry Township, belongs to an 
old pioneer family of Ohio, which settled in 
Stark County during the Eighteenth Century. 
Mr. Click was born on the old family home- 
stead in .lackson Township, Stark County, 
Ohio, May 27, 1851, and is a son of Samuel 
and Julia Ann (Koons) Click. 

Samuel Click, the grandfather of Samuel 
A., was the pioneer of the family in Ohio, 
bringing hit^ wife and children, together with 
the household possessions, from Pennsylvania, 
making the long journey with an ox-team. 
This was a slow method of transportation, but 
haste was not such a great factor in living as 
it is today, and the o.xen, through their great 
strength, were able to haul wagons through 
the rough and uncleared country as no other 
animals would have had power to do. The 
wife and children remained in Ohio for the 
rest of their days, but the fatlier made seven 
walking trips back to the old place in an ef- 
fort to collect money which he never was able 
to get. He settled in .Jackson Township, 
Stark C'Oumty, when his nearest neighbor wa* 
four miles distant. Six of his eight children 
were born in Pennsylvania, the other two in 
Stark County, his son Samuel being the third 
white child born in Jackson Township. 

The name of Samuel has descended in the 
Click family through three generations. Sam- 
uel Click, father of Samuel A., grew up on 
the old home farm and assisted in its clear- 



ing. When quite a youth the deer were still 
so tame and numerous, that he frequently 
was given the task of chasing them from 
the cultivated parts of the farm. He was not 
able to attend school continuously, the dis- 
tance being five miles, and farm work usual- 
ly being pressing. Later in life he frequently 
recalled the day on which he, with other 
young men of the neighborhood, walked to 
Columbus to see w^hat was then a wonderful 
spectacle, a railroad train pass through. Sam- 
iiel Click continued to live on the farm in 
•Tackson Township until his death, in Septem- 
lier, 1893. He married Julia Ann Koons, 
who was born in 1816, and died in her eight- 
ieth year, after a happy married life of fifty- 
seven years. She was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and accompanied the family to New 
York, where they lived for six years in the 
^•icinity of Niagara Falls, and then came to 
Ohio, traveling with an ox-team, Julia Ann 
having the privilege of walking the greater 
[lart of the way. Her father bought a farm in 
Summit County, which is now the site of 
Greensburg. 

The children of Samuel and Julia Ann 
Click were: Adeline, who married Daniel 
Weaver; Sarah, who married Henry Gooden- 
l)erg; Aaron, Daniel; Maria, deceased, who 
married William Strow^sser; Clara, who is the 
widow of George McCoy ; Samuel Allen ; and 
Susan, who married A. J. Stoner. Samuel 
Click resided in Jackson Township in the 
early days before scarcely any advancement 
had }>een made, and on account of his being 
a man of strong character and good judg- 
ment, he was often consulted on public mat^ 
ters and his advice taken. He was success- 
ful in his business transactions, being a very 
careful man, and when he added thirty-five 
acres to fhe original homestead farm, he se- 
cured a bvck-skin deed, which his son pre- 
serves. Both Samuel Click and his wife 
were consistent members of the Evan- 
2:elical Church, and Samuel A. remem- 
bers when he was carried in the arms of his 
father, while his mother carried the noxt 
vnunger child on a walk of six miles, across 



944 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the iields, in order to attend church. Sam- 
uel Allen Click can recall many pleasant 
memories of his childhood and youth in the 
old home. He was reared strictly and had to 
work hai'd, but that was the case with the 
members of every household in the neighbor- 
hood which prosperity visited. He was still 
young when he could do a full day's work 
following after the hussey, which machine 
for cutting grain his father bought when he 
was nine years old, being the first farmer who 
was so enterprising in this section. He grew 
to manhood well instructed in everything con- 
cerning farming and stock-raising. 

Mr. Click was married April 27, 1876, to 
Mary Hanline, who was born in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Roades) 
Hanline, who were among the pioneers of 
that township. Mr. and Mrs. Click have three 
children, namely: Edward who married 
Anna Zepp, residing near his father; Han- 
nah, who married Edward Cormany, a school 
teacher, has one child, Achah, residing in this 
neighborhood; and Elmer, who married 
Frankie Kemary, deceased, lives with his 
father. 

Mr. Click has always carried on general 
farming and for seventeen years was inter- 
ested in threshing, but has retired from that 
line of business and has disposed of his ma- 
chine. He remained on the old home prop- 
erty until November 30, 1890, when he pur- 
chased his present farm, then consisting of 
eighty acres, from the H. F. Flickenger heirs. 
He has generously given each of his children 
a nice home and has also sold some land, re- 
taining just enough to keep him busy over- 
seeing it. He is a Republican in his political 
preferences and has served the township as 
school director and as supervisor. With his 
family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He has watched the development of 
this section with a great deal of interest and 
can recall the days when his threshing ma- 
chine did some of its best work right in what 
is now the heart of the busy town of Barber- 
ton. 



P. T. McCOURT, general contractor at Ak- 
ron, was born in Canada, in 1860, and is a 
son of John McCourt, who first visited Akron 
in 1850. John McCourt returned to Akron 
and established himself permanently here in 
1865, and in this city P. T. McCourt has lived 
for the past forty-two years. 

For five years P. T. McCourt worked for 
the Aultman-Miller Company. In 1883 he 
purchased his first team and engaged in team- 
ing and contract work, and from 1890 to 
1897 he worked for the rolling mill. It was 
during the latter year that he built his sub- 
stantial three-story brick barn, 44 by 100 feet 
in dimensions, to which he has since added 
an ell, 44 by 130 feet. This was erected for 
the accommodation of horses and vehicles, 
Mr. McCourt by this time having a great 
transportation business. He is also interested 
in disposing of coal, and takes contracts for 
the building of streets and sewers, and for 
concrete work. He had the contract for build- 
ing fifteen of the locks on the Ohio Canal. 
He is a director of the Summit County Fair 
Association. In all that he has been con- 
cerned since entering business life Mr. Mc- 
Court has followed his own instincts of busi- 
ness honor, and that his conceptions have 
been the true ones is proven by the high es- 
teem in which he is held by his fellow-citi- 
zens. 

Mr. McCourt was married (first) in June, 
1890, to Rose M. Brady, who died in July, 
1896, leaving two children, namely: Ethel 
R. and Walter P. He was married (second) 
to Anna Hefferman, and they have one child, 
Mary C. 

Mr. McCourt is a consistent member of 
St. Mary's Catholic Church at Akron, and he 
is liberal in supporting its various charities. 
He belongs to the Elks, the Knights of Co- 
lumbus and the Ancient Order of Hibernians 
and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

JAMES BRADLEY, for many years a 
highly esteemed member of the farming com- 
munity of Springfield Township, was born at 
Mogadore, Summit County, Ohio, June 8, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



945 



1827. He was a son of John Anson and Bet- 
sey (Adams) Bradley. His paternal grand- 
father was Ariel Bradley, who, in 1801, came 
from Salisbury, Connecticut, to Mahoning 
County, Ohio, and to Suffield in 1806, settling 
on lot 12, Springfield Township, in March, 
1807, and being the first white settler in 
Springfield Township. The land hereabouts' 
at that period was all included in Trumbull 
County, but was subsequently apportioned to 
Portage County, and still later to Summit 
County, of which Ariel Bradley and his wife 
thus became residents. When he was seventy- 
eight years old Ariel went to visit his son, 
Bird, in Wood County, and while there was 
seized with his last illness. His remains are 
interred in the old cemetery at Waterville. He 
and his wife were the parents of efght chil- 
dren: James, John Anson, Harlow, Bird, 
Heman, Marilla, Amelia and Edgar. The last 
mentioned died in boyhood. Marilla became 
the wife of Lee Moore, and Amelia married 
Perrin Depew. The Bradleys cleared the land 
on which their descendant, the subject of this 
sketch, now resides, and they owned all of it 
lying south of the east and west roads, that is 
now covered by the town of Mogadore. They 
it was who planted the outposts of civiliza- 
tion in this locality. John Anson Bradley, 
son of Ariel, was bom at Salisbury, Connec- 
ticut, in 1796, and accompanied his parents 
to Ohio. He did his full share in taming the 
wilderness, and on arriving at a suitable age, 
married Betsey Adams, who lived a mile and 
a half south of the present site of Mogadore. 
She came from New Hampshire with her 
father, who settled in Suffield Township in 
1809. There were two children born to John 
Anson Bradley and his wife— James and 
Charlotta. The latter became the wife of 
George C. Winship, and they moved to Iowa, 
where both died, leaving a daughter, Min- 
nie, who subsequently married a Mr. Abbey. 
James Bradley was brought up to agricul- 
tural pursuits, and was taught to be honest 
and industrious. On attaining years of dis- 
cretion he married Cec«Ha Andrews, a daugh- 
ter of A. C. and Almira (Kent) Andrews. 



Her parents were natives of Connecticut, 
whence they moved to Portage County, Ohio. 
The Keuts were also of New England stock, 
and descendants in the fourth generation of 
Martin Kent, who married Abigail Hale, and 
emigrated to the Western Reserve, purchas- 
ing a farm in Suffield Township of the Con- 
necticut Land Company. On this farm he 
resided for the rest of his life. The children 
of A. C. and Almira (Kent) Andrews were: 
Cecelia, who married James Bradley ; Quincy, 
who died unmarried in Minnesota; Emma, 
who married Dr. William Thompson, and 
Licasta, who died at the age of five years. 

James Bradley, by his first wife, Cecelia, 
had nine children, as follows: Cora, Minnie, 
Flora, Emma, Florence, Nellie, George, Her- 
bert, Charles K. and Louise H. The six first 
mentioned are all deceased, while the last 
three still survive. Charles is unmarried, and 
is engaged in general farming in Rolette 
County, North Dakota. Louise became the 
wife of Frank Parker and resides with her 
girls in MinneapoILs, Minnesota. Her hus- 
band is deceased. She had two children — 
Myrza and Gladys. Mrs. Cecelia Bradley died 
in 1875 when in her forty-fourth year, and 
.Tames Bradley married, second, Jlrs. Eliza- 
beth (Spencer) Bradley. Of this marriage 
there were two children, one of whom died in 
infancy, and the other, Bessie, when a charm- 
ing girl of fourteen years. 

George Herbert Bradley, son of James 
Bradley, by his first wife, Cecelia, was bom 
on the home farm in Springfield ToT\Tiship, 
January 20, 1855. He was trained to farm 
work and acquired his education in the dis- 
trict schools and at Buchtel College, where 
he .spent two years. The farm on which he 
now resides contains fifty acres of the original 
tract settled by his great-grandfather, Ariel 
Bradley, twenty acres having been subse- 
quently added. Since leaving the college in 
1877, he has given his main attention to the 
operating of the home farm. Mr. Bradley is 
unmarried. Like his father, he is a Repub- 
licaui in politics. He has .served as a justice 
of the peace, and has taken a more or less 



946 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



active interest in politics since attaining his 
majority. On several occasions he has been 
sent as a delegate to important conventions. 
The family he represents is one of high stand- 
ing in Summit County. 

J. EDWARD GOOD, president of the 
Hardware Supply Company, of Akron, is a 
native of this city in which his business suc- 
cess has been achieved. He was born in 1861 
and was gi'aduated from the Akron High 
School in 1879, following which he entered 
Kenyon College, where he was graduated 
with credit in 1884. 

After this thorough preparation for busi- 
ness life, Mr. Good entered the whole.sale 
hardware house of Mcintosh, Good & Com- 
pany, of Cleveland, where he remained until 
1889. He then returned to Akron, with the 
interests of which city he has been clo.?ely 
and successfully associated ever since. He as- 
sisted in the organization of the Paige Broth- 
ers Company, which did business from 1889 
until 1891, when the firm name was changed 
to the Standard Hardware Company, which 
continued until 1905, when the Ilardware 
Supply Company was incorporated, with a 
capital .stock of $150,000. The officers of this 
concern are; J. Edward Good, president; 
Crannell Morgan, vice-president; William W. 
Wohlwend, secretary; and E. S. Bunnell, 
treasurer. This company occupies commo- 
dious quarters at No. 50-52 South Main Street, 
where they have some 50,000 square feet of 
floor space. They carry a very heavy stock 
and deal both by retail and wholesale. In ad- 
dition to this important business cnterpri.se, 
Mr. Good is interested as a stockholder in a 
number of others. In all of these his business 
ability and integrity are never questioned. In 
1889 Mr. Good was married to Laura D. Zim- 
merman, of Pittsburg. He is a Knight Tem- 
plar Mason and "Shriner," and retains his 
membership in his college fraternities. 

GEORGE ADAM SHOOK, whose excel- 
lent farm of eighty-seven acres is situated in 
Coventry Township, about six miles south of 



the center of Akron, is one of the representa- 
tive agriculturists of this section. Mr. Shook 
wm born June 19, 1837, on his father's farm 
in Stark County, Ohio, and is a son of David 
and Catherine (Hanse) Shook. 

The Shook ancestors came to Pennsylvania, 
from Germany, in the day of the great-grand- 
father of George Adam, and settled in Lehigh 
County, Pennsylvania. There the family 
{irospered and became one of prominence.- 
The grandfather, David Shook, was born in 
Pennsylvania, where he married and later, 
with his family, moved to Niagara County, 
New York, settling on a farm near Lockport. 
That he meditated coming to Ohio was shown 
Viy the interest he took in this section, visit- 
ing it on horseback when it was but a wilder- 
ness all through Summit County. However, 
he never settled here, and his last days were 
pa.«sed in Niagara County, New York. 

David Shook the second, the father of 
George Adam, was born in Pennsylvania and 
was one of the younger members of a fam- 
ily of fourteen children. He was a boy when 
his parents moved to Niagara County, New 
York, and remained there until his older 
brother, Philip Shook, moved to Portage 
County, Ohio. Shortly afterward, David 
went on a visit, but was so well pleased that 
he remained with Philip, assisting him in 
clearing up his vr\\d farm, until his own 
marriage, after which he acquired a small 
farm in Stark County. He lived there 
through the death of his first wife and after 
his second marriage, but in 1852 he removed 
to a farm in Michigan, where he died, aged 
sixty-two years. 

In Stark County, Ohio, David Shook wa.s 
married to Catherine Hanse, who was born 
near New Berlin, Ohio, and died in August, 
18.38, aged twenty-three years, leaving but 
one child, George Adam. The father mar- 
ried (second) a Miss Holben, also of Stark 
County, who survived him, and they had the 
following children: .Jonathan, David, Cath- 
erine, ,Tohn, Elias, William and Reuben. 

George Adam Shook was left motherless 
when he was fourteen months old. and he was 




;ii'i!ij I 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



949 



taken to the home of aii aunt, Mrs. Mary 
Ranch, who reared him in Mahoning Countj', 
Oliio, until he wa^ fourteen yetus of age, per- 
mitting him to attend the district school while 
supporting himself by work on her farm. 
However, Mr. Shook did not feel independent 
until he had earned fifty dollars by himself 
and paid this sum to the Ranch family, this 
being sufficient to cover all the expense he had 
ever caused them. He had now sliu'ted out 
for himself and as his work was farm labor 
he lived at various homes in the neighbor- 
hood, remaining with the Sluss family for 
three years. Not being satisfied with the edu- 
cation he had been able to oljtain in the dis- 
trict schools, he arranged to attend the Ran- 
dolph select school, later took a coni'se in 
Greensburg Seminary, in Summit County. 
and still later, enjoyed one term at Mt. Union 
College. During the time he was thus ac- 
quiring a really superior education, he was in- 
dustrious and reliable and always found good 
homes where he worked on the farm during 
the summers. AVhen he was about eighteen 
years of age he began to teach, school and 
taught through fifteen winters, mostly in 
Stark, Summit and Wayne Counties, in 1864 
teaching one term at the reservoir in Coven- 
try Township, and occasionally teaching sum- 
mer terms. 

Mr. Shook continued to teach until 1877. 
having also carried on farming during the 
larger part of the time. He had secured an 
interest in a farm near Uniontown, in Lake 
Town.'^hip, Stark County, and later purc'has'd 
the M'hole farm and lived there for six years. 
After retiring from the educational field, Mr, 
Shook bought a grist-mill at Uniontown, 
which he operated for three years, and then 
sold it to Dawd and Samuel Rittor, after 
which he rented a farm for a few years. In 
1881 he bought his present property from 
Jacob Sellers and moved on this place in the 
spring of 1882. It was well improved prop- 
erty when he purchased it and he has kept 
up its condition. Later he bought a tract of 
timber land, in Green Township, which he 
still owns in partnership with his .«'On-in-law, 



William H. Wagoner. For twelve years after 
settling on this place Mr. Shook was engaged 
in the threshing business and also success- 
fully ran a sawmill for a time with Mr. Wag- 
goner. He carries on general farming, mak- 
ing his land pay for all the attention he gives 
it, and keeps good stuck and uses iiiipnn-ed 
machinery. 

On Mai-ch 17, 1861, Mr. Shook was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Mutchler, who wa^s born in 
Stark County, Ohio, and is a daughter of 
Godfrey and .ludith (Meiers) Mutchler. Her 
parents came from Germany and were mar- 
ried in Stark County, Ohio, this being the 
second marriage of her father. There were 
live children bom to this union, namely: 
Eva, Elizabeth, Mary, Magdalena and Rosina, 
who is deceased. Mr. Mutchler had married 
tii-st in Germany, Christina Ga.sz, who left 
three children : Dorothy, Christina and Bar- 
Ijera. Both parents of ]Mrs. Shook died at 
New Berlin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shook had the following chil- 
dren : Clara E., who married William Wag- 
goner ; 'Henry E., who married Emma Heim- 
baugh; Erwin J., who married Amelia Dietz; 
and Anna, who married Edward C. Eippert. 
Mr. Shook and family belong to the Luth- 
eran Church. His children are all well edu- 
cated and all four have been teachers. In 
politics Mr. Shook is a Republican and he has 
served both as township trustee and as as- 
sessor. 

.lOHN BREITENSTINE, one of Norton 
Township's most substantial citizens, who 
owns .378 acres of land in. this and Frank- 
lin Township, a part of which is particularly 
valuable because of coal beds, has been a 
resident of Summit County since he was 
eight years of age. He was born in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
.Tanuary 14, 1847, and is a son of .Tacob and 
Lydia (Kellar) Breitenstine. 

The parents of Mr. Breitenstine were 
reared in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, but 
were married in Wayne County, Ohio. 
.Tncob Breitenstine was Itorn in Germany and 



950 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



was fifteen years old wheu he accompanied 
his father, John Jacob Breitenstine, to 
America and later to Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, Ohio. The family later 
all removed to Franklin Township, Summit 
County, where the grandparents died when 
over eighty years of age. Jacob Breiten- 
stine assisted his father in paying for the 
farm of eighty acres in Franklin Township. 
He was a smart man in the sense of being 
educated and of good judgment, and for 
some years he practiced law. He lived to 
the age of eighty-four yeai-s. He married 
Lydia Kellar who lived to the age of eighty- 
three. They had eight children, six of 
whom reached maturity. 

John Breitenstine is one of the township's 
self-made men. He was the eldest of the 
eight children of the family, and as soon as 
he was old enough, he took the management 
of the farm, as his father was engaged in his 
professional work. When twenty-one years 
of age, he went to work at the County In- 
firmary, but two years later he resumed 
farming and this has been his main occupa- 
tion since. Mr. Breitenstine bought his 
present farm in 1888 and has erected all the 
substantial buildings here. It was formerly 
owned by Dr. Samuel Bargess. A valuable 
coal bank was opened on this farm in 1840, 
and it has been worked ever since with little 
sign of giving out. 

On August 27, 1869, Mr. Breitenstine was 
married to Sarah Surfass, who was born and 
reared in Norton Township and who is a 
daughter of Cornelius Surfass. They have 
six children: Harvey, who is married, re- 
sides with his family in Norton Township; 
Harry, also married, is engaged in the thresh- 
ing business in Norton Township ; Milton 
follows the trade of plastering; Mattie mar- 
ried Logan Fletcher; Newton and Sadie re- 
side at home with their parents. Mr. Breit- 
enstine and family belong to the Reformed 
Church. Although he is one of the largest 
landowners and most independent men of 
this section, he has made his property all 
himself, using good judgment in his invest- 



ments and being industrious and frugal. 
He is one of the township's best-known men. 

A. J. STELZER,a leading general merchant 
at Akron, dealing in dry goods and fancy 
groceries, at Nos. 619-621 North Howard 
Street, has been a resident of Akron for the 
past twenty years, and is one of her best- 
known citizens. He was born in 1875 at 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

When Mr. Stelzer was a child one year old 
his parents moved to Canton, Ohio, where 
he lived until the age of ten, when family 
sicknass terminated his school days and prac- 
tically threw him upon his own resources. He 
came to Akron and entered a grocery store 
owned by his uncle, J. A. Rulmer, with whom 
he worked for one year, later was with John 
Keoberle for eighteen months, going from 
there to James Diehm. He continued with 
the last-named business man for seven years 
and then became connected with the Inman 
Brothers in a general mercantile business, 
where he remained for six years. In April, 
1903, Mr. Stelzer bought out C. Reusch, who 
was conducting a store at the present loca- 
tion, 619-21 North Howard Street, and since 
that time has carried on a large and very sat- 
isfactory business. He occupies two rooms, 
one 21 by 60 feet in dimensions and the other 
15 by 22 feet, both of which are well stocked. 
He owns also a commodious wareroom in the 
rear. He is known as the leading North Hill 
merchant and his trade is so large that he 
requires the assistance of five employes. 

On October 20, 1898, Mr. Stelzer was mar- 
ried to Edith Mason, who was born at East 
Akron, and they have two daughter: Mildred 
J. and Gretchen M. With his family he be- 
longs to the North Hill Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is identified with the order of 
Maccabees. 

WILLIAM RALPH LODGE, secretary 
and manager of The Silver Lake Park Com- 
pany, vice-president and a director of the 
Cuyahoga Falb Savings Bank, and interested 
in a niimher of other successful business enter- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



ysi 



prises, is one of the best-known men of Sum- 
mit County, llu waii boru at Cleveland, 
Ohio, June 6, 1874, and is a son of the late 
Ralph Hugh and Julia A. (Plum) Lodge. 

There are few residents of Stow Township 
who do not recall with the kindest memories 
the late Ralph Hugh Lodge, the larger part 
of whose life was devoted to developing Sil- 
ver Lake Park, a property he acquired during 
the childhood of his son, William Ralph. Na- 
ture had done much, m her own wild way, for 
this region, but to the Lodges must be at- 
tributed the remarkable changes which were 
brought about in a comparatively few years. 
While the natural beauties have been retained 
every device of modern invention has been 
added and the result is an ideal summer re- 
sort to which thousands of people come from 
every part of the country, gladly returning 
year after year. 

William Ralph Lodge attended the corn- 
common and High schools of Cuyahoga Falls 
and then entered the preparatory department 
of Oberlin College, with the intention of 
completing the whole college course. In the 
meanwhile he became interested in his fath- 
er's enterprise of developing Silver Lake 
Park, and after seven terms at Oberlin, de- 
cided to return home and give his father as- 
sistance, which, on account of the increas- 
ing responsibilities attending the huge enter- 
prise, was greatly needed. Few men were 
better equipped for handling details as well 
as planning improvements than was the late 
Mr. Lodge, but the work went on so rapidly 
and in so many directions that even he was 
not able to properly attend to it. The yoimg 
man then came to share his father's burdens. 
He had also the capacity, but his ideas of 
business were more modern than were those 
of his father, and for some time the systema- 
tized methods of the son surprised the older 
man. William Ralph Lodge practically re- 
organized the whole business, opened an of- 
fice and installed a typewriter, purchasing the 
machine with his own money, which he had 
earned by selling ice to campers about the 
lake. He opened up books for the accounts 



formerly kept by his father laid away in his 
active brain, or on slips of paper in his pocket. 
At first these changes were innovations that 
the older Mr. Lodge scarcely approved of, but 
ere long he saw their value, and thence was 
brought about a perfect confidence which al- 
ways existed thereafter. Since 1894, William 
Ralph Lodge has largely had control, al- 
though he continued to w^ork under his fath- 
er's direction for the following six years, but 
since 1900 he has had the active management 
un his shoulders. Until the death of his 
father, however, Mr. Lodge sought and val- 
ued his parent's advice and counsel. He had 
much to do with promoting the park, acquir- 
ing a number of tracts of land to accommo- 
date the rapidly growing business. One of the 
most important undertakings was the nego- 
tiating and building of the railroad connec- 
tion with the C. A. & V. C. Railroad, and 
bettering the terminals of the trolley lines 
connecting with the resort. 

Silver Lake Park, with its buildings and 
other improvements, represents an investment 
of about $200,000. Every piece of work is 
done substantially, with a view to the future. 
The present beautiful pavilion could not be 
replaced for less than $50,000. The perfect 
sewerage system was put in under most diffi- 
cult conditions, a part of it being laid under 
the lake and the Cuyahoga River, being thir- 
teen feet below the surface. This engineer- 
ing work had to be done during the winter 
season when the river was frozen, entailing 
a stupendous expenditure. With his other 
duties, Mr. Lodge has always had charge of 
the advertising by which people, societies, 
churches and other organizations learn of the 
comfort, pleasures and advantages ofiPered by 
this unique resort, and a conception may be 
formed as to the amount of business to which 
it is necessary for Mr. Lodge to give personal 
attention, when it is stated that during the 
100 days of the season, an average of 2,000 
people are entertained daily. Regular em- 
ployment is given 150 workers in different de- 
pai-tments. 

Mr. Lodge is also interested in other pros- 



y52 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



periiig eiitei-prises, leading the busy life of 
the modern man of capital and affairs. He is 
vice-president of the Cuyalioga Falls Savings 
Bank and one of itts directing board; is vice- 
president and a director of the Success Dish- 
washing Machine Company, of Wooster, Ohio, 
of which he was one of the organizers, and 
is chairman of the Co-operative Creamery 
Company, at Stow Corners. 

Mr. Lodge married Marie Antoinette Ells- 
worth, who is a daughter of Edward Ells- 
worth, of Stow Township. They have two 
sons, William Ellsworth and Edward Ells- 
worth. Mrs. Lodge is a member of St. John's 
Episcopal Church at Cuyahoga Falls. 

In political sentiment Mr. Lodge is a Re- 
publican and has sei-ved as a delegate to coun- 
ty conventions. He gives generous assistance 
to his friends in various campaigns, but has 
no political ambition for himself. 

CRANNELL MORGAN, vice-president of 
the Hardware Supply Company, at Akron, 
treasurer of the Wise Furnace Company, and 
interested financially in a number of other 
local business enterprises, was born at Somer- 
ville, New Jersey, in 1871, where he was 
reared and obtained his education. 

Mr. Morgan was an employe of AVilliam 
Bingham & Company, in the hardware line, 
at Cleveland, for the first ten yeare of his 
business career, starting at the bottom of the 
ladder and learning all the details of the 
busin&«s. For two years he represented that 
firm on the road, and then came to Akron as 
manager of the Ohio Glass and Hardware 
Company for Cleveland parties. Later Mr. 
Morgan organized the Morgan and Bunnell 
w^holesale and retail company in the same 
line, continuing business for eight years. In 
1904 the Hardware Supply Company of Ak- 
ron was organized, absorbing the Morgan and 
Bunnell Company and the Standard Hard- 
ware Company, and Mr. Morgan has been 
vice-president of thL'? concern from the be: 
ginning. In 1895 Mr. Morgan w^ns married 
to Bertha Weber, of Cleveland, and they have 
one son, Webb C. Mr. Morgan is a member 



of the Portage Country club, and the Auto 
club. His business and social connections axe 
both numerous and he is personally a very 
popular citizen. 

CAPTAIN FREDERICK K. REAM, one 
of tlie best-known citizens of Northampton 
Township, residing on his well-improved farm 
of forty acres, was born in Germany, Feb- 
ruary 2, 1826, and is a son of Christopher 
and Katherine (Stockel) Ream. 

The parents of Captain Ream were natives 
of Germany and the mother died prior to the 
family exodus to America, in 1830. The 
father sui^vived until 1869, being sixty-eight 
years old at the time of his death. Fred- 
erick K. Ream was the only child of the 
first marriage. The father's second marriage 
was to Mrs. Katherine Schrader, a widow with 
three children, and two more were born to 
this union. For some year's after reaching 
the United States Christopher Ream engaged 
in farming in the vicinity of Cleveland, and 
then purchased a farm near Royalton, Ohio, 
which he operated during the rest of his 
life. 

Frederick K. Ream attended school at 
Royalton, and remained at home until he was 
sixteen years of age, when he decided to go 
nut into the world and take care of himself, 
and he remembei"s now with amvLsement, that 
all he caried with him was one extra shirt 
and a clean handkerchief. At that time he 
was a sturdy youth and had a pleasant^ win- 
u'ing manner that brought him friends and 
he soon secured work with a farmer near 
Penin.sula, with whom he lived two years, dur- 
ing which time he was very industrious, but 
received for his labor little except his board. 
He next secured a position as driver on the 
canal and was promised five dollars a month 
salary, which was satisfactory to him when 
the bargain was made, and he worked hard 
from June imtil November, drawing but 
three dollars of the twenty-five dollars coming 
to him and doubtless laying great plans con- 
cerning the expenditure of this sum. These 
all came to naught, however, as his employer 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



!J53 



left the neighborhood without making any 
settlement. 

Later he made a better bai'gain, by which 
he received twenty dollai's a month, with 
board, and he continued here until 1852, 
when he purchased a canal boat of his own 
and thii.? acquired the title by which he has 
been known ever since. For many years 
Captain Ream did a good basiness on the 
canal and continued to operate his own ves- 
sel as long as he remained on the water. He 
is well remembered by other captains and a 
number of his old associates recall their sea- 
sons of work together. Captain Ream had 
the reputation of keeping the neatest and best 
conditioned vessel among them all. Hia 
quick eye enever failed to note the slightest 
scratch on the varni.sh and the merest dis- 
figurement made by the mo\4ng of freight or 
from other cau.ses, and it was a familiar sight 
w^hen the skipper himself a]3peared with ptunt 
pot and brush, repairing all damages. When 
his boat went out of commisison at the close 
of the season, it was as clean and fresh as 
when it went in. Captain Ream continued to 
run his boat until 1865, when he bought a 
farm in Northampton Township, now known 
as the Herbruck farm, which he sold in 1875, 
and settled on the one on which he has resided 
ever since. For .some years he has had it 
under rental. At one time he owned con- 
siderable property in Akron, but has sold 
seven of his houses, retaining but one. Prior 
to November 10, 1905, Captain Ream had 
enjoyed the usual health afforded to those 
of his years, but at that time he suffered from 
a partial paralysis which has greatly incon- 
venienced him and di.stre.^sed his friends. His 
intellect, however, is clear, and a visit to Cap- 
tain Ream is ve^^' enjoyable as his reminis- 
censes reach far back and his .stories of life 
on the canal touch an important epoch in 
local history. 

In 1852 Captain Ream was married to 
Katherine Stockel, who died June 30. 1904, 
leaving no i.esue. 



WALTER A. FOLGER, treasurer of the 
B. F. Goodrich Company, at Akron, was bom 
July 13, 1858, at Mantua, Portage County, 
Ohio. 

Mr. Folger was educated in Portage Coun- 
ty. Until June 26, 1882, he had railroad of- 
fice experience, and afterward entered the 
Bank of Akron, at Akron, Ohio, as book- 
keeper, later becoming assistant cashier, and 
still later, cashier of the Second National 
Bank of Akron. This position he resigned, 
January 1, 1894, in order to become treas- 
urer of the B. F. Goodrich Company, and 
. has held this office from that time until the 
present. 

On October 15, 1883, Mr. Folger was mar- 
ried to Lola R. Russell, of Streetsborough, 
Portage County, Ohio, and they have three 
daughters, viz.: Florence, Elizabeth and 
Mary Joy. 

Mr. Folger is a Thirty-second Degree Ma- 
son. 

FRANK S. BALES, dairyman and farmer, 
owns eighty-four and one-half acres of land' 
in Northampton Township, which is exceed- 
ingly valuable, as it lies within the corpora- 
tion limits of Cuyahoga Falls. He was born 
in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Decem- 
ber 31, 1871, and is a son of -John and .Tane 
(Miller) Bales. 

The father of ^Ir. Bales followed the trade 
of stonema.son at New Castle, Pennsylvania, 
but as he died when Frank S. wa« a child, 
the son has but few recollections of him. 
After death. Frank S. went to live with a 
maternal uncle. Sylvester Miller, who took 
the place of a father to him, and to whom he, 
in turn, is giving filial care in his old age. 
T\Tien thirteen years old Mr. Bales came to 
NorthaiTipton Township, where he worked for 
the substantial farmers of this .section for 
some three years, then spent a year in the 
lumbering di.stricts of Michigan, and after 
his return, in 1895, he rented the Allen farm 
for one year, and the Sperry farm for three 
years. In 1898 Mr. Bales purchased his 
present place, seventy acres of which he cul- 



954 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tivates, the remaining being in timber or used 
as pasturage. He keeps about twenty head 
of cattle and for seven years has conducted a 
milk route, selling about forty gallons daily 
in Cuyahoga Falls. He raises hay and wheat, 
but his main crop is corn. He has two cir- 
cular silos, each ten feet deep and thirty feet 
high. Mr. Bales keeps all his buildings and 
surroundings in fine condition, and as he is 
a man of progressive ideas, he has supplied 
himself with all kinds of agricultural imple- 
ments to facilitate his work. His substantial 
barn, 40 by 72 feet in dimensions, with 20- 
foot posts, he built in 1903. 

Mr. Bales married Lillie Robinson, who is 
a daughter of Andrew Robinson, of North- 
ampton Township, and they have three chil- 
dren : Addie, Howard and Leona. 

Mr. Bales is a self-made man and takes 
just pride in the fact that his possessions have 
been acquired through his own industry and 
good management. 

ERNEST C. BUETCH. a prominent citi- 
zen of Coventry Township, of which he served 
as treasurer for many years, resides on his 
well-improved farm of seventy-four acres. Mr. 
Buetch was born October 11, 1855, in 
Coventry Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Richler) 
Buetch. 

The father of Mr. Buetch was born in Ger- 
many and grew up on his father's farm there. 
In 1853, when about twenty years of age, 
Jacob Buetch came to America, locating 
shortly afterward in Ohio, and in 1854 he 
came to the farm which his son Ernest. C. now 
owns. The land was then covered with tim- 
ber, but with the assistance of his sons, it 
was all cleared off. The comfortable res^idence 
in which Mr. Buetch lives wa? built by hia 
father. Jacob Buetch was married in 
Coventry Township to Mrs. Mary Richler, 
who was the widow of John Richler, and 
their only child was Ernest C. By her first 
marriage, Mrs. Buetch had six children, 
namely: John, Jacob. August; Mary, who is 
the widow of Jacob Grethers; Barbara, who 



is the widow of John Zitterly; and Louisa, 
who married John Keppler. Two of the 
sons were killed in the army during the Civil 
Mar, while August died after coming home 
from the effects of yellow fever, contracted 
while he was in the service of his country. 
Jacob Buetch died on this farm August 19, 
1895, having survived his wife since May 14, 
1885. They both were most worthy people, 
kind, ho.spitable, frugal and industrious. 

Ernest Buetch was mainly educated in the 
district schools of Coventry Township and 
had one winter's schooling at Akron. As he 
grew old enough he had to help his step- 
brothers in the work of clearing up the farm, 
and on the death of his father this property 
came into his possession. Since 1878 Mr, 
Buetch has made a feature of threshing, and 
in partnership with his son, owns an outfit, 
and together they do a large amount of busi- 
ness in this line. For about eight years Mr. 
Buetch operated a sawmill in addition to 
carrying on a general agricultural business. 

On May 14, 1881, Mr. Buetch was married 
to Sarah J. Renninger, who is a daughter of 
Solomon and Lavina (Keppler) Renninger, 
the latter of whom is deceased. They have two 
children : William F. and Emma Lavina The 
former is associated with his father in the 
threshing business and resides at home. He 
married Berdella Verick. 

In politics, Mr. Buetch is a Democrat and 
he has taken an active interest in party af- 
fairs in this neighborhood. As an evidence 
of the confidence which his fellow-citizens 
have in his ability and integrity, it may be 
.stated that he held the important office of 
township trustee for a continuous period of 
ten years, with the exception of two months. 
He was a capable, eflScient and honest offi- 
cial. He is an Odd Fellow and belongs to 
Nemo Lodge, No. 746, Akron. 

CHARLES' A. CALL, general farmer and 
respected citizen, who has lived on his pres- 
ent valuable farm of 185 acres, which is sit- 
uated in Stow Township, since he was five 
years of age, was born at Darrowville, Sum- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



955 



mit County, Ohio, May 16, 1855. He is a 
son of Moses Danforth and Harriet Maria 
(Starr) Call. 

The father of Mr. Call was bom July 12, 
1815, at Warner, New Hampshire, and died 
in Ohio, March 24, 1891. He was reared on 
his father's farm and attended the district 
schools. In 1835 he went to Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, where he made his living peddling 
bread until 1837, when he started on a jour- 
ney to Peoria, Illinois, and stopped on the 
way to visit friends in Summit County. He 
was so pleased with what he saw that he de- 
cided to remain and make thi.s section his 
home. For five winters he taught school and 
for fifteen years he worked at the cooper's 
trade, running a shop of his own for a num- 
ber of years at Darrowville, where he em- 
ployed four men. In 1859 he purchased the 
farm which his son now owns and moved his 
shop to his own land. Later, he undertook 
the manufacturing of cheese, which industry 
he carried on for almost twenty-five years, 
continuing until 1890, and was the principal 
owner and the manager of the Hudson cheese 
factory. He was an earnest Republican and 
a .stanch supporter of the Union during the 
Civil War. He was a liberal supporter of 
educational and benevolent enterprises and 
was held in the highest esteem. For forty- 
six consecutive years he served as a justice of 
the peace in Stow Township, and from 1877 
until 1883, he was one of the county commis- 
sioners of Summit County. He was in sym- 
pathy with the Grange movement and a 
member of that body. In his religious belief 
he was a Universalist. 

On November 17, 1842, Moses Danforth 
Call was married to Harriet Maria Starr, who 
wa.s a daughter of Josiah Starr, who settled 
in Stow Township in 1804. She died June 
26, 1886, aged sixty-seven years, nine months 
and one day. She was the loving, devoted 
mother of four children, namely: Mary Lo- 
vina, deceased, who married G, H. O'Brien, 
of Stow; Emma Augusta, who married E. A. 
Season, of Hudson ; Ellen Jo.sephine, who 



married L. A. Darrow, of Stow; and Charles 
A. 

Charles A. Call was five years of age when 
his parents came to the farm which he now 
owns and which he has kept intact, with the 
exception of five acres, taken off for railroad 
purposes. His education was secured in the dis- 
trict schools, and his main business in life has 
been farming and dealing in cattle. He de- 
voted two years, 1892 and 1893, to the cheese 
business, but has no interest in that industry 
at present. He cultivates seventy acres of his 
land, raising hay, corn, oats and wheat, and 
at all times requires one man's assistance in 
the work. Mr. Call has two silos with dimen- 
sions of 11 1-3 feet in diameter and 29 feet in 
depth. Mr. Call is one of the agriculturists 
who recognize and take advantage of modern 
methods and improved machinery. 

Mr. Call was married on November 5, 1879, 
to Olive A. Prior. She is a daughter of Sam- 
uel Prior, of Northampton Township. They 
have four children : Leland, who is a grad- 
uate of the Ohio State University, is an in- 
structor in an agricultural college at Manhat- 
tan, Kansa.s; Florence, who married George 
H. Lodge; and Howard M. and Fannie, resid- 
ing at home. Mrs. Call belongs to the Dis- 
ciples Church at Stow. 

Mr. Call is a Republican. He belong to 
the Grange, Patrons of Husbandry and to the 
Maccabees. 

ANDREW A. SPIELMAN. farmer, stock- 
raiser and dairyman, residing on his produc- 
tive farm of eighty acres, which is situated 
in Northampton Township, was born October 
4. 1867, and is a son of .Jacob and Theresa 
("Schneider) Spielman. 

Both parents of Mr. Spielman were born in 
Germany, the father in 1810, and the mother 
in 1825. .Jacob Spielman was married twice. 
His first wife died in Germany and left three 
children, namely: Mrs. Victoria Neff, for- 
merly of Cincinnati: -Joseph; and Mrs. Mary 
Pfaft, residing at Cuba. ICansas, the latter 
being the only .survivor. Joseph Spielman 
then moved from his native province to 



956 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Bavaria, where be followed his trade of 
wagon-maker, until he emigrated to America, 
after which lie became a farmer. He bought 
lirst a farm in Portage County, on which he 
lived some years, and then resided in various 
sections before he settled permanently in 
Northampton Township, where he bought 
the farm on which Andrew A., his son, was 
born and now resides. Jacob Spielman died 
on this farm in 1866, survived by his widow 
until September 8, 1905. 

Jacob Spielman married (second) Theresa 
Schneider, who was born in Bavaria, and was 
a daughter of John Schneider. They had 
one child born in that province, Barbara, 
who is the wife of John Zimmerman, of Ak- 
ron. After I'eaching America, seven more 
children were added to the family, as fol- 
loW'S: John, residing in Northampton Town- 
ship; Philip, residing at Cleveland; Kath- 
erine, who married Ernest Moody, residing in 
Kent; Amelia, who married Henry Murley, 
residing at Columbus; Eva, who is the widow 
of August Waggoner, residing in Kent ; Eliza- 
beth, who married Barton Hcwbridgo, resid- 
ing at Akron: and Andrew A., residing in 
Northampton Township. The family wns 
strictly reared in the faith of the Koman 
Catholic Church. 

Andrew A. Spielman lia.* always resided on 
the home farm. He is one of the leading hay 
and wheat raisers of this section and feeds his 
stock his corn and oats, raising fine cattle and 
many hogs. His dairy products, especially 
his superior butter, finds a ready market at 
Akron. He understands how to make every 
portion of his land repay him for his labor, 
and this is successful farming. 

Mr. Spielman has a very pleasant home 
circle. He married Lucy Leiser, who is a 
daughter of Peter Leiser, of Akron, and they 
have five children: Leo B., Gertrude A., 
Florence A., .Tames and -Jacob Albert. Mr. 
Spielman, with liis family, belongs to St. 
Bernard Catholic Church. Like his father 
before him, he is identified with the Demo- 
cratic party. . 



ri.LBERT FETTE, who tills the ofhce of 
deputy revenue collector, has been a resident 
of Akron since 1899, but his place of birth 
was Bremen, Germany, in the year 1839, full 
twenty years before the birth of the present 
brilliant, masterful German emperor. 

Mr. Fette learned the cigar-making trade 
in his native land and when he was twenty- 
one year's of age he came to ^Vmerica in the 
hope of finding better opportunities for ad- 
vancement. He remained for six months in 
the city of New York, and then located at 
Jamestown, New York, where he worked at 
his trade for eighteen months, going from 
there to Buffalo, where he remained until 
1862. EiU'ly in that year he enlisted for 
service in the Civil War, entering Company 
H, 116th Regiment, New York Volunteer In- 
fantry, and remained in the service until the 
close of the war, spending a pai't of the period 
in Virginia, and two yeai-s in the Red River 
campaign, then returning to the Shenandoah 
Valley. He was seriously wounded in the 
neck at Plain's Store, Louisiana, and was con- 
fined- in the Lincoln Hospital, at Washing- 
ton, D. C, when he was mustered out. "When 
sufficiently recovered, he returned to BuA'alo, 
where he remained until 186S, going then to 
Warren, Pennsylvania. In 1873 he settled 
at Philadelphia, removing to Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas, in 1877, and moving from there in 
1880 to Erie, Pennsylvania. A year later he 
went to Denver, Colorado, and remained in 
that section for seventeen years. He was 
mainly engaged in the manufacture of cigars. 
For one year prior to 1889, when he came to 
.Vkron, Mr. Fette resided at Vancouver, Brit- 
i.-'h Columbia. For the past five years he has 
held (he office of deputy revenue collector 
of the Eighteenth District of Ohio, with his 
h(^adquarters at Akron. 

In LSrsl Mr. Fette was married to ]\Iiiinie 
Ernestine Holtz, who died in 1899. Mr. Fette 
has been a very active Republican for many 
years. He belongs to Buckley Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic. He is a member of 
the Masonic fraternitv. 




HENUV CLAJIKXCK \IELE 




L. H. HORNER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



9r)9 



LA FAYETTE H. HORNER, who is large- 
ly interested in Sunmiit County real estate, 
has been a resident of Akron since November, 
1890, and in the past seventeen years h^as 
done more real estate dealing than any other 
individual in this city. He was born in ISGl 
in Northampton Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, and is a son of the late Uriah R. 
Horner. 

The father of Mr. Horner was one of Sum- 
mit County's most respected citizens. He waa 
born in Mahoning County, Ohio, and he be- 
came a successful farmer and stockman in 
Summit County, to which he came in 1856, 
where he died in 1893. 

LaFayette H. Horner remained on the 
home farm until he was twenty-four years of 
age, in the meanwhile obtaining his education 
in the district schools of Northampton Town- 
ship, afterward spending two years in a 
nursery business in Southern Indiana and 
Kentucky. In 1890 he came to Akron, and 
on a venture went into the real estate business 
in a small way, shortly afterward finding 
himself particularly well adapted for this field 
of work. Mr. Horner bought the Coburn al- 
lotment, making of this one of the greatest 
realty successes on record, distancing all com- 
petitors. In 1904 lie huilt thirty-two new 
houses; in 1906, thirty-four, and in 1907, the 
current year, forty new residences have been 
erected, all the lots in this large body of land 
having been dispo.sed of, except eighty-five, 
Mr. Horner deals only in his own real estate 
and he has investments all over the city and 
owns also county property, including a farm 
on which he breeds light harness horses from 
first-class stock. Mr. Horner, is an excellent 
type of the modern business man, whose 
trained faculties respond to the demands made 
upon them without interfering with his 
health or preventing his enjoyment of a 
rational social life. 

In 1897 Mr. Horner was married to Inez 
C. Hutchin,?on and they have three children : 
Gladys V., Fayette H.' and Fern Inez. He 
is a member and liberal supporter of Calvary 
Evangelical Church. His only fraternal con- 



nection is with the Akron Lodge of Odd Fel- 
lows. 

HENRY CLARENCE VIELE, retired, 
formerly was identified with the basiness and 
official life of both Akron and Summit 
County. Mr. Viele was born in Washing- 
ton County, New York, October 29, 1841, 
and is a son of Hiram and Abby M. (McFar- 
land) Viele. 

In the spring of 1842, the parents of Mr. 
X'iele settled in Akron, and he was educated 
in this city. When sixteen years old he be- 
gan clerking in the old stone mill, of which 
his father was superintendent. He subse- 
quently left that business in order to enter 
the army, enlisting in 1864, in Company F, 
164th Regiment, 0. Y. I., which was sta- 
tioned at Fort Corcoran, Arlington Heights, 
during the whole of his 100 days term of 
service. Upon his return to Akron he en- 
tered the sendee of the Merchants' Union E.x- 
]>ress Company and a year later became 
ticket agent for the C. A. & C. Railroad. 
Subsequently he become interested with his 
father in a flour and feed bu.siness. 

In 1868, Mr. Veile was engaged to assist 
the city and county in making up the du- 
idicate tax lists, and later was connected 
with the county treasurer's office for some 
time. In February, 1872, he was appointed 
county recorder to fill the vacancy caused by 
the death of the incumbent of "that office, 
and he served out that term and then served 
as deputy county treasurer until 1878. Mr. 
Viele's management of that office elevated 
him in public esteem and in 1878 he was 
elected county treasurer of Summit County; 
being re-elected in 1880, he held the oflfice 
for four years. The records of tho.se years 
testify to Mr. Viele's efficiency as a public 
officer. He then became teller in the Citi- 
zens' Savings and Loan Association, serving 
until 1887 ; he was a.ssistant trea<urer until 
1888, and from then until he retired from 
lnL*ine.s.s activity, he was treasurer of the as- 
sociation . 

On October 16, 1873, Mr. Viele was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth F. Mack, of Flatbush. Long 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Island, and they have one daughter, Fanny 
M. Mrs. Viele died November 14, 1898. 
Mr. Viele resides at No. 550 East Market 
street Akron. As one of the older resi- 
dents of this city, Mr. Viele has been con- 
nected with its development, and has always 
done his part as a man of broad views and 
public spirit. He belongs to Buckley Post, 
G. A. R., at Akron. 

JOHN C. HERBRUCK, fruit and dairy 
farmer, residing in Northampton Township 
on his valuable fiu'in of lo9 acres, was born 
near Hartville, Stark County, Ohio, October 
11, 1862, and is a son of Philip and Eliza- 
beth (Oberling) Herbiiick. 

Jacob Herbruck, the grandfather, was born 
in Steinhauser, Rheinfalz, Bavaria, Germany, 
and died in 1865, aged seventy-two years. In 
1817 he married Maria Garman, who was a 
daughter of Christian Garman, and they had 
nine children, namely: Maria Elizabeth, 
Jacob, Henry, Katerina, Philip, Daniel, Eliza- 
beth, Mary and Ludwig. Jacob Herbruck 
was a .son of Herbruck Von Herbruck, of Hol- 
land origin. This prefix of von, it appeares, 
can be sold, carrying mth it a title to office, 
and when the great-grandfather became some- 
what impoverished, he disposed of the von 
and the name has since been plain Herbruck, 
and as such, in America, has carried with it 
enough distinction. It is borne worthily by 
the present generation. Grandfather Her- 
bruck was a soldier imder the great Napoleon, 
when he was preparing for the memorable in- 
vasion of Russia. In 1854 he came to Amer- 
ica and settled in Lake Township, Stark 
County, Ohio. He and wife both belonged to 
the German Reformed Church. 

Philip Herbruck, father of .John C, is a 
retired resident of Akron. 'He was born in 
Rheinfalz. Germany, September 26, 1826, and 
attended school in his native neighborhood 
until it was time to learn a self-supporting 
trade. He cho.se that of frescoe painting and 
worked at the same until 1848, when he was 
led into joining the Revolutionary party and 
was chosen captain of 150 men. These he 



drilled from one spring until the latter part 
of August, and when the Revolution was over 
he, with other leaders in the movement, left 
Germany. He came to America in 1849 and 
■settled first at Canton, Ohio, removing later 
to New Berlin, where he worked as a wagon- 
maker until 1851, when he went to New 
Salem, and in the following year to Middle- 
bury, then to Uniontown, and in 1853 to 
Hartville, Lake Township, Stark County, 
where he started into business for himself. 
.Vfter his marriage he conducted his wife's 
farm in addition to working in his shop. In 
1867 he bought the farm in Northampton 
Township, which is occupied by his son, John 
C, which he operated until 1887, when he 
retired to Akron. 

On January 4, 1852, Philip Herbruck was 
married to Mrs. Elizabeth (Oberling) Hassler, 
who was born June 17, 1823, in Cocalico 
Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
a daughter of Jacob Oberling, later of Jack- 
son Township, Stark County, Ohio. She was 
three years old when her parents moved to 
Stark County, where her father subsequently 
became the owner of 400 acres of land. He 
was a son of Michael and Annie Oberling. He 
married Elizabeth Runk, also of Cocalico 
Township, Lancaster County, and he died in 
July, 1850, aged sixty-three years. Mrs. Her- 
bruck's first marriage was to Daniel Hassler, 
October 22, 1844. Of the three children born to 
that union, but one was reared, namely, Dan- 
iel Hassler, now of Portage Township. There 
were eight children born to Philip Herbruck 
and wife, namely: Cecelia Elizabeth, who 
married Charles Schumaker, of Bnrberton; 
Caroline, who married Daniel Motz, of North- 
ampton ; Sarah, who married Theodore Traut- 
man, of Cleveland; John C. ; Mary, who mar- 
ried Christian Zimmer, of Akron : William, 
residing at Akron ; and two decea.sed. Mrs. 
Herbruck is a member of the First German 
Reformed Church, which Mr. Herbruck also 
attends, and to which he gives support. Mr. 
Herbnick is notably a Christian man, al- 
thoiigh he is identified with no denomination. 
He is liberal-minded enough to see good in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



901 



every religion and a large part of his time is 
passed in visiting the ill and sufiFeriug, read- 
ing the Scriptures to those who will listen, 
and carrying cheer to many a sick bed. He 
is widely known and much beloved. 

John C. Herbruck was two years old when 
his parents moved to the southern part of 
Northampton Township and settled on the 
farm on which he resides. He was educated 
in the common schools and has been engaged 
in agricultural pursuits from early youth, al- 
ways making his home on the present farm. 
Of his 139 acres he has 100 under cultiva- 
tion. For many years the farm was con- 
ducted almost entirely as a dairy farm and he 
keeps about twenty head of cattle. In 1901 
he purchased an Akron milk route and mar- 
kets his milk in that city very profitably, in 
fact, has a demand rather larger than he can 
supply. His milk is obtained from fine, pure- 
bred Holstein cows. Mr. Herbruck raises 
some 400 bushels of wheat annually in addi- 
tion to hay, oats, com and other products and 
he has had a silo constructed, thirty feet in 
depth, and sixteen feet in diameter. 

There are so many interesting activities go- 
ing on on Mr. Herbruck's farm that a visitor 
is plea«ureably surprised as well as instructed. 
One of these is the raising of ginseng for 
medicinal purposes. His large garden de- 
voted to producing this valuable root shows 
the plant in its various stages. One reason 
why it is not generally raised is that it re- 
quires a great deal of patient care before it 
can be harvested. One and one-half years 
are required for the tiny seeds to .sprout, and 
there must be a growth of five -years before 
the product is ready to market. Another suc- 
cessful industrv carried on here is the raising 
of bees. Mr. Herbruck having about seventy- 
five hives, each one of which averages an an- 
nual product of fifty pounds of choice honey. 
It is Mr. Herbnick's d&«ire to eventually con- 
vert his farm into a great fruit garden, and 
he is graduallv workins: to that end. He has 
a fine orchard of Baldwin apple trees, some 
of which are already bearing, and is also set- 
tine; out choice varieties, suitable to the cli- 



mate of pear, peach, plum and cherry trees. 
The buildings and surroundings are all ad- 
mirable and substantial. In 1879 the father 
of Mr. Herbruck put up the great barn with 
dimensions of 36 by 70 feet, supported by 18- 
foot posts. The comfortable and attractive 
home was built in 1872, and the grounds have 
been under a course of improvement ever 
since. 

Mr. Herbruck married Huldah Bauer, who 
is a daughter of George Bauer, and was born 
at Sandusky, Ohio. George Bauer was born 
in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1810, and 
died in January, 1892. He came to America 
and settled at Sandusky, Ohio, where he es- 
tablished himself in the business of wagon- 
making, taking in as partners his sons, Au- 
gust, Theophilus and Reinbold, who later 
succeeded to the business, and still carry it on 
under the firm name of Bauer Bros. The 
father then turned his attention to agricul- 
tural pursuits and on his place utilized ten 
acres in a vineyard. He was married three 
times. The children of his first marriage 
were August and Mary. The second wife 
died without issue. He married (third) Caro- 
line Stradtman, who was born in Minden, 
Prussia, and to this union there were bom 
four children: Theophilus, Huldah, Rein- 
hold, and a babe that died. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbmck have six children, 
five sons and one daughter, namely: George 
P.. Clara Elizabeth, Arthur, Edward, John 
and Harry. All have been given educational 
advantages and the daughter's musical talent 
has been developed. 

The family belong tn Grace Reformed 
Church at Akron. 

JOHN BEESE. proprietor of a meat mar- 
ket at No. 1138 South Main Street, Akron, ia 
one of the substantial men and enterprising 
citizens of this place. Mr. Beese was bom 
at Thoma.stown." Summit County, Ohio, in 
1869. and is a -son of .John Beese. The father 
of Mr. Beese. who died at .Akron in 1893. was 
a well known and highly regarded citizen. 
He was born in Wales and came to Summit 



962 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



County in 1853. For many years he was en- 
gaged in a coal business, operating a mine 
at Thomastown and later the Summit Coal 
Company's mine near the Reservoir. 

John Beese, second, was reared and edu- 
cated in his native neighborhood and, after 
leaving school, was a clerk in a shoe store for 
six years. In 1896 he opened his present 
market and has given it his main attention 
ever since, conducting a first-class establish- 
ment and supplying a fine line of custom- 
ers. His quarters are sanitary and his stock 
includes everything in his line. Mr. Beese 
Ls one of the directors in the South Akron 
Banking Company. In 1S99 Mr. Beese was 
married to Mary E. Bernell. who is a daugh- 
ter of the late Edward Bernell, and they have 
two bright, intelligent boys. .John Frederick 
and George William. Mr. Beese is an Odd 
Fellow. 

JACOB HIMELRIGHT, a leading agri- 
culturist of Portage Township, residing on 
his farm of 142 acres, which is situated on 
the Copley road, about two miles west of Ak- 
ron, was born in Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, May 26, 1839. His jmrents 
were John and Catherine (Hinkey) Himel- 
right. 

The grandparents of Jacob Himelright 
were natives of Pennsylvania, who settled at 
East Liberty, Green Township, Summit Coun- 
ty, when they came to Ohio, and there John 
Himelright was born. He followed farming 
all his active life. 

Jacob Himelright grew up on his father's 
farm and obtained his education in the dis- 
trict schools. When twenty-six years of age, 
he married Lavina Baughman, and they had 
seven children born to them as follows: Mil- 
ton, who resides in Medina County, Ohio ; Al- 
ton ; Irvin ; Joseph ; Clara, who married Fred- 
erick Bninskill, is deceased ; Elsie, who mar- 
ried William Carpenter; and Orlie, who died 
in boyhood. The first wife of Mr. Himel- 
right died March 19, 1893, and he was mar- 
ried (.second) to Mrs. Elizabeth (Foast) 
Squires, who was Ijorn and reared in Coventry 



Township, Sununit County, Ohio, and is a 
daughter of George Foust, and was the widow 
of Martin Squires. She had seven children 
by her first marriage, namely : Martha, who 
married John Kendall; George; Cora, who 
married Eugene Parker; Amanda, who mar- 
ried Bert Taylor; Delia, who married Ellis 
Adair; Albert; and Franklin, who died aged 
eight months. 

In 1874 Jacob Himelright purchased a 
farm of eighty-five acres, in Copley Town- 
ship, on which he resided for a time and then 
sold it and bought one of 182 acres, which 
was located one mile east of his present farm. 
AVlicn Mr. Himelright took po.-isesison of his 
farm of 142 acres, in 1902, his son Jo.seph 
settled on the other farm. He owns another 
farm north of Akron, consisting of eighty- 
five acres. Mr. Himelright has shown good 
judgment in making his investments and 
owns some of the best land in Portage Town- 
ship. He carries on general farming and 
stockrai.9ing. He is one of the leading mem- 
bers of the Copley Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which he is a trustee. 

Alton Himelright, the second son of Jacob 
Himelright, resides on a fine farm of eighty- 
five acres in Portage Township, which ia 
owned bj' his father, but which has been un- 
der his care since 1889. He was born at Ea-^t 
Lil^erty, Green Township, Summit County. 
Jainiary 1, 1865. When he was seven years 
old his parents moved from Green Township 
to Copley Township, where his father bought 
a farm, north of Copley Center, on which the 
family lived for three years. He then pur- 
chased another farm on which they lived for 
twenty-,six j'ears. In 1902 Mr. Himelright's 
father settled on his present farm in Portage 
Township, but Alton continued to live in 
Copley until 1889, when he was married to 
Elizabeth Scheck, who is a daughter of .Jacob 
Scheck, an early settler of Portage Township. 
Following marriage. Alton Himelright and 
wife settled on the farm where he has since 
engaged in a general line of agriculture. He 
has made many improvements on the place 
which have greatly added to its value. He has 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



963 



four children: Ravinond, Mamie, Elsie and 
Floyd. 

Irvin J. Himelright, the third son of Jacob 
Hinielright, wa.s born at East Liberty, Green 
Township, Summit Count}', Ohio, November 
20, 1867. He resides on a part of his fath- 
er's home farm and operates the whole of the 
142 acres. He has made a reputation a.< a 
good farmer by the intelligent agricultural 
methods he has followed, resulting in 
abundant crops. 

May 4, 1897, Mr. Himelright was married 
to Ida Scheck, who is a daughter of Jacob 
Scheck. The Scheck family is a prominent 
one in Portage Township. Mr. and Mrs. 
Himelright have four children : Ruth, Mabel, 
Jacob and Elno. The Himelright family has 
never taken any verj' active intere.«t in poli- 
tics, but when matters of public importance 
come up they are usually consulted and are 
always found to be willing to do their full 
share. They are estimable, first-class citizens, 
industrious, careful and fnigal and devoted 
to their homes and families, 

STEPHEN HENRY HORN, market gar- 
dener, residing at No. 330 Merriman Street, 
just inside the limits of Akron, is the owner 
and operator of a fine truck farm of nine and 
one-quarter acres, on Merriman road, just out- 
side the city limits. Mr. Horn was born on 
West Market Street, Akron, September 10, 
1856, and is a son of Stephen .Tackson and 
Elizabeth Ruth (Robin.son) Horn. 

Stephen Jackson Horn, who was a native 
of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, came to 
Portage Township where he resided while he 
engaged in a grocery business in Akron, and 
later followed the carpenter's trade. He de- 
voted his spare time to gardening on his own 
land, where he died August 25. 1895. In his 
younger days Mr. Horn had been a school 
teacher, and among his pupils was Elizabeth 
Ruth Robinson, who was a daughter of Tyler 
Robinson, and to thL« young lady Mr. Horn 
was later married. They had eight children, 
seven of whom, with Mrs. Horn, survive. 

Stephen HenrA- Horn was reared and edu- 



cated in Portage Township, where he has al- 
ways resided, w-ith the exception of two years, 
during which he traveled for an installment 
company. In 1877, in association with his 
brother, James William Horn, he engaged in 
the trucking business, one which had been 
founded by their father, but in 1904 the 
partnership was dissolved, and since that 
time Mr. Horn has continued in this business 
alone. He finds a ready wholesale market at 
Akron. Mr. Horn has never married. 

EUGENE A. HAWKINS, treasurer of the 
Sununit Rural Telephone Company, is one of 
the leading men of Copley Township, a large 
owner of farming land and proprietor of a 
business at Copley Center, where he handles 
coal, farming implements, wagons, cement 
and particularly fertilizers, devoting his per- 
sonal attention almost exclusively to selling 
the latter commodity. He resides on forty 
acres of his land, the home farm being sit- 
uated on the south side of the Bath and Cop- 
ley Township road, about nine miles west of 
Akron. His other farm, containing sixty- 
.seven acres, lies west of this place. Mr. Haw- 
kins was born on his present farm, June 28, 
1854, and is a son of George W. and Matilda 
(Hubbard) Hawkins. 

Samuel Hawkins, the grandfather, came 
from Connecticut to Copley Township, at an 
early day, and .spent the rest of his life on his 
pioneer farm. George W. Hawkins, father of 
Eugene A., was the first white child born in 
Copley Township, in which he spent the 
whole of his life. He assisted his father to 
clear the land, and frequently told his chil- 
dren of how in early days he followed a 
blazed trail to the village of Akron, carrying 
grain to and from the mill. He always en- 
gaged in general farming, and during the 
Civil War he also did some garden tnicking. 
lie married Matilda Hubbard, who was born 
in Copley Township, of parents who came to 
Ohio from \'ermont. After marriage they 
settled on the farm which is now the property 
of Eugene A. Hawkins, and cleared a part of 
the land, living here until death. Mrs. Haw- 



964 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



kins died December 5, 1886, aged seventy 
years, and he survived her for ten years. They 
had five children, namely : Adelia, who died 
young; Eliza, deceased, who married AVarren 
Miller; Alice, who married Dr. A. 0. Hunt- 
ley ; George, who died aged twenty-five years ; 
and Eugene A. There was an adopted daugh- 
ter, Clarinda Blair, who married Horace 
Dunsha. 

After his marriage, Eugene A. Hawkins 
went to housekeeping on a farm near the 
home place, of which he has had charge from 
maturity. In 1S92 he was engaged as local 
agent for the S. M. Hess & Bro. firm, of 
Philadelphia, fertilizer manufacturers. Mr. 
Hawkins accepted the agency of only Bath 
and Copley Townships at first, but he made 
such progress in his sales that more territory 
was added, until now he has control for the 
company, of territory covering Summit, Me- 
dina, Wayne, Cuyahoga, Portage, Ashtabula, 
Geauga, Ashland, Erie and the north half of 
Stark Counties. This large territory requires 
Mr. Hawkins to practically give all his time 
to advancing the interests of this company. 
He is a man of excellent business foresight. 
In 1903 he operated a coal and fertilizer busi- 
ness of his own at Copley Center, and in the 
same year admitted Newton Smith to part- 
nership, but later bought Mr. Smith's stock 
and took in his son-in-law, Homer A. Swigart. 
The latter attends to the business at Copley 
Center while Mr. Hawkins continues on the 
road. Mr. Hawkins was the first dealer to 
handle coal in this township, and in 1906 he 
sold over 3,000 tons. He has an admirable 
business location, right adjacent to the North- 
ern Ohio Eailroad. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins 
own a one-half interest in the Summit Rural 
Telephone Company, of which he is treasurer, 
W. F. Laubach being president and general 
manager. 

On January 1,. 1878, Mr. Hawkins was 
married to Juvie Colson, who is a daughter of 
Orren and Valencia Colson, and they have 
three children: Jessie, Mabel and Ruth. The 
eldest daughter married Prof. H. 0. Bolich, 
who is principal of the Cuyahoga Falls High 



School. Mabel, the second daughter, married 
Homer A. Swigart, who is in partnership, at 
Copley Center, with Mr. Hawkins. They 
have two children : Alverda and Alice. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Hawkins is a 
Republican and he was one of the building 
committee for the Centralized School of Cop- 
ley Township. With his family, he belongs 
to the Disciples Church. 

A. E. LYMAN, vice president and general 
manager of the Lyman Lumber Company, of 
Akron, with offices on South Main Street, is 
interested in an industry which is of large 
importance in this section. Mr. Lyman has 
been a resident of Akron for eighteen years, 
but he was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, 
in 1853. 

Mr. Lyman was four years old when his 
parents moved to Tallmadge, Summit County, 
where he was reared and educated. In 1876 
he went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was 
engaged in the lumber business until 1889. 
He then returned to Akron, still carrying on 
the same line of business, and subsequently 
established the Lyman Lumber Company, an 
organization which deals in all kinds of lum- 
ber. He has occupied his present location 
since 1897. From his many years' expe- 
rience in this line, Mr. Lyman has become an 
expert in both soft and hard lumber and his 
advice on the subject is frequently sought by 
his patrons. 

In 1876, Mr. Lyman was married to Alice 
Bierce, who is a daughter of L. B. Bierce, of 
Tallmadge, who was a pioneer of that locality. 
They have one son, Lucius B., who is asso- 
ciated with his father in the lumber business. 
Mr. Lyman is a member of the First Congre- 
gational Church at Akron and is a member 
of the Board of Deacons. 

C. F. ADAMSON, a mechanical and elec- 
trical engineer, with offices in the Hamilton 
Building, Akron, has made great strides in 
his profession, reaching a position of respoi. 
sibility in spite of his youth, which men have 
not attained who have ^ven a much longer 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



965 



period to study and practice. From boyhood 
he has displayed a natural leaning in the di- 
rection of this profession and his main lisi; 
of efforth has been so projected. 

C. F. Adamson was born at Carlton, Ohio, 
in 1882, but from childhood he was rear-jd 
in Akron. After completing the High School 
course in this city, he spent some years gain- 
ing practical experience in the shops of his 
father, A. Adamson, a leading business man 
and manufacturer at Akron. He afterwards 
devoted several years to obtaining a wide 
engineering experience, occupying responsible 
positions with many prominent concerns 
through the country. For some time he was 
engaged in machine tool designing, being 
retained by the Pittsburg Machine Tool Com- 
pany as chief designer. In 1900 he was in 
charge of the construction and equipment of 
the plant of the Chicago Pneumatic Tool 
Company, at Franklin, Pa., also giving much 
time to the designing of their air compressors 
and other products. He became connected 
with the engineering department, Carnegi'^ 
Steel Company, in 1902, and, after serving 
two years, he established an engineering of- 
fice at Akron in 1904. 

Mr. Adamson has devoted his time to gen- 
eral engineering practice, inventions and re- 
search, and he has made many valuable im- 
provements in labor saving machinery. As 
consulting engineer, he is engaged by a num- 
ber of the large manufacturing concerns 
throughout the country, and his services are 
in great demand for the designing of new 
machinery, and manufacturing plants. He 
is a member of the American Society of Me- 
chanical Engineers. In 1902 Mr. Adamson 
was married to Miss Mary M. O'Donovan, of 
Franklin, Pa. He is a member of the First 
Church of Christ. 



Akron, AjDril 16, ISlJj, and is a son of .lack- 
son and Elizabeth (Robinson) Horn. 

Jackson Horn, who was an early pioneer 
from Pennsylvania, had been a school teacher 
in his younger days, but later engaged in 
carpenter work and in gardening. His death 
occurred in Portage Township, Summit 
County, in 1895. Mr. Horn and his wife, 
who had been one of his pupils at school, 
became the parents of eight children, seven of 
whom still survive. 

James William Horn was reared in Port- 
age Township, and after leaving the country 
schools became a farm hand. He continued 
to work on different farms until about 1877, 
when, with his brother Stephen Henry Horn, 
he took charge of the gardening business 
which had been started by their father, and 
they continued as partners until 1904, when 
.James W. Horn engaged in business on his 
own account. He purchased eight and one- 
half acr&s of land, and in addition to the 
two and one-half acres owned by his sons, 
he rents a tract of 100 acres across the road 
from his home, and cultivates it all, twenty 
acres of this being laid out in a truck farm, 
which is one of the largest in the county. He 
makes a specialty of small vegetables, and 
raises about 40,000 head of cabbage annually. 
He sells by wholesale through Akron, em- 
ploys six hands and runs two wagons. In 
1908, Mr. Horn erected his present beautiful 
residence. 

On September 19, 1886, Mr. Horn was mar- 
ried to Bessie May Harris, who was born in 
Bath Township, and is a daughter of Edward 
Harris. They have six children, as follows: 
Percy J., who married Delia Hill, who is a 
daughter of Joseph Hill ; Esther, who is the 
wife of George B. Replogle, has one child, 
Margaret; and Ralph, James, Jay and Earl. 



JAMES WILLIAM HORN, a highly es- 
teemed citizen of Portage Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, whose fine truck and gar- 
den farm on Merriman Street, is situated 
about one-half mile from the limits of Akron. 
was born on what is now West Market Street, 



WILLIAM CLERKIN, president and gen- 
eral manager of the Taplin, Rice, Clerkin 
Company, of Akron, one of the city's large 
and flourishing industries, with factories in 
Akron, is a man of much business enterprise 
and is identified with other successful con- 



966 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



cerns of this section. Mr. Clerkin was born 
at Hudson, Ohio, February 14, 1860, and is 
a son of Patrick Clerkin. The father of Mr. 
Clerkin was born in Ireland. He settled near 
Hudson, Ohio, in 1852, and there engaged in 
agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1880. 
at the age of seventy-eight yeart:. 

William Clerkin received his education in 
the district schools of Hudson Township. 
Western Reserve Academy and Buchtel Col- 
lege, where he graduated in 1887. He fol- 
lowed school-teaching for some years after 
completing his own education, his first school 
being in a little cabin schoolhouse, which In/ 
had attended in his youth. In 1890 he be- 
came connected with the firm of May & Fiebe- 
ger, at Akron, with which he continued for 
five years, during that time thoroughly learn- 
ing the furnace business. In December, 1894. 
with other capitalists, he organized the Twen- 
tieth Century Heating and Ventilating Com- 
pany, for the manufacture of a full line of 
heating furnaces. He sold his interests in 
that company in 1907 and organized the Tap- 
lin. Rice, Clerkin Company with a capital 
stock of $250,000. The Taplin, Rice, Clerkin 
Company has two factories and employs 300 
"men. The offices of this company are : Wil- 
liam Clerkin, president and general manager; 
C. B. Raymond, vice-president ; Edward Crow, 
secretary; and C. N. Belden, treasurer. Mr. 
Clerkin is also a director of the Akron Peo- 
ple's Telephone Company, the People's Sav- 
ings Bank and a director and trustee of the 
Young Men's Christian Association Building. 
Mr. Clerkin is active in politics to the extent 
of good citizen.*hip. 

In 1890 Mr. Clerkin was married to Eliza- 
beth Shields of Cleveland, and they have a 
family of five sons and three daughters, as 
follows: William, Harold, Leonard, Paul, 
Cyril, Irene. Aiuia and Bessie. Mr. Clerkin 
and family belong to St. Vincent De Paul's 
Catholic Church of Akron. 

CHARLES ARTHUR CARTER, one of 
the well-known and highly re.ipected citizens 
of Northampton Township, I'esiding on his val- 



uable fann of fifty-six acres, where, with the 
able assistance of his son, he engages in gen- 
eral farming and dairying, was born in Bos- 
ton Township, Summit County, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 28, 1851. His parents were William and 
Evelyn (Gillett) Carter. 

The first of the Carter family to come to 
this section of Ohio was William Carter, the 
grandfather of Charles A., who settled in 
Hudson Township. He married Betsey Mays 
and tlieir wedding was the first ever celebrated 
in Boston Township. He owned a good farm 
but did not develop it to any degree, his tastes 
lying more in the direction of hunting and 
fishing. He served in the War of 1812. 

William Carter (2), father of Charles Ar- 
thur, was born in Boston Township, Summit 
County, and died in 1890, aged sixty-seven 
years. For a considerable part of his life 
he owned and operated boats on the Ohio 
Canal. He owned a farm in Richfield Town- 
ship, which was mainly managed by his sons. 
He married Evelyn Gillett, of Richfield 
Township, and they had the following chil- 
dren : Julia, who married Charles Meade, re- 
sides at Everett; Charles A., resides in North- 
ampton Township ; William is deceased ; Al- 
bert resides in Northampton Township ; Ed- 
win is a resident of Northfield; Nettie, who 
married John Johnston, resides in Boston 
To\\nship; and Jessie, who married Frank 
"\^'aite, resides at Akron. The mother of the 
above family died in December, 1873, aged 
forty-seven years. Both parents were worthy 
members of the United Brethren Church. 

Charles Arthur Carter was fourteen years 
old when he accompanied his parents to Rich- 
field Township, and as he was the eldest son, 
a large part of the responsibility of managing 
the farm fell on his .shoulders during his 
father's absence. In this way he did not have 
more than ordinary educational advantages. 
As he grew older he worked on the neighbor- 
ing farms, gaining valuable experience and 
making many friends through the township 
whom he retains to the present day. When 
married he went to farming on his own ac- 
count, and for twenty-nine years he rented 




JOHN MOORE JOHNSTON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



969 



and resided on the Mathew Broughton fanii. 
In 1901 he purchased his present property^ 
which i.s mainly under the management of 
his son, Darwin Burr Carter, who, since an 
affliction of the eyes has fallen upon his fath- 
er, has nobly taken the helm. Mr. Cartel' 
keeps seven head of cows and sells his milk to 
the Akron Pure Milk Company. 

Mr. Carter mai'ried Susan Lappin, who wa,- 
born on the farm of her father, .John Lap- 
pin, in Bo.ston Township, February 11, 1852, 
and they have four children, namely: Myr- 
tle E., who married Fred Blackburn of Bos- 
ton Township ; Pai-k Oliver, residing at Cleve- 
land; Darwin Burr; and Fannie, who is 'i 
popular teacher in Bath 'J'dwiisbi]). residiuii 
at home. 

JOHN MOORE .TOIINSTOX. a mciiilni- 
of the Board of Infirmary Director- of Sum- 
mit County, has been a resident ol .\kroii 
since the fall of 1906. l)ut still rct:iiii> his 
great stock farm of 190 acre.-, in Copley 
Township, and is interested in the Ijreeding 
of .standard horses of a type that has made 
liL'^ name known all over Ohio. Mr. .John- 
ston was born in Copley Townshij), Summit 
County, Ohio, ^Vugust I'A. J<SJ4. and is a sou 
of William and Elizabeth (i. (Moore) .John- 
ston. 

On the maternal side, Mr. .Johnston comes 
of Revolutionary sto<'k. liis great-grand- 
father. Joseph Moore, having won distinc- 
tion first as an Indian fighter and later as a 
soldier in the Continental army. John 
Moore, tiie maternal grandfather of Jlr. 
.Johnston resided in Stark County until after 
the birth of liis daughter Elizabeth and 
then settled in Springfield Township Sum- 
mit County. On tlie paternal side the 
grandfather wa.< Cornelius .Johnston, who, 
born in New Jersey, went from that State to 
Pennsylvania, and whence he came to the 
wild regions of Green Township, Summit 
County, in 1814. William Johnston, father 
of .John M., was born in Green Township, 
.\ugust 3, 1815, and died in Copley Town- 
ship, in 1885. In recalling William John- 
ston, one of the reliable useful men of his 



day and locality is brought to mind. He 
was of a higher type intellectually than many 
of his neighboi's and became to some extent 
leader among them, capably performing the 
duties of public office and a.ssisting in the de- 
velopment of the various resources of his sec- 
tion. He was one of the early directors of 
the County Infirmary on the board of which 
his .son has served since 1905. William 
and ElizaJjeth .John.ston had two children, 
John Moore, and Cornelius Alexander, the 
latter of whom is a prominent farmer, resid- 
ing in Tallniadge Township. 

John M. Johnston obtained his education 
in the district schools of Copley Township, 
and for many years devoted his whole atten- 
tion lo farming and stockrai.siag. He made 
.1 specially of fine horses and has produced 
many animals on his farm that have won 
fana' all over the country. Mr. .John.ston 
owned the .sire and dam, and rai.sed the 
finely matched team that became the prop- 
erty of the late President iMcKinley," this 
team being attached to the carriage which 
wa.s used by the Chief-Magistrate on the day 
of his inaugural. Mr. Johnston is ju.stly 
proud of having raised horses that took pre- 
cedence in the White House stables. ilany 
of his hoi"ses have been sold for fancy driv- 
ing and have been taken to all parts of the 
world, never failing to reflect credit on their 
breeder. Mr. Johnston is an ardent Republi- 
can and has always taken a patriotic citizen's 
interes.t in public affairs. He has served two 
terms as infirmary director, the first one a 
numbei" of years ago. 

In 1867, Mr. Johtnston was married to 
Mary Angelia Dales. Her father, Stephen 
Dales, was born March 25, 1802. in Dela- 
ware County, New York. His father served 
in the capacity of a teamster in the "War of 
1812, in which year the family came to Ohio. 
Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have two children, 
namely: Je^ie, who is the wife of Gilbert C. 
Wakz, a prominent real estate dealer at 
Akron ; and Marcia, who is the wife of 0. R. 
Nash, who is employed in the treasurer's of- 
fice of the Goodrich Rubber Company, at 
Akron. Mr. Johnston is widely known 



970 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



through Summit County aiid, while num- 
bered with the most substantial of her citi- 
zens, is equally considered as one of the most 
benevolent. 

JOHN ABELE, who owns 104 acres of fine 
farming land in Portage Township, was born 
February 15, 1850, in Wurtemburg, Ger- 
many, and is a son of John and Victoria 
Abele, both of whom died in Germany. 

John Abele learned the trade of a puddler 
and followed it in his own country until his 
twenty-first year, when he came to America. 
He worked one year in the rolling mills at 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was employed 
for two years by the Cambria Iron and Steel 
Company at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 
1873 Mr. Abele located at Akron, Ohio, and 
the next twenty-three years were spent with 
the Akron Iron Company, where he rendered 
faithful service in the capacity of puddler. 
Mr. Abele left the employ of this company in 
1896, and for six years thereafter cultivated 
a 20-acre tract of land in Portage Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, but at the end of this 
time purchased his present property, which 
was the old Edward Roepke farm, from John 
Rice, and here he has carried on agricultural 
pursuits to the present time. Mr. Abele's 
farm, which is one of the largest in this sec- 
tion of Portage Township, has been brought 
to a high state of cultivation. He also con- 
ducts the Akron Garbage Route. 

In 1875, in Akron, Mr. Abele was married 
to Agatha Treitingar, who was born at Ak- 
ron, Ohio, and is a daughter of Caspar Treit- 
ingar. Seven children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Abele, namely: John, Joseph, 
Frank, William, Clara, Albert and Annie. ' 

Mr. Abele, with his family, attends the 
German Catholic Church. 



in Richfield Township and attended the 
neighboring schools through boyhood. When 
still under eighteen years of age, in July, 
1861, he entered the Union Army, first as a 
teamster, but in the fall of the same year en- 
listed as a private soldier in Company K, 
Third New York Cavalry, and remained in 
the army subsequently for four year's and 
five months. His service was mainly in Vir- 
ginia and the Caxolinas. He passed about 
eighteen months in North Carolina, and par- 
ticipated in the battles of Kingston, N. C, 
Petersburg and Richmond. He took part in 
many of the raids which were such an im- 
portant part in the movements in that sec- 
tion, notably the Wilson raid, with others of 
like character, having participated in thirty 
odd engagements. He was mustered out of 
the service at City Point, Virginia, November 
30, 1865, and was honorably discharged at 
Albany, in December, 1865. 

Mr. Wilcox then returned to the home 
farm and worked for his father until 1878, 
when he went to Kansas, where he spent seven 
years. In 1885 he came to Akron and estab- 
lished the business in which he has been in- 
terested ever since. 

In 1867 Mr. Wilcox was married to Mary 
Templeton, and they have seven children, 
namely: Henry C, a mechanical engineer, 
residing in Wisconsin ; Francis L., wife of 
W. B. Doyle; George, residing at East Ak- 
ron; Millie, who married Charles Markwald- 
er; Arthur G., a practitioner of medicine re- 
siding at Solon Spring, Wisconsin, a graduate 
of the Western Reserve Medical College and 
of Adelbert College; and Frank and Ralph, 
the latter of whom has just graduated from 
the Akron High School. Mr. Wilcox has 
kept up old army associations and is a mem- 
ber of Bucklev Post, G. A. R. 



H. C. WILCOX, who conducts a title and 
abstract business at Akron, with quarters at 
Room 5, AVilson Building, was' born in Rich- 
field Township, Summit Countv, Ohio, No- 
vember 10, 1843. 

Mr. Wilcox was reared on the home farm 



JOHN W. McDowell, president of the 
Portage Township School Board, is the owner 
of sixty acres of excellent farming land at 
Fairlawn, Portage Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, where he has resided since 
1898. He was born in Sugar Creek Town- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



U71 



ship, Wayne Couuty, Ohio, February 10, 
1864, and is a sou of Luther and Margaret 
(Cully) McDowell. 

John McDowell, the grandfather of John 
W., was a native of Pennsylvania, and the 
son of a Scotch emigrant. He came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, at an early day, and 
there the remainder of his life wjuj spent. 
Luther McDowell was reared in Sugar Creek 
Township, and was there married to Margaret 
Cully, who was a daughter of Joseph Cully, 
who was a native of Westmoreland County, 
Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. McDow-ell 
there were born six children, as follows: Cal- 
vin, who resides at Dalton, Wayne County; 
Allen, who lives at Wilmington, Pennsyl- 
vania; Thomas, who resides at Dalton; John 
W. ; Jennie, who lives at Dalton ; and Minnie, 
who maried Oliver Hauenstein, resides near 
Dalton. The parents of these children still 
survive and live with their daughter and son- 
in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Hauenstein. 

John W. McDowell was reared in his native 
section, and after attending the common 
schools of the township, entered the Dalton 
High School, from which he was graduated, 
and subsequently attended the Ohio Normal 
School at Ada, Ohio. For the next four 
years he taught school in Sugar Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne County, and he then went to 
Apple Creek, where, with W. D. Weaver, he 
embarked in a hardware and farm imple- 
ment business, continuing there for two years. 
At the end of this time he sold out his in- 
terests and located in Akron, where for eleven 
j^ears he worked in the hardware establish- 
ment of May and Fiebeger, subsequently be- 
coming a member of the firm of Pettitt Broth- 
ers and McDowell, at No. 18 South Howard 
Street. Four years later, January 1, 1907, 
he sold out his interests in the hardware bus- 
iness of W. F. Ringler, and engaged in ag- 
ricultural pursuits on his present fine farm, 
which he had purchased prior to engaging in 
business for himself. 

On December 25, 1888, Mr. McDowell was 
united in marriage with Belle Cook, who is 
a daughter of Jesse and Hetty Cook, of Sugar 



Creek Township, Wayne County, Ohio. They 
have five children : Altie, Dale, Willis, George 
and John. 

Mr. McDowell has shown much interest in 
educational matters, and in 1901 he was 
elected a member of the School Board of Port- 
age Township, of which he was made presi- 
dent in 1903. He is a Knight of Pythias 
and a Knight of the Maccabees. 

WILLIAM WALTERS, who has been 
treasurer of Northampton Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, for the past twelve years, owns 
here the fine farm of fifty acres, on which 
he was born, August 26, 1869, and is a son 
of William and Sarah Ann (Campbell) Wal- 
ters. 

Henry Walters, the grandfather of Wil- 
liam, was a native of Pennsylvania. He was 
a millwright by trade, who acquired a farm 
after coming to Wayne County, Ohio, on 
which was a very fine orchard, from which 
he' gathered as many as 1,500 bushels of ap- 
ples annually. He died in Wayne County 
in 1875, aged seventy-two years. His wife 
was named Anna Vizcavert. They were mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church. 

William Walters, father of William, was 
bom in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1830, and 
at the age of eleven years began to learn the 
millwright trade with his father, w'hich he 
followed throughout life, his last w^ork in this 
line being the finishing of the Shumaker 
plant, at Akron. On December 25, 1889, he 
came to Northampton Township from Sugar 
Creek Township, and settled on a farm of 
fifty acres, which he had purchased some time 
previously, and to which he later added 
thirty-six acres. When his sons became old 
enough to work on the farm they took charge 
and Mr. Walters retired, and he died in 1885, 
in Northampton Township, aged fifty-five 
years. He was a stanch Republican in poli- 
tics, and at the time of his death was serving 
as township treasurer, elected by that party. 
Mr. Walters was married to Sarah Ann Camp- 
bell, who died in 1893. She was a daughter 
of Henry Campbell, of Wayne County, Ohio 



972 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



There were three children horn to them; 
Rama R., of East Akron; Henry J., and Wil- 
liam. 

William Walter.-; wa.s edncated in the com- 
mon schools, and he ha.< engaged in fanning 
ever since boyhood. In 1900 he purchased 
the home farm from his father's heirs, and 
he has since made many improvements here. 
HLs buildings on this property are of a suU- 
stantial nature and include the rcsidenci' 
])uilt by his father in 1873, and a circular 
silo 12x24 feet. He raises large crops of oat.-i 
and corn, and keeps about fifteen head of 
cattle, disposing of his milk to the Akron Pure 
Milk Company. 

Mr. Walters was married to Nellie Hardy, 
who is a daughter of Perry T>. Hardy, a prom- 
inent resident of Northam]iton Township, 
and they have one child, Ruth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Walters attend the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In politics he is a stanch Republic- 
an and he has been a leading man in his 
community for many yeai-s. His long tenure 
in office speaks well as to the confidence felt 
in him by his fellow-citizens. 

LEVI RAWSON was born in Mendon. 
Massachusetts, July 2, 1808. He carne to 
Ohio in 1829 and settled in Massillon in Oc- 
tober, 1830, where he was engaged iA success- 
ful business under the titles of Rawson & 
Brainerd, L. & S. Rawson, and S. Lind & Co., 
conducting a general merchandise store, also 
operating the Red Mill on the Ohio Canal. 

Mr. Rawson in 1844 moved to Akron, 
where he owned and operated the Cascade and 
Mtns, Mills. During his residence in Akron 
he lived in the house at the northeast corner 
of East Market and Broadway. . The Akron 
mills were operated under the firm name of 
Rawson & Noble. He was also engaged in 
the woolen business, operating a mill in Mid- 
dlebury under the name of Rawson & Good- 
ale. 

In 1849 Mr. Rawson moved to Cleveland, 
although still retaining his interests in Ak- 
ron, and there until his death was engaged 
in the forwarding and conimi.s.-iion business, 



Ixing identified with the firm of Rawson, Foot 
iV; (.-'urtis. He was also interested in the ves- 
sels Massillon and Marshfield, which w-ere en- 
gaged in the lake trade, the Ma.ssillon in 1859 
making a trip from Cleveland to Liverpool. 
Mr. Rawson died in Cleveland, January 25, 
I8:;4, after a successful business career of 
lifty-.six years. Socially, he was genial, kind 
and liberal to those less fortunate, giving 
frcfly and without ostentation. He is sur- 
vi\ed by one daughter, Mrs. Geo. T. Perkins, 
and two sons, Charles and Ed. B. Rawson, 
of Li.sbon, Ohio. 

.VITATST C. MILLER, general contractor 
at Akron, dealing in brick, stone and lime, 
with quarters at No. 295 Buckeye Street, 
came to this city in 1874. He was born in 
1852, in Prussia-Germany, and was eighteen 
years of age when he came to America. 

Mr. Miller had partly learned his trade be- 
fore leaving his own land, and he completed 
his apprenticeship in America, working in 
New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleve- 
land. When he reached Akron he was ready 
to undertake any kind of contract for mason 
work or building constniction. He worked 
awhile for different parties, but in 1876 em- 
barked in general contracting on his own ac- 
count, his fii-st big job being for the Robinson 
Brothers' Sewer Pipe plant. Mr. Miller has 
continued in the contracting business and 
during his business life of a quarter of a cen- 
tury here, he has had the contracts for some 
(if the city's most important buildings. His 
work is seen in the Akron Savings Bank 
Building; the O'Neil Buildins;: the brick 
work for the Diamond Rubber Buildings; the 
Kubler and Beck Buildings; the Burkhardt 
Brewery plant; the Star Drill Machine Com- 
pany's plant, and many others of lesser note. 
At the date of this writing (1907) he is build- 
ing the Star Rubber Company's new plant. 
In addition to what may be called his per- 
sonal business. Mr. Miller is interested in a 
number of other important enterprises of Ak- 
ron, in which his name has inspired addi- 
tional confidence. He was one of the organ- 
izers and a director of the Securitv Savings 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



913 



Bank, and a stockholder in the People's Sav- 
ings Bank. He is interested in the Central 
Savings and Trust Company ; is a stockholder 
in the Diamond Rubber Company, the B. F. 
Goodrich Company, and the Akron Brewery 
Company, and is also a director in the Lodi 
Oil and Refinery Company. 

In 1881 Mr. Miller was married to Adele 
Uitas, who was born in Prussia-Germany, and 
Ihey have two children, Adele and Bodo E., 
the latter of whom is a medical student in 
(he Universit}' of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. 
Mr. Miller is a prominent member of the 
Democratic party in this city and takes much 
interest in local affairs. For three years he 
has been a member of the Akron Liebertafel, 
a leading German social organization. A 
man of unimpeachable character, Mr. Miller 
is a representative of Akron's best citizim- 
ship. 

FRANK F. MILLER, mechanical engi- 
neer, with the Star Drilling Machine Com- 
pany, of Akron, has been identified with this 
line of work ever since he entered into busi- 
ness, and has been a resident of this city since 
he- was ten years old. He was born in 1879 
at Smith's Ferry, Ohio, but his childhood was 
passed at Braceville, Leavittsburg and New- 
ton Falls, to which point his parents, J. W. 
and Abbie (Brown) Miller moved while he 
was very >oung. 

Mr. Miller entered the public schools of 
Akron at the age above mentioned and con- 
tinued until he was graduated from the Ak- 
ron High School, in 1897. He then became 
a student at the 'Western University of Penn- 
sylvania, from which he was graduated in 
1001, with his degree of M. E. During the 
following year he worked for the American 
Bridge Company, first at Pittsburg, Penn.syl- 
vania, and later at Canton, Ohio, then for 
one year he was with the Wollman-Seaver- 
Morgan Engineering Comnany, of Cleveland, 
since which time he has been with the Star 
Drilling Machine Companv, in his present 
canacity. He is a stockholder in this enter- 
prise and also owtis stock in the Star Rubber 
Company. 



In 1902 Mr. Miller was married to Clara A. 
Parisette, daughter of Charles and Susan 
(Selzer) Parisette. Charles Parisette was 
born in Germany and came to the United 
States about 1857. Mr. Parisette volunteered 
in a California regiment during the Civil 
War, and now makes his home in Akron, at 
738 West Market Street. Mrs. Miller grad- 
uated from the Akron High School in 1898, 
also from the Perkins Normal School two 
years later. She then taught in the Allen 
school. With her hu.sband, she belongs to 
te First Congregational Church. They are 
the parents of two children — Forest Keimeth 
and Alma Lenore. 

ALBERT C. HARRINGTON, a general 
farmer of Northampton Township, is a 
worthy representative of a prominent old fam- 
ily of Summit County, was born April 19, 
1872, on the old Harrington homestead, and 
is a son of Frederick L. and Mahala (Carter) 
Harrington. 

Job Harrington, grandfather of Albert C, 
was born at Bennington. Vermont, March 9, 
1792, and was a son of Richard Harrington. 
In the fall of 1812 he left Bennington and 
reached Tallmadge Township, Summit Coun- 
ty, before the end of the year, commissioned 
to purchase a farm for his parents. In the 
following year the family came to the new 
home and l:)uilt their little log cabin in the 
midst of the forest. In 1814 .Job returned to 
Vermont and married Susan Hartle, who was 
born at Georgetown, Pennsylvania, January 
27, 1796. In 1815 Job Harrington bought 
the farm on ^-hich Albert C. Harrington was 
born and reared. He died March 24, 1869. 
During the early -days -when pioneer condi- 
tions prevailed and the larger number of 
his neighbors were Indians, Job Harrington 
displayed those sturdy characteri.stics which 
made him one of the most useful men of the 
township. He conciliated the Indians and 
made friends of them for himself and the 
community, and possessed the shrewdness as 
well as the integritv which brought ahout im- 
proved conditions for all concerned. The ma- 
ternal grandfather of Mr. Harrington, Wil- 



974 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



liam Carter, was also of New England birth 
and ancestry, and he too was a man of prom- 
inence and usefulness in Summit County. 
William Carter was born at Middletown, Con- 
necticut, February 13, 1792, married Chloe 
Wadsworth in 1814, and died April 24, 1876. 
William Carter came to Northampton Town- 
ship at a very early day. He was a bricklayer 
by trade and an expert workman, and build- 
ings in numbers still stand, both at Akron 
and Cuyahoga Falls, which testify to his skill. 

Frederick L. Harrington was born October 
14, 1835, and died in 1899. He was married 
October 10, 1866, to Mahala Carter, who was 
born October 11, 1842, one of four children 
born to William Carter by his second wife, 
Jane Carter, to whom he was married in 
Northampton Township, October 17, 1834. 
The other children were: Patty, William and 
Helen. Frederick L. Harrington and wife 
had five children, namely: Charles E., who 
was born February 24,' 1869; Albert C, 
Frank L., who was born December 13, 1874; 
Myron E., who was horn May 22, 1877; and 
Laurel L. who was born June 8, 1896. and 
died at fifteen years of age. 

Albert C. Harrington was reared in North- 
ampton Township and after completing his 
schooling, engaged in farming on the old 
homestead until his marriage, when he set- 
tled on the farm on which he has resided ever 
since, this being a valuable tract of seventy- 
four and one-half acres, which came to his 
wife on the death of her mother. Mr. Har- 
rington operates this farm after modern meth- 
ods, largely as a dairy farm. He keeps about 
fifteen head of cattle and ships his milk to 
Akron. His main crops are hay, corn, wheat 
and oat^, and he has an excellent silo. The 
comfortable residence wa."? built by his late 
mother-in-law, Mrs. Flannigan. in 1891. 

On November 27, 1901, Mr. Harrington 
was married to Fanny May Flannigan, who 
was born and roared on the present farm. She 
is the second daughter of John and Maria 
(Cochran) fPurcell) Flannigan. The father 
of Mrs. Harrington was born in Ireland and 
died in Northampton Township, Summit 



County, Ohio, December 27, 1879, aged fifty- 
five years and five months. He came to Amer- 
ica in boyhood and worked as a farm hand 
until shortly after his marriage, when he 
bought a farm in the northeast corner of 
Northampton Township. This first purchase 
was of seventy-five acres, to which he subse- 
quently added 140 acres, located partly in 
Boston and partly in Northampton Town- 
ships, and these two farms he operated until 
his death as dairy farms, keeping twenty 
head of cattle. He carried on a large cheese 
and butter industry on the farm and its prod- 
ucts were disposed of at Akron. He was 
survaved twenty-five j'ears by his widow, who 
died December 20, 1903. She was born in 
]825, in Stow Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, and was a daughter of Robert and 
Fanny (Bird) Cochran. Her father was 
killed by the Indians while making a trip 
through California. There were eleven chil- 
dren in his family, all of whom are deceased, 
except James, who is a general farmer and 
dairyman in Northampton Township, and 
Martha, who married William Galloway, also 
of Northampton Township. The mother of 
ilrs. Harrington was married, first to Nicholas 
Purcell, who was survived by one daughter, 
Josephine, who married Edward Donahue, of 
Northampton Township. To her second mar- 
riage two daughters were born : Martha Jane, 
who married John E. Raleigh, of Northamp- 
ton Township; and Fanny May, who married 
Albert C. Harrington. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harrington have three chil- 
dren, namely: Opal E., who was born Sep- 
tember 13, 1903; Chester A., who was born 
June 18, 1905; and Velma Rhea, who was 
born August 13, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Har- 
rington are members of the United Presbyte- 
rian Church, to which Mrs. Flannigan also 
belonged, and in which she was much be- 
loved. In politics he is a Democrat, but he 
has never been willing to accept political of- 
fice, preferring the quiet life of a private citi- 
zen. With his wife he belongs to the North- 
ampton Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



975 



M. C. HEMINGER, who is engaged in a 
real estate, insurance and loan business at 
Akron, with offices at No. 1094 South Main 
Street, is one of the representative business 
men of the city. He was born in Tuscarawas 
County, Ohio, September 10, 1861. 

Mr. Heminger was reared in his native sec- 
tion, attending the local schools, and later 
completed a normal course at Mt. Union and 
a commercial course at Painesville. He then 
took up the profession of teaching, which he 
followed more or less continuously for twen- 
ty years, having obtained an Ohio State Life 
Certificate in 1895. During this period he 
became interested in the buying and selling 
of property, and met with such good success 
that he declined his appointment as teacher 
of the Clinton schools, in 1901, in order to 
accept a position with the Akron Realty Com- 
pany. He entered that company as a book- 
keeper, later became a salesman and subse- 
quently secretary, treasurer and general man- 
ager. In 1906 Mr. Heminger went into the 
real estate business for himself, adding in- 
surance, 'loans and investments, and he has 
met with most satisfactory success. His 
method is to purchase tracts of land and make 
first-pla.=s improvements, subsequently finding 
no difficulty in disposing of them. His ef- 
forts have benefitted the whole community, as 
he has been the means of bringing much out- 
side capital to this point. He is a director of 
the South Akron Banking Company. His 
business office has been at Akron for the 
past seven years, but his beautiful home is 
situated at Kenmore. 

In 1887 Mr. Heminger was married to 
Sarah A. Jones, who was born in Wales, and 
they have a bright, interesting family of 
four sons and four daughters, namely: Vesta 
M., Richard B., Muriel "W., Alice C! Harold 
R.. Arthur L. Leah M. and Beryl G. The 
eldest daughter graduated from the Kenmore 
High School and is taking a course in mu- 
sic in the Cleveland School of Music, ha\nng 
a great natural gift. Mr. Heminger and fam- 
ily belong to the Reformer! Church at Ken- 
more, in the Sunday School of which he 
fakep a <leep interest. 



As an intelligent and enlightened citizen, 
Mr. Heminger takes a laudable interest in all 
public mattei-s concerning his city, coimty 
and country at large. He has served as clerk 
of Fairfield Township, Tuscarawas County, 
and is chairman of the Board of Education of 
Coventry Township. 

JOHN D. JONES, president of the J. D. 
Jones Coal Company, operating coal mines 
at Hametown (his place of residence) and 
Manchester, in Summit County, and in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, owns the 
latter rnine, and is also one of the directors 
of the Hametown Coal Company. He was 
born in Glenmorganshire, Wales, April 29, 
1851, and is a son of David D, and Keziah 
(Morgan) Jones. 

Coal mining has been the occupation of 
the Jones family for several generations and 
the subject of this sketch accompanied his 
father to the mines when he was a little boy, 
doing such work as falls to children in the 
old Welsh mines. When he was nine years 
of age he began to work at the Great West- 
ern shaft, and was employed at different 
places which were more or le,=s dangerous. He 
worked at the Fern Dale shaft and left there 
just thirteen days before there was an explo- 
sion in it in November. 1867, by which 214 
men lost their lives. 

In December, 1868, when seventeen years 
of age, Mr. Jones came to America and joined 
his parents at Sherman, Ohio, where they had 
settled three and one-half years before. In 
1871 the family moved to Hametown, which 
ha^ been the home of John D. .lones ever 
since. By a premature explosion of powder 
in one of the mines David D. Jones was so 
seriously injured, in September, 1885, that 
he survived but five days. A comrade was 
killed instantly. 

In 1873 John D. Jones was married to 
Elizabeth Boden, who is a daughter of .John 
Boden. and who was born also in Wales, and 
came to Norton Town.'hip in girlhood. They 
have eight sun-iving children, namely: Go- 
mar, who is president and secretarv of the. 
Hametown Coal Company; Gwylnm, who 



976 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



married Alta Mobn, and has two children; 
David J., who married Maude Hehuick, and 
has two children; Henry, who manied Elma 
Williama, has one child; and Obediah, Mae, 
Jeannetta and Charles, residing at home. 
Four other cliildren are deceased. Mr. Jones 
is a member of the order of Knights of 
Pythias at Doylestown. 

Gomar Jones, the eldest of the above fam- 
ily, was born in Norton Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, March 5, 1874, and was reared 
and educated in this neighborhood. Like his 
father and grandfather, his whole business 
life has been identified with coal interests. 
With his father, John D. Jones, John Klein 
and Obediah Jones, he is interested in the 
Hametown Coal Company's mine, being pres- 
ident, secretary and manager of the works, 
this coal bank having been opened up in 
April, 1893. In April, 1905, the J. D. Jones 
Coal Company, in which he is also interested, 
bought a coal bank at Manchester. The third 
mine of the company, located in Chippewa 
Township, Wayne County, wa.s started De- 
cember 26. 1906. The coal industry is one 
of the most important in Norton ToAvnship, 
and require.-i a large investment and careful 
management. 

In 1898 Gomar Jones was married to Ida 
Williams, who is a. daughter of .Tohn C. Wil- 
liams, a coal miner, now residing in Michi- 
gan. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children : 
Robert L. and Clayton. Mr. Jones is a mem- 
ber nf tlic Ma.'^onic fraternity at Barber- 
ton. 

JOHN BLACKBURN, a repre.'ientative 
agriculturist of Bosston Townsliip, wlio is .serv- 
ing his second term as township trustee, w-as 
born December 15, IS'29, in Lincolnshire, 
England, and is a son of AVilliavn and Jane 
(Emerson) Blackburn. 

AVilliam Blackburn was born in Lincoln- 
shire, England, where he died at the age of 
sixty-six years. His widow came to .America 
when seventv-five years of age with her young- 
est son. She died at Hudson, in the faith 
of the IMothodist Episcopal Church, and was 
buried at Peninsula. AVilliam and .Tane 



(Emerson) Blackburn were the parents of 
seven children, six of whom grew to maturity : 
James, Mary and George, all deceased; John; 
Thomas, who resides at Hudson ; and Henry, 
who lives in Cleveland. 

John Blackburn had but meager educa- 
tional opportunities when a youth, but 
through reading and association with others, 
has long since remedied any early defects. 
He was twenty-three years old when he came 
to America on a sailing vessel, one 
of the old kind which took six weeks 
to make the voyage. He arrived in 
Boston Township June 3, 1853, and worked 
for three months on the Ohio Canal. In the 
spring following he hired out to a farmer in 
Macedonia and lived there two years, but 
in the spring of 1855 he moved back to Bos- 
ton Town.'^hip. where he rented a farm for 
two years and another farm for seven years, 
paying a cash rent. In 1864 he purchased 
155 acres of his present farm, to which he has 
added, by purchase, and is now" the owner of 
192 acres. This land he devotes to the culti- 
vation of potatoes, wheat, hay, corn and oats. 
His fine residence of nine rooms was erected 
by Mr. Blackburn in 1888, and he has a barn 
60x40x20, with a 9-foot basement, which he 
built in 1895. His buildings are well kept, 
and everything about the property .shows 
careful management. Mr. Blackburn has 
given special attention to dairying and keeps 
twenty-five cows, his milk being dispo.sed of at 
Cleveland. 

On September 22, 1853, .John Blackbin-n 
was united in marriage with Elizabeth Whit- 
lam, who is the daughter of John Whitlam of 
Lincoln.shire, England. This was an early ro- 
mance, an engagement existing before he left 
his native country. Mrs. Blackburn passed 
away in 1903, aged ninety-two years. They 
had four children: Emerson, who died at the 
age of twenty yeai-s: Georse, who resides in 
Cuyahoga Falls: William Grant, who resides 
at Hudson ; and .John Fred, who is assisting 
his father on the home farm. Mr. Blackburn 
is a trustee of the Methodist Eniscopal 
Church, at Peninsula, where he has also been 
Sunday School superintendent and steward. 




I.KWIS HOLZHAUER 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



y7<j 



He and lii.s wife were the lirst two members of 
this ehureh which he helped to erect, and to 
which he has always been a liberal contrib- 
utor. Mr. Blackburn is a Republican in 
State and National affairs, but in local mat- 
ters he is an independent voter. 

LEWIS HOLZIIAUER, one of Summit 
County's representative men, owning an ex- 
cellent farm of 172 acres in Northfield Town- 
ship, is a public-spirited citizen of his locality 
anci an honored veteran of the great Civil 
Wav, in whicli he was seriously wounded. Mr. 
Ilolzhauer was born November 22, 1845, in 
Baden, Germany, and is a son of Wilhelm and 
Anna Katherina (Vorbach) Holzhauer. 

Wilhelm Holzhauer was born in Baden, 
Germany, where he received a common school 
education. After completing his apprentice- 
ship to the mason and stone cutting trade, he, 
like other European workmen, ambition.? to 
gain a complete mastery of their chosen occu- 
pation, traveled in other countries — France 
and Switzerland. In the latter country he 
imbibed teachings concerning freedom that 
made him a Republican in spirit long before 
he came to this country. In 1851 Mr. Holz- 
hauer came to the United States and settled 
in Cleveland, Ohio, liLs family coming three 
year.? later, and after the war they purchased 
a residence there. In 1876 they located on 
the farm now owned by Lewis Holzhauer in 
Northfield Township. Wilhelm Holzhauer 
was at one time a member of the Ancient Or- 
der of Good Fellows. His first vote was cast 
for Buchanan for president, but he consid- 
ered this a mistake, which he regretted all of 
his life, and always thereafter voted the Re- 
publican ticket. Mr. Ilolzhauer became so 
Aiucricanized that he anglicized the Christian 
names of his children as well as his own. 
Oricinallv Catholics, after coming to the 
United States the family ibecame identified 
with the Protestant Church. AVilhelm Holz- 
hauer wa.-- married to Anna Katherina A^or- 
bach. who was born in Baden, Germany. No- 
vember 6, 1815, and who died aged sixty- 
nine years. Her husband survived her until 
April 17. 190fi, he lackinc sixtv davs of be- 



ing ninety years old. They had four chil- 
dren, of whom three grew to maturity, name- 
ly: Almeda:, who is the wife of Ephriam 
AW'st, of Independence, Ohio; Amelia, now 
deceased, who married John Steele, of Iowa; 
and Lewis. 

Lewis Holzhauer attended school in Ger- 
many until he was nine years of age, when 
the family started for America, coming via 
Strasburg, Paris and Havre. On reaching 
Strasburg they saw the big tower and famous 
clock, and as it happened to be noon, the cock 
appeared and crowed three times, when the 
figures of the Saviour and His disciples also 
appeared, marching in single file in the open 
>pace around the tower. Although these fig- 
ures are of great size, Mr. Ilolzhauer distinct- 
ly remembers that they looked diminutive 
from his viewpoint, as the tower is 500 feet 
high from the curb. Young Holzhauer 
joined a crowd that was intent on a,«cending 
the tower by the winding steps, but they final- 
ly arrived at a window where an entrance fee 
was demanded, so the disappointed child 
turned back. Everything was a source of 
wonder to hi.« childish juind. Having no 
through trains at that day, the party had a 
wait of five or six hours at Paris, and decided 
to view the various sights. At Havre, where 
they had to remain three days before embark- 
ing on their vessel, he saw for the fii-st time 
a colored man, and called to his mother that 
he saw a number of "chimney-sweeps," but 
was informed by his mother that they were 
Africans, Their sailing vessel, the "Eagle," 
was an American ship, and had a huge gold 
eagle for a figure-head under the bowsprit. 
From the sailors of this vessel, also Americans, 
young Holzhauer learned a number of words 
of English, including, imfortunately, some 
oaths. On this journey the vessel made most 
I'emarkable speed for that day, the trip tak- 
ing but 21 days, which included two days 
living in quarantine in New York. 

Air. Holzhauer distinctly remembers the sud- 
den change in temperature the passengers ex- 
Iierienced. Although the vessel left Havre 
in midwinter, it seemed almost like sununer 
weather during mo<t of the journey, the men 



980 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



on board going around in shirt sleeves and 
summer clothing. The vessel had taken the 
southern course and the weather was exceed- 
ingly balmy until reaching America, when it 
became suddenly frigid, much suffering being 
caused thereby. 

After settling in America the family lived 
successively at Parma, Independence, North 
Amherst, and in Fulton County, Ohio, where 
Mr. Holzhauer completed his education in 
English, and in August, 1863, he enlisted in 
Company K, 124th Regiment, Ohio "S'olun- 
teer Infantry, with which regiment he served 
until the close of the war. The regiment had 
been in the field eight months when Com- 
pany K was recruited to complete it, and they 
joined it when it was taking position during 
the battle of Chickamauga Avith the Army 
of the Cumberland. They marched without 
arms until getting into action, when they 
armed themselves with the guns of those 
wounded or killed. Mr. Holzhauer was 
wounded in the knee at the battle of Buz- 
zard's Roost, the first engagement of the 
Georgia campaign, and some of the surgeons 
wished to amputate his leg, which would have 
been done but for the warning of the division 
surgeon. Mr. Holzhauer remained at the hos- 
pital at Chattanooga, Tenne.?.see, from May 12 
or 13, 1864, until the following February, 
reaching his regiment in March, when he was 
assigned to the First Battalion Invalid Corps, 
but eluded the authorities and succeeded in re- 
joining his regiment. They Avent thence to 
Greenfield, Tennessee, a historic little place, 
where Mr. Holzhauer noticed the weather- 
beaten sign, "Andrew Johnson, merchant 
tailor." Later they returned to Nashville, 
where he did garrison duty about the sub- 
urbs until receiving his honorable discharge 
in July, 1865, being mustered out at Cleve- 
land, Ohio. He was always a brave and faith- 
ful soldier. 

After the close of the war Mr. Holzhauer 
returned to his home, io6k a course in the 
Hights University school, then for several 
years he was engaged in working with his 
father at the trade of stone mason, but .subse- 
quently gave ibis occupation up. and from 



1869 until 1879 was employed by Stevens & 
Sons, wholesale grocers, at Cleveland, Ohio. 
In tiiu latter year he came to his present farm, 
which he had purchased in 1876, and on 
which the family had been residing, and here 
he has continued up to the present time with 
nmch success. The farm consists of 172 acres 
of fertile property, of which about fifty-five 
acres are under cultivation, five to eight acres 
being devoted to potatoes and the remainder 
to oats, wheat and hay. His dairy consi-s^ts of 
a fine herd of from twelve to twenty head of 
cattle, the milk being shipped to Cleveland. 
His father built an addition to the large, com- 
fortable home, and in addition to the barn 
which was already standing, Mr. Holzhauer 
erected a new barn, 36 by 50 feet, with 18-foot 
posts, and other outbuildings. He uses the 
most modern methods in the cultivation of his 
property, and is considered one of Northfield 
Township's most up-to-date agriculturist,'*. 
He is a Republican in politics, and has served 
his township for two terms as trustee. His 
war service entitles him to membership in 
Royal Dunham Post, G. A. R., of Bedford, 
and he is also connected with the Summit 
County Horticultural Society. 

Mr. Holzhauer was married to Helen 
Kirsch, who is now deceased, daughter of 
Peter Kirsch, of Cleveland. They had four 
children : Ida, who is the wife of W. G. Mc- 
Kenzie, of Cleveland; William, who lives at 
home; Alfred, a resident of Akron; and 
Helen, wlin married William iMickle. of Cleve- 
land. 

A. AUBLE, JR., president and general 
manager of the Akron Auto Garage Company, 
with quarters on East Buchtel Avenue, near 
Main Street, Akron, is one of the enterpris- 
ing and progressive youns; business men of 
tills city. Mr. Auble was born and reared on 
a farm in Medina County, Ohio, near Wads- 
worth. 

In 1891, Mr. Auble embarked in a bicycle 
bu.sinesp at Wadsworth, where he continued 
until 1903. Then coming to Akron he es- 
tablished an automobile business which he has 
expanded until it occupies a leading place 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



981 



among the city's industries. In July, 1907, 
the Akron Auto Garage Company, of Akron, 
was incorporated, with Mr. Auble as president 
and manager, and F. C. Wood as secretary 
and treasui'er. They do a general rebuilding 
business and at their garage represent some 
of the finest automobiles ever put on the mar- 
ket, including the Winton, Franklin, the Olds 
and the Baker Electrics. Mr. Auble is a prac- 
tical machinist and understands all the su- 
perior points of every machine he handles. 

In 1895 Mr. Auble was married to Lelia 
Young, of Sharon, Ohio. He is a member of 
the I\Ia?onic and Odd Fellow fraternities, and 
of the Akron and Cleveland Automobile clubs, 
and in 1906 he was one of the vice-presidents 
of the Ohio Automobile Association. He be- 
longs also to the Portage Country club of 
Akron. 

LOUIS S. SWEITZER, M. D., a promi- 
nent citizen and leading physician and .'sur- 
geon of Akron, with offices located at No. 
147 East Market Street, has been a resident 
of this city for the past twenty -seven years. 
He was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in 
1851, and was reared and educated in hi.s na- 
tive county, up to his entrance into Heidel- 
berg College, at Tiffin. He siibsequently 
studied medicine and was graduated in 1875 
from the Cleveland Medical College. He took 
a post-graduate course at the College of Phy- 
sician.- and Surgeons in New York, in 1880. 
having previously practiced in Tuscarawa-5 
County. After locating at Akron, in 1880, 
Dr. i-^weitzer soon proved his professional abil- 
ity, and he has since built up a large and 
satisfactory practice. He has identified him- 
self with the Summit County, the Ohio State 
and the Northeastern Ohio Medical Societies. 
He is a member of the consulting staff of the 
.\kron City Ho.spifal. An active citizen, he 
has served on the Board of Education and, in 
connection with N. R. Sterner, was influen- 
tial in developing the interests of South Ak- 
ron, now so important a section of the city 
proper. 

In 1875 Dr. Sweitzer wa* married to 
Frances E. Mackev, of Mercer Countv, Penn- 



sylvania, and they have one daughter, Bes- 
sie, residing at home. Dr. Sweitzer is a mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum 
and other organizations, but he takes no very 
active part in fraternal society work. 

D. HENRY SELL, of The Hoover & Sell 
Company, leading clothing merchants at Ak- 
ron, was born December 9, 1869, and is a 
son of John T. Sell. The latter was bom 
and reared in Suffield Township, Portage 
County, enlisted from there in the Civil War 
and is now a resident of Akron, where he is 
employed by the Twentieth Century Heating 
and Ventilating Company. 

D. Henry Sell was educated in the schools 
of Akron, and early in his business career 
worked two years as a butcher and one year 
with the B. F. Goodrich Company. In April, 
1892, he entered the clothing store of L. & F. 
Bullinger, w'hich was the first American cloth- 
ing house established at Akron, and he re- 
mained with that firm for nine years. The 
stock was then purchased by Lang & Hoover, 
and Mr. Sell continued with the new firm un- 
til 1905, when he bought Mr. Lang's interest. 
The Hoover & Sell Company was incorporated 
with a capital stock of 25,000, and Mr. Sell 
continued the president until 1907. As a 
business man Mr. Sell enjoys the confidence of 
the public and his progressive methods have 
brought his firm nmch prominence. 

On December 7, 1892, Mr. Sell was mar- 
ried to Mary Wetzel, of Akron, and they have 
three children — Adelaide May, Sophia Marie 
and Katharyn Naomi. He is a member of 
the Wooster Avenue Reformed Church. Fra- 
ternally, Mr. Sell is a Mason and a Knight of 
Pythias, belonging to the Uniform Rank of 
the latter organization. For three and one- 
half years he was captain of No. 21, Uniform 
Rank. 

J.\MES MACKEY. formerly one of Rich- 
field Township's leading citizens and suc- 
cessful farmers, was born near Belfast. Coun- 
tv Antrim, Ireland, Januarv 28. 1823. and 
died on his farm in Richfield Township. De- 



982 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



cember 4, 1903. His parents were James and 
Rachel (Tipping) Mackey. 

The parents of Mi. Mackey came to Amer- 
ica in 1837, making the journey across the 
Atlantic Ocean in a sailing vessel. They were 
met at Cleveland, Ohio, by an old friend, with 
whom they remained until the father of Mr. 
Mackey located on a farm in Boston Town- 
ship, just north of the village of that name. 
On that farm the late .James Mackey grew to 
manhood and was there trained to be a good 
farmer. At the time of his marriage he 
bought his farm in Richfield Township, from 
the heii-s of Ebenezer Palmer, and here he 
lived during the rest of his life. Prior to 
his marriage he had owned and operated a 
boat on the Muskingum River, and later be- 
came interested largely in the cattle and stock 
business. The home farm, which his widow 
has rented out for the past two years, was 
conducted mainly as a dairy farm, the milk 
going to the local creamery. 

Mr. Mackey was a man of high standing 
in his community. For thirty years he was a 
trustee of the Richfield Congregational 
Church. His business ability was recognized 
when he was put in charge of the Building 
Committee of the School Board, of which be 
was long a member, when the Richfield High 
School was built. In the following year he 
w^as on the building committee for the erec- 
tion of the Congregational Church. In poli- 
tics he was formerly a Republican, but later 
became identified with the Prohibition party. 
He was made a ]\Iason in middle life, and was 
a valued member of Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 
266, F. & A. M. 

On April 21, 1868, James Mackey was mar- 
ried to Harriet Palmer and four children were 
born to them, the survivors being Jennie E. ; 
James Earl, residing in Iowa; and Harriet 
Lucy, who married Frank Manelik, residing 
at Akron. One child, Helen Eliza, died in in- 
fancy. 

Ebenezer Palmer, father of Mrs. Mackey, 
was born at Sand Gate, Vermont, in 1795. 
He came to Richfield Township in 1826, set- 
tling at East Richfield, where he establi.shcd 
himself in busines.? as a carpenter and builder. 



engaging in wagon-making during the winter 
seasons. A few years later he moved to In- 
diana, where he remained about eighteen 
months, and then returned to Summit County 
and bought a farm of 150 acres in South 
Richfield Township, and on this farm, Mrs. 
Mackey was born, November 18, 1844. ilr. 
Palmer lived there imtil his death, which oc- 
curred in 1867. For a short time he sei-ved 
in the War of 1812. He was a man of ster- 
ling character, worthy and reliable in every 
position of life. He was thrice married, his 
first wife dying in New York before he came 
to Ohio. He was married (second) to a Miss 
Griffin, of Copley, and at death she left three 
children: Miland; Ethan, deceased; and Grif- 
fin. He was married (third) to Laura Rust, 
who died in 1872. She was a daughter of 
Phineas Rust, of Brecksville, Ohio. They had 
ten children, the survivors being: Frederick; 
Palmer; Jennie, who married Phineas Car- 
ter, resides in Kansas; Mrs. Mackey: and 
Eben Palmer, a phj^sician, who lives in Textxs. 
Both parents were active members of the 
Congregational Church. 

AV. II. LONG, superintendent of construc- 
tion of the Niagara Fire Extinguisher Com- 
pany, was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, 
November 3, 1861, where he was educated, 
and where he remained until he was twenty- 
one j'ears of age. He is a practical plumber 
and steam-fitter and has had much experience 
along his present line of work. 

Mr. Long served his apprenticeship with 
the Columbus Supply Company, of Columbus, 
going then to the Providence Steam and Gas 
Company and engaged in putting up fire ex- 
tingui.shers and gas pipe for the Fall River 
cotton mills, remaining with that concern for 
seven years. He resided at St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, for four years, and for two years was 
connected with the Chicago department of the 
Independence Sprinkler Company, later witli 
the Mallert, Allen & Eraser Company. ^Ir. 
Long then went into business for himself at 
Evansville. Indiana, where he remained six 
years and then became associated w'ith his 
pre.-ent company. He was located first at Cin- 



AND REPPfESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



yS3 



cinnati and then went out on the road for 
this company, and in 1907 he accepted the 
pO;5ition of superintendent of construction. 
This office is one of great responsibility and 
its demands take him all over the countiy. 
his inspection covering the territory east of 
the Mississippi and to the Gulf of .MexicD. 
During his period of I'esidence at Evansville 
Mr. Long took an active part in politics, but 
since then he has not concerned himself 
otheiTvise than as a citizen who is interested 
in seeing good government at every point. 

On November 6, 1889, INIr. Long was mar- 
ried to Jennie B. Wallace, of Sturgis, L'nion 
County, Kentucky, and they have one daugh- 
ter. Gladys A. Mr. Long has had his home 
at Akron for the pa.st two years. His offices 
are in the Hamilton Building. 

SAMUEL PIARRIS STURGEON. M. D.. 
a leading phj-sician and surgeon of Akron, 
and one of the city's active and public-spirited 
citizens, was born at Oakdale. Allegheny 
County, Pennsylvania, in 1848. 

In 1859 the parents of Dr. Sturgeon moved 
to Ashland County, Ohio, and there he wa-? 
reared and educated, attending the old Ver- 
million Institute at Haysville, after which 
he read medicine with Dr. E. V. Kendig of 
that place. In 1873 he was graduated from the 
Ohio iledical College of Cincinnati. This 
was according to the wise will of his father, 
for had the patriotic youth been permitted to 
follow out his own plans, ,the whole course 
of his life might have been changed. He 
wa.s only fourteen years old when he enlisted 
for service in the Civil War, in the 102nH 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but on account of 
hi? father's objections, he returned home, but 
only to trv again, in the 120th Regiment, 
Ohio "\'^olunteer Infantry, parental authority 
a second time preventing his follo^-ing a mil- 
itary career. 

After securing his medical degree, Dr. Stur- 
geon located, first at Ada, Ohio, where he 
had already done a little preliminary prac- 
ticing, and he remained at the point until 
1882, when he went to Mansfield, from which 
place he came to Akron. .Tuly 20, 1884. where 



he has been in continuous practice of medi- 
cine and surgery for the past twenty-three 
yeaiis. He is a member of the Eastern Ohio 
i\ledical Association and formerly v.-as a mem- 
ber of the Northwestern. 

Dr. Sturgeon was married (first) in 1874, 
to Ella Mowery, who left two sons: .John W. 
residing at Akron ; and Paul, residing at Ash- 
land. On June 7, 1900, Dr. Sturgeon was 
married (second) to Mrs. Laura "(Myers) 
Palmer, who is a daughter of Calvin [Nlyers. 
Mrs. Palmer had one daughter, Frances, 
whom Dr. Sturgeon has adopted. 

Politically, Dr. Sturgeon is a stanch Repub- 
lican and he has served as chairman of the 
Republican County Executive Committee, the 
only party office he w'ould accept. He ha? 
been active all along the line in the interests 
of good government. Fraternally, he is a 
Knight Templar Mason and an Elk, and be- 
longs to the cluhs of both organizations. 

FREDERICIv R. POST, secretary and 
trea.surer of the Independent Tack Company, 
of Cuyahoga Falls, was born at this place, 
November 20, 1858. and is a son of William 
M. and Sarah A. (Roberts) Post. 

Mr. Post is of Scotch extraction on the pa- 
ternal side and of Revolutionary stock on the 
maternal. His grandfather, Russell. E. Post, 
was born in Scotland and emigrated 'and set- 
tled very early in Rhode Island, where he 
became a paper-maker. He w^as married De- 
cember 19, 1826, at New Lebanon Springs, 
New York, to Julia Ann Foster, who was a 
daughter of Theodore and Julia (Greene) 
Foster, the latter of whom was a near relative 
of the distinguished General Nathaniel 
Greene, of Rhode Island, of Revolutionary 
fame. Ru.ssell E. Post and wife resided for 
a short time at Wheeling, AVest Virginia, and 
then located at Cuvahoga Falls, Ohio, where 
he died May 25, 1848. ' 

William M. Past, father of Frederick R., 
was born at Middletown, Connecticut, May 
29, 1822, and died ' June 21, 1882. 
He accompanied his parents to Cuyahoga 
Falls, where he followed the trade of 
paper-making until 1850. when he learned 



984 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the coopers trade. This he followed up to 
the time of his marriage, iu 1855, when he 
resumed paper-making. For seven years he 
was in the employ of Hanford & Son, and 
during this period he purchased a team and 
hired a driver to do draying for the mills, 
as his representative. When he left the mills 
he turned his whole attention to draying, 
keeping seven teams going. About 1870 he 
retired from the business owing to the intro- 
duction of new methods of handling the raw 
materials, and he, therefore, made use of his 
teams in the establishment of a livery stable. 
During the progress of the Civil War he took 
advantage of a business opening in the sale 
of straw for paper manufacturing. In poli- 
tics he was always a stanch Democrat. Being 
a man of sterling character, he always en- 
joyed the confidence and respect of his fel- 
low citizens and on numerous occasions was 
elected to local offices. 

On May 21, 1855, William M. Post was 
married to Sarah A. Roberts, a daughter of 
Thomas Roberts, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. Post still resides at Cuyahoga Falls. The 
children of William M. Po.st and his wife 
were as follows: Russell E. and Ida M., both 
residing at Cuyahoga Falls ; Frederick R. ; 
Lillian, who married Walter Astley, residing 
at Cleveland; William G., who is a quarter- 
master sergeant in the U. S. Army; Harry 
R., residing at Cuyahoga Falls; Edwin F., 
who is engaged in business at Samar, Phil- 
ippine Islands; and Nellie B., who is a popu- 
lar teacher in the Akron public schools. 

Frederick R. Post was educated in the 
schools of Cuyahoga Falls, and when he left 
school became connected with his father in 
business. At the time of the latter's death 
he was made administrator of the estate, and 
after settling it he embarked in a livery busi- 
ness and also a transportation line, having 
the only regular business of this kind in the 
town. He thus handles all the freight and 
express coming or going. For his draying 
business he keeps thirteen horse,? and five 
men are e.mployed in his stable,?. He was 
the promoter and organizer of the Independ- 
ent Tack Company, a well-establi.shed indus- 



try here, which has the finest tack machines 
in use and has control of the patents on 
them. In everything pertaining to the wel- 
fare of his town Mr. Post has always taken 
a deep interest. He has been chief of the 
Fire Department for several years, being the 
present incumbent of that office, and has 
been a member of the organization for the 
past fourteen yeai's. February 7, 1883, Mr. 
Post was married to Phoebe Jane Baldwin, 
who is a daughter of Simon Baldwin, of 
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and they have 
four children, namely: W. Oliver, A. Edna, 
Howard B. and Thoma's Raymond. Mrs. 
Post is a member of the Congregational 
Church. The pleasant family home is sit- 
uated not far from the Rivet Works. In poli- 
tics, Mr. Post is a Democrat, but is only act- 
ive to the extent of good citizenship. He is 
fraternally associated with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Maccabees. 

BURDETTE L. DODGE, the prosperous 
and enterprising proprietor of the largtst 
house-furnishing store in Akron, situated in 
commodious quarters on South Howard 
Street, was born in 1853, at Penfield, New 
York. He attended school at Rochester, that 
state, and completed his education in Akron, 
to which city he came in 1864. He was aft- 
erwards connected with a number of busi- 
ness and mercantile houses in the city, being 
three years with Hall Brothers, for two years 
bookkeeper for the Weary-Snyder-Wilcox 
Company, for six years with the G. C. Berry 
Company (dry goods), and one year with the 
Second National Bank. In June, 1879, he 
entered into the mercantile busines,s for him- 
self, as a partner in the firm of Klinger & 
Dodge, which continued for eight year?. ^Ir. 
Klinger then retiring, Mr. George W. Plumer 
bought out his interest, and the firm there- 
upon became Dodge & Plumer, under which 
style the business was continued for twelve 
years. At the end of that time Mr. Plumer 
retired and Mr. Dodge became sole owner, 
which he still remains. He is now in hi? 
twenty-sixth year of active mercantile life in 
this city. He owns and occupies a fine five- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



985 



story Ijiiildiug uii South Howard Street, 
wlneli, together with jjui'tioiis of the blocks 
both nortii and tiouth of hiiu, occuijied by 
him, gives him 40,UU0 square feet of Hoor 
»pace. His up-to-date stock consists of car- 
pets, rugs, china, and all kinds of house and 
office furnishings. His trade is very large 
and gives employment to twenty-five persons. 

In addition to this business, Mr. Dodge 
is and has been connected with other success- 
ful enterprises. With Messrs. Klinger, Mar^ 
ble and Shattuck, he organized the Marble 
& Shattuck Chair Company, of Bedford, sev- 
ering his connection therewith at the time 
Mr. Klinger retired from the Akron house. 
He is a director in the People's Savings Bank 
Company. 

In 1878 Mr. Dodge was married to Nellie 
M. Snyder, who is a daughter of the late Jacob 
Snyder. He and his wife are the parents of 
three children — Ira Jacob, Burdette H. and 
Grace. The eldest son is a recent graduate 
of Haverford College, Philadelphia. The 
second son has been with the B. F. Goodrich 
Company since returning from Haverford 
College. The daughter, Grace, was educated 
at Akron, and at the Woman's College, Bal- 
timore, Maryland. Mr. Dodge and his fam- 
ily are affiliated with the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

ADAM KEPLER, a highly esteemed resi- 
dent and substantial farmer of Franklin 
Township, who farms a property of 120 acres 
in Franklin and Green Townships, Summit 
County, Ohio, was born on his present place, 
October 28, 1839, son of Jacob A. and Chris- 
tina (Hushberger) Kepler. 

Jacob A. Kepler was bnrn near East Lib- 
erty, Ohio, to which place his father, An- 
drew Kepler, had come from Pennsylvania as 
a pioneer, and where the latter's death oc- 
curred. Jacob A. Kepler grew to manhood 
on his father's farm, but after his marriage, 
he removed to a farm on the east side of Tur- 
keyfoot Lake, where he erected a log cabin 
in the wilderness. Here Mr. Kepler cleared a 
farm of 200 acres, and this was his home 
for the remainder of his life, his death occur- 



ring when he wtis in his sixty -second year. 
Mrs. Kei^ler survived her husband for a long 
period, being eighty-one years old at the time 
of her death. Jacob A. Kepler was married 
to Christina Hushberger, who was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and to them were born eight 
children, four of whom grew to maturity, 
namely ; Elizabeth, who is the widow of J. R. 
Neal ; Adam ; Sophia, who married H. Swag- 
gert; and Solomon. 

^\.dam Kepler grew up on the home farm 
and secured his education in the district 
schools. He has been engaged in farming op- 
erations since reaching adult life, and has 
been successful, now owning 120 acres of the 
old homestead and the old Sorrick farm, 
which he has improved in many ways. His 
land is well cultivated, the farm buildings 
are in the best of repair, and modern ma- 
chinery is used all over the property. 

In 1861 Mr. Kepler was married to Mary 
Semler, who came to America from Germany 
at the age of eight years with her parents, her 
father, John Semler, settling north of 
Greensburg, Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio. Eight children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Kepler, as follows: 
Jacob; Lucetta, who married William Crum- 
erine; Samuel, who married ]\Iinnie Troxler; 
Irving, who died at the age of six years ; Wil- 
liam ; Clement, who married Sarah Foust; 
Carrie, who married AVilliam Peifer; and 
Percy. 

JOSEPH WINUM, grand secretary of the 
Ohio Grand Council of the Catholic Mutual 
Benefit Association, has been a resident of 
.'\kron for a period of thirty-one years, and 
has been prominently identified with benevo- 
lent and philanthropic work in connection 
with the Catholic Church for a long time. He 
was born in Germany, in 1860, and was six- 
teen years of age when he came to America. 

Mr. Winum located at once at Akron and 
began work with .Tohn B. Decker, with whom 
he remained for four years, after which he 
went into business for himself. From 1880 
until 1903, Mr. Winum conducted a private 
business, clo.sing it up to accept (he respon- 



ys6 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



iible position lie now fills. IIu takes an active 
interest in public matters and has served one 
term in the city council. 

On November 9, 1888, Mr. Winum was 
married to Eugenia M. Knapp, who was born 
and reared at Akron, and is a daughter of 
Michael Knapp. They have five children, 
namely: Laurence M., Marie, Charles J., Vir- 
ginia and Josephine, all at school, except the 
eldest, who is a bookkeeper for the B. F. Good- 
rich " Company. The family belong to St. 
A'incent's Catholic Church. 

For the past fifteen years Mr. Winum has 
been colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the 
Ohio Knights of St. John. He is district 
dejiuty of the Knights of Columbus for the 
district composed of Summit, Medina, Ash- 
land, Holmes, Wayne, Stark and Portage 
Counties. Mr. Winum belongs to the Alsace 
Lorain Benevolent Association, the St. Joseph 
Benevolent Society and the Verein Thalia 
Benevolent order. He is a man of high char- 
acter and is well and favorably known over 
a wide territory. 

JACOB A. REAGLE, township trustee and 
owner of a very fine farm consisting of 
L31 1-2 acres, situated in Copley Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, was horn on his pres- 
ent place. May 11, 1863, and is a son of Dan- 
iel and ElizaJjeth (Serfas?) Reagle. 

Daniel Reagle, father of Jacob A., was born 
in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where 
he was reared on his father's farm. In early 
manhood he came to Ohio and settled in Sum- 
mit County, where he worked on various 
farms for some years. He subsequently mar- 
ried a farmer's daughter — Elizabeth Serfa^s — 
who was born in Pennsylvania,, and is a 
daughter of Andrew Serfass, who came early 
to thi." section. Shortly after their marriage, 
Daniel Reagle' and wife went to housekeeping 
on the farm now owned by their son, Jacob 
Andrew, a part of which Daniel bought at 
that time from Andrew Serfass. and in the 
following year he bought the other half. The 
land was well cleared, but the only house was 
a low cabin and ]\Tr. Reagle had to erect new 
buildings. Daniel Reagle and wife lived on 



the farm until 1892, when they retired to a 
pleasant home at Loyal Oak, where Mr. Rea- 
gle died in January, 1905, aged seventy-three 
years. His widow still survives. They had 
five children, namely: Catherine, who mar- 
ried George Beck ; Jane, who married Edward 
Miksch; Jacob Andrew; Ella, who married 
A. Houglan; and George, who died young. 

Jacob iVndrew Reagle was educated in the 
district schools and the High School at Cop- 
ley Center, and remained at home with his 
parents until his marriage, which took place 
in April, 1891, to Orpha Serfass, who is a 
daughter of Andrew and Harriet Serfjxss. 
They have three children : Grant, Hazel and 
Esther. Mr. and Mrs. Serfass live at Doyles- 
town. 

Mr. Reagle has devoted himself to agri- 
cultural pursuits. His land lies on both sides 
of the road about eight miles west of xVkron, 
and it is considered one of the best tracts in 
the township. The beautiful hedge fence 
which encloses the farm was set out by Mr. 
Reagle's father. In politics, Mr. Reagle is a 
Democrat, and on that ticket he was elected 
township trustee in 190G, making an excel- 
lent record as such. He has also served on 
the school board a number of years, and is 
considered by his fellow-citizens a reliable and 
representative man. He belongs to the or- 
ganization known a« the National Protective 
Legion. In religious belief and connection he 
' is a Lutheran. 

JAMES P. BOYD, M. D.. a member of the 
consulting staff of the Akron City Hospital, 
and a leading physician and surgeon of this 
city, was born in 1850, at Wimbleton. Eng- 
land, and was brought to America by his .par- 
ents when four years of age. 

The parents of Dr. Boyd settled in West- 
ern New York, and he obtained his literary 
training in the schools of Jamestown, New 
York, after which he entered the \miversity of 
Michigan,, takino- first a course in phannacy, 
graduating in 1873, and subsequently a med- 
ical course there, and in 1875, graduated in 
medicine from the Long Lsland Colle.ce Hos- 
pital, at Brooklyn, New Yorlc. After serving 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



989 



one year there as an interne, he came to Ak- 
ron, where, for the past thirty-one yeare he 
has been in continuous practice. He is well 
known all over Summit County. In addition 
to looking after his many patients, Dr. Boyd 
has found time to attend to various duties 
imposed on a good citzen, and he has also 
contributed more or less regularly to the med- 
ical literature of the country. He is a mem- 
ber of the Summit County, the Ohio State 
and the American Medical Societies and to 
the Cleveland Academy of Medicine. 

In 1879 Dr. Boyd was married to Marie 
A. Partridge, of Jamestown, New York, and 
they have three children: James A., who is 
connected with the Columbus Gas and Fuel 
Company; and Althea and Marie Antoinette, 
residing at home. Dr. Boyd and family bo- 
long to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

Dr. Boyd is a Thirty-second Degree Mason 
and belongs to the Blue Lodge, Chapter, 
Council and Commandery of Akron, and to 
Lake Erie Consistory and Alkoran Shrine of 
Cleveland. He is past master of Akron Lodge, 
F. & A. M., and is past high priest of Wash- 
ington Chapter. He belongs to the Masonic 
and the Portage Country clubs. 

EDWIN H. MERRILL, who was one of the 
first founders of the sewer pipe industry at 
Akron, which has become one of the largest 
enterprises of the State, through a long and 
particularly busy life, was a leader in manu- 
facturies here, in many of which he was the 
pioneer. He was born February 9, 1808, at 
Painesville, Ohio. With his father, he learned 
the potter's trade, and when he came to 
Springfield Township, he worked until 1835 
in the various potteries. He was gifted with 
the inventive faculty, and when he went into 
business for himself, in the manufacture of 
beer bottles, he invented his own machinery. 
To this industry he later added the manufac- 
turing of tobacco pipes. His ventures prov- 
ing successful, he soiight a larger field, and 
in 1847 moved to Middlebury and went into 
partnership with his brother, Calvin J. They 
inaugunted the manufacture of water-pipes 
and stone pumps, adding these to their other 



output. Vitrified sewer pipe was first manu- 
factured about 1851, by the firm of Hill, Mer- 
rill & Company, which was succeeded by Mer- 
rill, Powers & Company. This was the first fac- 
tory to turn out sewer pipe in its present form 
and quality. In 186U Mr. Merrill removed 
his pipe, bottle and stoneware plant to the 
corner of South Main and Center Sti'eet, 
Akron. In 1887 the business was incorpo- 
rated as the E. H. Merrill Company. During 
all these years, E. H. Merrill had been the 
prime mover of the whole enterprise. He died 
January 25, 1888, aged almost eigiity years. 
In 1838 he married Emily Gleason, and seven 
children were born to them. 

H. E. MERRILL, who has been identified 
with pottery interests all his mature life, and 
for forty-seven years has been connected with 
factory No. 2 of the. Robinson Clay Product 
Company, was born in 1839, in Springfield 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Edwin II. Merrill, who was a large 
manufactui'er, and was one of the founders 
of the great sewer pipe industry at Akron. 

H. E. Merrill was eight years old when his 
parents moved to Middlebury, now East Ak- 
ron, and he was given such educational ad- 
vantages as the place at that time afforded. 
Early in youth he began pottery work in his 
father's factory, and has continued to be in- 
terested in this business ever since. In 1860 
he was connected with the firm of E. H. Mer- 
rill & Company, later the E: H. Merrill Com- 
pany, which was followed by the Robinson 
& Merrill Company, and still later by the 
Robinson Clay Product Company. He owns 
stock in other companies and is one of the 
city's substantial and prominent men. 

in 1877 Mr. Merrill was married to Ara- 
bella Baiiges, who died February 26, 1905, 
aged fifty-nine years. She was a daughter of 
Dr. S. W. Bartges, a pioneer at Akron. They 
have two children, George B. and Katharine, 
the former of whom is employed in the office 
of Factory No. 2, Robinson Clay Product 
Companv, and the latter of whom married 
W. W. Pope, who is with the Hall & Harter 
Company, of .\kron. 



990 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Mr. Merrill litis always been a public-spirited 
and loyal citizen. In 18a4 he enlisted in the 
100-day service, entering Company .F, l(i4tli 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which 
was stationed at Fort Corcoran, near Wash- 
ington, during that period. He is a member 
of Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. 

WILLIAM H. BLILER, who operates a 
fine fai-m of eighty-one acres in Franklin 
Township, is one of the prominent citizens of 
this section, and a representative of an old 
pioneer family. He was born in Franklin 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, April 3, 
1849, and is a son of Joel and Mary (Hower) 
Bliler. 

DanielBliler, the grandfather of William 
H., came by wagon from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio and settled on the farm which i? now 
the property of the Stumps, clearing the land 
and building two log houses. His life was 
spent in hard and useful work, and his death 
occurred at the age of seventy-seven years. 
Mr. Bliler had been twice married, Joel being 
one of the children of the second union. 

Joel Bliler grew up in the woods of Sum- 
mit County, and spent his younger days on 
the home farm. Here He was married to 
Mary Hower, who was a daughter of Jes-e 
Hower, whose father, Adam Hower, had come 
from New Berlin, Ohio, and entered a section 
north of Clinton. He died at New Berlin, 
Ohio, at the age of ninety-three years, having 
given one-quarter of his section of land to 
Jesse, the other three-quarters having been 
sold. Here Jesse Hower erected a sawmill, 
where was furnished most of the timber used 
in the locks of the canal. Jesse Hower died 
on this property three years after locating 
on it, and forty years prior to the death of 
his father, his daiighter Mary being then a 
child of four years. 

After their marriage, Joel and Mary 
(Hower) Bliler lived at the home of his 
father in Franklin Township, near Man- 
chester, but subsequently removed to the 
property on which William H. Bliler was 
born, the home of Nathaniel Stump, where 



the Brewster coal bank is now situated, rent- 
ing this place for live years. At the end of 
this time he purchased the present Bliler farm 
from a Mr. Miller, of Canton, Ohio, and here 
Joel Bliler died in October, 1880, aged fifty- 
eight years. His widow, who still survives, 
makes her home with her son, William H. 
Bliler. 

William H. Bliler received but a scanty ed- 
ucation in his boyhood, most of which was 
spent in hard work on the home farm. He 
was also employed for six months in laying 
the tracks of the branch of the C. A. & C. 
Railroad, when he removed to Norton Town- 
ship, and there operated two farms on shares 
for six years. He then returned to Frank- 
lin Township, where he. conducted a farm 
near his own on shares for six years, and also 
the Cox farm for seven years. In 1896 he 
bought out most of the heirs to his present 
property, on which he has since continued. 
Mr. Bliler's success teRs its own lesson of the 
value of per.severance and industry. He is a 
man who commands the respect of his neigh- 
bors, and has a wide circle of personal friends. 
In the best sense of the word, Mr. Bliler is a 
self-made man, having fought his way, al- 
most unaided, from the bottom of the lad- 
der. 

In August, 1S70, Mr. Bliler was married to 
Amanda Wilson, who is a daughter of Isaac 
Wilson. Of this union there have been born 
twelve children, namely: Charles, who died in 
1902; Elsie, who married M. High, and died 
in 1892 ; Ellie, who married .lohn Summer- 
man ; Delia, became the wife of George Kep- 
plinger; Milton, who married Lucy McCarty; 
Edward, who lost his life in the Spanish- 
Amercan W^ar; W^illiam, who married Flora 
Steinbaugh ; Newton, Gertrude, Lloyd and 
Irene, the last mentioned of whom died at the 
age of seven years; and Dora, who died when 
one vear old. 



DAVID D. HOLLINGER. one of the rep- 
resentative farmers of Sunnnit County, Ohio, 
who.se 47-acre farm is located in Franklin 
Township, was horn .Tanuary 9, 1843, at Man- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



U91 



Chester, Suimuit Couuty, Ohio, and is a son 
of Jacob and Barbara (Daileyj Hollinger. 

Jacob Hollinger, grandfather of David D., 
came to Ohio from Pennsylvania with his 
first wife, and entered the land from the gov- 
ernment. Both his wives died in Ohio, and 
]\Ir. Hollinger then removed to Indiana, 
where his death occurred at the home of his 
eldest daughter, when over seventy years old. 
He had a large family, Jacob, the father of 
Hiram, being a child of the first union. His 
twin brother, Jlichael, was well known in this 
section, and died in Michigan, whence he had 
removed with his family. There was another 
set of twins, one of whom died young, while 
the other, Joseph, grew up an invalid, and 
was given the forty-seven-acres farm now in 
the possession of David D. Hollinger. This 
property was held by Joseph Hollinger as 
long as he lived, and then went to Michael, 
who later sold it out of the family, but it was 
later purchased by Jacob Hollinger, brother 
of David D., the latter of whom acquired it 
by trade. 

Jacob Hollinger, father of David D., was 
reared on hLs father's farm, and later bought 
the old home place, on which he built a brick 
house. He spent the remainder of his life 
there, with the exception of a few years on the 
Judge Hoy farm in Manchester, and was con- 
sidered the most successful member of the 
family, having 200 acres in the home tract, 
160 acres in Kan.?as and thirteen acres at 
Clinton, it all being valued at about $35,000. 
Mr. Hollinger was married (jlrst) to Barbara 
Dailey, who M-as born near Manchester, Ohio, 
and who was a daughter of Anthony Dailey, 
one of the pioneens of Summit County. She 
died when about thirty years of age, having 
been the mother of the following children: 
Joseph, Michael, David Dailey, Jacob, Levi, 
who resides at Barberton ; Amanda, who was 
the wife of Jacob Weyggandt: Hattie, who 
married L. F. Baker: Josiah, who died at the 
home of David D. : Uriah, a twin brother of 
Josiah. and Barbara, all of whom are now de- 
cea,«ed, except David D. and Levi. After the 
death of his first wife Mr. Hollinger was- mar- 
ried (second) to a ^Irs. Griffiths, who had two 



children by a former marriage — Samantha 
and Lucy, the latter of whom married Rev. 
Xelser, and both are now deceased. Two 
children were born to Mr. Hollinger and his 
second Avife, namely: Warren, of Clinton; 
and Minnie, of Akron. Mr. Hollinger lived 
to the age of fifty-five years, aiid his second 
wife sui-vived him for a long period. 

David D. Hollinger was taken by his par- 
ents to the old home farm when he was but 
six years of age, and here he grew to manhood, 
attending the district schools and assisting 
his father in the field. For a short time he 
worked around the coal Ijauks, but he finally 
.-secured his present farm by trade from his 
brother, Joseph, and here he has carried on 
general farming. Mr. Hollinger is a first- 
class, practical farmer, and u.ses modern ma- 
chinery in his work. Under his methods the 
land produces abundantly. 

In April, 1864, Mr. Hollinger was united 
in marriage with Mary Housman, who was 
born on the Manchester Road, near the Hol- 
linger home. Her father was Jacob Housman, 
one of the early settlers of Ohio, to which 
state he came with hLs parents from Penn- 
sylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Hollinger there 
have been born three children, namely: Wal- 
ter, who resides at Barberton ; Lloyd, who 
lives at home; and Charles, who lives near his 
father's place, married Mary Sowers, and has 
one child, Myron. In politics, Mr. Hollinger 
is a Republican, and he has always taken a 
good citizen's interest in public affairs. Fra- 
ternally, he belongs to the Knights of the 
Maccabees. With his family, he belongs to 
the United Brethren Church. 

C. M. HUMPHREY, M. D., physician and 
surgeon, at Akron, who has been a re-ident of 
this city, and engaged in the active practice 
of bis profession since the fall of 1882, was 
born at Hudson, Summit County, Ohio, De- 
cember 30, 1858. 

Dr. Himiphrey was reared at Peninsula, 
where he attended school, going from there 
to Oberlin College for a short time and sub- 
sequently entering the medical department of 
the We.=tern Reserve University, where he was 



992 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



graduated with hi.s degree in 1882. He is a 
valued member of the Summit County, the 
Sixth Councilor District and the Ohio State 
^ledical Societiej?. He enjoys a large prac- 
tice and is numbered with the able scientific 
men of this city. 

In 1881 Dr. Humphrey was married to 
Millie M. Crisick, and they have two chil- 
dren : Lionel C. and Gertrude A., the latter 
residing at home. Lionel C. Humphrey 
graduated from the Akron High School and 
spent several years studying art in different 
colleges and then located in the Rose Building 
at Cleveland, where he deals in works of art. 

Dr. Humphrey is a substantial citizen, and 
is a stockholder in the Logan Sewer Pipe 
Works at Logan, Ohio. 

HENRY ROBINSON was one of the best- 
known pioneer business men of Akron, and' 
■was the last survivor of one of the honorable 
old business firms that had added prestige to 
this city as a manufacturing center. Mr. 
Robinson was born April 27, 1844, in Fenton, 
Staffordshire. England, and died at his beau- 
tiful home in Akron, September 21, 1906, 
aged a little over sixty-two years. 

Mr. Robinson was four years old when his 
parents came to America, settling at East 
Liverpool, Ohio, for a short period, and re- 
moving to Akron in 1850. He had the ad- 
vantage offered by the public schools in the 
w-ay of education, but in boyhood he began to 
learn the pottery trade, and with the manu- 
facture of pottery he was concerned through 
the entire period of his business activity. In 
1855 he became associated with his brothers, 
Thomas and William Robinson, and his 
brothers-in-law, Richard Whitmore, and J. B. 
Manton, in the manufacture of Rockingham 
yellow ware and stoneware, and was later ad- 
mitted to partnership, being the youngest 
member of the firm, and the last to pass awav. 
One of a family of six children, he is only 
survived bv a sister, Harriet, widow of the 
late J. B. Manton. 

The manufacturing concern in which Mr. 
Robinson was interested and in which he ac- 
cumulated a large fortune, beoan business as 



Whitmore, Robinson and Company, with 
quarters on the corner of East Market Street 
and Case Avenue. At a later date the firm 
was merged with the Ro^binson Clay Product 
Company, manufacturers of clay products, 
now operating nine plants, five of which are 
located at Akron, with another in course of 
erection, and giving employment to more 
than 1500 men. Of this large enterprise 
5enry Robinson was president from its in- 
ception, and was the able director of its poli- 
cies. He was closely identified with a number 
of the leading industries in other cities, and 
wa.s connected officially with the Second Na- 
tional Bank of Akron. 

On May 22, 1879, Mr. Robinson was 
married to Mary Cotter Myers. Mrs. Robin- 
son and two children, Elizabeth and Eber, 
survive. 

The death of Mr. Robinson was a distinct 
loss to his city, for he not only was the assist- 
ant founder of a great business, but he also 
took an active part in forwarding many of the 
public enterprises for which Akron is known 
today. Although he never courted the regard 
of the public eye, his influence was felt in 
widely varying fields of activity. His chari- 
ties were so many that their entire scope was 
know^n only to himself. He was one of the 
original benefactors of the Akron City Hos- 
pital and he was always foremost in the 
movements of practical benevolence, wdiich re- 
lieved distress in his or other cities. For 
many years he was an active worker in the 
First Presbyterian Church, of which he was a 
trustee, and was chairman of the building 
committee which completed the erection of 
the present stately edifice. 

HON. CHARLES 0. HALE, one of the 

leading citizens of Bath Township, has been 
prominently identified with the agricultural 
interests and with public affairs in Summit 
County ever since reaching his majority. His 
residence is on his finely improved farm of 
200 acres. AA'hich is favorably situated about 
nine miles north of Akron. Mr. Hale was 
born March 14. 1850. on his present farm, 
nnd is a son of Andrew and .Tane (Mather) 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1)93 



Hale, and a grandson of Jonathan Hale, who 
settled in the wilderness in 1810. 

Jonathan Hale was born at Glastonbury, 
Connecticut, where he acquired a farm which 
he valued at $1,200. This propertj^ he traded 
for 500 acres of wild land in Bath Township, 
Summit County, Ohio. A man by the name 
of Miller had settled on this land, but as he 
had obtained no title, Jonathan Hale secured 
the land and became the first permanent set- 
tler by ijaj'ing Miller for the few improve- 
ments he had made. He lived on this tract 
to the end of his life, dying in 1855, aged 
seventy-seven years. He was married (first) 
to Mercy Piper and they had five children, 
namely: Sophronia, AVilliam, Pamelia, An- 
drew and James M. Jonathan Hale was 
married (second) to Siu-ah Mather, who was 
a widow with three children — George. Jane 
and Betsey. To this second marriage three 
more children were born, namely: Jonathan, 
Mercy and Samuel C. 

Andrew Hale was liorn on the farm above 
mentioned in 1811 and was the first white 
child born in Bath Township. He grew up 
amid pioneer surroundings, developing into a 
man of worthy character and spending the 
whole of his life in the home in which he was 
born. He married .Jane Mather, who was the 
daughter of his step-mother bj* her first mar- 
riage. She still survives and resides on the 
homestead farm with her son, Charles 0., 
having reached the age of eighty-six years. 
She has seen wonderful development of all 
this section, having come here in girlhood. 
Andrew Hale died in July, 1884, and i? sur- 
vived, not only by his widow, but also by all 
of their six children, as follows: Pamelia L., 
who is the widow of William C. Ovatt; So- 
phronia .1.. who i- the wife of S. J. Ritchie; 
riai-a. who is the widow of L. H. Ashmun ; 
Charles 0.; Alida, who married T. ITum- 
phrev; and John P. 

Chai'Ies 0. Hale obtained his primary edu- 
cation in the district schools and then became 
a student at RicHTield. Oberlin'and Hnd-on, 
completing his education at Oberlin College 
in 1870. Tie then returned home and man- 
aged the farm until the death of his father. 



when he came into poscsession of a part of it. 
Here he has given attention to ftu'niing and 
fruit-growing and is also interested in sugar- 
making, having one of the best equipped 
sugar camps in the state, including some 
twenty acres. 

Mr. Hale has been one of the leading Re- 
publicans of this section of Summit County 
for many years and has served in a number 
of the township offices. In 1891 he was 
elected a member of the State Legislature, in 
which he served two terms, during the four 
years proving himself a faithful and efficient 
public servant. 

On May 20, 1875, Mr. Hale was married 
to Pauline Cranz, an accomplished lady who 
was then a popular teacher in the Akron pub- 
lic schools. She is a daughter of William F. 
and Mary (Dru.shal) Cranz. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hale are members of the Congregational 
Church, in which he is a deacon. 

EMIL GAMMETER, one of Akron's promi- 
nent business men, is a member of the firm 
of Schumacher & Gammeter, the city's lead- 
ing tea, coffee, spice and china firm, was 
born in Switzerland, in 1866, and was brought 
to Akron in infancy, where he was reared and 
educated. 

When he left school while yet in boyhood, 
Mr. Gammeter worked for a short time with 
the Diamond Match Company and later with 
the AVerner Printing Company. In 1880 he 
entered the employ of the Atlantic and Pacific 
Tea Company and remained seven years, after 
which he spent three years on the road repre- 
senting the National Biscuit Company, in the 
meantime considering plans to outer into 
business on his own account. These were 
brought to a satisfactory focus in 1890, when, 
in association with Mr. Schumacher, he 
bought out the Laidlaw Brothers and estab- 
lished the firm of Schumacher and Gammeter. 
Thi.s firm deals both wholesale and retail, 
handling teas, coffees, spices and china, ancl 
an extensive business is done in roasting cof- 
fees, the plant having a capacity for roasting 
12.000 pounds of the fragrant berry weekly. 
Quite a lai'ge amount of business is also done 



994 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



in roasting peanuts. In additon to carefully 
looking after the interests of this business, Mr. 
Gammeter occupies the position and performs 
the duties of treasurer of the Black Drug and 
Chemical Company. 

In 1890 Mr. Gammeter was ma ried to 
Lounettie L. Black, who is a native of Ak- 
ron, and they have Iwo daughters, Muriel and 
Constance. 

Mr. Gammeter takes an active interest in 
civic affairs. For two years he served ably as 
president of the Akron Chamber of Com- 
merce, and during this time he gave freely of 
time and money for the purpose of advanc- 
ing the city's interests. He is a worthy rep- 
resentative of the high standard of business 
integrity which the leading men of Akron 
strive to maintain. 

WAYLAND S. HOUGH, M. D., physician 
and surgeon, at Cuyahoga Falls, enjoys the 
distinction of being the oldest physician in 
practice at this place, his location here dating 
back to 1876. Dr. Hough was born at At- 
water. Portage County, Ohio, April 3, 1B44, 
and is a son of Joel J. and Mary (Linn) 
Hough. 

Dr. Hough belongs to an old colonial fam- 
ily which was established in Portage County 
prior to 1821 by his grandfather, Bazalia 
Hough, who came from New York and en- 
gaged there in agriculture. He lived to be 
eighty-three years old. Joel J. Hough, father 
of Dr. Hough, was born in Portage County, 
Ohio, in 1821, and died there at the age of 
fifty-four years. H^e was a merchant for 
many years, but durinc; the Tatter part of his 
life was a druggist. His politics identified 
him with the Pepublican party and fraternal- 
ly he was a Ma.son. He married Mary Linn, 
whose father was born in Ireland. Their 
children were: Wayland S., snbiect of this 
sketch : Lodema, M'ho married .John Holmes, 
of Huntington, Indiana; William, who is de- 
ceased; John, residing in Chicago; and Mnry, 
who married Mnnd Card, of Cnvahoga Falls, 
Ohio. 

Dr. Hough's boyhood was passed in at- 
tending the common schools and the Atwater 



Academy, after which he learned the pot- 
ter's trade. This he followed until he enlisted 
for service in the Civil War, in October, 1861, 
entering Battery D., First Ohio Regiment of 
Light Artillery. He served three years and 
two months, being honorably discharged at 
Columbus, October 17, 1864. During twen- 
ty months of this time he served as hospital 
steward. Following his army service, Mr. 
Hough entered the Charity Hospital Medical 
College, which now bears the name of the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, where he 
was graduated in 1866. For a period of ten 
years he practiced his profession at Mogadore, 
and then came to Cuj^-alioga Falls, where he 
has continued in practice ever since. He has 
been more or less identified with the develop- 
ment of this place into the prosperous center 
it now is. 

Dr. Hough was married (fii'st) June 13, 
1867, to Annie Elizabeth Golby, who was a 
daughter of William and Mary Golby, natives 
of England, who came to Cleveland, Ohio, 
in the w-inter of 1855-6. Mrs. Hough died 
July 6, 1899, leaving one son, -William Con- 
die, who was born in 1869. On October 17, 
1900, Dr. Hough was married (second) to 
Sarah Johnson. 

Politically, Dr. Hough has never been very 
active, but he has always taken a deep inter- 
est in the affairs of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. He is past commander of Crane Post 
at Mogadore, and is now a member of Eddy 
Post, at Cuyahoga Falls. He belongs to Star 
Lodge, No.' 187, F. & A. M., in which he 
served four years as master, and he is pa.st 
grand of Howard Lodge, I. 0. 0. F. 

For four years Dr. Hough was trustee of 
of the Cleveland State Hospital under Presi- 
dent McKinley's administration, and for the 
past twenty years he has been company sur- 
geon at this place of the B. & 0. R. R., and is 
serving as such at present. 

JACOB W. BENNAGE. a substantial busi- 
ness man of Bath Township, proprietor of the 
well known Bennage sawmill, was born in 
Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is 
a son of John and Mary (Whitted) Bennage. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



Jacob Bennage, grandfather of Jacob W., 
came to Middlebury, now East Akron, Ohio, 
from Union Count}^, Pennsylvania, and for 
many years conducted a pottery, but later 
purchased a fanu and moved to Bath Town- 
ship, where he died. His son, John Bennage, 
v>as a young man when the family came from 
Union County, Pennsylvania, ahd like his 
father he died in Bath Town.ship. His wife, 
who was a native of North Carolina, died in 
Akron, 

Jacob AV. Bennage was reared in Bath 
Township, and on attaining his majority re- 
moved to California, where he lived for four 
years, engaged in threshing and hay baling. 
On his return to Bath Township he embarked 
in the lumber and sawmill business, and this 
he has continued to the present time, in April, 
1907, opening his present mill, in which are 
employed eight men. Formerly Mr. Bennage 
operated two mills, when he employed about 
thirty assistants. Mr. Bennage has purchased 
several farms for their timber, which, after 
clearing, he sold; and from 1899 until 1905 
he lived in Akron, where he was successfully 
engaged in the lumber business. 

Mr. Bennage was married, first, to Emma 
Alman, who is now deceased, and they had 
one child: Elvin, His second marriage was to 
Nellie Chase, and to this union there have 
been born two children : George and Mar- 
gery. 

ALBERT J. BREWSTER, who has been 
associated with the Buckeye Sewer Pipe Com- 
pany ever since he has been in business, was 
born in Summit County, Ohio, in 1871, and 
is a son of James G. Brewster, a leading citi- 
zen of this section. 

Albert J. Brewster was educated in the pub- 
lic schools and at Buchtel College, following 
^i'hich he took a course in bookkeeping and 
?tenographj', immediately afterward entering 
the offices of the Buckeye Sewer Pipe Com- 
]:>any. He has numerous other interests of a 
business nature, being a stockholder in sev- 
eral of the leading industrial concerns of 
S\numit County. 

In 1890, Mr. Brewster was married to J. 



Evelyn Barder, who was born at Akron, Ohio, 
and they have four children, namely: Al- 
bert J., Evan Barder, Jane Elizabeth and 
Marian, 

Mr, Brewster is connected with a number of 
fraternal and social organizations. He is act- 
ive also in giving support to movements of 
public importance to his city and section, and 
takes an interest in all mattei-s pertaining to 
good citizenship. 

WILLIAM A. JOCKERS, a general 
farmer, in Boston Township, was born in the 
house in which he lives, August 4, 1873, and 
belongs to an old German family that once 
owned vast estates in Germany, which, in 
case litigation now going on should prove 
favorable, may be restored to the present gen- 
eration. 

The father of Mr. Jockers was born in 
Baden, Germany, and died October 31, 1899, 
in Boston Township, aged seventj'-two years. 
He came to America when seventeen years old 
and carried a peddler's pack for a period 
of eighteen months after landing in the 
United States. He spent four months at Buf- 
falo and the rest of the time until 1879, at 
Cleveland and in its vicinity, and then came 
to Boston Township and settled on the farm 
now the property of his son, William A. He 
learned brick-making at Cleveland and later 
engaged in a business in this line for him- 
self, giving employment to twenty men and 
turning out a fine quality of finished brick. He 
furni.shed the brick for many buildings, in- 
cluding that used in the erection of the White 
Se^-ing Machine Building, ai Cleveland. 
Prior to coming to Boston Township he sold 
his brick busine.«s, purchasing 104 acres when 
he came to this section, eleven of which he 
sold. He identified himself with the Repub- 
lican party and for several years while in 
Cleveland, served in the city council and aha 
belonged to the fire department, in its early 
daj's. He married a second cousin, Jlargaret 
•Tockers. who was brought to America from 
Germany when one year and six montlis old. 
She died on her birthday, August 6, 1899, 
aged sixtv-six vears. Of their eleven chil- 



996 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



dren, five grew to maturity, namely: John, 
residing in Boston Township; Mary, who 
married Nelson Wood; Tibbie, who married 
(first) George Herman, and (second) Calvin 
Hill, residing at Cleveland; Hattie, who mar- 
ried (first) George Curtiss, and (second) 
. John Boughton ; and William A. 

William A. Jockers obtained his education 
in the common schools. His life has been an 
agricultural one, and when his father's estate 
was divided, he received eighty-six acres. On 
his excellent farm he raises hay, corn, wheat, 
oats and potatoCvS, the latter crop always doing 
A\ell and producing so that he is able to seM 
300 bushels. He usually keeps about nine 
head of cattle. 

Mr. .Jockers married Annie Woda, a daugh- 
ter of John Woda, of Breckville, and they 
have three children : Florence Mary, j\Iar- 
gery Anna and Willianr Raljih. 

Mr. Jockers is a very intelligent, thought- 
ful man and he has given a great deal of calm 
consideration to public questions. In local 
matters he exercises his judgment as to what 
candidate shall receive his vote, but in na- 
tional affairs, he inclines toward the Socialist 
party as offering a clearer solution of the great 
problems of the country than does any of the 
others. 

FREDERICK N. SHAFFER, one of 
Akron's substantial citizens and honorable 
business men, is the junior member of the 
firm of Christy & Shaffer, leading dealers in 
saddlery, shoe findings and hides, both whole- 
sale and retail, with quarters at No. 142 South 
- Howard street. Mr. Shaffer was born at 
Western Star, Medina County, Ohio, in 1837. 
Mr. Shaffer's life until the age of twenty 
years, was spent on the home farm and in 
attending the covmtry schools. He then went 
to Akron, where he secured work with W. C. 
Kittleberger and thoroughly learned the har- 
ness and saddlery business and remained for 
twelve years. In 1899, he became a member 
of the present firm, then under the style of 
James Christy, Jr., & Compan}^, a cliange in 
name later taking place, and this connection 
has lasted until the pre,sent. Mr. Shaffer has 



grown up in the business, learning all its 
practical details and has its management well 
in hand. The firm does a large local business 
and keeps one representative on the road. 

In 1889, Mr. Shaffer was married to Elta 
M. Eberhard, of Western Star, and they have 
three children : Grace M., Raymond C. and 
Gladys E. 

Mr. Shaffer is a stockholder and a direc'.or 
in the Dime Savings Bank and a stockholder 
and director in the Aladdin Rubber Company. 
As a good citizen, he has other interests, of 
more or less importance, connected with civic 
advancement and public-spirited enterprises. 

JOHN BUCHTEL was one of the early 
residents of Summit County, accompanynig 
his parents to the neighborhood of (Coventry 
as early as 1830. He Avas born in Myers 
Township, Center County, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 6, 1797, and was a son of Peter Buch- 
tel. 

His parents located first in Stark County, 
Ohio, later in Green Township, and still later 
in Coventry Township, Summit County, this 
being about 1818. The country was then a 
w'ild region, with only here and there a cabin 
erected by some courageous settler near the 
banks of a stream. Peter Buchtel was a pio- 
neer of the old tvpe and died at Tremont, 
Ohio. 

John Buchtel's early years were filled with 
the hard labor incident to clearing up a pio- 
neer farm. He was married in Green town- 
ship, January 18, 1821, to Catherine Rich- 
ards, and they had five children, three daugh- 
ters and two sons. The family was partly 
reared in the log cabin in which .John Buch- 
tel and wife commenced housekeeping. After 
thirteen years of residence in Gi'een township. 
Mr. Buchtel sold his farm there and bought 
another, in Coventry Township, on which he 
resided for forty-one years. In 1875, Mr. 
Buchtel gave up all active pursuits and with 
his wife removed to a .small farm just north of 
Akron, where Mrs. Buchtel died in 1882, 
iiged seventy-eight years. Mr. Buchtel then 
retired to the home of his son, Hon. William 
Buchtel, where he died at the remarkable age 




ALBERT A. KOHLER, M. D. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



999 



of ninety-seven yeare and two months. For 
more than a tialf century he was a consistent 
member of the Evangelical Church. From 
the period of the Civil War, he had been an 
earnest supporter of the Republican party. 

ALBERT A. KOHLER, M.D., one of the 
leading professional men of Akron, of which 
city he has been a resident since 1870, Wiu; 
born September 12, 1863, in Snyder County, 
Pennsylvania. He is the son of Andrew 
and Sarah (Fisher) Kohler, who came to 
Akron in 1870. Andrew Kohler here fol- 
lowed his trade as a millwright until 1881. 
He then engaged in a grocery business, con- 
ducting it until his death, which took place 
December 31, 1885. He was a man of good 
standing in the world of trade and a valued 
citizen of Akron. He served as a member 
of the City Council, taking an active part- in 
the management of civic affaire. In re- 
ligion he was a Lutheran, fraternally a Ma- 
son and an Odd Fellow. He married Sarah 
Fisher, who also was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and their family consisted of seven 
children, namely: Charles F., who is en- 
gaged in busine&s at AVabash, Indiana; Mar- 
garet, who married F. L. Deibolt and resides 
in Cleveland; John, who is engaged in min- 
ing in Nevada; William, who is deceased; 
Albert A., whose name begins this article; 
Warren A., a business man of Leesburg, In- 
diana; and James L., who is in the grocery 
trade at Cleveland, Ohio. 

Albert A. Kohler acquired his literary 
education in the public schools and at Buch- 
tel College, graduating from the latter insti- 
tution in 1887. While in Buchtel College 
he became a member of the Greek letter fra- 
ternity, Phi Delta Theta. He began the 
study of medicine under Dr. Thomas Eb- 
right, and in the fall of 1887 entered the 
medical department of the Western Reserve 
University, at Cleveland, where he was 
graduated in 1890. He immediately located 
in Akron, where he has become a successful 
and prominent physician and surgeon. His 
offices are at No. 608 and 610 Hamilton 
Building. 



Politically Dr. Kohler is a Democrat, and 
from 1890 until 1894 he served as health 
officer of Akron. After a lapse of six years 
he was reappointed in 1900, and has filled 
that office continuously since. He is a mem- 
ber of the Summit County Medical, the Sixth 
Consular District, Ohio State, and the Ameri- 
can Medical Societies, and he also belongs 
to all the Masonic bodies up to and includ- 
ing the Commandery at Akron and the An- 
cient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Cleveland, 
Ohio. He is also a member of McPherson 
Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Akron. Dr. 
Kohler was married, November 27, 1894, to 
Alice C. Slade, a daughter of William H. 
Slade of Columbus, Ohio. Their pleasant 
home is at No. 703 South Union Street. 

TODD CHARLES FOSTER, one of Bos- 
ton Township's most substantial farmers, 
owns an estate of 308 acres, and belongs to an 
honored old pioneer family of this section, 
Mr. Foster was born September 28, 1861, in 
Boston Township, Summit County, Ohio, and 
is a son of Edwin Francis and Elizabeth 
(Deiceman) Foster. 

Pardon Foster, the paternal grandfather, 
was born in the State of New York, where he 
grew to manhood and before leaving home to 
better his fortunes, learned the trade of cabi- 
net-making and carpentering which included 
a knowledge of ship building. In 1831, he 
came to Boston Township, where he con- 
structed the first canal boat that ever went 
down the waters of the Ohio Canal. This 
boat was followed by the building of many 
others. When he gave up this work he retired 
to a farm he had purchased near Brandywine, 
in Boston Township, where he lived to the 
unusual age of ninety-two years. He married 
Nancy Ooulson, whose age exceeded his by 
four years. They were the parents of a large 
and robust family and their descendants have 
inherited in large degree, the health which 
accrued to them through clean, temperate and 
virtuous living. 

Edwin Francis Foster was nine years old 
when he accompanied his parents to Boston 
Township. He was afforded the best educa- 



1000 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTS 



lional advantages to be secured in the territory 
in which his home wan located and through 
a thorough course of study, became a qualified 
civil engineer. For a long period he taught 
school in Northfield and Bedford Townships, 
and was also a competent teacher of vocal mu- 
sic. After his marriage, when twenty- 
seven years of age, he engaged in farming, in 
Boston Township and cai-ried on agricultural 
pursuits until the close of his life, which 
came in 1903, when he was eighty-one years 
of age. He was a natural mechanic and the 
use of tools came to him without instinictiou. 
It was a pleasure to him, even in advanced 
age, to be called on to fashion some domestic 
utensil or to repair some damage. The task 
would be done in a manner creditable to an 
instructed workman. 

Mr. Foster left two fine farms to his family, 
aggregating 400 acres, one of these he held 
rented and on the other he cultivated the 
natural products of this climate. In his early 
political views he was an Abolitionist and 
Whig and immediately identified himself 
with the Republican party on its formation. 
Until the end of his life he retained his vigor 
of mind and was a great reader, keeping him- 
self thoroughly posted on all public matters 
and discussing these questions with a thor- 
ough knowledge of the principles involved. 

In 1846, Edwin Francis Foster married 
Elizabeth Deiceman, one of the jiupils attend- 
ing his school. She was a maiden of seven- 
teen years at that time, a cherished daughter 
of William Deiceman, of Northfield Town- 
ship. She died in 1881, aged fifty-two years. 
Of the ten children born to this union, six 
reached mature years, namely: Coulson, re- 
siding in Hudson Township; James, who is 
deceased ; Amelia, who married Robert Miller, 
residing in Portage County; Nancy, who 
married Hiram Mowen, had one daughter, 
Ethel ; Todd C, residing in Boston Township ; 
Grant, residing in Northfield Township; and 
Henry, residing in Bedford Township. The 
parents of this family were worthy members 
of the United Brethren Church and reared 
their childi'en as became Christian people. 

Todd Charles Foster was reared in his na- 



tive township and attended school in the 
brick school-house in Boston. He remained 
with his father, assisting on the home farm, 
until he was twenty-one years old and for the 
next seven years followed various occupations, 
engaging in farming and teaming and also 
worked one year at plumbing, in the mean- 
while picking up valuable information along 
many lines, a great deal of which he has 
];ractically applied since taking charge of his- 
present large property. During the above- 
named period, Mr. Foster was receiving excel- 
lent wages for his work and was providently 
saving them, and when he was able to secure 
his present estate, in 1889, he was prepared 
10 invest $1,000, in the same. This payment 
of capital left him with just $15, and, as he 
adds, "a shovel, an axe and a hoe." Mr. Fos- 
ter does not add, as he well might, that he had 
other equipments, including the habit of fru- 
gality, an enterprising and industrious spirit 
ond a natural endowment of judgment and 
common sense. 

When Mr. Foster came here he purchased 
108 acres, which had an unfinished house 
standing on it. This house he completed 
himself, even doing the painting, rooming 
off and plastering. The other substantial 
buildings which give his place such an air 
of completeness and thrift, were either totally 
built by him or entirely remodeled. We 
have no record of Mr. Foster learning the 
carpenter trade, but he is evidently one in 
.skill, as a number of the farm buildings give 
testimonial. He is an adept in all kinds of 
mechanical work and is independent of the 
wagonmaker and the blacksmith, having his 
own workshop, which he built himself, where 
all kinds of tools are kept, and where Mr. 
Foster may generally be found in the inclem- 
ent weather when farm work cannot be suc- 
cessfully carried on. He is so busy and in- 
terested that fair or foul, he finds no time 
hang heavily on his hands. 

Subsequently, Mr. Foster added 128 acres 
to his first purchase, and all his land is made 
to return its full value. In looking over even 
his ploughed fields, no stones or noxious 
weeds can be found, onlv the mellow soil 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1001 



which responds to his careful, scientific culti- 
'/ation. He raises crops of all the cereals, 
wheat, oats and corn, a large amount of hay 
and many potatoes. He supplies a large 
amount of the milk sent to Cleveland, from 
his neighborhood, and also feeds considera- 
ble young stock. Mr. Foster has found it 
profitable to make a specialty of raising tur- 
keys and sells hi^ choice birds for breeding 
purposes at $5.00 apiece. He has some five 
head of horses for the farm work. Mr. Fos- 
ter has every reason to take pride in his beau- 
tiful estate, his stock and machinery', having 
the consciousness of having earned them all 
through his own energy and enterprise. Be- 
fore leaving the subject of this fine farm, 
mention must also be made of his two apple 
orchards, his 300-tree pear orchard, and his 
plum orchard. There are berries of all kinds 
grown in great quantities and beside mar- 
keting bushels of the same, in 1906, his capa- 
ble wife used 800 pounds of sugar in pre- 
ser\ang the remainder. 

On ""December 19. 1889, Mr. Foster was 
married to Jessie B. McGee, who is a daughter 
of William and Marjorie (Martin) McGee, 
who was born December 6, 1865. Her grand- 
father, William McGee accompanied his par- 
ents from Ireland when a boy of nine years, 
and lived into old age, in Lawrence township, 
Wa.«hington County, Ohio. There the father 
of Mr.*. Foster was born, and died March 19, 
1871, on his thirty-fourth birthday. He was 
a veteran of the Civil War, serving in the 
Thirtj'-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry. He married Marjorie, daughter of 
John Martin, and Mrs. Foster was the eldest 
of their three children. Mr. and Mrs. Fos- 
ter have had eight children, seven of whom 
survive, namely: Anna Elizabeth, bOrn 
March 19, 1892; Charles E., born 
March 26, 1895"; George William, born Au- 
gust 23, 1898 : Nellie Marjorie, born October 
25, 1901; Lottie May, born August 8, 1903; 
Harvey John, born November 16. 1905; and 
Alice Ethel, the pet of the family, born June 
13, 1907. The eldest daughter may be re- 
garded as an exceptionally bright young 
lady. She graduated from the grammar 



school when but sixteen years of age, having 
a high average in all her studies. Mr. Fo.s- 
ter is giving his children every educational 
and social advantage in his power and there 
i'^ gi'eat promise of their developing into the 
the finest specimens of manhood and woman- 
hood. 

Politically, Mr. Foster is identified with 
the Republican party and he has served as 
supers'isor of the roads in Boston Township 
but he is no seeker for office. His aim is to 
be a good citizen and with this in view, he 
gives attention to public matters and casts his 
ballots intelligently. 

MICHAEL and JAMES CONWAY, broth- 
ers, and prominent farmers of Boston Town- 
ship, are the 'sons of John Conway, who was 
horn in Countj^ .Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1819, 
and died in Boston Township, in the fall of 
1881, aged .sixty-two years. 

John Conway was reared on a small farm 
in his native land and came to America in 
1 848, bringing his wife and an infant daugh- 
ter, Catherine, who lived to the age of twenty- 
six years. The Conway family settled first at 
Fall River, Massachusetts, where John Con- 
V. ay worked for three years in a foundry, com- 
ing from there to Hudson, Ohio, where he 
worked for three more years, in a cheese fac- 
tory. In 1860, he bought the Richardson 
farm in Northampton Township, 174 acres, 
on which he lived for eighteen years, and 
then purchased the John Douds farm of 262 
acres, situated in Boston Township. Here he 
carried on general farming and dairying, and 
before any cheese factory had been estab- 
lished in his neighborhood, made a great deal 
of fine cheese on the farm. He was a very in- 
dustrious man and a good manager. In poli- 
tics, he ^v:as a Democrat. 

John Conway married Julia Martin, in Ire- 
land, where she was born in 1827, and is a 
daughter of Michael and Catherine Martin. 
She resides mth her sons and is a well-pre- 
served lady, one who takes part in the domes- 
tic life in the home and enjoys social inter- 
course. She is a consistent member of St. 
Mar\-'s Catholic Church at Hudson. Of the 



1002 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



twelve children born to this marriage, six 
reached maturity, a.5 follows: Catherine, 
above mentioned; Walter, residing on the 
homestead in Northampton Township; Mi- 
chael, residing on the Boston Township farm, 
was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, No- 
vember 14, 1852; James, associated with his 
brother Michael, was born at Hudson, Ohio, 
in June, 1855; Mary, who married Lawrence 
Sullivan, residing in Boston Township; and 
John, i-esiding at Moundsville, West Virginia. 

Michael and James Conway have remained 
on the present farm ever since their late 
father purchased it. They cultivate about 
seventy acres, carrying on mixed farming and 
frow hay, corn, wheat and oats. They have a 
fine silo, with dimensions of 16 x 30 x 30 feet. 
Their apple orchard of 150 trees produces 
abundantly. They also do a large business in 
dairying. The new railroad cut through this 
section toolc off nineteen and one-half acres 
from the farm, necessitating the removal of 
the house and barn to a new location and the 
drilling of a new well. The property is a valu- 
able one and the brothers have it under a fine 
state of cultivation. 

The Conway brothers are both identified 
vi ith the Democratic party but are inclined to 
do considerable thinking on public matters 
for themselves. Both are members of St. 
Mary's Catholic Church. They are good citi- 
zens and men who enjoy the respect and con- 
fidence of their fellow-men. 

J. F. HEMINGTON, of The Hemington 
Companj', dealers in furniture, -carpets and 
stoves, has been a resident of this city for six- 
teen years and stands very high among its 
leading business men. He was born in 1869. 
at Madison, Ohio, but was taken in childhood 
to West Richfield, Summit County, where he 
was reared and educated. 

AVhen seventeen years old, Mr. Hemington 
came to Akron, and for a number of years 
following was interested in a meat business, 
first, for three years, on the corner of Spruce 
and Exchange streets, in this city, later at 
Lincoln, Nebraska, for one year, at Hudson, 
Ohio, for one year and again at Akron, for 



eight months. He then entered the employ 
of L. A. Barmore, on Main street, who was 
the pioneer furniture man here, with whom 
he continued for eight years. Removal was 
(hen made to Howard street and Mr. Barmore 
was succeeded by the Kirk Company, Mr. 
Hemington becoming vice president and gen- 
eral manager of the new organization. After 
four years and nine months, he sold his in- 
terest and for one season he was out on the 
road as traveling salesman. Being recalled on 
account of the precarious state of his father's 
health, he gave up his position and cared for 
his aged parent until the latter's death. Mr. 
Hemington then engaged in a carpet, furni- 
ture and stove business at No. 356 South 
Main street, for one year, removing then to 
l)is present location at No. 72 South Howard 
street. He carries a large and well chosen 
stock and does a good business. 

In 1890, Mr. Hemington was married to 
Mellie C. Knepper, of Beach City, Ohio, and 
Ihey have two daughters: Freda Catherine 
and Nellie Winnifred. Mr. Hemington is a 
member of the First Disciples Church. Fra- 
ternally, he is a Knight Templar Mason, and 
he belongs to the Protected Home Circle 

WILLIAM H. ROOK, mechanical engi- 
neer for the American Sewer Pipe Com]iany, 
at Akron, was born .January 8, 1866, at Mecca, 
Trumbull County, Ohio, and accompanied his 
parents to Akron in childliood. 

William H. Rook bears his father's name. 
The latter was born at Boston, Massachusetts. 
During his active years he worked as a ma- 
chinist and now lives practically retired, at 
Akron. 

William H. Rook, Jr., has been a resident 
of thi-s busy and beautiful city for a period 
covering thirt•y-se^■en years, almost his whole 
lifetime. After finishing school, he entered 
the machine shops of Taplin & Rice, where 
he learned the trade, showing a particular ap- 
titude for the same, and remained with that 
concern for some twenty years. Since sever- 
ing his relations with the above firm, he has 
been connected with the American Sewer Pipe 
Company in his present capacity. He is a 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1003 



stockholder in several of Akron's leading en- 
terprises, and belongs to that body of pi'ogres- 
sive and enterprising young business men who 
have had much to do with the developing of 
this city along manufacti;ring lina?. 

Mr. Rook is identified with both the lower 
and the higher branches of the Odd Fellow's 
fraternity. 

GEORGE WELLINGTON DICKINSON, 
general farmer, residing on his finely-culti- 
vated, well-improved e.stato, which contains 
138 acres, 100 of which lie has under the plow, 
is one of the sterling citizens of this part of 
Summit County. He was born in Northamp- 
ton Township, Summit County, Ohio, July 5, 
1849, and is a son of Alexander and Harriet 
(Faylor) Dickinson. 

In the days of the great-grandfather, the 
name was spelled Dickerson and the family 
lived on Long Island and was driven from 
there by the British during the Revolutionary 
War. The name of the great-great-grand- 
mother was Mary Hamilton, who was born 
in the city of Dublin, Ireland. Their son, 
John Dickerson, was born August 20, 1782, 
at ]\Iillville, Connecticut, and was five years 
old when his mother died. Later, he went 
into partnerehip with an associate, in the shoe 
business, at Chai'leston, South Carolina. He 
had married Sabrina Cone, who was born at 
Middletown, Connecticut, January 19, 1778, 
and died in Northampton Township, Summit 
County, January 25, 1862. Her father was 
an officer in the Revolution War. It was the 
intention of John Dickerson to send for his 
family to join him but the only message ever 
received was that he had been drowned. 

After satisfying her.self that her hi^band no 
longer lived, the widow of John Dickerson 
went to New York. On September 15, 1834, 
lier son, William Dickerson, the grandfather 
of George W. Dickerson, left Watson, New 
York, for Ohio, and after many adventures 
through stormy weather on Lake Erie, 
reached Fairport. He was accompanied by 
his family and there secured a wagon and 
drove to the home of William Coleman, at 
'Shalersville. The familv remained with this 



ho.spitable family for a week and then came 
on to Northampton Township, their son Riley 
at that time owning a place near Northamp- 
ton Center. 

Alexander Dickerson, son of William and 
father of George W., was born at Watson, 
New York, May 1, 1828, and died May 3, 
]902. He followed agricultural pursuits all 
his active life. He married Harriet Faylor, 
who was born in Brimfield Township, Portage 
County, Ohio, October 15, 1827, and died 
July 7, 1904. Of their seven children, five 
grew up, namely: George Wellington; He- 
mon, residing in Stow Township ; Mary Jane, 
\\ho is the widow of Calvin Hunt, residing 
m Boston Township; Edwin Riley, residing 
in Boston Township; and Julia, who married 
Charles Trumphour, residing in Northamp- 
ton Township. The parents of this family 
were good, worthy, virtuous people, who were 
valued members of the Disciples Church. 

George W. Dickinson remained on the 
home farm until he was twenty-one years of 
age, after which he rented a farm in Boston 
Town.ship, which he operated for a year, and 
then worked as a teamster for a railroad com- 
pany and also for an uncle, for several years. 
After his marriage, in 1872, he bought his 
first farm in Boston Township, which he re- 
tained for three years, and in 1878, he came 
to his present place. In partnership with his 
brother Heman, he invested in 300 acres, 
which they later divided. Mr. Dickinson 
raises hay, wheat, corn and oats and markets 
a part of each crop. He keeps ten head of 
cattle, thirty head of sheep and four horses. 
His farm is one good to .see, its perfect order 
and careful state of cultivation satisfying 
even the eye of the stranger. Mr. Dickinson 
has met with some misfortune, having lost 
n large amount in 1884, when his barn with 
forty-eight head of cattle, six horses and all 
its other contents were destroyed by fire. In 
1891, he put up his present substantial barn 
building, with dimensions of 40 by 68 feet, 
with eighteen-foot posts. In 1905 he built 
his tool house, a snug little structure 20 by 40 
feet, wherein everything has its proper place. 
In 1881, the comfortable and attractive thir- 



1004 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



tcen-room residence was erected. Mr. Dick- 
inson ha^ the reputation of being one of the 
most progressive farmers of the township, one 
who believes in the use of improved machin- 
ery and the adoption of sensible, modern 
methods of agriculture. 

On December 7, 1872, Mr. Dickin.son was 
married to Alice Enos, who was born Decem- 
ber 19, 1853, at Syracuse, New York. From 
the age of two years to eleven, .she lived in 
Michigan, and in 1870, she came to Boston 
Towmship. She is a lady of education and re- 
finement. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson have four 
children : Nellie, who married Park Knapp, 
residing at Ravenna; Arthur, residing at 
home; Jessie, who married Ernest Cargould; 
and Alice. The family belong to the Disci- 
ples Church. Politically, Mr. Dickinson is a 
Republican. 

ALFRED E. McKISSON, trustee of Rich- 
field Township, resides on his valuable farm 
of fifty-two acres, which he devotes to general 
agriculture, and also .operates considerable ad- 
jacent land which he has rented for a number 
of years. Mr. McKisson was born in North- 
field Township, Summit County, Ohio, Janu- 
ary 29, 1859. His parents were Arthur and 
Jane (Kettlewell) McKisson. 

Arthur McKisson was born in Northfield 
Township, Summit County, May 29, 1831. 
His educational opportunities were very lim- 
ited, as his father died when he was young, 
and he was early called on to assi-st his half- 
brother, James, to clear the farm. When he 
was seventeen years of age he went to work 
for Ijucian Bliss, of Northfield, and continued 
in the lumbering business for fifteen years. 
In 1871 he engaged in farming and dairy- 
ing, renting land for the puipose near Brecks- 
viUe, five years later moving to Twinsburg, 
and later to Richfield, in the latter place work- 
ing again at lumbering for five years, as fore- 
man, for C. L. Newell. He also worked four 
years as foreman for Ralph Farnum, in the 
same industry. Prior to retiring from busi- 
ress activity, he operated the Newell Broth- 
ers' farm, at Brecksville. During the early 
part of the Civil War he endeavored three dif- 



ferent times to pass muster and become a 
soldier in defense of the Union, but he was re- 
jected. He is past overseer of the Summit 
County Pomona Grange, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry. 

On February 22, 1854, Mr. McKisson was 
married to Jane Kettlewell, who is a daughter 
of James and Elizabeth Kettlewell. Mrs. Mc- 
Kisson was born in England, May 10, 
1832, and was an infant when she was 
brought to America. Of the eight chil- 
dren born to the above marriage, six survive, 
namely: William J., residing at Brecksville, 
Ohio; Alfred E.; Annie, who married AVitt 
Fonts, residing in Stark County; Francis, re- 
siding at Macedonia; Jennie, who is the widow 
of Robert. Mitchell, residing in Richfield ; and 
Horatio S., residing at La Grange, Ohio. 

The McKissons are Maryland people and 
the great-grandfather, Samuel McKisson, as 
well as the grandfather, also Samuel McKis- 
son, were both born in that State. Grand- 
father McKisson served in the War of 1812. 
For his second wife he married Susanna 
Boerntrigger, who was the mother of Arthur 
]\TcKisson, and the grandmother of Alfred E. 

.'Vlfred E. McKisson attended the schools of 
Northfield Township until the age of thirteen 
years, when he started out to make his own 
way in the world, a courageous thing for a boy 
of his years to attempt. He found work with 
neighboring farmers and was employed by the 
month until 1880, when he was prepared to 
buy his present farm. For a number of years 
he has rented the Lockert farm of 115 acres, 
which adjoins his own. He keeps on an av- 
erage, twenty-five head of cattle and cultivates 
the land not needed for pasturage, about 
eighty acres, raising mainly wheat and po- 
tatoes. Mr. McKisson still finds profit in 
growing sheep, keeping .some forty head. His 
milk all goes to Cleveland. He has a fine 
apple orchard of three acres, w-hich he also 
considers a paying investment. He is an in- 
dustrious man, a careful and intelligent 
farmer, and is prospering. 

Mv. McKi-sson married Elizabeth R. Edgell, 
of Richfield Township, and they have three 
children: Rov E., Lillie and Bessie. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1005 



Politically, Mr. McKisson is identified with 
the Republican party and is somewhat active, 
on numerous occasions having been sent as a 
delegate to various important conventions. 
He is serving in his first term as township 
trustee, and for a long period he has been a 
member of the township School Board. He 
is much interested in everything looking to 
the advancement of the agricultural welfare 
of this section and long ago united with the 
Richfield Grange. He is past grand of Chip- 
pewa Lodge, No. 675, Odd Fellows, at Brecks- 
ville. 

WILLIAM N. WOOD, general farmer in 
Boston Township, residing on a valuable es- 
tate of 332 acres, 150 of which are under cul- 
tivation, was born in Boston Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, July 11,' 1862, and is the 
only son of Thomas and Julia (Wetmore) 
W^ood. 

Thomas Wood, than whom there was no 
more highly considered citizen of Boston 
Township, at the time of liis death, in 1900, 
aged seventy-two years, was born in Ireland, 
and was seven yeare of age when his parents 
brought him to America. The family lived 
at Sheboygan, Michigan, until he was about 
twelve years of age, when they came to Bos- 
ton Township, where the grandfather of Wil- 
liam N. Wood worked in a mill. Thomas 
Wood learned to build canal boats and en- 
gaged in the business on his own account for 
some j^ears, from which he embarked in a 
lumber business, which he continued for forty 
years. He possessed great business enterprise, 
iiperat«d two or three sawmills, bought stand- 
mg timber and cut it, and acquired timber 
land both in Boston and Northampton Town- 
ships, at one time owning for one mile along 
the Cuyahoga River. He was held in the 
highest esteem by his fellow citizens. He was 
a member of Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 266, 
F. & A. M., of Richfield. He married Julia 
Wetmore, who resides at Peninsula since her 
widowhood. She was bom at Silver Lake, in 
Stow Township, Simimit County, Ohio, where 
her father, Hon. William Wetmore, was one 
of the earlv settlers. 



William N. Wood attended school at Penin- 
sula until he was eleven years of age. He 
was a boy of unusual brightness of mind, and, 
inspired with a desire to travel, he left home 
without asking his parents' consent, rightly 
judging that it would be withheld, and made 
his way to Chicago. His smiling face and en- 
gaging personality enabled him, with no pre- 
vious experience of city life, to secure a posi- 
tion as bellboy in the Palmer House. He was 
so obliging and attentive to guests of that 
somewhat famous hostelry, that his tips from 
the capitalists who frequently make it their 
home, were so generous during his stay of four 
months, that he had enough money with 
wliich to buy a horse, on which he started 
back home, which he reached in safety, hav- 
ing paused at several points on the way to 
trade horses with other travelers. After this 
little excursion into the world, the- youth qui- 
etly attended school imtil he was fifteen years 
of age and then worked several years for his 
father, driving a team, having always been 
fond of horses. He purchased a team of his 
own and continued to use it in his father's 
lumber business, until 1897, when he turned 
liis attention more especially to speeding 
horses. For .some j^ears he owned and took 
an interest in racing many fast horses in dif- 
ferent classes, traveling over considerable ter- 
ritory and becoming well known in the sport- 
ing world. In the meanwhile, the home farm 
was under rental, with the exception of sev- 
eral years when Mr. Wood conducted opera- 
tions on- it, but for the past five years it has 
been under his careful and successful super- 
vision. He keeps about forty head of cattle, 
selling -his milk to the Peninsula Creamery, 
and raises hay, corn, oats and wheat. He 
feeds all but his wheat. 

Mr. Wood married Olive Lee, who is a 
daughter of Edward Lee, of Richfield Town- 
ship. They have one son, Thomas H. Mrs. 
Wood is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Peninsula. 

Mr. Wood votes with the Republican party 
in National affairs, but independently in local 
matters. Mr. AVood's genial personality, open 
hospitality and his many sterling qualities of 



1006 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



mind and heart, have won him a wide circle 
of warm friends wherever he has been. 

HENRY BLACK WELL, the efficient su- 
perintendent of Factory No. 1, of the Robin- 
son Clay Product Company, at Akron, came 
to this city in 1873, when fifteen years of 
vge, having been born in England, in 1858. 

Ever since locating at Akron, Mr. Blackwell 
has been identified with pottery interests, first 
entering the pottery works of Spafford & Rich- 
ardson, of East Akron, and continuing with 
the firm of Cook and Richardson, and 
later with Cook & Fairbanks. For the 
following twelve years, Mr. Blackwell 
was with the F. H. Weeks Company, and for 
the past twelve years he has been in charge 
of Factory No. 1 of the Robinson Clay Prod- 
uct Company. From his years of practical ex- 
perience, Mr. Blackwell has become thor- 
oughly efficient in the position to which his 
knowledge and abilities have advanced him, 
and the products of this factory continue to 
meet the high grade of excellence which long 
since made the name of this great manufac- 
turing house one of importance in the pottery 
world. 

In 1881, Mr. Blackwell was married to 
Emma Richards, of Akron, and they have 
one son, Edmund R., who has been afforded 
the best educational advantages Akron has to 
offer. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell belong to the 
First Presbyterian Church of Akron. 

GEORGE P. HOFFMAN, part proprietor 
of the Excelda Stone Company, general con- 
tractors at Akron, and dealers in and manu- 
facturers of all kinds of plain and ornamental 
cement stone, is a leading business man of 
this citv. Mr. Hoffman was born at Akron 
in 1872, and is a son of B. F. Hoffman. 

The father of Mr. Hoffman was born at 
Manchester, Ohio, and now resides in Portage 
Township, Summit County, of which he is a 
trustee. After working for a quarter of a 
century in the Buckeye .^hops as a blacksmith, 
he retired to his farm. 

George P. Hoffman attended school at Akron 
and in youth learned the plumber's trade at 



which he worked for twelve years. In 1903, in 
association with I. S. Myers, the present county 
tieasurer, he formed the Excelda Stone Com- 
pany, which has grown to be a very important 
business concern of this city. They have im- 
I'ortant work under construction at the pres- 
ent time and all of it, both in appearance and 
.substantial character, is most creditable. 

In 1897, Mr. Hoffman was married to Miu- 
ine J. Warden, who is a daughter of John W^. 
Warden, of Akron, and they have one son, 
Glenn W. Mr. Hoffman is affiliated with the 
^lethodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to 
the American Insurance Union. Personally 
he is a man of stable character and aptly rep- 
resents the class that is known as Akron's 
.sterling citizens. 

F. W. BUTLER, manager of the stoneware 
department of the Robinson Clay Product 
Company, and also president of the Akron 
Smoking Pipe Company, is one of Akron's 
leading business men and has been a resident 
of this city since boyhood. He was born at 
W'orcester, Massachusetts. 

Mr. Butler came to Akron in 1866 and 
completed his education in the High School 
of this city, after which he entered the employ 
of the old mercantile firm of Hall Brothers, 
with which he continued for four years. Sub- 
sequently. Mr. Butler became bookkeeper in 
the First National Bank, still later teller, re- 
maining with this financial institution for 
nine years, during which time ho acquired an 
interest in the E. H. Merrill Pottery Com- 
pany, and this connection became of sufficient 
importance to cause his resignation as teller 
and to V)ecome secretary and manager of the 
latter business. He continued to ])erform the 
duties of these positions until the E. H. Mer- 
rill Pottery Company was absorbed by the 
Robinson Merrill Pottery Company, when he 
Viecame manager of the stoneware department 
of the new firm. Mr. Butler remained with 
the concern after it became the Robinson 
Clay Product Company, and since 1900, has 
been manager of the stoneware department of 
this large industry. He is interested in other 
Akron enterprises and commands the consid- 




MR. AND MRS. AUlXSTUS O. Oi'LlNGER AND FAMILY 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1009 



t ration of his fellow-citizens as a man of abil- 
ity and business honor. 

In 1879, Mr. Butler was married to Grace 
A. Merrill, who was a daughter of E. H. Mer- 
rill. Mrs. Butler died in 1888, leaving three 
children : li. Karl, Merrill W., and Fred W. 
The two older sons of Mr. Butler are interested 
in real estate in Cuba, owning a jDlantation in 
that island. The youngest son is employed 
in the shipping department of the Robinson 
Clay Product Company. 

Mr. Butler is a member of the Portage 
Country club. 

AUGUSTUS 0. OPLINGER, a leading 
citizen of Norton Township, residing on his 
valuable farm of fifty-six acres, T\'as born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Novem- 
ber 25, 1848, and is a soii of Nathan and 
Sabina (Deiter) Oplinger. 

This section of Ohio is much indebted to 
Pennsylvania, for from that State have come 
manj^ of the most solid, substantial and relia- 
ble people, whose thrift and industry have 
brought prosperity. Among this class were 
the parents of Mr. Oplinger, who came over- 
land to Ohio, settling for a short time, in 
1850, at Wadsworth, Medina County, but 
shortly afterward purchasing a small farm in 
NTorton Township, west of Loyal Oak. When 
Augustus 0. Oplinger was about fifteen years 
of age, his father sold that farm and going a 
little further west, bought a tract of fifty- 
eight acres, but subsequently this farm also 
was sold and the family moved to the village 
of Loyal Oak, where both parents died. They 
had seven children, all of whom are now liv- 
ing. 

Augustus 0. Oplinger has been a resident 
of Norton Township ever since his parents 
settled here. He has made farming and 
dairying his main interests, but from the age 
of twenty-two to that of twenty-five years, he 
worked at the carpenter's trade. For some 
twenty years he operated rented land, but in 
1894 he bought his present farm, which, 
under his excellent management has proved 
very remunerative. He does general farm- 
ing and dairying and also gives attention to 



the growing of small fruits. Although the 
farm claims the larger part of his time, Mr. 
Oplinger has served his fellow citizens effi- 
ciently as a member of the township School 
Board. 

Mr. Oplinger married Isabella Houser, who 
is a daughter of Stephen and Mary Houser, 
and they have a family of thii-teen children, 
all of whom survive, proving the sturdy stock 
from which they came. They are : Horace, 
residing at Akron, married Emma Koch and 
has one child, George William; Edward, who 
married Anna Flannigan, has two children, 
Mary and James; Dora, who married Russell 
Phelps; Frank, who married Sadie Chance, 
has one child, Lillian; Robert, residing at 
Loyal Oak, who married Virgie Stripe, has 
two children, Marion and Doris; Charles, 
who married Cassie Messner, has one child, 
Charles: and Arthur, James, Walter, Fred- 
erick, Bessie, Mabel and Raymond, all at 
home. 

Mr. Oplinger and family belong to the Re- 
formed Church and from the age of twenty- 
five he has been one of the officials. He for- 
merly served as treasurer of the Norton In- 
surance Company, and has served on the 
Board of Directors for a period of eighteen 
years. At present he is serving as treasurer 
of and for six years has been a director in the 
Norton Cyclone Association. 

DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GOOD- 
RICH, founder of the B. F. Goodrich Com- 
pany (Akron Rubber Works), the largest 
rubber factory m the United States, wa.s born 
in Ripley, New York, November 4, 1841. He 
was educated in the schools of Fredonia, New 
York, and Austinburg, Ohio, and was gradu- 
ated at the Western Medical College, Cleve- 
land, Ohio, in February, 1861. About this 
time he entered the army as hospital steward 
of the Ninth New York Volunteer Cavalry, 
and was promoted to as.sistant surgeon in the 
spring of 1862, in which capacity he served 
until September, 1864. being for a part of the 
time in charge of the hospital at Aquia Creek. 
On the close of the war he engaged in real 
istat^^ business in New York Citv. In 1870 



1010 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he came to Akron, and with Colonel George 
T. Perkins, George W. Grouse, of Akron, and 
H. W. Tew, of Jamestown, New York, he es- 
tablished in Akron the first rubber factory 
west of the Allegheny Mountains, under the 
firm name of Goodrich, Tew & Co., later 
changed to B. F. Goodrich & Company. The 
business slowly grew and prospered until in 
1880 a co-pai'tnership was formed and the 
business incorporated under the name of the 
B. F. Goodrich Company, with a capitaliza- 
tion of $100,000.00, and with Dr. Goodrich 
as president, Alanson Work, vice-president, 
and Colonel George T. Perkins, secretary and 
treasurer. The company was engaged in the 
manufacture of fire hose, and other rubber 
goods. Later a second company for the 
manufacture of hard rubber goods was or- 
ganized, and styled The Goodrich Hard Rub- 
ber Company, with the Doctor also as it.s presi- 
dent. The growth of the company was con- 
tiniious from, that time on, and the capital was 
increased from time to time, as the demands 
of the business required, until at present the 
capitalization of the company is $10,000,000. 
The present product of the company consists 
of a full line of soft rubber goods such as 
belting, hose, packings, druggist sundry 
goods, golf balls, tennis balls, automobile and 
bicycle tires, carriage tires, molded goods, 
mats, boots and shoes. The factory buildings 
cover an area of sixteen and a half acres of 
floor space, on fifteen and a half acres of 
ground, and the works give employment to 
3,300 people. 

Dr. Goodrich remained president of the 
company until 1888 — the time of his deaths 
v.'hen he was succeeded by Colonel George T. 
Perkins. He was a public-spirited citizen of 
high intelligence, and in his founding of this 
giant industry, proved one of the greatest bene- 
factors that Akron ever had. He was a mem- 
ber of the Akron City Council for the years 
1880 and 1881, the first year being its presi- 
dent. 

Dr. Goodrich was married, November 4, 
1869, to Miss Mary Marvin, daughter of 
Judge Richard P. Marvin, of Jamestown, 
New York. Of this union there were three 



children — Charles C, born August 3, 1871, 
who is now general superintendent of the B. 
P'. Goodrich Company; Isabella, and David 
j\I. Dr. Goodrich died at Manitou Springs, 
Colorado, August 3, 1888. 

CHARLES C. GOODRICH, general super- 
intendent of the B. F. Goodrich Company, of 
Akron, which controls the largest rubber fac- 
tory in the United States, and whose goods 
are known all over the civilized world, is a 
native of Akron, and a son of B. F. Goodrich, 
from whom the company takes its name. He 
was educated in the public schools of Akron, 
at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hamp- 
shire, and at Harvard Univereity, from 
which he was graduated in the class of 1893. 
In February, 1895, Mr. Goodrich returned to 
Akron and began business life as a clerk in 
the oiUce of the B. F. Goodrich Company. 
His ability and application have since carried 
him steadily to the important position of gen- 
eral superintendent of tliis immense industry. 

Mr. Goodrich is prominent in Masonry, 
having attained the Thirty-second Degree. He 
belongs to all the Masonic bodies at. Akron, 
and to the Mystic Shrine, at Cleveland. He 
was reared in the Episcopal Church and is 
junior warden of the Church of the Savior, 
at Akron. 

In April, 1895, ]\Ir. Goodrich was married 
to Mary A. Gellatly, of Orange, New Jersey. 

FREDERICK H. WEEKS, president, 
treasurer and general manager of The F. H. 
Weeks Lumber Company, with plant situated 
at No. 570 South Main street, Akron, is one 
of the city's leading business men, interested 
m a number of its important enterprises. 

He was born in Copley, Summit County, 
Ohio, May 15, 1858, son of Darius and Eliza- 
beth (Wilcox) Weeks. He is descended from 
sturdy pioneer ancestry on both sides of the 
family. His paternal grandfather was Lev- 
ett Weeks, born in Vermont in 1798, who 
married Celestia Taylor, born in Connecticut, 
in 1799. Darius Weeks was born in Wads- 
worth, Ohio, April 7, 1825, and was married 
at Copley. Ohio. October 1. 1846, to Elizabeth 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1011 



AVilcox, who was born at Fort Edwards, now 
Warsaw, Illinois, May 31, 1827. She was a 
daughter of John E. and Marj^ (Kinney) 
Wilcox. Her father, John R. Wilcox, was 
born in Salsbury, Vermont, in 1900, entered 
West Point at the age of eighteen years, fin- 
ished at the age of twenty-two, and was or- 
dered to frontier duty at Fort Edwards, Illi- 
nois. Mrs. Mary (Kinney) Wilcox was born 
in New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1807. Among the 
maternal ancestors also was Plinney Wilcox, 
born in Vermont, son of Mary Remley, also 
a native of that State. 

Frederick H. Weeks was educated in the 
public schools of Akron, as far as the second 
year in the High School at the age of four- 
teen years. In August of the same year F. 
H. Weeks commenced to work, as back flag- 
man with the sun'eying part}'^ that located 
the Valley Railroad from Cleveland to Can- 
ton. At the age of fifteen he went to Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, as a city salesman, where he 
spent four years and then returned to Akron, 
where he learned the potter's trade, at which 
he continued to work for four and one-half 
J ears. Mr. WeeliS then went into the busi- 
ress of manufacturing stoneware, under the 
name of Weeks, Cook & Weeks, and two years 
later, with his brother, bought out the interest 
of Mr. Cook. The jjusiness was continued 
under the name of Weeks Bros., up to 1890, 
when F. H. Weeks bought his brother's in- 
terest and now is sole proprietor of the F. H. 
Week's potteries, at Ea?t Akron, where stone- 
ware of all description is manufactured. 

In 1889, Mr. Weeks took charge of the 
Hankey Lumber Company as manager and 
treasurer. In 1898 he acquired the holdings 
of The Hankey people by purchase but con- 
tinued the business under the original corpor- 
ate name until March 1. 1907, when the 
firm of The F. H. Weeks Lumber Company 
was incorporated with a capital stock of 
nOO,000, $90,000 paid in. Of this organiza- 
tion, F. H. Weeks is president, treasurer, 
and general manager. F. H. Weeks, Jr., is 
vice-president, and L. R. Dietzold is secretary. 
This company manufactures sash, doors and 
blinds and makes interior finishings of all 



description. Mr. Weeks is also president of 
the National Blank Book & Supply Company 
and the Akron Clay, Company; is a stock- 
holder in the Crown Drilling Machine Com- 
pany ; w^as formerly pr&sident of the Builder's 
Exchange, of Akron ; formerly president of 
the State Builders' Exchange, and is vice 
president of the Employers' Association of 
.ikron, Ohio. 

In February, 1882, Mr. Weeks was married 
to Bertha A. Hankey, who is a daughter of 
the late Simon Hankey, who was the founder 
of the Hankey Lumber Company. 

Mr. and Mrs. Weeks have two children, F. 
H., Jr., and Charlotte A. The former was 
educated in both public and privat-e schools 
at Akron, and at Buchtel College and Culver 
Military Academy. He is vice president of 
the F. H. Weelcs Lumber Company. Miss 
Charlotte was educated in the Akron schools 
and at Miss Mittelberger's Preparatory School, 
at Cleveland. 

Mr. Weeks is affiliated with the Masonic 
and Elk fraternities at Akron. He is liberal 
m his support of public-spirited measures of 
various kinds. 

DAVID L. PARKER, a citizen and retired 
farmer of Copley Township, now residing in 
Portage Township, for many years engaged 
in teaching school. Mr. Parker was born on 
his father's farm in Copley Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, March 4, 1838, and is a son 
of Richard E. and Martha (Richardson) 
Parker. 

Mr. Parker's paternal grandfather, Luna 
Parker, was born in New York. He was a 
contractor on the old Ohio Canal. Richard E. 
Parker was his eldest son and he was born in 
Northampton Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, in 1811, being the first male child bom 
in that township. At the age of twenty- 
one years he bought a farm in Copley 
Towship and built a double log cabin. On 
April 18, 1833, he married Martha Richard- 
son, who was born in Vermont, whose parents 
were natives of Maine. In 1871 Richard E. 
Parker and wife retired from the farm and 
removed to Akron, where both died. Thev 



1012 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



had the following children: Henry, Hart- 
well ; David Luna ; Mary, who is the widow of 
H. Harris; Eudora, who is the widow of Wil- 
liam Trimbell; Phoebe, deceased, who mar- 
ried C. Low; Perry P.; and Cordelia, who 
married Charles Stadler. 

David Luna Parker attended school first 
in the log school house near his home, but 
later the Granger Institute, beginning to 
teach school at the age of nineteen years, 
and he continued in the educational field 
until he was forty years of age, his last school 
being taught at Copley. During this long 
period he paid some attention to farming and 
also ful-nished stone and built a number of 
bridges and culverts for Summit County. He 
spent about two years introducing improved 
and advanced school books through the 
county. Mr. Parker is able to look back 
over many happy years in the school room 
and he is remembered with much kindness 
by his pupils. 

In November, 1859, Mr. Parker was mar- 
ried to Ellen S. Averill who is a daughter 
of Benjamin and Louisa (Harvey) Averill. 
They have four children, namely: Charle.s 
H., Allen, Nettie and Eugene. Charles H. 
married Minnie Lockert, and they have two 
children: Elta, who married Benjamin 
Lockert, and Nellie. Allen married (first) 
Grace Randall and had three children: 
Ethel, Junen and Evan, and (second) Maggie 
Kinch, and three children have been born to 
this marriage: Vera, Viva and Clarence. 
Nettie married Walter Palmer, and they have 
two children: Harry and Helen. Eugene 
married Cora Squires, and they have two 
children, Roy and William. 

In political preference, Mr. Parker is a 
Republican and he has served in numerous 
township offices. For twelve years he was 
assistant secretary of the County Agricultural 
Society and he belongs to the Grange, which 
was organized over twenty years ago, he being 
a charter member. 

CHARLES H. WATTERS, who has been 
the efficient secretary of the board of Public 



Service, at Akron, since 1901, is one of the 
alert, enterprising and progressive young men 
of this city. Mr. Walters was born at Akron, 
Ohio, in 1876, and is a son of Thomas 
Walters, a former well-known and highly 
considered citizen. 

Thomas Walters was born in Wales, Felj- 
ruary 4, 1846, and died at Akron, in Feb- 
ruary, 1906. He came to this city immedi- 
ately after completing four years of service iu 
the Civil War, having been a member of Com- 
pany E, 193rd Regiment. Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteer Infantry, during his first enlistment of 
three montlis, and of Battery E, Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, for the three years and more 
which covered his second enlistment. He 
was an iron worker and he enjoyed the dis- 
tinction of having worked the first bar of 
iron ever made in the works of the Akron 
Iron Company. He remained superintend- 
ent of the mills of this company, until 1889. 
when he accepted a similar position with the 
Cheny Valley Iron Company, at Leetonia, 
Ohio. 

Charles H. Walters was employed in cleri- 
cal work at Akron for a time after completing 
his schooling, and then engaged in a real 
estate business for several years. In 1901 
he was elected secretary of the board of Pub- 
lic Service, his efficiency in this office being" 
generally conceded. He has been a very 
active worker in the Republican party and 
is a representative young American in his 
energy and business initiative. 

B. AV. ROBINSON, president of the Rob- 
inson Clay Product Company, also of the 
Second National Bank, both of Akron, is one 
of the city's native sons who have done yeo- 
man service in advancing her manufacturing 
and financial intere.sts, and adding materially 
to the volume of business which places her 
among the foremost cities of her size in the 
United States in point of enterprise and pros- 
perity. He was born, as has been already in- 
timated, in Akron, the year of his nativity 
being 1860. His father was William Robin- 
son, a native of Slaff'ordshire, England, who 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1013 



on coining to America, settled first in East 
Liverpool, Ohio, whence he came to Akron 
iu 1856. Here William Robinson became 
a pioneer in the manufacture of pottery and 
sewer pipe, and was one of the stirring busi- 
ness men of Akron in his day. 

B. W. Robinson, with whom this sketch is 
more closely concerned was reared in his na- 
tive city, and after graduating from the 
Akron High School, supplemented his school' 
studies by a term at Oberlin College. His 
first business experience was gained as book- 
keeper for Whittmore, Robinson & Co., with 
whom he became connected in 1878; and 
with the exception of two years — from 1884 
to 1886, when he was with the Akron Mill- 
ing Co. — he has been connected with the pot- 
tery and sewer-pipe manufacturing interests. 
Through his force of character and acknowl- 
edged ability as a business man he has risen 
from a subordinate position to the presidency 
of the Robinson Clay Product Company, as 
well as to that of the Second National Bank. 
The former concern is the largest of its kind 
in the United States, if not in the world, they 
being the sole owners of nine factories, six of 
which are located in Akron, one at Canal 
Dover, one at Midvale, and one at Malvern. 
They also control a number of incorporated 
companies scattered over the United States, 
among which latter may be mentioned the 
Eastern Clay Goods Co., with office at Bos- 
ton, Mass. Mr. Robinson is a member of the 
Portage Countrj- Club. He is also an active 
member of the First Presbyterian Church, 
serving usefully on its board of trustees. 

He was rriarried in 1893 to Miss Zeletta M. 
Smith, of East Liverpool. They have six 
children — Helen, Paul, William, Stuart, 
Ruth, and Zeletta. 

McCONNELL ]\IOORE. one of the highlv 
respected retired residents of Cuyahoga Falls, 
who has made this city his home since 1885, 
was born November 9, 1836, in Armstrong 
County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Hugh 
and Fanny (Shryock) Moore. 

The Moore family traces its ancestry back 



to Scotland and Ireland, but has been Ameri- 
can through a number of generations. John 
Moore, gi-eat grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in 1749. He was of 
Scotch-Irish blood, coming to this country di- 
rectly from Ireland and settling in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, near New Alex- 
ander. The exact date of his death is at pres- 
ent unknown, but it occurred some time be- 
fore the burning of Hannastown by the In- 
dians. He had four childi'en, namely : Wil- 
liam, born in 1773, who died in 1832. in 
Butler County, Pennsylvania, married Mary 
Conway; James, born in 1774, married Cath- 
erine Chambers, and died in 1846; Mary, 
who married Thomas Dickie. 

William and Mary (Conwaj')' Moore were 
the parents of children as follows: Jane, born 
in 1798, who married Thomas McCurdy; 
John, born in 1801, married Matilda Mc- 
Afee, died in 1881; Hugh, born in 1803, mar- 
ried Fanny Shryock, died 1889 ; James (dates 
of birth and death not given), married Mar- 
garet McAfee, 

Hugh Moore, who married Fanny Shryock, 
had the following children : John S., born 
August 23, 1826 ; died August 19, 1870, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Gibson ; William, born Feb- 
ruary 24, 1828, died December 25, 1864, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Conrad; James, born March 
3, 1830, married Eliza Henry; Lavena. born 
December 8, 1832, died August 26, 1870, 
married Barnard Hendrick; Thomas Harper, 
born November, 1834, married Nancy Mc- 
Clery; McConnell, born November 9, 
1836, married Elizabeth Mildrcn ; Sarah 
Jane, born January 22, 1839, mar- 
ried Samuel Nicholson; Margaret Ann, 
born September 25, 1841, married John 
Adams; George H., born November 8, 1843, 
married Annie Thomas: Samuel Curtis, born 
March 8, 1846, died February 17, 1854. 

The Shryock family originated in this 
country through a Leonard Shryock, who 
came, it is thought, from Prussia, between 
1720 and 1730, one of whase grandsons was 
the maternal grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch. The said maternal grandfather. 



1014 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



(born in 1776, died 1859) , married Jane Con- 
way, and had children — Margaret, who mar- 
ried Thomas Harper; Fanny who married 
Hugh Moore ; Eliza who married John Hind- 
man ; Sarah who became the wife of Andreas 
Wilk ; Lena, who married Thomas McElvain ; 
John, who mai'ried Eliza Dickson ; Daniel 
married Elizabeth Lincoln; Jane married 
,Peter Hyskell. 

William Moore, the paternal grandfather 
of McConnell Moore, was born in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, where his whole 
life was spent. Hugh Moore, father of Mc- 
Connell Moore, was born in the same county 
in 1806, and died in 1900, in Sugar Creek 
Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, 
to which section he probably removed about 
the time of his marriage. Hugh Moore and 
wife were members of the Presbyterian 
Church. They had a family of ten children 
born to them, nine of whom reached ma- 
turity, as follows: John and William, both 
deceased; James, residing at Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania; Lavinia, deceased; Thomas H., 
residing at Los Angeles, California: IMcCon- 
nell; Sarah Jane, who is the widow of Capt. 
Samuel J. Nickerson, of Indiana, Pennsylva- 
nia; Margaret Ann, who is the widow of John 
Adams, of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania; 
and George H., of Rimersburg, Pennsylvania. 
The mother of Mr. Moore survived to the age 
of eighty-three years. 

McConnell Moore was reared in Armstrong 
Countjr and obtained his education in the dis- 
trict schools. For several years he was con- 
nected with mercantile pursuits at Brady's 
Bend, later had charge of oil interests at Oil 
Creek, after which he entered a rolhng mill at 
Pittsburg for several years. He returned to 
Brady's Bend in the capacity of ore inspec- 
tor for the Brady's Bend Iron Company, 
remaining with that concern for seven years, 
and was also interested in the oil fields for 
himself. In 1872, Mr. Moore became man- 
ager of a fire brick business owned by his 
brother-in-law, E. J. Mildren, at Bla<-klick Sta- 
tion. Indiana County, Pennsylvania, where he 
remained until 1885, when he caino toCuya- 



hoga Falls. Mr. Moore resumed his mercan- 
tile interests for a time but subsequently ac- 
cepted the position of time-keeper .at the Rivet 
and Machine Works, where he remained 
until April 15, 1907, when he retired. He 
owns a fine residence on Bailey Road, north 
of town, and a valuable farm of fifty-one 
acres, which is managed by his son Charles. 

In 1861, McConnell Moore was married to 
Elizabeth Mildren, who was born in Penzance, 
Cornwall, England, in 1842, and is a daugh- 
ter of Jacob L. Mildren, formerly of Brady's 
Bend. Of the thirteen children born to this 
marriage, twelve reached maturity; as follows : 
Fannie Jane, who married B. B. McCon- 
naughey, of Homer City, Pennsylvania; A. 
Kate J., now decea.sed; Edward J., residing at 
Cleveland; Melda, who was a victim of the 
great Johnstown flood; Lavinia, residing at 
Cuyahoga Falls, who married F. J. Creque; 
Charles M., residing on the home farm ; Alice, 
who married John Young, residing at Mus- 
kegon, Michigan; Leroy M., residing at New- 
ark, New Jersey; Frank R., residing at Cuy- 
ahoga Falls; Ralph R., residing at Cuyahoga 
Falls; Richard L., postmaster at Cuyahoga 
Falls; and Dora, who married Rev. C. A. 
Coakwell, a minister of the Disciples Church, 
residing at Lennox, Iowa. 

Mr. Moore has always been identified with 
the Republican party. For fifteen years he 
served as a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion of Cuyahoga Falls and during the larger 
part of this time he was clerk of the board. 

Ralph Moore, the second youngest son of 
Mr. Moore, is one of Cuyahoga Falls' most en- 
terprising young business men. He was 
born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 8, 1878, and his education was secured 
there and in this city. After completing his 
school course he turned his attention to the 
jewelry business and subsequently studied op- 
tics, and in both occupations he has met with 
the most gratifying success. He commenced 
his studies with B. F. Phillips, at Cuyahoga 
Falls, going from there to Cleveland, where 
he had expert teaching in the many technical 
points of his work, and after he became pro- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1015 



ficient he entered the employ of the Webb 
C. Ball Company, of Cleveland. After sev- 
eral business ventures, more or less satis- 
factory, Mr. Moore took a complete course in 
the Philadelphia Horological College, and 
from this institution received his diploma ii\ 
optics. Following his graduation he took 
charge of a store of Bygate & Son, of Pitts- 
burg, later was with A. E. Siedle & Com- 
pany of that city, where he was watchmaker, 
engraver, and optician. Later he was in busi- 
ness at Port Huron, Michigan, which city he 
left on account of climatic conditions, and in 
Februai'v, 1905, he embarked in a business 
at Cuyahoga Falls, which has grown to re- 
markable proportions in the past two years, 
necessitating a change of quarters and fine 
facilities. Mr. Moore is a member of St;u' 
Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 187, and of Pavonia 
Lodge, No. 301, Knights of Pythias. 

MRS. SUSANNAH SNYDER, widow of 
John G. Snyder, has resided on her present 
farm of 178 acres, situated in Coventry Town- 
ship, ever since her marriage and the comfort 
and conveniences amid which she lives, are 
largely due to her years of frugality and good 
management. Mrs. Snyder was born ia 
Green Township, Stark County, Ohio, and is 
a daughter of George and Catherine (Marsh ) 
Kepler. 

The Keplers came to Ohio from Penn- 
sylvania. George Kepler was born in the 
latter State, and in boyhood accompanied 
his people to Stark County, the party con- 
."^isting of the family of .John Kepler, hi.< 
father, and that of Andrew Kepler, his uncle. 
There were no railroads in those days and 
every one who left home with his belong- 
ings, traveled by wagon and frequently used 
an ox-team. The Keplers settled near to- 
gether in the wilderness which they found, 
but all were men of energy and indastry, and 
soon made clearings and erected comfortable 
homes. The grandfather of Mrs. Snyder 
reared a large family and lived far into mid- 
dle life. His death was caii.-^i'd by an ac- 
cident. 



George Kepler, father of Mrs. Snyder, was 
one of the older membei-s of the family and 
he assisted his father very materially througn 
the pioneer liardships which they had to en- 
counter. After he reached manhood he mar- 
ried Catherine Marsh, who had also accom- 
panied her parents from Pennsylvania. The 
latter were Adam and Susannah Marsh, who 
also settled in vi^hat was then Green Township, 
Stark County, but which is now Franklin 
Township, Summit County. The K(-p- 
lers removed from Green Township, where 
they originally settled, to Coventry Town- 
ship, locating on a farm on which 
Mrs. Snyder lives. It was then covered 
with a heavy growth of timber. George 
Kepler, who was a man of great in- 
dustry, built a log house and barn. He died 
when only thirty years of age, but had al- 
most completed the clearing of the place. He 
was not long survived by his wife, who died 
aged twenty-eight years, both falling victims 
to typhoid fever. Six children were left or- 
phans, namely: Susannah, Adam, Solomon, 
Alfred, Mary and William. Alfred and Mary 
are now deceased. 

Susannah Kepler was three years old when 
her parents settled in Coventry Township, 
and she lived on the present home farm 
until they died, when she returned to Green 
(Franklin Township) and made her home 
with her maternal grandfather, Adam Marsh. 
On January 3, 1856, she was married to John 
George Snyder, who was a son of Michael and 
Barbara Snyder, who had come to Ohio from 
Germany, after their marriage, and who died 
in Summit County. They had five children, 
namely: John George; Michael, now do- 
ceased; Eve (deceased), who married J. 
Daily; Frederick; and Julia Ann, both de- 
ceased, the latter of whom married D. 
Steele. 

John George Snyder was born in Germany, 
January 13, 1827. He came to America 
when he was eleven years of age, and lived at 
home mitil his marriage. Ho always carried 
on farming and became a man of local promi- 
nence, one who Ava.« • frequently selected by 



101(5 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the Democratic party to serve in township 
offices. Such duties were always performed 
with honesty and fidelity. He died February 
21, 1901. A family of ten children were 
born to John George Snyder and wife, as 
follows: Mary, who married M. Loutzeu- 
heiser; Savilla, twin sister of Mary, who mar- 
ried John Dice and has two children — 
Bertha, wife of C. Snyder, and Irving; Wil- 
liam, who died aged nineteen years; Solomon, 
who married Cordelia Dearling, and resides 
at Stoutsville; Huston E., who married Ce- 
lesta Bauchman, and has one child, Wallace; 
Albert, a clergyman, and president of a col- 
lege, residing in North Carolina, who has 
three children, George R,., Charlotte and 
Beatrice; Charles A.; Harvey A., a practicing 
physician at Barberton ; Ella, who married 
M. Asdale-, residing with her mother; and 
Emma Elvira, who died aged four months. 
Mr. and Mrs. Snyder gave their children the 
best educational advantages in their power, 
and encouraged them in their efforts to obtain 
a thorough schooling. While but three mem- 
bers of the family entered into professional 
life, all are intelligent and well-informed 
members of the communities in which they 
live, four being graduates of the Tiffin scliools. 
Mrs. Snyder has lived in the old home ever 
since her marriage and owns it, together with 
her children. It is a well-improved prop- 
erty and has always been carefully cultivated. 
Mrs. Snyder has a wide circle of friends. 
She is a valued member of the Reformed 
Church, attending services at Barberton. 

EUGENE F. CR.\NZ, a pros^perous 
farmer and highly esteemed citizen, of Bath 
Township, was born in Holmes County. Ohio, 
August 1, 1863, son of AVilliam F. and Mary 
(Drushel) Cranz. William F. Cranz was a 
native of Germany, born in 1820. who came 
to this country in 1834. with his father's 
family, they landing at Baltimore. They set- 
tled in Holmes County, where William's 
father followed the occupation of a Lutheran 
preacher, his residence being at Winesburg, 
that county. 



William F. Cranz in 1843 married Mary 
Drushel, who bore him eleven children, nine 
of whom are still living. In 1863, twenty 
years after his marriage, he removed to Bath 
Township, Summit County, where he and his 
wife subsequently died. They were worthy 
people who conscientiously performed their 
share of life's duties, and left behind a good 
name that shall long endure. 

Mary Drushel was the daughter of Henry 
Drushel, who came from Mt. Pleasant, West- 
moreland County, Pennsylvania, to Holmes 
County, Ohio, with his wife and large family 
about the year 1829, and with his father, 
John Drushel, who came some years earlier, 
bought a large tract of choice land, the most 
of which is still held by their descendants. 
This John Drushel was a soldier of the Rev- 
olution, and was in the battles of Bunker 
Hill, Long Island, Trenton, Princeton, 
Brandywine, and at Valley Forge. 

Mary Drushel was eleven years old when 
her grandfather died, in 1837, at the age of 
eighty -seven, but she clearly retold stories of 
the Revolution as told to her by her grand- 
father. One of these, which in after years 
her children were always fond of hearing, 
was as follows: 

By trade John Drushel was a blacksmith, 
and during some of the campaigns in New 
Jersey, General Washington's horse became 
very lame, owing to being improperly shod. 
He ordered the horse reshod with no better 
results. By some means the General learned 
that John Drushel was a blacksmith, and or- 
dered that he be brought forward, and after 
questioning him in regard to his trade, said 
to him : "Shoe that horse so that he doesn't 
go lame, or I will hang you up." After the 
job was done an orderly mounted the horse 
rode off at a brisk trot. No lameness was 
noticeable, and General Washington put his 
hand on John Drushel's shoulder and said 
"Did you think that I meant what I said?" 
To which he replied: "I thought you in- 
tended that I should do my best, sir." From 
that time John Drushel was the shoer of Gen- 
eral Washington's horse, and some years later 




ARMIN SICHERMAN, M. P. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1019 



helped to make the famous carriage exhibited 
at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and now 
sacredly kept as a National treasure and relic. 

Eugene F. Cranz was but one month old 
when he accompanied his parents to Bath 
Township, so he may almost be said to have 
resided here all his life. He received a good 
education, after leaving the district schools, 
attending Copley Center High school, then 
a year at the Normal school, at Lebanon, an-1 
afterwards a year and a half at the Ohio 
State University, at Columbus, Ohio. For 
five yeai-s after leaving college he taught 
school and also, before the death of his par- 
ents, carried on the home farm f9r some 
time. After their death he bought out the 
other heirs, except one sister, who owns a 
part of the homestead farm, and has since re- 
- sided on the propertj', making a specialty of 
dairying. The farm he now owns was first 
settled by Jason Hammond, who came from 
Connecticut, in 1810, and was in the Ham- 
mond family for three generations luitil pur- 
chased by Mr. Cranz's father of Irwin Ham- 
mond in 1863. Mr. Eugene F. Cranz has 
named the farm, Mt. Tom Farm, after a hill 
of that name included within the limits of tho 
property. 

An independent Democrat in politics, Mr. 
Cranz has served eflicienth' for twelve years 
on the School Board, has been town trustee for 
five years, and in 1903 was a candidate for 
the State Legislature, but because of his party 
being in the minority he made no canva.ss for 
election." He is a prominent member of the 
Grange, having been secretary of Pomona 
Grange, Summit County, for ten years, and 
master for three years. He has also served 
the Ohio State Grange in minor offices for 
four years, at present being an assistant secre- 
tary. " 

Mr. Cranz was married, in 1893, to Miss 
Nettie Parker, of Hinckley Township, Me- 
dina County. Her father was Oliver H. Par- 
ker, a carpenter and prominent bridge builder 
of Summit and Medina Counties. He and 
hi^ wife are the parents of six children — 
Liiman P., Grac-ia E., Doris E., Damon D., 



Harmon F., and Paul H. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Cranz are members of the Congregational 
Church in which also they are useful workers. 
They and their family are among the most 
respected residents of the township. 

ARMIN SICHERMAN, M. D., one of 
Akron's leading physicians and surgeons, 
whose well-equipped offices may be found in 
the Hamilton Building, and whose surround- 
ings all indicate the presence of a man of 
scholarly tast&s, was born in 1865, in Hun- 
gary. 

From the schools of his native land. Dr. 
Sicherman entered the college of Eperjes,. Im- 
perio-Royal LTniversity of Vienna, Austria, 
where he was graduated. Following the clo.se 
of his univer.siity career, he spent two years in 
the general hospital at ^^ienna. During the 
term of his medical studies he gave one year 
of service in the regular army. From Vienna, 
Dr. Sicherman came to America, reaching 
Akron in March, 1893, and this city has re- 
mained his field of labor ever since. He has 
won the confidence of his fellow-citizens, in 
his profession, and their esteem and friend- 
ship, in personal relations. He ls a memlter 
of the Summit County, the Ohio State, the 
Union Medical and the American Medical As- 
sociations, and he belongs to the Summit 
County Medical club. He is also a member 
of the Masonic fraternity. Dr. Sicherman 
was married in 1900, to Rose Loewy, of Alle- 
gheny, Pennsylvania, and they have two sons, 
^lerryl and Karl. He belongs to the Hebrew 
congregation, at Akron. 

COL. GEORGE TOD PERKINS, presi- 
dent of the B. F. Goodrich Company, and 
of the Akron Rubber Company, and formerly 
president of the Second National Bank, of 
Akron, is one of the leading men of this city, 
where he was born. May 5, 1836. He is a 
son of Colonel Simon and Grace Tngersoll 
(Tod) Perkins, separate notice of whom may 
be found in this volume. 

George Tod Perkins was educated in the 
,«chools of his native citv and at Marietta Col- 



1020 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



lege. In 1859 he went to Youngitown, 
where he was associated with his uncle, Davirl 
Tod, later Governor of Ohio, as secretarj'- of 
the Brier Hill Iron Company. In April, 
1861, he enlisted as a private in Company 
B, Nineteenth Regiment, Ohio ^'oluntee^ In- 
fantry, and was elected by the company to the 
rank of second lieutenant. During his enlist- 
ment he served in West Mrginia. In 1862 
he re-enlisted, becoming major of the 105th 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; he was 
made lieutenant-colonel, July 16, 1883, and 
colonel, February 18, 1884, and was mustered 
out at Washington, June 3., 1865. Colonel 
Perkins' service included many of the most 
serious battles of the whole war, notably Per- 
ryville, Kentucky, where two of his captains 
and foi'ty-seven of his men were killed ; 
Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, 
Mission Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain and the 
siege of Atlanta, were among his other ex- 
periences. He commanded his regiment in 
the "March to the Sea," with General Sher- 
man, and was one of the gallant officers who 
won and received deserved promotion. 

Colonel Perkins then I'eturned to Akron 
and entered into business, from 1887 to 1870. 
being secretary of Taplin, Rice & Company. 
In the latter year he became president of the 
Bank of Akron, continuing from 1870 to 
1878. and then served as cashier of the same 
until the consolidation of that institution with 
the Second National Bank, in March, 1888, 
of which latter bank he was president for 
some years. As mentioned above. Colonel 
Perkins has other important business inter- 
ests. In 1900 he presented to the city of 
Akron seventy-six acres of land for park pur- 
poses — to be known as Perkins Park. 

On October 6, 1865. Colonel Perkins was 
married to Mary F. Rawson, and they had 
three children, the one surviving being Mary, 
who is the wife of Charles B. Raymond, of 
Akron. Colonel Perkins has a beautiful 
home at No. 90 North Prospect Street. 

JA:\IE8 pierce NOLAND, general farm- 
er and nurscrvman, resides on his valuable 



81 1-2 acre farm in Boston Township, and 
also owns the well-known Mackey place, 
which contains sixtj^ acres, with a fine resi- 
dence and farm buildings attached, also a 
valuable silo. He was born in Pike Town- 
ship, Coshocton County, Ohio, May 8, 1853, 
and is a son of James D. and Mary (Porter) 
Noland. 

The father of Mv. Noland was Lorn in 
Coshocton County and in childhood accom- 
panied his parents to Indiana and later to 
Iowa, but returned to his native comity, where 
the rest of his life was passed. He died in 
1903, aged eighty-seven years. In politics 
he was a Democrat and he served in almost 
all the local offices of his township. He mar- 
ried Mary Porter, who died in 1884, aged 
fifty-three years. She was a member of the 
DiscijDles Church. Of their eight children, 
James Pierce was the eldest. 

Until he was twenty j-ears of age, James 
P. Noland remained on the home farm, in the 
local schools having good educational ad- 
vantages. He then went to Painesville, Ohio, 
where he entered the employ of Storrs & Har- 
rison, nurserymen, and after two yeare of 
practical experience there, formed a part- 
nership with his brothers, W. A. and C. C, 
under the firm name of Noland Bros. To- 
gether they conducted a nursery business at 
M'est Carli.sle, Ohio, for three yeai".-?. After 
Mr. Noland's marriage, in 1886, he took up 
his residence with his wife's parents in Boston 
Township, and put out a lot of nursary stock 
that same spring. The sixty acres which com- 
pose the Vowles farm, together with the 
IMackey farm, gives him a large acreage and 
ail .-eotions of the whole estate is made to pro- 
duce to its limit. Mr. Noland raises corn, 
wheat, hay and oats, but his main business 
is raising nursery stock of all kinds and he 
has the distinction of being the most extensive 
grower in Summit County. From the age of 
thirteen years Mr. Noland has given this line 
of business clo.se attention, and he is not an 
indifferent acceptor of just what the land will 
produce, but a scientifically educated tree, 
plant and flower developer, one who, seeming- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1021 



ly. can briii^ forth any variety from the fer- 
tile land that he choose.'<. He is an indefati- 
gable -n-orker. a keen observer of all climatic 
conditions and also an excellent business num. 
Mr. Noland has originated a number of 
choice varieties of flowers and fruit. He has 
been very successful with strawberries, his 
main producers being the Bubach, the Sen- 
ator Dunlap, the Haviland, the William Belt, 
Samples and Yant, and the Noland, the latter 
a large, firm, berry that he originated him- 
self. He raises many raspberries and black- 
ben-ies, all of the kind easiest to ship. He 
has now on his place, 60,000 Norway spruces, 
a specialty, standing from four inches to eight 
feet, designed for the Christmas demand, 
while his fruit stock include all the varieties 
which will stand the climate. He calls atten- 
tion to a very fine species of crab apple, large, 
of fine flavor and handsome color, which ho 
originated himself. He has an abundance of 
roses and flowering shrubs of all kinds and 
in almost all seasons of the year he is sur- 
rounded by a perfect wealth of natural beauty. 
On March 9, 1886, Mr. Noland was married 
to Mary Vowles, who is a daughter of Levi 
and Jane? Vowles. of Boston Township. 

THE FOSTER FAMILY. Among the 
well-known and respected families of North- 
field Township, the Foster family, which has 
been established here since 1841, is now repre- 
sented by three members — two brothers and 
one sister. 

Lyman Fo,~ter was born at Bangor, Elaine, 
in 1805 and died in Northfield Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, in 1875. Lyman 
Foster's wife, Minerva Everest Foster, was 
born in Essex County. New- York, in 1808, 
and died in Northfield Township. Sunnnit 
County. Ohio, 1892. 

In the spring of 1841 Lyman Foster, wife, 
and family of six children started for Ohio. 
Taking canal boat at Albany, they arrived at 
Buffalo three weeks later, from there they 
took the steam-boat to Cleveland, from which 
place they made their way to Northfield 
Township by canal and overland. They 



were met at the canal boat by Zadae Everest, 
brother of Minerva Foster, wlio took them 
to her father's home (William Everest's) in 
Macedonia, Northfield Township. Remain- 
ing a short time with them, they then rented 
some land of Gabriel Curtis and commenced 
the battle of farming for a livelihood. By 
hard work and good management they were 
fairly prosperous and very soon purchased 
land where tlieir present liome has been for 
the past fifty-four years. This home is now 
occupied by L. R., A. L. and Z. M. Foster. 
Two children were added to the family, being 
born in Macedonia, making eight children iii 
all Avho lived to reach their majority. 

The records of the children are as follows: 
Orlando H. Foster, born in Warrensburg, 
Warren County, New York, in 1830, married 
in 1861 Mrs. A. R. Willard (now decea.sed), 
of Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio; he died 
at Macedonia in 1862, leaving no children. 

LeRoy Foster, born in Warrensburg, War- 
ren County, New York, in 1831, married 
Maria Stevens of Princeville, Peoria Countv, 
Illinois, in 1859. She died in 1862 leavnig 
one child. Ora M., who became the wife of T. 
D. ]McFarland, of Hudson, Ohio, in 1885. 
She died in 1892 leaving one child, Doris 
Marie. T. D. McFarland died in 1907. 
Doris Marie now makes her home with her 
grandfather, L. R. Foster. 

Andrew J. Foster was born in Warrens- 
burg, Warren County, New York, in 1833, 
married Mary A. Taylor, of Twinsburg, Sum- 
mit Countv, Ohio, in 1860, died at Fo-ter 
City, Michigan, in 1896. She died at the 
home of L. R Foster in 1903: no children 
living. 

Amanda Elizabeth Foster, born at Warrens- 
burg, Warren County, New York, in 1835, 
married James H. Clark, of Northfield Town- 
ship in 1859. To them three children were 
born, one now living, Mrs. F. M. Vaughn, of 
Cleveland. Mrs. Clark died at Macedonia in 
1865. Mr. Clark died at Cleveland in 1903. 

Alonzo L. Foster, born- at Warrensburg, 
Warren County, New York, in 1837, was mar- 
ried in 1870 to Frances E. Barlicomb of Cadil- 



1022 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



lac, ^liehigaii, who died in 1878, in Cleve- 
land, leaving no children. 

Sarah Jane Foster, born at Greenwicli, 
AVaihington County, New York, in 1839, 
married Rev. William Campbell, of North- 
field Town.ship, in 1862. To them two chil- 
dren were born: William, Jr., and Lillian, 
all of which now live at Minneapolis, Minn. 

Zorada M. Foster, born in Macedonia, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, in 1841. 

Amelia M. Fo.ster born in Macedonia, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, in 1844, married B. D. 
Hammond, of Smithfield, Jefferson County, 
Ohio, in 3863, died in 1887 at Wichita, 
Kansas, leaving six children : Foster, Myrtle, 
Daniel, Thorne, Lyman, and Tracey. 

Lyman Foster and wife were active mem- 
bers' of The Free- Will Baptist Church of Ma- 
cedonia and brought up their family in strict, 
New England Evangelical codes; were up-to- 
date Americans, Republicans in politics. 
The whole family was interested in the under- 
ground railroad. At one time eight negroes 
were concealed in a straw'-stack at the barn. 
The Foster family sang as a choir in church 
for many years. 

At the present time the three living mem- 
bers of the family at the old homestead and 
the granddaughter of L. R. Foster, Dons 
Marie McFarland, are active members of the 
Christian Science Church of Macedonia. 

ROSWELL KENT, once one of the leading 
business men of Akron, was well and widely 
known as a merchant and as a member of 
the manufacturing firm of Irish, Kent and 
McMillan, later Irish, Kent and Baldwin, and 
subsequently Kent, Baldwin and Company. 
He was born May 18, 1798, at Leyden, Massa- 
chusetts, and accompanied his parents to Hud- 
son, Ohio, in 1812. 

Mr. Kent was educated in the best schools 
of his day. He became industrially interested 
at Akron, then Middlebury, in 1820, when 
he established a general store for his brother 
and Capt. Heman Oviatt. In 1826 he bought 
the business and conducted it himself until 
his retirement. When the firm of Irish, Kent 



and McMillan ;was formed for the manufac- 
Unx' of woolen machinery, he became its sec- 
ond member, and during the changes in the 
course of years, remained a member. His 
name is associated with many of Akron's 
early enterprises and his assistance was given 
to a large number of its public-spirited eti'oi'ts. 
The Sixth Ward Kent school building, one of 
the finest educational edifices of the city, was 
named in his honor. 

In 1826 Roswell Kent was married to Eliza 
Hart, who was a daughter of Joseph and 
Annie (Hotchkiss) Hart, A'ho settled at Mid- 
dlebury in 1807. Mrs. Kent was born in 
1808, and was the first white child born in the 
present limits of Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Kent 
had seven children, of whom three grew to 
maturity — Ekka K. (deceased), who was the 
wife of Findley McNaughton ; Russel H., and 
Flora K., who was the wife of T. S. Page. 

Russel H. Kent, the only surviving son of 
the late Roswell and Eliza (Hai-t) Kent, w-ho 
is secretary and treasurer of the Summit 
China Company, was born September 26, 
1841, in Akron, Ohio. His education was se- 
cured in the common schools of Akron, after 
which he became associated with The Kent 
and Baldwin Company, of which his father 
was the head. In 1879 the Akron Stone- 
ware Company was organized, which was suc- 
ceeded in 1900 by The Summit China Com- 
pany, and Mr. Kent is still identified with this 
enterprise. Mr. Kent was married to Miss 
Mary Melissa Brewster, who is a daughter of 
the late Alexander and Margaret Ann (Kin- 
ney) Brewster. Mr. and Mrs. Kent reside at 
No. 398 East Buehtel Avenue. 

Alexander Brewster, w'ho was one of Sum- 
mit County's prominent pioneer citizens, was 
born September 10, 1808, at Augusta, Oneida 
County, New York, and died at Akron in 
May, i899. In 1812 the parents of jNIr. Brew- 
ster came to Summit County and settled as 
pioneers in the wilderness of Coventry Town- 
ship. There father and son developed a fine 
homestead farm, and together they worked at 
the carpenter's trade, although Alexander 
later gave his attention entirely to agricultural 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1023 



pursuit-i. Ill 1848 a vein of coal was discov- 
ered on his land, but not being a practical 
miner, he did little to develop it until after 
his return from the California gold fields, in 
1852. He soon found it more profitable to 
engage in mining than in farming, and after 
successfully operating on his own land, in 
1865 he organized a stock company, under 
the title of the Brewster Coal Company, with 
a capital stock of $100,000. Of this organiza- 
tion, Mr. Brewster became president and hi.s 
two sons, Alfred A. and Austin K., were asso- 
ciated with him, the former as general agent, 
and the latter as secretarj- and treasurer. This 
company is still active in the coal fields and 
for years, during Mr. Brewster's management, 
mined 300,000 tons of coal annually. He 
was a man of fine business judgment and be- 
came one of Akron's most substantial citi- 
zens. 

CHARLES HENRY STROMAN, mie of 
Springfield Township's substantial citizens 
and leading agriculturalists, resides on his 
farm of 115 acres, and owns other land, 
thirty-eight and one-half acres being situated 
in Coventry Township. He was born in 
Springfield Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
May 14, 1854, on his father's farm, a mile 
and a half south of his jDresent home, and is 
a son of John and Rosanna (Raber) Stro- 
man. 

John Stromal! was born in Pennsylvania 
and he accompanied his. parents, Charles and 
Rebecca Stronian, who settled in Green Toiwu- 
ship. Summit County, but later removed to 
Incliana. The grandfather of Charles H. 
Stromal! died on his farm there, after which 
the grandmother returned to Ohio and lived 
the remainder of her life in the vicinity of 
her children. These were: Gemima. Matilda, 
Lucy Ann, Rebecca, Barbara, Elizabeth, 
Sarah, Mary Ann, Samuel, John and Charles, 
the latter two remaining residents of Summit 
County. John Stroman married Rosanna, 
daughter of Henry Raber, who came to Ohio 
from Pennsylvania. They had two children, 
Charles H. and Lovina. The latter married 



John P. Kepler. She is deceased. John Stro- 
man sold the farm where Charles Henry was 
born and bought the latter's present farm in 
1856. He also owned 100 acres in Coventry 
Township. John Stroman died in 1884 at 
tl\e age of fifty-eight years. His widow died 
in 1894, aged sixty-eight years. 

Charles Henry Stroman was two years old 
when his father purchased and moved to the 
farm on which he has spent fifty-one years. 
He secured his education in the district schools 
and has devoted his attention to agricultural 
pursuits. For some five j'ears he rented the 
present farm and then purchased it and has 
made many improvements here. 

In 1900 Mr. Stroman was married to Nora 
Ellen Taylor, who is a daughter of Henry 
and Amanda (Ringer) Taylor, of Coventry 
Township. Henry Taylor was born in Ire- 
land and accompanied his parents to America 
and they still survive, living at Kistler, Penn- 
SA'lvania. The mother of Mrs. Stroman was 
born at Royalton, near Cleveland, Ohio, and 
died in 1889, aged forty-eight years. Mr. 
Taylor resides at Akron. Mr. and Mrs. Stro- 
man have one little daughter, Amy Mola, 
who was born in 1901. 

Mr. Stroman is a Democrat in his political 
views, but he is broad-minded enougli to see 
merit in men outside the ranks of either party 
and usually votes for the man he believes best 
qualified for office. He is a member of Sum- 
mit Lodge, No. 50, Odd Fellows, at Akron. 

FLORENZO F. FENN, a citizen of Tall- 
madge Townshij) and the oldest living repre- 
sentative of the Fenn familv. was born -lanu- 
ary 17, 1828, in Tallmadge, Ohio. His par- 
ents. Fowler F. and Esther (Law) Fei!i!, were 
born in ^Milford, Connecticut, and after their 
marriage in 1818 came to the Western Re- 
.serve, Ohio, and located in Tallmadge in 
1820. Tallmadge w-as at that time a dense 
forest. His fan!! was in the eastern part of 
Talln!adge, and his father, Benjamin Fenn, 
Florenzo F. Fenn's grandfather, occupied a 
farm half a mile west of the center. As ilr. 
Fenn's father made hi:; home with tiie grand- 



1024 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



father while preparing a home of hi::; own, 
it involved a walk of two miles and a half 
each way through a wilderness of trees and 
brush. Mr. Fenn's father once encountered 
a panther that bounded from one side of the 
path to the other, screaming like mad. He 
armed himself Avith a club and reached his 
home safely. After that incident he was care- 
ful to start for home before dusk. 

They built their own log cabin and the 
firet tree cut for it was felled by his wife, lie 
cutting off the larger part. Although frail 
in body, Mr. Fenn's mother was a helpmate 
in every sense of the word. She paid a sub- 
scription of $50.00 to the church by spinning 
flax and weaving linen. They were blessed 
with five children : Nathan W., who died 
at two; Lucinda S., still living at eightj'-six; 
Henrietta L., who died at twenty-one; Nathan 
W. (second), who died at twenty-one; and 
Florenzo F., the youngest, the subject of this 
sketch, still living. His mother died when he 
was thirteen months old, at the age of thirty- 
two. He Avas reared by his mother's sister, 
Abigail A. Law, whom his father afterward 
married, in 1830. She was the mother of three 
children : Edward P., who died at the age of 
two years ; Esther E., who died at the age of 
twenty-three years; and Edward P. (second), 
who died at the age of forty-one. She was a 
devoted and loving mother, and lived to the 
good old age of ninety-three years, spending 
the last years of her life in the home of 
Florenzo F. Fenn. 

When Mr. Fenn was nine years old, at a 
time when he most needed the loving care 
and watchfulness of a father, his father was 
taken away, at the age of forty-four. ]\Ir. 
Fenn attended school until seventeen years of 
age, when he went to Hudson and learned the 
carpenter's and joiner's trade. He also at- 
tended the preparatory department of West- 
ern Reserve College, which was in Hudson at 
that time. He, however, did not continue his 
studies, as his health would not permit. In 
the year 1854 he was married to Julia Eu- 
nice Treat. Her parents, Andrew Treat and 
Marietta Newton 'Treat, were born in Con- 
necticut, and lived there until thev were mar- 



ried in April, 1823, at which time they left 
their home for the adventures of a new coun- 
try. Tliey made the journey in a one-horse 
wagon, which for a time was the only wagon 
in the neighborhood and was used for all pur- 
poses — to go to mill, to meetings, to weddings 
and funerals. It is still preserved by Mr. 
Fenn, and is a curiosity which attracted con- 
siderable attention at the Tallmadge Centen- 
nial held in 1907, when a large up-to-date 
automobile stood "beside it, showing the prog- 
ress of events. Mr. Treat bought land on the 
southeast road in Tallmadge Township and 
settled on the same. By industry and fru- 
gality he became the largest land owner and 
one of the wealthiest citizens of Tallmadge. 
He cleared acres and acres of land by hand, 
chopping magnificent trees down in windrows 
and burning them — trees that w'ould be a for- 
tune to any one owning them now. They 
built on the land he had cleared and lived 
there all their lives. Mrs. Treat dying in 18S7, 
aged eighty-three years and Mr. Treat in J8S8, 
aged eighty-seven years. 

They had two children, Joseph A. and 
Julia E. Treat. Julia, who was the wife of 
Florenzo F. Fenn, secured her grammar edu- 
cation in Tallmadge. At the age of fourteen 
went to Cleveland to school, and later to 
New Haven for special study in music. She 
was married at the age of twenty-one and 
spent the remainder of her life in Tallmadge, 
her death occuring in November, 1901, when 
she had attained the age of sixty-eight years. 
She was a woman of estimable character, a 
devoted mother, and beloved by all who knew 
her. She was the mother of eight children: 
Frank and Florenzo. Everton Newton, Julian; 
Marietta A., Andrew Edward, Elbert Dwight 
and Julia. Frank and Florenzo died in in- 
fancy, Julian at the age of three and a half 
years, and Marietta at thirty years of age. The 
other four arc still living and reside in Cleve- 
land. Since Mr. Fenn's marriage he has 
spent most of his yeans in farming, and has 
always taken an interest in the affairs of the 
town.ship. He and his wife joined the Con- 
gregational Church in their youth and were 
active members ever afterward. He has been 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1025 



a lueniber of Tallmadge Grange and Sunnuit 
County Hortic-ultural Society for years. He 
lias always supported the candidates of the 
Republic^'i party, and during the Civil War 
was a member of Company D, lG4th Regi- 
ment of Ohio A'olunteer Infantry. 

In his youth Mr. Fenn was not blessed wilh 
good health, and his friends feared an early 
death from consumption. Many of those he 
has outlived, and, although he has passed 
four score years, he bears Lheir weight better 
than many do the half century. He con- 
tinues to be actively interested in all that 
concerns the public life of his neighborhood 
and country, keeps thoroughly posted and in 
touch with modern thought along many 
lines, and enjoys social converse and family 
reunions. Mr. Fenn is a descendant of Gov- 
ernor Law, once governor of Connecticut. 
Also he and his wife are both descendants of 
Governor Treat. 

RANSOME MILTON SANFORD was 
born in Hudson Township, Summit Countv, 
Ohio, on the old Buck farm, May 26, 1830. 
and is a son of Garry and Emily (Richard- 
.son) Sanford, and Ls probably one of the 
besl-known men of Hudson Township. There 
are few buildings standing in Hudson that 
he ha.s not either constructed or repaired, and 
in large part, the same may be said over much 
of Hudson Township. 

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Sanford 
never left Connecticut and lived continuously 
in the old family home, which was built 120 
years ago, and which is still occupied by a 
descendant. The father of Mr. Sanford came 
from Bridgewater, Connecticut, to Rootstown, 
Portage County, Ohio, in September, 1.S19, 
and seven years later to Hudson Town.ship. 
He was married in 1S22, and located in the 
southeastern corner of Hudson, where he 
h'ved until 1833, when he bought the farm 
where T. B. Terrv'^ now TTves. He cleared up 
that property and died there -Tune 7, 1R45. He 
married Emily Richardson, who survived un- 
til 1R70. her death taking nlace near .Mcron. 
Thev had the following children: A habe 
that died: Lorenzo, born in 1S24. ro=iding at 



Bridgeport; Perry L., who died in Pennsyl- 
vania; Henry M., who died at HutLson; Ran- 
some M.; Emily, who died, aged eighteen 
yeai-s; Marcus, who died aged fifteen years; 
Electa, born in 1839, who married Abel Un- 
derbill, residing neai- Akron ; Harlan P., who 
died aged three years; and Sarah Jane, who 
died in childhood. 

Ransome M. Sanford was three years old 
when his parents moved to what is now the 
Terry fai'm. He went to the district schools 
during boyhood and when seventeen years of 
age he learned the carpenter's trade at New- 
ton Falls, where ho remained at work for 
several years, although he always made the 
old farm his home a,s long as his mother re- 
tained the property. He has been one of the 
leading builders of this section, and can point 
to many substantial and handsome structures 
to testify to has ability. Although he is over 
.sevent.y-«even years of age, he is still working 
at his trade. For thirteen years he worked 
for Seymour, Strait & Company, engaged in 
building cheese factories. 

On November 19, 1856, Mr. Sanford was 
married to Mary Harmon, who was born at 
Aiu'ora, Ohio. The fifty-fii-st anniversary of 
their wedding has but recently been cele- 
brated. They have four children, namely: 
Harmon, deceased, who married .Jennie 
Doyle, also deceased, left two sons, two daugh- 
tere and a grandchild; Edward, residing at 
Columbus, married Clara Stover, and they 
have one son, Edward; Charles R., residing 
at Hudson, married .Jennie Dodge; and Burt 
Sheldon, residing at Hudson, married Ruth 
H. Ehy, and they have one .«on. Lawrence 
Eby. ]Mr, Sanford votes with the R'^publican 
party. 

JOHN L. COMSTOCK. one of Richfield 
Township's retired farmers and substantial, 
puhlic-^spirited citizens, residing on his farm 
of 103 acres, wa.s born near his present farm, 
in Summit County. Ohio. September 13, 
1842, and is a son of .Mien and Lydia (!Mil- 
ler) Comstock. 

The father of ^Ir. Comstock was born at 
Independence. Cuyahoga County, whore lie 



102(5 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



renuiiued until about the time of his mar- 
riage, when he purchased farming land iu 
Richfield Township. During the whole of his 
active life he engaged in farming and stock- 
dealing. He died in 1856, aged forty years, 
leaving an estate of 340 acres to his family. 
He married Lydia Miller and they had nine 
children, namely: John L., Myron R. and 
Orrin M., Rosaline C, Laura J., Julia M., 
Wai-ren E., George E. and Allah E. All 
are now dead but Rosaline C. and John L. 

John L. Comstock obtained a district school 
and academic education and his occupation 
since has been farming. When his father's 
estate was settled he purchased 103 acres of 
the homestead farm, on which he continued 
to carry on general farming and bred short- 
horn cattle and Shropshire sheep, until he 
retired from active life in 1902. His land 
is well situated and very fertile, producing 
excellent crops of potatoes, wheat, corn, hay 
and oats. He kept usually about twenty-five 
head of cattle. Mr. Comstock cai'ried on 
opei'ations along modern lines and made use 
of the best machinery. He was one of the 
first agriculturists of this neighborhood to 
see the value of silos and has two on his 
farm, with dimensions of 12 by 12 and 27 
feet deep. His buildings are kept in com- 
plete repair and they are substantial and suf- 
ficient for the needs of a first-clas.? farm. Mr. 
Comstock has his farm under rental. 

Mr. Comstock married Elizabeth Killefer, 
who died in 1900, aged fifty-eight years. She 
was a consistent member of the Congrega- 
tional Church. They had three children, 
namely: Allen L., residing at Waynesville, 
Ohio; and Harley M. and Warren E., both 
residing at Cleveland. In political sentiment 
Mr. Comstock is a Republican. He is not a 
politician, but he has .served in township of- 
fices as occasions seemed to demand. He 
taiight school two seasons and was director 
in his district for about forty years in succes- 
sion, and for many years was president of 
the Board of Education. He is a member of 
the Congregational Church and has been one 
of the tru.stees. 



IIAR\'EY LANCE, who resides on his 
well-improved farm of eighty-five acres of 
excellent farnnrig land, situated in Norton 
Township, Summit County, was born in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, Ohio, Mai'ch 
20, 1S48, and is a son of George and Eliza 
Jane (Richards) Lance. 

The founder of the Lance family in Ohio 
was Abraham Lance, the grandfather of Har- 
vey, who came by wagon from Jefferson 
County, Pennsylvania, when his son George 
was a child of two years, and settled on a 
tract of 152 acres in Chippewa Townshijj, 
Wayne County, on which he died, aged 
eighty-two years. 

George Lance was reared to manhood on 
the above mentioned farm and succeeded to 
its possession. He disposed of a portion of 
this farm, and the remainder comprises the 
farm of his son Harvey. George Lance mar- 
ried Eliza Jane Richards, who was born in 
AVayne County, Ohio, and was a cousin of 
John R. Buchtel, who was the founder of 
Buchtel College at Akron. To the above mar- 
riage eleven children were born. George 
Lance died March 5, 1881, aged sixty-four 
years, and was survived V)y his widow until 
January 5, 1887, her age being sixty-nine 
years. 

Harvey Lance was reared on the old farm 
settled by his grandfather, and attended the 
schools in his neighborhood during the period 
of boyhood. Farming has always been his 
occupation. In 1879 he was married to Flora 
Kepler, and they have had five children. Those 
surviving are: Cleber Leroy, re.«ading in Me- 
dina County, Ohio, a machinist, married Bes- 
sie Bear, and they have one child, Gladys 
Opal : Jesse Richard, residing on the home 
farm : and Alyrtle May, residing at home, 
Tho.se deceased were: Gertrude, who lived but 
five days, and Roland Earl, who died aged 
eleven months. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lance resided at Johnson's 
Corners for two years following their mar- 
riage. Mr. Lance having purchased a farm 
there which he subsequently sold to Norman 
Ware. In the .spring of 1883 they settled on 
the farm they now occupy, and in August. 




SAl.E.M KILE 



AND REPRESENT ATRE CITIZENS 



1U-J9 



IbbT, they built their present comfortable 
residence. Both ilr. and Mrs. Lance are re- 
ligious people, I\Ir. Lance being a member of 
the Disciples Church and Mrs. Lance and 
the children of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

S.VLEiM KILE, president of the Kile j\Ian- 
ufacturing Company, and one of Akron's 
firmly established business men, was born in 
1839, in Canada, but was reared in Ashta- 
bula County, Ohio, where his parents located 
in 1848. He was one of a family of eleven 
children. 

Mr. Kile attended school during boyhood 
as opportunity offered, and early became in- 
tered in the lumber basiness. For forty years 
he engaged in the manufacture of sucker rods 
for use in the oil regions, and he continued 
his lumber operations in Ashtabula and 
Trumbull Counties until 189.T, when he came 
to Akron. At that date they moved the bend- 
ing works from AVest Farminglon to Akrnn 
establi.«hing the Thorpe and Kile Company 
here, for the manufacture of shafts and poles, 
the firm name later being changed to Kile and 
Ford. In the winter of 1902-.3 he sold out to 
the Pioneer Pole and Shaft Company, and 
in a.5.sociation with his sons. George and Wil- 
liam Kile, established the Kile Manufactur- 
ing Company, for the manufacturing of 
hoops, staves and sucker rods. This company 
has one of the finest bend sawmills in this 
section, which ha? a capacitv for ontting about 
.3.000.000 feet of lumber per year. The mill 
has over 100 names on its pay roll and keeps 
fifteen teams busy. In addition to the plant 
at Akron, Mr. Kile and his son George have 
a plant at Barberton for the manufacture of 
insulators and electrical supplia=!. He is inter- 
ested also in other Akron enterprises, being 
a .«tockhoIder in the Pioneer Pole and Shaft 
Company and in the People's Saving? Bank. 

In 1862, Mr. Kile was married to Carolina 
Heath, and they have a family of six chil- 
dren, namely: Orra, who married E. E. 
Northway. who is secretary of the Standard 
Tool Comnany. of Cleveland; George H. and 
AVilliam L.. who are associated with the Kilo 



Manufacturing Company; Flora, who mar- 
ried Dr. Hillman, residing at Akron; Mary 
.!., who married W. H. Lantern, of Shreve, 
Wayne County, Ohio; and Sai-ah G., who 
married Dr. Underwood, residing at Akron. 
For a period covering thirty years, Mr. Kile 
has been an Odd Fellow. From the age of . 
twenty-three years he has been a member of 
the jNlethodist Episcopal Church and for thir- 
ty-three years was superintendent of a Sun- 
day School. He is president of the Board of 
TriLstees of the Woodland Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and is also president of the Board 
of Trustees of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation; also a member of the Board of 
Trustees of Mount Union College Alliance, 
Ohio. In 1904 he was sent as a delegate from 
his church to the General Conference at Los 
Angeles, California, and while in the far West 
spent two months visiting various points of 
interest, including the National Park. In 
September 1907, he was again elected a mem- 
ber of the General Conference to meet in Bal- 
timore in May, 1908. He is a man of stei-- 
ling character and bears his years lightly. 
Both his personal and business reputation are 
unblemi-shed. 

GEORGE W. WUCHTER, one of Tall- 
madge Township's well known citizens, resides 
on his farm of thirteen and one-fourth acre.?, 
which is widely known as a fine stock farm, 
having much more than a local reputation. 
Mr. Wuchter was born in Norton Township, 
Summit County. Ohio. August 26, 1848, and 
is a son of AVilliam and Aurilla (Cahow) 
Wuchter. 

The father of Mr. Wuchter came to Ohio 
from Penn.sylvania, with his father. .John 
Wuchter, who in early days lived at Stowe 
Corners. Later he moved to Norton Town- 
ship, where he owned land and he became a 
man of substance. He died in 1867, aged 
seventy-three years. He wa? twice married. 
Two .sons were born to him and his wife, 
Mary, namely. William and Eli. The lat- 
ter lived and died in Norton Township, where 
liis widow still resides. 

William Wuchter was a vounc: man when 



1030 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he accompanied his pai'eiits to Norton Town- 
ship, where he lived many years, finally sell- 
ing his faiin and moving to Johnson's Cor- 
ners. He died May oO, 1898, aged seventy- 
five years. He married Aurilla Caliow, who 
survived until 1905, dying in her seventieth 
yeai". Her father brought his family from 
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, to Summit 
County, Ohio, by means of a wagon and an 
ox-team, and lived to see his fortunes so in- 
creased that he could have used any mode of 
transportation back again that he desired. 

From the old homes in Pennsylvania, both 
the Wuchter and Cahow families brought 
many articles of household utilitj-, and George 
W. Wuchter owns and highly prizes a chair 
that has been in the Cahow family for over 
150 years. The children of William and 
Aurilla (Cahow) Wuchter were: George W., 
residing in Tallmadge Township; Mary, who 
married Ephriam Marsh, residing at Dixon, 
Tennessee; Aurilla, who married Joseph 
Knecht, residing in the State of Washing- 
ton; Helen, who married Burt Dilsworth, re- 
siding at Barberton ; Eli, who married Calista 
Flickinger, residing at Johnson's Corners; 
Lottie, who married Charles Heller, residing 
at Barberton; Lydia, who married Frederick 
Tincum, residing at Fairlawn ; and others 
who died in infancy. 

George W. Wuchter attended the district 
schools of Norton Township, where he grew 
to manhood. His occupation has been along 
agricultural lines and he has become a man 
of note as a raiser of fine stock. He resided 
for four years in Green Township, and for 
a time in Coventry Township, and cnme to 
Tallmadge Town.=!hip in 1879. In 1881 he 
purchased the farm on which he has resided 
ever since, which he has va.stly improved and 
brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. 
Wuchter has made a specialty of raising Berk- 
.ehire hogs, but Bas stock of all kinds, from 
imported strains, which he has exhibited at 
agricultural expositions all over the country, 
including Buffalo, New York, Detroit. Mich- 
igan, the State Fair at Columbus, Ohio, at 
Wheeling, West Virginia, and other points, 
and he has taken many preminms. To see 



his tine stock bearing otf the coveted blue rib- 
bon is no new sensation to him. Visitors of 
note frequently are the guests of ilr. 
Wuchter, as his farm has an established repu- 
tation, but i^robably no more distinguished 
ones were ever entertained here than on the 
occasion when President Roosevelt and Vice 
I'resident Fairbanks spent an enjoyable half 
hour with him, while awaiting the train to 
convey them to the funeral of the late Mrs. 
McKinley. The visit impressed President 
Roosevelt so pleasurably that on his return 
to Wa-shington he hastened to write a letter 
to Mr. Wuchter, giving expression to his sen- 
timents, and enclosing an autograph-plioto- 
graph of himself. With a great deal of pride, 
Mr. W\icliter displays these tokens of the 
great executive's appreciation, and has both 
neatly framed. 

On November 7, 1871, Mr. Wnclitcr wa< 
married to Sarah Hines, who was born in 
Carroll County, Ohio, and is a daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah (Henderson) Hines. The 
father of Mrs. Wuchter died in the army dur- 
ing the Civil War. He was a member of 
Company F, 85th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. The mother of Mrs. Wuchter died 
when she was four years old. Mr. and Mrs. 
AVuchter have had the following children: 
William, residing on Buchtel Avenue, Ak- 
ron, married Mary Klinger, and they have 
one daughter, Ruth: John M., married Allie 
Kline, of Akron, residing at home; Bes.«ie, 
who married John M. Smith, residing at 
Akron; Lola A., who married Frederick W. 
ICirk, residing at Youngstown ; Arline S.. who 
married Jacob Kuhn. residing at Akron, has 
one daughter. .\ldn ; and Russell F.. residing 
at home. 

HENRY WILLETT HOWE, A. B.. I\T. A. 

No history of Summit Comity would be in 
any wav comnlete w-ithout extended mention 
of the Howe family, which has been so prom- 
inently identified with its growth and devel- 
o]-)ment through several generations. An 
honored representative of this family is found 
in Henry Willett Howe, residing at Tra, 
Northampton Township. He was born in 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1031 



Bath Towiii-hi]?, Summit County, Ohio, 
within sight of his present home, June 29, 
182y, and is a son of Richard and R:)xanna 
(Jones) Howe. 

Richard Howe was born in St. Mary's 
County, Maryland, March 8, 1799. He had 
but meager educational advantages, as his 
father died when he was quite young. At 
the age of ten years he accompanied his 
mother to Ohio, settling in Franklin Coun- 
ty, but hef second marriage deiirived him of 
a home. After leaving his mother, he went 
to live with Lucas Sullivan, a large land- 
owner and a surveyor, and soon made hLs 
way into the confidence and esteem of his 
employer, who provided him with books, 
which, in those days, were of considerable 
cost. The boy appreciated what w'as being 
done for him and studied hard by the light 
of the evening fire, acquiring a good knowd- 
edge of the elemental facts of learning and 
also of surveying and engineering, and had 
his home with Mr. Sullivan until he became of 
legal age. He then secured work as an en- 
gineer in the construction of the Ohio Canal, 
and while in pursuance of his duties he be- 
came well acquainted with William H. Price, 
the leading engineer on the construction 
work of the Erie Canal. 

This acquaintance developed into friend- 
ship and Mr. Price, recognizing the mechan- 
ical ability of Mv. Howe, and wishing to as- 
sist him, gave him a book containing pencil 
drafts of work used in the building of the 
Erie Canal, locks and other mechanical con- 
trivances which had, as yet, never come under 
Mr. Howe's observation. This book was of 
inestimable benefit to him. For a period cov- 
ering thirty years, Mr. Howe was in the em- 
ploy of the state of Ohio, the connection being- 
severed by his resignation in the spring of 
1850. in order to visit California. This wa.s 
the period of the gold fever, and a compaiiy 
of enthusiasts had been organized to cross the 
great plains to the golden land, and Mr. 
Howe was elected captain of this company. 
He started on the long journey with the horse 
and sulkey that he had used in his work on 
the canal, both being well seasoned, and sub- 



sequently arrived in California with the liur.-e 
.still alive. 

^Vt Sacramento, California, Mr. Howe en- 
gaged in a commission business with Samuel 
A. Wheeler, under the firm name of Wheeler, 
Howe & Company, he having known Mr. 
Wheeler in Ohio. He ibuilt a warehouse at 
Lock No. 1, Akron, wliich he had rented to 
Mr. Wheeler, who subsequently died in Cali- 
fornia. Other members of the original party 
from Ohio either died, fell sick or became 
discouraged and, as all the responsibility fell 
on his shoulders, Mr. Howe wisely closed out 
his interests at Sacramento. Soon after he 
entered into the employ of the United States 
government, and much of his work in the 
way of surveying and engineering proved of 
the greatest value for years afterward. He 
ran the base line from Mt. Diablo south to 
the Pacific Ocean and from that line all lands 
of the southern half of the state of California 
are still sui-veyed. He also laid out and 
superintended the construction of a mining 
race for the washing of gold, but finally be- 
came w'earied of the crude civilization of the 
far West and longed for the comforts of home, 
consequently he sold his intere-sts and re- 
turned to Ohio. The return journey was 
made by way of Panama, where he contracted 
fever, from which he suffered for two years. 
To name all the important work .subsequently 
done for his native state and particularly for 
Sunnnit County in the way of his profes- 
.sion, would fill many pages. He w'as widely 
known and is still recalled by the older gen- 
eration as a man of remarkable vitality and 
ability. He continued to engage in profes- 
sional duties up to the time of his death. For 
two years he had charge of Nugent's section 
of the canal construction, while Mr. Nugent 
was serving in Congress. He superintended 
the change in the connection of the lower end 
of the canal with the Ohio River. In 1825 
])(> bought 400 acrcis of land wliere Tra Station 
on the Valley Railroad is now located, and he 
also owned eighty acres on Summit Lake, in 
South Akron. The Howe school building at 
.\kron was named in honor of Richard Howe 
and his son. Henrv Willett Howe, the latter 



1032 



lIiyTOKY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



of whom \va.- ti lueiuber of the sclioul board 
for six yeai-s, dating from 18(i2. liichard 
Howe was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He 
was a AVhig in politics, but no active poli- 
tician. He died Mai-ch 19, 1872. 

liichard Howe married Roxanna Jones, 
who died February 14, 1875. She was a 
daughter of Sylvanus Jones, who was a min- 
ute man in the Revolutionai-y War, married a 
daughter of Captain Alden Sears, who was a 
descendant of Priscilla and John Alden, and 
they settled at Bristol, Ontario County, New 
York. There j\Li-s. Howe was born January 
18, 1805. She taughf school in Bath Town- 
.«hip. Summit County, prior to her marriage. 
There were seven children born to this un- 
ion, namely: Henry Willett; Charles Rich- 
ard, who is deceased; Nathan J., who is de- 
ceased; Emily Barrett, who married James 
Ingersoll, residing at Chicago, Illinois; Mary 
Ann, who married John Wolf, residing at 
Akron; and two others w-ho are deceased. 
Both Richard Howe and wife were members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in the 
First ^Methodist Episcopal Church at Akron 
appears a beautiful memorial window in 
honor of J\Irs. Howe. For fifty yeai-s she 
was an active worker in church and Sunday 
school, a lovely Christian woman. 

Henry AVillett Howe attended the public 
schools at Akron and also was instructed in 
his earlier years in select schools chosen by 
his wise and careful mother, and there he 
was prepared for Oberlin College, where he 
was graduated in 1849 in the classical course, 
with the degrees from this institution of A. B. 
and M. A. For about two years after the 
close of hLs collegiate cour.se he took charge 
of his father's contracting business while the 
latter was in California, and then entered 
upon the study of law with Judge James S. 
Carpenter. In 1854 he was admittrd to the 
bar and entered into a law partnership with 
.Tudge Carpenter, under the firm name of Car- 
penter & Howe, this a.ssociation lasting until 
Jxidge Carpenter went on the bench, when 
Mr. Howe continued to practice alone. Tt 
was while attending to lesal work in connec- 
tion with certain patents that he became in- 



terested in agricultural implements, and sub- 
sequently engaged in the manufacture of the 
same under the firm name of Hawkins & 
Howe, a partnership which lasted for ten 
years. In 1870 Mr. Howe bought a manufac- 
turing property at Richfield and entered into 
partnership with a Mr. Hinman, the firm 
being Howe & Hinman, which engaged in 
the manufacture of spokes, handles of all 
kinds, axles and manufactured lumber, and 
as his manufacturing business increased Mr. 
Howe gradually dropped his law practice, 
thereby regaining the health which close pro- 
fessional work had endangered. After a suc- 
cessful period, he sold his manufacturing in- 
terests, and in 1881 he settled on his present 
farm, which originally contained 200 acres, 
but has been reduced to 100. For a long time 
Mr. Howe rented out the larger part of his 
estate, but in late years he has developed an 
active interest in raising fine stock. His 
father brought the first 'blooded Durham stock 
into Summit County. 

Mr. Howe has been closely connected with 
all the progressive movements made in this 
section during the last half century, in edu- 
cational circles and has been a more or less 
prominent factor in politics. Originally a 
Whig and an Abolitioni.?t, he identified him- 
self with the Republican party, but has never 
been a seeker for political preferment. He 
ser\'ed three years as a member of the Akron 
city coimcil, and in 1852 he was elected a 
member of the Board of Education at Akron 
and served six years as its secretary without 
compensation. He w-as one of the officials 
at the laying of the corner stone of the first 
granunar school of any size and was prac- 
tically its superintendent. For six years he 
was county and city examiner of teachers. 
For about twenty yeai-s he served also as a 
justice of the peace, both in Richfield and 
Northampton Townships. 

Mr. Howe married Isadore C. Bell, who is 
a daughter of Edwin Bell, of Portland, Con- 
necticut, and three of their four children still 
sun'ive: Edwin, who is station agent at Ira; 
Frank Richard, residing at Darrnwville, Sum- 




C. F. CHAPMAN 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1035 



mit County: and ^Vl>bey, who is postmaster at 
Ira. 

Ill 1887 Frank R. Howe bought a small job 
printing press, making his office in a build- 
ing on his father's farm, in what is now the 
posloffico building. His early work was the 
printing of supplies for school teachers and 
he carried on his 'business under the style of 
the Howe Publishing Company. After his 
marriage he started a more ambitious business 
at Darrowville, under the name of the School 
Publishing Company, which he still contin- 
ues. His office is equipped with two large 
cylinder newspaper pres.ses, two job presses, a 
power pajDer cutter, folder and binder, all of 
which are run by a gasoline engine. His 
publications include a small newspaper. The 
Enferfainment, which issues specialties for Fri- 
day afternoon exercises at the public schools 
and thousands of amateur plays. A postoffice 
has been established at 'Darrowville, Mr. 
Howes' brother-in-law, Edward Shirely, being 
po.?tma.ster. Frank R. Howe married Nina 
Danforth, who is a daughter of Milton Dan- 
forth, of Darrowville. 

At the age of eighty years, Henry W. PInwe 
is serving in the ofiice of president of the 
Association of Lincoln Voters. 

Mr. Howe joined the Odd Fellows at Ak- 
ron when a young man, where he also became 
a IMason. During his residence in Richfield 
Township he imited with the Richfield and 
Pomona Grange and for fourteen years he 
was secretary of the Summit County Grange. 
In 1850 he a.s.sisted in organizing the first 
agricultural fair of Summit County and in 
the same year was elected a director and for 
eight years continued to be identified with 
this enterprise, either as a director or as sec- 
retary. In his religious views Mr. Howe is ex- 
tremely liberal. Personally he is a man of 
fine presence. Time has treated him kindly 
as may be seen Ijy his clear eyes, which do not 
require the help of gla.sses, his erect stature 
and the vigor of every faculty. 

C. F. CHAPMAN, local manager of the 
American Sewer Pipe Company at Akron, was 
born in (his citv, in lSr)2. and is a son of the 



late Edgar T. Chapman, who was an early set- 
tler and later one of Akron's most prominent 
citizens. In early days he was postmaster of 
jMiddlebury and later was extensively engaged 
in the .stone-ware manufacturing industry. 

C. F. Chapman was reared and educated 
in Middlebury, now East Akron. After leav- 
ing school he learned the pottery bu.siness and 
worked at the stone-ware trade for twelve 
years. In August, 1881, he became connett?d 
with the Akron Iron Company, at Buchtel, 
Ohio, where he remained until August, 1884. 
He then became associated with the Akron & 
Hill Sewer Pipe Company, which in March, 
1900, was merged into the American Sewer 
Pipe Company, since which time he has been 
local manager. His long experience in this 
line has made him a very efficient man for 
the position. He has, besides, other business 
interests and is one of the representative busi- 
ne.s.s men of Akron. 

In 1887, Mr. Chapman was married to 
Mary A. Parker, who is a .step-daughter of 
the iate Henry A. Gibbs, of Akron. He and 
his wife had one son, Parker E., a bright, en- 
gaging youth, who died in September, 1903, 
aged fourteen years. Mr. Chapman is con- 
nected with various civic bodies^ being an act- 
ive citizen, and fraternally lielongs to the Odd 
Fellows and the Royal Arcanum. 

GEORGE E. LANCE, general farmer and 
dairyman, residing on his valuable farm of 
106 1-2 acres, situated in Northampton 
Township, w-as born in Summit County, Oliio, 
May 22, 1866, and is a .son of "William and 
Theodo.sia S. (Harvey) Lance. 

The Lance familv came from Pennsvlvania 
to Ohio. George Lance, the grandfather of 
George E., accompanied his father; the 
pioneer, to "Wavne County. Land that he 
cleared there still remains in the family. 
William Lance was born in Wavne County, 
attended the district schools and ensaged in 
farming. Durins the Civil War he frequent- 
ly drove cattle to Pittsburg for the use of the 
army. In the sprinq- of 1866 he came to 
Northampton Township, remaining but a few 
months, when he went to .\kron. and for five 



1036 



HISTORY OF SUAOHT COUNTY 



yeare worked iu the rolling mills in that eity. 
From there he went to Doylestovvn, Wayne 
County, later to Medina County, and then 
baek to Akron, where he lived for about one 
year before his death, which occurred July 
22, 1889, at the age of fifty-two years. He 
was a man of quiet tastes and sought no 
political office, but supported the Republican 
party. William Lance married Theodosia 
S. Harvey, who still survives. She is a daugh- 
ter of Ebcr Harvey, of AVayne County, who 
emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1857. The 
following children were born of this mar- 
riage: George E., Theodore, Charles, Ray- 
mond, Ernest, Clyde, Bessie and Bertie. The 
mother of this family resides in Northampton 
TownshiiJ. She is a member of the Disciples 
Church. 

George E. Lance attended school through 
boyhood wherever the family home was lo- 
cated and remained under the household roof 
until his marriage. For the first six follow- 
ing years he worked in the Diamond Match 
factory at Akron, and since then has been 
engaged in farming. In 1896 he I'entcd a 
farm in Nort],iamj:)ton Township for three 
years and then bought his present place. Here 
he cultivates about sixty acres, paying espe- 
cial attention to wheat and corn, and pastures 
seven cows, selling his mdlk to the creamery 
at Peninsula. In early manhood George E. 
Lance was married to Emma R. Stinson, who 
is a daughter of Wesley and Kate Stinson, of 
Litchfield. Ohio, and they have six children, 
namely: Edna, who married William Sapp, 
of Northampton; and Claude, Irvin, Guy, 
Arthur and Frieda, residing at home. The 
family belong to the Disciples Church at 
Everett, Mr. Lance being one of the trustees. 
He is a member nf the order nf Maccabees, at 
Penin.=ula. 

.VLBERT H. BILL, M. D.. physician and 
.«urgeon at Cuyahoga Falls, is one of the lead- 
ing profes.sional men of this place, where he 
was born .Januarv 26, 18.'i1 . He is a son of 
Henry W. and Harriet E. (Butler) Bill. 

Dr. Bill come.'! of fine old New England 
ancestrv on both sides. The Bill generations 



can be easily traced to the great-grandfather, 
Solomon Bill, who was a great scholar. He 
taught navigation and higher mathematics 
in a Connecticut seat of learning. John Bill, 
grandfather of Dr. Bill, was born at Middle- 
town, Connecticut, and was a son of Solomon 
and Mary (Sizer) Bill. He died at Charles- 
town, Portage County, Ohio, in 1844, aged 
seventy-five years. He married Fannie Rog- 
er.s, who died before he came west in 183;l 
He was a strong Baptist and a very devout 
man. It is remembered how he maintained 
Bible reading and family prayers in his home. 
From him many of his descendants inherited 
their gift of song. 

Henry W. Bill, father of Dr. Bill, was born 
at Middletown-, Connecticut, where, in early 
life he started in the machine busine.-s. The 
destruction of his plant by fire caused him to 
turn his attention to the West, and about 
1833 he accompanied his brother, Asa G., to 
Cuyahoga Falls. They began business to- 
gether on the river, opposite the plant of 
Turner, Vaughn and Taylor, i;nder the firm 
name of A. G. Bill and Brother, establishing 
a foundry and machine business, and built 
it up until it was the largest of its kind in 
that part of the country, running their plant 
night and day.- They manufactured paper 
mill machinery mainly, and during the time 
they were in business they, with others, started 
the first .steam paper-making plant in Cleve- 
land. They were the inventors of the first 
barrel-making machines. The brothers were 
associated in business for many years, but 
finally, Llenry W. withdrew. He was a very 
well known man. Nature had gifted him in 
music and he was at home with almost any in- 
.strument, playing the bugle and clarinet with 
skill. These instruments he played in the old 
pioneer Portage Countv band. He was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Chiu'ch ; 
his wife was a Congregationalist. He died 
aged seventy-four vears. Henry W. Bill and 
wife had (wo children, viz.: Alice B., who is 
the widow of George Dow, residing at Cuya- 
ho.qa Falls : and .Albert H. 

Dr. Bill was educated in the schools of his 
native ]ilace. His medical education wa* pur- 



AND REPRESENTATRE CITIZENS 



103' 



iiied under the direction of Dr. C. M. Fitch, 
of Chicago, IllinoiiS, after which he entered 
Rush iledical College, where he was grad- 
uated in 1875. Since then he has been en- 
gaged in general practice at Cuyahoga Falls. 
Dr. Bill married Isabella Fitch, who is a 
daughter of Dr. C. M. Fitch, a noted physi- 
cian and surgeon, of Chicago, and they have 
one son, Kenneth, who graduated in 1907 at 
the Cuyahoga Falls High School. Mrs. Bill 
is a member of the Congregational Church. 
Politically, Dr. Bill is a Republican. He is 
very prominent in fraternal circles, especially 
in the order of Knights of Pythias. He has 
passed all the chaii"s in Pavonia Lodge, is past 
deputy grand chancellor of the Twenty-fifth 
District and has the Grand Lodge rank. He 
has several Pythian offices in the Uniform 
Rank and is assistant regimental .surgeon. He 
is connected also with other organizations. 

ULYSSES F. HOURIET. In the death 
of Ulysses F. Houriet, which occurred June 
28, 1904, Summit County, Ohio, lo.st a young 
man of brilliant parts, one whose business suc- 
cess and pei-sonal popularity had made his 
name a familiar one all througli Northeastern 
Ohio. He was born at Canal Fulton, Stark 
County. Ohio, May 25, 1868, and was a son 
of Floriant and Catherine (Miller) Houriet. 

The Houriet family came to America from 
Switzerland. In that land of magnificent 
mountain scenery, Floriant Houriet was born 
at St. Imier. Canton of Bern, March 17. 1834. 
LTis father, Victor Houriet, Avas known in his 
native land as a jeweler of great skill. Vic- 
tor married Zeline Flotron, a member of the 
celebrated Flotron watch-making firm of 
Switzerland, and the name of that family may 
yet be .seen engraved on the case of many 
fine, old Swiss watches of a half century ago. 
Three children were born to Victor Houriet 
and wife, namely: Emil. who became a prom- 
inent watch-maker and jeweler at Charleston, 
Illinois : Floriant. residing at Kenmore. Sum- 
mit County: and Paul, of IVIassillon. Ohio, 
whose tastes led him in the direction of me- 
chanics. 

In 1848 Victor Houriet eminrnfed to Amer- 



ica with his family, investing in farming land 
near Utica, New York, where he lived until 
1852. He then sold his proi^erty there and 
removed to Wayne County, Ohio, purchas- 
ing a farm near Mt. Eaton. Before making 
his third and last trip to Switzerland Victor 
Houriet had engaged successfully in business 
in America, and had become attached to the 
land where he saw his sons prospering, but 
he could not reconcile himself to the thought 
of dying in any place beyond the shadows of 
his native mountains. When he bade his last 
farewell to his family he asserted that he 
would never again cross the ocean, and his 
premonition proved true, for his death fol- 
lowed soon after this return to his native 
land. His wife had died in 1876 at the home 
of her son. Floriant, at Canal Fulton. 

Floriant Houriet was fourteen years old 
when he came to America, and he well recalls 
the long passage of forty-four days' duration. 
He has never gone back to the little Swiss 
village, of which he has a picture, which was 
given his father, and which he treasures 
highly. The schools of Switzerland and Oer- 
many are justly noted for their efficiency. He 
was thoroughly in.strueted in both countries, 
and when he came to the United States had 
command of three languages. He no longer 
had time to go to school, but iip to 1858 he 
worked steadily on farms in Ohio, going then 
to Illinois, where he continued to farm un- 
til the outbreak of the Civil AVar. He then 
returned to Ohio in order to enter the army 
from that state. In 1861 he enlisted for three 
months in the Twentv-third Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, becoming a member of 
Company H. the survivors of which still 
proudly call it "McKinley's Regiment." Mr. 
Ilouriet was a young man well informed on 
public questions and during liis residence in 
Illinois had heard Abraham Lincoln and 
Stephen A. Douglas discn-s the public mat- 
ters, and had been much impressed and had 
made up his mind concerning his choice of 
leaders. 

When his fii-st term of enlistment expired 
Mr. Houriet re-enlisted for three years, but 
was honorablv discharged on account of di<- 



1038 



mSTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ability, after a service of eighteen months. 
During this period he was detailed to carry 
messages to General Rosecrans, his command 
of the German language making him very 
useful in this capacity. He participated in a 
number of 'battles before he was disabled and 
on all occasions bore himself as a brave and 
faithful soldier. After his return to Ohio he 
worked in a coal mine at Canal Fulton, Init 
found this too hard labor, and, therefore, em- 
barked in a grocery business at Canal Ful- 
ton, which he continued to operate with suc- 
cess until 1883. During this period he had 
been buying small tracts of land within the 
corporate limits of the town, which land he 
still owns. In 1903 he came to Kcnmore, 
and in 1903 he purchased the residence in 
which the family resides, an elegant home, 
where the late Ulysses Houriet resided at the 
time of his death. 

Floriant Houriet married Catherine Miller, 
who was born May 18, 1840, in Germany, and 
accompanied her parents to America in 1852, 
when she was a girl of twelve years. They 
were Lawrence and Elizabeth (Bott) jNIiller. 
Her father died in 1879. Six children were 
l)orn to Floriant and Catherine Houriet as 
follows: Edward, who died in infancy; 
Ulysses F. ; Mary, who is a teacher in the pub- 
lic schools of Akron ; Willie, who died aged 
three years; Zelina, who married Edward 
Richert, and has one child ; Paul ; and Elsie, 
who fills the position of bookkeej^er in the 
South Akron Bank. All the children were 
born at Canal Fulton, graduated from the 
schools of that place, and all who sui"vived 
infancy, with the exception of the younge.st, 
have taught school. 

Floriant Houriet is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and he accompanied 
his old regiment to Washinaton city to be 
present at the inauguration of the late Presi- 
dent McKinley, their beloved comrade. He 
is a meml)er of the Reformed Church, while 
Mrs. Houriet and the children are members 
of the Lutheran Church. 

Of the above mentioned family, the late 
UlvRses F. Houriet was the beloved and ad- 
mired son and brother. In his childhood he 



was noted for his quick, intelligence and his 
genial, happy nature and, after completing 
his time at school, he was gladly accepted as a 
teacher and very soon was made superintend- 
ent of the township schools, subsequently be- 
coming the principal of the High School at 
Norton Center. He remained in the educa- 
tional field from 1887 until 1895, in the 
meanwhile .spending some of his summers at 
"\^alparaiso College, Indiana. In 1895 he 
made a bicycle tour through Florida, visiting 
many interesting points outside the line of 
ordinary travel. When he returned it was to 
find the heated McKinley campaign agitat- 
ing Summit and adjoining counties, and he 
immediately began to stump the country fnr 
the leader of the party, in this capacity visit- 
ing almost every part of Summit County, and 
making friend* wherever he went. Many 
still recall him standing on the street corners 
in interested conversation, surrounded by his 
farmer friends, speaking first in English and 
then in German, being greatly gifted as an 
elocutionist. After his bicycle trip to Flor- 
ida Mr. Houriet made one to St. Louis using 
the same wheel, pausing at many places to ad- 
dress gatherings of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association, in which organization he 
was greatly interested. He was prominent a* 
a member of the building committee of the 
association at .\kron. and was one of its di- 
rectors. 

For a few months in 1896 he was con- 
nected with the New York Life Insurance 
Company, later becoming a.ssociated with the 
late Noah Steiner in the real estate business 
He had much to do with the rapid disposal of 
the White City allotment in 1898. At that 
time Mr. Steiner was pushing the claims of 
the Pathfinder order and Mr. Houriet became 
interested and joined the organization as its 
thirteenth member. He later began to or- 
ganize lodges, many of which are among the 
most prosperous of this beneficiary oraaniza- 
tion. notably the "Coshoction." After the 
death of Mr. Steiner. Mr. Houriet was 
elected in 1901 as president and assumed the 
command of the order. For some time he wa- 
active as manager of the company, which 




CHARLES G. lA'TZ 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1041 



began laying out and building up Kenmore, 
and Mr. Steiner's death threw the whole busi- 
ness into Mr. Houriet's capable hands. It 
was about this time that he moved into the 
jiresent beautiful family residence, which 
later became the property of his father. Mr. 
Houriet never married. He died in Akron, 
Ohio, June 28, 1904. 

CHARLES G. LUTZ, who is engaged in a 
general contracting business at Barberton, is 
one of the substantial citizens of Norton 
Town.ship, of which he was elected a trustee 
in 1905. Mr. Lutz was born in AVayne 
County, Ohio, July 15, 1868, and is a son of 
Sebastian and Elizabeth (Eitonmiller) Lutz. 
In his boyhood, the parent.* of Mr. Lutz re- 
moved from the farm on which he was born, 
to Marshallville, where the father followed the 
business of carpet weaving. He attended the 
schools of Marshallville until about seven- 
teen years of age, when he began to learn the 
carpenter's trade, which he subsequently fol- 
lowed as a livelihood, six years later going 
into contracting. In March. 1897. he came 
to Barberton, since which time he has been 
very busily engaged, and has erected a num- 
ber of the iine.st busines.? blocks in the place, 
notably the Rodenbaugh Block, which was 
completed in 1906, the McKenna Block, in 
1904, and the Henry Block, in 1907. He 
keeps from two to ten men employed. 

At Marshallville, in the spring of 1898, 
Mr. Liitz was married to Catherine Yeakley, 
who died March 28. 1901, leaving three chil- 
dren — Karl, Irene and Edna. Mr. Lutz was 
married (second) to Mrs. Flora (Houtz) Hel- 
ler, who was the widow of Jacob Heller, and 
they have one child, Nola. Mr. Lutz is a 
member of the Reformed Church at Barber- 
ton. In politics he is a Democrat and has al- 
ways taken a good citizen's interest in public 
affairs. 

GEORGE GRETHER. Among the rep- 
resentative agriculturists of Nortliampton 
Town,«hip may be mentioned George Grethcr, 
who owns a fine farm of 100 acres. He was 
born at Akron. Ohio. September 2, 1853, and 



is a son of John George and Elizabeth (Dice) 
Grether. 

John George Grether was born in Baden, 
Germany, in 1822, and there learned the 
trade of wagon-maker. He was about thirty 
years old when he came to America, and on lo- 
cating at Akron he entered the employ of his 
brother Jacob, who was in business there. 
Mr. Grether then went to Jackson's Corners, 
where he worked a rented farm for some 
years, after which he purchased a lot on what 
is now West Exchange Street, Akron, and 
during the Civil AVar he worked at his trade. 
In 1887 he purchased the farm now owned 
by George Grether, and here his death oc- 
curred in his sixty-seventh year. Mr. Grether 
was married to Elizabeth Dice, and she now 
makes her home with her only son, George 
Grether. She is seventy-eight years old. Two 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Grether: 
George and Ernest Frederick, the latter of 
whom died when twenty-one years of age. 

George Grether attended the public schools, 
after which he learned the trade of chain- 
maker, which he followed for fourteen years, 
and which he finds of much value to him in 
farm work, as with this knowledge he can 
do all his own blacksmith work. He now 
gives his entire attention to agricultural pur- 
suits, and raises and fattens calves for the 
market., also selling many chickens and eggs. 
Mr. Grether was for five years a member of 
the Sixth Ohio Battery, Eighth Regiment, 
Ohio National Guards, for three years of 
which time he was corporal. 

Mr. Grether was married to Pauline Dice, 
who is a daughter of Martin Dice, of Akron, 
and they have had seven children, six of 
whom survive, namely: Louisa, who is the 
wife of Fred Shumaker, of Cleveland: Otto 
Frederick, who lives in Akron: Charles 
George A\''illiam, who resides in Copley Town- 
ship; and Edward, Frank Herbert and Ruth 
Marie Elizabeth. 

S. C. McGOAA^AN. junior member of the 
firm of McGarry & McGowan, prominent 
contractors and leading citizens of Akron, 
has spent the major part of his business life 



1042 



HISTORY OF SUMJNIIT COUNTY 



here, coming to this city in 1868. Mr. Mc- 
Gowau was born in 1857, in New Jersey, and 
is a son of Charles McGowan, who was an 
early contractor at Akron, and concerned in 
selecting sewer pipe clay and working for the 
Buckeye Sewer Pipe Company. 

S. C. McGowan's early life was spent on the 
farm of Miss Louise Sumner, after which he 
entered the employ of David R. Paige, who 
was engaged in a hardware and general con- 
tracting business, remaining there for twen- 
ty-five years. During nine years of this period 
Mr. McGowan was with Mr. Paige in the city 
of New York, working on the contract of con- 
structing the Croton aqueduct. Mr. Paige 
was called to Africa, and after his departure, 
Mr. McGowan built the piers for the 
suburban elevated road from the Harlem 
River to Tremont. With Mr. Paige he built 
the Guttenberg race track and was concerned 
in many other large jobs in that city. He 
was connected with D. C. Coolman and Page 
& Carey when they built the Ohio River Rail- 
road from Wheeling to Parkersbnrg, West 
Virginia, between the years 1882-1 8S6. After ' 
his return to Akron, in 1890, Mr. McGowan 
entered into partnership with Daniel Mc- 
Garry, under the firm name of McGarry & 
McGowan, and they do a general contracting 
business second to no other in this section. 
A contract is being carried out at the pres- 
ent writing (1907). -niiich includes the put- 
ting in of a complete sewer system for the 
city of Ravenna, extending some ten or 
twelve miles. The firm has done a great deal 
of street paving and the work is well done, it 
bedng the aim of this firm to excel in all that 
it undertakes. Mr. McGowan is intere.sted in 
other enterprises, and is ranked with the city's 
substantial business men. 

In 1902 Mr. 'McGowan was married to 
Amelia Wohlwend. He is a consistent mem- 
ber of St. Vincent de Paul's Catholic Church. 
He belongs to the organization known the 
world over as the Knights of Columbus. 
While not accepting office for himself. Mr. 
McGowan takes n lively interest in politics 
and is a loyal supporter of his friends. 



WILLIAM E. MARTIN, a reprusentaUve 
citizen of Summit County, Ohio, who is one of 
the heirs to the undivided estate of his father, 
a desirable farm in Northfield Township, lo- 
cated on the State Road, was born in North- 
field Township, December 14, 1861, and is a 
son of Henry and Elizabeth (Sodon) Mar- 
tin. 

Henry Martin, who was born in Sowham, 
England, was engaged in market gardening 
there with his father until coming to Amer- 
ica. He stai'ted to this country with his first 
wife and seven children, but on the voyage 
to the new home five of his children and his 
wife died of smallpox. Having friends in 
Northfield Township, Mr. Martin at once lo- 
cated here and for two or three years worked 
l)y the day. In 18(54 he rented several farms 
which he operated until 1874, in which year 
he purchased the farm now owned by Wil- 
liam E. Martin, and here carried on general 
farming until his death, in December, 1899, 
at the age of eighty-six and one-half years. 
Mr. Martin was married (second) to Eliza- 
beth Sodon, who was born in England, and 
Avas a daughter of John Sodon, and to this 
union there were born six children : William 
E. ; Mary, who is the wife of Jacob Ritchie, 
of Northfield Township; Hannah Emily, who 
married Lewis Whitcomb, of Northfield 
Township; Elizabeth Jennie, who married 
.James Rees, of Bedford Township: Minnie 
B.; and Rachel L., who is the wife of Ben- 
jamin Myers, of Northfield Town-hip. The 
mother of these children died- in June, 1906, 
aged seventy-one years, in the faith of the 
United Presbyterian Church, of which the 
family were all members. Mr. Martin was a 
Democrat in politics, but never sought public 
office. 

William E. Martin was educated in the 
public schools of Northfield Township, and 
his life has always been spent on the farm on 
which he now lives. This is a well-kept, fer- 
tile property in the northern part of the 
township, situated on the State Road, and 
being near Cleveland. Mr. Martin ha? al- 
ways engaged more or less in truck farming. 
His principal crops, however, are hay. wheat. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1043 



corn and oats. Mr. Martin was married to 
Editli Smith, who is the daughter of Samuel 
Smith, of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. Martin is a devoted member of the 
United Presbyterian Church. 

JOSEPH R. MELL, senior member of the 
well known insurance firm of J. R. Mell & 
Son, at Akron, is also a veteran of the Civil 
War, one whose long and arduous service en- 
titles him to the honorable and grateful con- 
sideration of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Mell 
was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, where 
he was educated and remained until he was 
sixteen years of age, when he moved to 
Portage County. 

Among the first young men of Portage 
County to come forward in defense of the 
Union was Joseph R. Mell, who, as a private, 
entered Company K, Nineteenth Regiment. 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, entering April 22, 
1861. During the three months of this first 
enlistment he saw hard service in West Vir- 
ginia and participated in the battle of Rich 
Mountain. After its expiration he returned 
to Summit County, Ohio, but the call of hia 
country was again too strong to permit him 
to settle down in safety to peaceful pursuits, 
and he re-enlisted for a period of three years, 
on February 20, 1862, entering Company K, 
Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which 
was organized at Camp Chase. This regiment 
returned the young soldier to the scene of hia 
former exploits in West Virginia, where it re- 
mained under the command of General Fre- 
mont until July, 1862, when it was sent to 
join General Pope's army at Culpeper Court 
House. Then followed the second battle of 
Bull Run, then Chancellorville, followed by 
the Gettysburg campaign, at this time the 
regiment being a part of the Eleventh Army 
Corps. On the second day of the fight at 
Gettysburg Mr. Mell was captured on Gulp's 
Hill and was taken to Richmond, where he 
was held a prisoner of war until the spring of 
186r), being paroled just at the close of the 
war. From the ranks he was again and again 
promoted for personal valor, climbing from 
private to orderly sergeant, then to second 



lieutenant in 1863. During his confinement 
in prison he was promoted to be first lieu- 
tenant, and still later to the rank of captain, 
as which, however, he was never mustered in. 

Captain Mell returned to Summit County 
after being released from the Confederate 
prisons, and as soon as he was sufficiently re- 
cuperated, engaged in a hotel business, which 
he conducted for three years, and then came 
to Akron. He entered the employ of the 
Aultman-Miller Company, with which cor- 
poration he continued to be associated for 
twenty-one years. Since then he has been en- 
gaged in a general insurance business in part- 
nership with his son, Cloyd W., under the 
firm name of J. K. Mell & Son. In 1895 Mr. 
Mell was elected councilman at large, an of- 
fice he filled for about nine months, which he 
resigned to accept the appointment of court 
bailiff. 

On August 30, 1865, Mr. Mell was married 
to Sabina V. Koons, who is a daughter of 
Jonas Koons, and a granddaughter of Henry 
Koons, who came to Summit County from 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, among the earliest 
settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Mell have four sur- 
viving children, namely: Marvin M., resid- 
ing at Akron, engaged in a flour and feed 
business; Todd J., residing at Youngstown, 
where he is manager of the automobile tire 
department of the Republic Rubber Com- 
pany; Wade B., residing at Havana. Cuba, 
engaged in a brokerage business: and Cloyd 
W., of the firm of J. R. Mell & Son. For 
twenty-five years Mr. Mell has been an of- 
ficial member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is past commander of Buckley 
Post, No. 12, G. A. R. 

GEORGE T. WHITMORE, treasurer and 
general manager of the Granite Clay Com- 
pany, of Akron, has been a resident of Moga- 
dore since 1902. and is an experienced man 
in his line of business. He was born at Ea.«t 
Liverpool. Ohio, .January 1. 18.58. and is a 
son of Richard and Emma (Robinson) A^Hiit- 
inore. 

The parents of 1\Ir. T^liitmore were native? 
of Staffordshire. England. The father came 



1044 



HISTORY OF 8UMMIT COUNTY 



to America and settled in Wiscousiu, in 1847, 
removing from tliere to East Liverpool, where 
he lived until 1857, when he located at Ak- 
ron, where he died in February, 1898, aged 
eeventy-nine years. He was a potter by trade. 
The mother accompanied her parents when 
they crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled 
at East Liverpool, where she was mai-ried. 
The following children were born to Richard 
Whitmore and wife: Elizabeth, William H., 
Maria H., George T., John A., James B., 
Emma H. and Earl. The mother of these 
children died in July, 1870, aged thirty-seven 
years. 

George T. Whitmore was reared at Akron 
and graduated from the High School of that 
city in 1876, later entered Buchtel College, 
where he remained for two years, leaving in 
1 880 to accept the position of shipping clerk , 
with Whitmore, Robinson & Company. He 
contiinied to fill that position for one year and 
then entered into partnership with Cook & 
Fairbanks, which firm was later known as 
Cook, Fairbanks & Company, manufacturers 
of stoneware, remaining in that connection 
until 1889. After severing his busine.s,s re- 
lations with the above company, Mr. AVhit- 
more was one of the organizei's of the Summit 
Sewer Pipe Company and remained with 
that concern for eleven years. In 1899 he 
went to the City of Mexico, as general man- 
ager of the Mexico Clay Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and remained in that capacity one 
year and then returned to Akron. 

Mr. Whitmore is a man of too mucli busi- 
ness activity to remain quiescent for any 
length of time, and shortly after his return 
from the South, he organized the Granite 
Clay Company, with whfch he has been iden- 
tified ever since. The plant is located at 
Mogadore and the capacity is 2,000 car loads 
annually. Employment is given to ninety 
men. The bu.siness was incorporated in 1900. 
with C. H. Palmer, president; T. A. Palmer, 
vice-president; G. T. AVhitmore, treasurer 
and general manager; and W. N. Palmer, sec- 
retary. The business is capitalized at $250,- 

000. ■ 

Mr. Whitmore was married April 22. IBS.'i. 



to May Peckham, who is a daughter of 
Thomas and Agnes Peckham, and was reared 
and educated at Akron, where she graduated 
from the High School in the class of 1880. 
They have four children, three daughters and 
one son, namely: Agnes Emma, Marion P., 
Elizabeth and Cicorge T., Jr. 

Fraternally, Mr. Whitmore belongs to the 
Odd Fellows and the Maccabees, being iden- 
tified with the former order at Akron and the 
latter at Mogadore. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican and he was elected to the city 
council, of Akron, in which he served 
one year as president. During 1887 
and 1888 he served as treasurer of 
the Republican Central Committee. He has 
been active in county politics since he was 
twenty-one years of age. Mr. Whitmore's 
father was one of the pioneers in the clay in- 
dustry in Summit County and it has formed 
a leading feature of the son's successful busi- 
ness career. Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore reside 
in a beautiful residence which he erected 
after coming to Mogadore to make this place 
his permanent home. He is a man of pleas- 
ing personality, frank, friendly and sincere, 
and possesses the business capacity, good judo- 
ment and foresight to make successful both 
social and business aspiration. He is identifi' d 
with the various charities and with the civic 
organizations which prmnote the general wel- 
fare. 

EDWARD A. MrCHESNEY, who is a 

representative of one of the old and promi- 
nent families of Summit County, wa.s born 
on the farm in Sprinoifield Township, on 
which he still resides, March .SO, 1848, and 
is a son of William and Ivouisa (Gra^jsard) 
McChesney. 

William McChesney was born in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and was 
seven years of age when he accompanied his 
parents to this part of Ohio. They were John 
and Martha (Laramore) McChesney, the 
former of whom had come in boyhood to 
America, settling with his parents in Penn- 
sylvania, where other Irish emigrants had 
formed a colony. There were five children 




AUGUST 13LESSMAN 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1041 



born to John McChesney and wife, namely: 
John Leslie, Andrew, Mary, Margaret and 
William. 

The parents of Edward A. McChesney were 
married in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, where the mother was born in 1825. 
She was a daughter of Peter Frederick Gres- 
sard, who served as a soldier under Napoleon 
Bonaparte. He came to America and settled 
in Summit County, where his last years were 
.spent. His children were: Catherine, 
Louisa, Eugenia and Rosalie, twins; Freder- 
ick and Charles. One daughter, Rosalie, who 
is Mrs. Bruot, survives and resides on Fir 
Street, Akron. To William and Louisa Mc- 
Chesney were born the following children : 
Edward A. ; William H., residmg in Spring- 
field Township, married Lucy Thompson ; 
Flora A., I'esiding at ATcron, is the wife of 
G. L. Sypher; Herman G., residing at Akron, 
married Lucy Wright; and Frederick W., 
residing in Springfield Township, married 
Nettie Yerrick. The father died in 1905, 
aged eighty-nine J'ears, and the mother in 
1900, aged seventy-five years. 

Edward A. McChesney was reared on the 
present farm and was educated in the district 
schools. He carries on mixed farming and 
dairying on his forty-seven acres of excellent 
land, which is mainly looked after by his 
son. For the past thirty years Mr. McChes- 
ney has been engaged in building and con- 
tracting, working all over Summit County. 

Mr. McChesney was married in 1873 to 
Sarah Wise, who is a daughter of Samuel and 
Catherine (Rahber) Wise, and they have had 
three children : Gertrude, who l« deceased : 
May, who married Charles Roeger, have one 
son, Milford Glenn ; and Dwight, who man- 
ages the home farm. Politically, the Mc- 
Chesneys are identified with the Republican 
party. 

AUGUST BLESSM.AN, treasurer of the 
Klages Coal and Tee Company, of Akron, has 
been a resident of this citv for a period of 
twenty-five years. He was born in Germany, 
in 1857, and wn* r°ared and odncatcd tliTc. 
In 1882 he came to America, shortlv after- 



ward locating at Akron. Here he embai'ked 
in a coal business, for the first five years work- 
ing for Mr. Klages, and then, in partnership 
with Mr. McCue, bought the business. In 
1887 the firm name was changed to II. Klages 
& Co., and when it was incorporated in 1890, 
it became the Klages Coal and Ice Company, 
with a capital stock of $50,000. At that time 
it was dealing largely in ice, having bought 
out two other companies. In 1 895 the Klages 
Company built an ice plant for the manufac- 
ture of artificial ice, it having a capacity of 
fifteen tons daily, and it completely changed 
the conditions of the ice business in this city. 
Since then it has been found necessai-y to en- 
large the plant and the output is now seventy- 
five tons daily, employment being given to 
forty men. The present officers are: P. E. 
Werner, president; A. Blessman, treasurer; 
L. Klages, secretary, and H. W. Haupt, supei-- 
intendent. 

In 1887, Mr. Blessman was married to 
Lillie FLsher of Akron, and they have three 
children — Matilda, M. Freda, and Walter B. 
Mr. Blessman is a Mason, belonging to the 
Blue Lodge, Council, Chapter, and Command- 
ery at Akron; also to the Odd Fellows' organ- 
ization in this city. He is numbered with 
the .successful business men of Akron and is 
a valued representative citizen. 

CHANCY SALISBURY, a highly re 
spected resident of Bath Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, who was born on the farm on 
which he lives, where he has seventy-eight 
acres of valuable land, is one of the older agri- 
culturists of this section. His birth took place 
March 10, 18.S0, and he is a son of AVilliam 
and Sylvia (Atrill) Salisbury. 

Both parents of Mr. Salisbury were born in 
New York state. William Salisbury came 
to Bath Township in 1827, where he re- 
mained a year a.esisting settlers to clear their 
land and begin its cultivation. He found 
the country .«o desirable that he decided to 
establish here a home of his own and made 
the long journey back to his native plnce in 
order to marry. The young couple bravely 
started in a belated April snow storm, biit the 



1048 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



snow melted before they had covered the dis- 
tance and they completed their journey to 
the new home in a wagon. Wilham balls- 
bury built a modest log house on his land, 
having bought seventy-five acres of the pres- 
ent farm, and then began its clearing and 
subsequent improvement. At a later date he 
bought forty-five acres on the opposite side of 
the road. He and wife lived on this farm 
during the remainder of their lives, dying 
honored and esteemed in their community. 
William Salisbury's death took place April 8^ 
1868; his wife died February 24, 1867. They 
had seven children, the three survivors now 
being: John, residing in Wisconsin, aged 
seventy-nine years; Chancy, who has reached 
his seventy-seventh year; and William, re- 
siding in California, who is aged seventy-one 
years. Those deceased are: Olive, who was 
the wife of Joseph Manly; Peter, Mary and 
Russell. 

Chancy Salisbury has devoted his life more 
or less to pursuits pertaining to the farm 
which he assisted in the strength of youth to 
clear. His opportunities for attending school 
were meager,, but having spent much time in 
travel, he is, in some important respects, one 
of the best-informed men in his neighbor- 
hood. He has made ten trips to Wisconsin, 
three to Iowa, three to Michigan and two to 
New York, and once, in the space of six 
weeks, he visited thirteen states. 

Mr. Saliisbury married Maria Hopkins. 
Having no children of their own, they opened 
their hearts to two little girls, Jennie and 
Nancy Lambight, who grew up under their 
protection and have married well. Jennie 
married William Wolf and they have seven 
children — Sherman, Ida, Howard, Alba, Cai-- 
rie, Earl and Maud. Nancy married Adam 
Wolf, and they live at Hammond's Corners, 
while Mr. and Mrs. William Wolf reside with 
Mr. Salisbury. Mrs. Salisbury died in June, 
1891. She was an estimable woman and good 
Christian. In politics, Mr. Salisbury is a 
Republican and on that ticket he was elected 
township trustee. He is a member of the 
Disciples Church, of which for several years 
he was treasurer. 



CHARLES W. JAQUITH, who owns a fine 
farm of seventy-three acres, of well improved 
land in Coventry Township, was born in a log 
cabin in Medina County, Ohio, and is a son 
of William Henry and Margaret J. (Hunt) 
Jaquith, and a grandson of Josiah Jaquith. 

Josiah Jaquith, Sr., great-grandfather of 
Charles W., came to Ohio from Vermont in 
1829, and settled on a 100-acre tract in the 
northern part of Wadsworth Township, Me- 
dina County, building a little log hut on the 
east side of the "Big Spring." Later, in 1831, 
Josiah Jaquith, Jr., the grandfather of 
Charles W., and his family, followed 
here and located on the same farm, making 
the trip in true pioneer style, with ox teams, 
it taking six weeks. The newcomers 
erected a larger log cabin of white wood, 
hewn on one side, the floor being of oak 
puncheons. For a number of years the 
Jaquiths made potash here, which was 
hauled through the woods to Pittsburg. The 
land was cleared and a number of orchards sol 
out, probably the first in the county, and 
Josiah Jr., received the west half of the prop- 
erty. This land, which had been purchased 
from a Mr. O'Brien for $3.00 per acre is now 
some of the most valuable property in Medina 
County. Here Josiah Jr., died July 30, 1842. 

William Henry Jaquith, father of Charles 
W., was born at Saint Albans, Vermont, July 
6, 1827, and made the trip with the family 
to Ohio, growing up in the woods of Medina 
County, where he experienced all the hard- 
ships of pioneer days. In his younger days 
Mr. Jaquith did little farming, having 
learned the shoemaking and coopering trades, 
and also teaching school for a short time. In 
the spring of 1865 he went to Johnson's Cor- 
ners, Summit County, Ohio, and took charge 
of a .grist mill for a Mr. Shaw, where he re- 
mained six years, and from 1871 to 1879 he 
conducted the New Portage House, at New 
Portage. He also kept an apiary at New 
Portage, and sold honey, hives, bees, etc., but 
in 1883 gave up this business, and purchased 
the present farm of Charles W. Jaquith, 
where both he and his wife died. 

On March 24. 1850, Mr. .Jaquith was mar- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1049 



ried to Margaret J. Hunt, who was a daugliter 
of John Hunt, who came from Union County, 
Pennsylvania, and purchased the old Jaquith 
home place. Mr. Jaquith died January 2, 
1887, and his wife ?*lay '21, 1907. They were 
the parents of five children, namely: Mary 
E., who married J. H. Miller; Charles Wesley/ 
Ella, deceased, who married N. Van Hyning; 
Henrietta^ who died young; and William J., 
deceased. 

Charles W. Jaquith spent his boyhood days 
in Medina County, and attended the district 
schools of his native locality. When about 
ten years of age he left Medina County with 
the family, and went to Summit County, later 
how'ever returning to Wadsworth to attend the 
Mennonite College, learning to read and write 
in German. When a young man he helped 
his father in the mill at Johnson's Corners, 
and later taught singing in New Portage and 
the vicinity, being choir leader for many 
years. On account of poor health, Mr. 
Jaquith went to Michigan, locating for 
a while on a fruit farm in the west- 
ern part of the State, and. spending his 
winters in a lumber camp. In 1883 
he returned to Summit County, Ohio, being 
beater engineer for two years with the Straw 
Boai'd Company, at New Portage. In the 
spring of 1885 he came to his present 
property, of which he became the owner soon 
after. He has been engaged in general farm- 
ing since that time. 

On May 16, 1883, Mr. Jaquith was mar- 
ried to Fannie Cady, who was born on a farm 
in Boone County, Illinois, and is a daughter 
of F. R. and Nancy (Schlellenger) Cady. F. 
R. Cady, who is still well preserved in spite 
of his eighty-two years, is serving as a county 
coroner in Michigan, where he has been a jus- 
tice of the peace for many years. He re- 
sides at South Haven, where his wife's death 
occurred. They were the parents of five chil- 
dren, namely : Ida and Flora, deceased ; 
Fannie, the wife of Mr. Jaquith; Jennie, 
and Allen, who belongs to the live-saving 
crew. Mrs. Jaquith taught school near 
South Haven for three years. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jaquith, 



namely: William E., a machinist of Barber- 
ton, and a member of the Odd Fellows; and 
Bessie P. Mr. Jaquith is a Republican m 
politics, and has been a member of the School 
Board since 1896. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church of New Portage. 

JACOB A. SNYDER, residing at his 
beautiful home at No. 197 High Street, Bar- 
berton, is a worthy representative of one of 
the old and honorable pioneer families of 
Summit County, which has been established 
here since 1818. Jacob Augustus Snyder was 
born in Coventrj' Township, Summit County, 
Ohio, May 16, 1845, in the old log house in 
which the family lived until he was fourteen 
years old. His parents were George M. and 
Mary Ann (Rex) Snyder. 

George M. Snyder was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1814, and -was four years old w'hen 
the family came to Ohio. His parents were 
Joseph and Maiy (Bachman) Snyder, who 
left Pennsylvania with their loaded wagons 
and ox-teams and made their slow way across 
the mountains and through the uncleared 
forests until they reached Summit County. 
They settled in Green Township, erecting a 
primitive log cabin, in which they lived dur- 
ing the remainder of their lives which 
reached into old age. They had numerous 
children, some of whom succumbed to the 
hardships and privations of pioneer life, but 
twelve reached maturity, as follows: Peter 
Joshua ; George M. ; Elizabeth, who married 
(first) a Mr. Hoobler and (second) Samuel 
Messer; Sophia, who married (first) George 
Tritt and (second) a Mr. Babb; Jacob; 
Daniel; Paul, residing in Starke County, In- 
diana; .Joel; Abraham, residing in Green 
Township, Summit County; Jonathan; and 
Nathaniel, residing in Green Township. The 
survivors of the above family are Paul, Abra- 
ham and Nathaniel. The children took after 
their parents, being large of frame and of 
robust constitution. 

George M. Snyder was reared on the 
pioneer farm and assisted in its clearing. 
His educational chances were feiw, school 
houses were far apart and in so large a family 



UiO 



HTS'J^ORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



there was always woi'k ready for every hand. 
He learned the mason's trade and worked 
at it during the season, heli:ied to farm and 
in the winter, assisted to work the old loom, 
weaving cloth. His marriage did not make 
much difference in his employments, merely 
transferring them to another place, for those 
were days when everything was hand-made 
and there was little leisure for any one. Oc- 
casionally he would talce his gun and go out 
for game, which was then very plentiful, and 
■would shoot deer, turkeys and bear, and on 
one occasion a wild hog. His son still pre- 
serves a dangerous-looking tooth, which was 
one of its defensive weapons. After his chil- 
dren had grown up he settled down to farm- 
ing, purchasing 125 acres of the land on 
which the village of Snydertown now stands, 
and he owned property also at Barberton. 
He was a man who was well known all 
through this section. He died at the age of 
seventy-eight years. 

George M. Snyder was married (first) to 
Catherine Harter, who was a daughter of 
Jacob Harter, one of the pioneers in the 
neighborhood of Barberton. Mrs. Snyder 
died and left three children: Henry, and 
George and Catherine, both of whom are de- 
ceased. Mr. Snyder was married (second) 
to Mary Ann Rex, who was a daughter of 
Jacob Rex. She died in 1871, aged forty- 
three years, the mother of fourteen children. 
They were as follows: Eliza Jane, who died 
in infancy; Jacob; Sadie, who married Harry 
Deisem; Daniel W. ; Mary, who married Dr. 
Andereon ; Lewis ; Thomas J. ; Lucy, who died 
in infancy; William; Inez, who married L. 
Horner; Evelyna, who married H. Pontius; 
Emma, who married William Stott; and two 
younger children who died in infancy. 

.lacob Augustus Snyder was fourteen years 
old when his parents moved to the farm on 
which they spent many years, and he at- 
tended the district schools, making his home 
with his parents until he was twenty-five yeare 
of age. In the meantime, from the age of 
twenty-one, he taught school for about fovir 
years, at New Portage and Mount Hope, and 
for one year in Lee County, Illinois. He 



also operated a grocery store at Akron, in 
partnership with Henry Deisem, on the 
corner of High and Church Streets, tor about 
one year. Mr. Snyder was able to see many 
business possibilities and took advantage of a 
rmmber of them. In association with K. 
How, he operated an old horse-power thresh- 
ing machine for some four years, doing a 
good business. Then he worked for one sum- 
mer in the Baughman stone quarry, after 
which he learned to be a telegrapher, although 
he never put this knowledge to any practical 
end. 

Mr. Snyder then concluded to vLsit his 
uncle who lived in Illinois, and worked on 
his farm for a time. H(! later accepted a 
school and taught in Lee County, where he 
made many friends. In the following 
spring he took a course in Bryant & Strat- 
ton's Commercial College and then became 
bookkeeper for the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road, which was extending its line be- 
tween Defiance, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. 
Mr. Snyder worked for two years in Indiana 
for this corporation, and after the great Chi- 
cago fire, which, for a time, interrupted busi- 
ness with that city, he went out as foreman 
of the Railroad Construction Company to 
Kentucky. After a time he returned to Sum- 
mit County and for a short time was as- 
sociated with Morris Young in a butchering 
business. 

After his marriage, Mr. Snyder settled on 
hLs present farm, which he purchased from 
Henry Swiggert, and has devoted considei'able 
attention to growing berries and trucking. 
He has been largely interested for many years 
in contracting. The stone for the building of 
■ the strawboard works came from his farm. 
He has probably built more cellars than any 
man in Summit County, furnishing the stone 
from bis own quarries. He built the Bar- 
berton & AVestern Railroad road bed and also 
one mile of track from the sewer pipe com- 
pany's plant to the clay pit. He has done a 
large amount of grading and has filled many 
contracts for William A. .Johnston. He also 
carried on a successful florist business. 
In 1878, Mr. Snyder was married (first) 




HON. GU8TAVUS SEIBERLING 



AND RErRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



]0r>3 



to Catheriue Blinn, who died in 1891. She 
was a daughter of Christopher Blinn. In 
1892, Mr. Snyder was married (second) to 
Mrs. Minerva (Fi-eeman) Young, who was 
the wiuow of A. J. Young, and a daughter 
of Asa and Catherine (Wolfi'ed) Freeman. 
She had three children, namely : Lubert, 
who died aged seventeen years; Grace, who 
married (first) Dell Acres, and (second) Ben- 
jamin Eby, and has two children, Hazel and 
Farrell; and Clarence, who married Nona 
Fink. H&e purchased Mr. Snyder's green- 
houses and continues in the florist business. 

When Mr. Snyder retired from active life, 
he purchased a place at Barberton, on which 
there stood a residence. This he has com- 
pletely remodeled and made into a modern 
home. The suiToundings are tasteful, jiar- 
ticularly the arrangement and choice of 
shrubs, which Mr. Snyder set out himself. 

Politically, Mr. Snyder is a Democrat and 
has frequently held township offices. He is 
secretary and a stockholder in the Lalcewood 
Cemetery Association, of which he was one of 
the organizers. Prior to its disbanding, he 
was a member and master workman in the 
order of American Mechanics. Both he and 
his wife, as well as their son Clarence, are 
members of the beneficiary order of Path- 
finders. They belong to the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in which Mr. Snyder has sei'ved 
as a trustee for a long period: .Few men of 
this section are better or more favorably 
known. 

HON. GUSTAVUS SEIBERLING, who 
has been mayor of Western Star for the past 
fourteen years and a county commissioner of 
Summit County since 1905. was born .Tune 
19, 18.54, on the fann in Norton Town.ship, 
on which he .*till resides. 

The father of Mr. Seiberling was born in 
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in 1811, and 
came to Summit County and settled in Norton 
Township when the entire country was an 
uncleared wilderne.'^s. He bought eighty acres 
of land which he cleared, and on which he 
built a sawmill, where later was built the first 
Excelsior reaper. He lived a long and active 



life, and was identified with the development 
of Norton Township in a larger degree than 
almost any other citizen. He married Kath- 
erine Peters, who was also a native of Lehigh 
County, Pennsylvania, and they reared a 
family of thirteen children, eight sons and 
five daughters. Of this family six sons and 
one daughter survive, namely: James Plenry, 
residing at Jonesboro, Indiana, where he owns 
a large rubber manufacturing plant; Monroe, 
a large plate glass manufacturer, residing in 
a suburb of Chicago; Charles, residing at 
Mitchellville, Iowa, a retired farmer, formerly 
a soldier in the Civil AVar; Columbus, a re- 
tired farmer residing at AVadsworth ; Milton 
A., a farmer residing in Norton Town.ship; 
Sarah, wife of Jacob M. Harter, residing at 
AA'adsworth, and Gustavus, w^ho is the young- 
est of the family. 

Mr. Seiberling was reared on the home 
farm and was mainly educated at AA'estern 
Star Academy. For many years he carried 
on extensive farming and stockraising, and 
has also taken a prominent part in the public 
affairs of Summit County. He was one of 
the organizers and a charter member of the 
Norton Mutual Fire Association, of which he 
has been secretary for twenty years, and for 
fourteen years he has served as mayor of the 
town of AVestern Star. He was elected com- 
mis.sioner in the fall of 1905, but prior to 
that had served in many offices, for twenty 
years being a member of the School Board of 
AA^'estern Star village school, for ten years 
school clerk; and in 1900 he was elected 
real estate assessor. Politically, he is a Re- 
publican and has been an important leader 
in the ranks of that party for many years. 

In 1875, Air. Seiberling was married to 
Julia Kulp, who is a daughter of .John M. 
Kulp. of Norton Township, and they have 
five children, namely: AA'^ilson F., residing 
on a farm adjoining that of his father; Claud, 
operating the home farm: Sarah Katherine, 
who is the wife of Dr. AA'illiam AA^'ise, V. S.. 
residing at Barberton ; and Pauline and Ray- 
mond G.. who reside at home with their par- 
ents. Mr. Seiberlinfr is a member if the 
Tjithcran Olmrch nt AA^ndsworfli. in which he 



1054 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



has been choir leader for fifteen years. He 
belongs to the Masonic fraternity. 

GEORGE MAAG, a highly respected 
citizen of Akron, who was one of the or- 
ganizers of the Twentieth Century Heating 
and Ventilating Company, of this city, and 
who continued to be treasurer of the concern 
from its founding, has been active in the busi- 
ness life of the community for many years. 
Mr. Maag was born in Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1853, where he remained until reaching 
the age of seventeen years. He then went to 
Orrville and learned the tinner's trade. 
After three years he looked around for a 
promising field for work, and in the fall of 
1873, came to Akron, where, until 1878, he 
was with the firm of Cramer & May. Sub- 
sequently he established himself in a hard- 
ware bu.=iness at Haysville, Ashland County, 
where he remained until January, 1885, 
when he removed his interests to Shelby, 
Ohio. In 1890, he left Shelby and return- 
ing to Akron, became employed with the 
firm of May and Fiebeger, continuing with 
them until the fall of 1894. He then be- 
came associated with William Clerkin 
in establishing the manufacture of the 
Twentieth Centuiy Furnace under the firm 
name of Clerkin and Maag, which firm has 
been succeeded by the Twentieth Century 
Heating and Ventilating Company. In this 
line Mr. Maag has met with success. 

The ideas involved in the manufacture of 
the heaters and boilers illustrate new prin- 
ciples, and the plant is fitted with all kinds 
of modern machinery to carry out these de- 
signs. In 1899, Mr. Maag w-as married to 
Lydia Bans, who is a daughter of .Jacob 
Bans, of Akron. The family residence is 
situated at No. 40 Mt. View Avenue, Akron. 

DANIEL B. CAHOW, proprietor of the 
Cahow Pump Company, of Akron, is a leading 
business man of this city and one of its 
prominent merchants. He was born in York 
Township, Medina County, Ohio, in 1854, 
and is a son of D. J. Cahow, a pioneer in 
the pump manufacturing line. When he 



was two years old his father moved to Salem, 
Iowa, where he remained, however, Ijut two 
years, returning to Ohio and settling in Litch- 
field, Medina County. When Daniel B. was six 
years old his father began the manufacture of 
pumps and the subject of this seketch was 
therefore practically reared in this business. 

At the age of eighteen years he came to 
Akron with his father and brother, H. J. Ca- 
how, and engaged in a pump business, but 
for the past eighteen years he has been sole 
proprietor and is the head of the largest re- 
tail pump business in the United States. 
He handles all kinds of pumps, and has the 
exclusive sale of all the best ones, especially 
the Myers pump, which has no superior. As 
a pump man he has a reputation which ex- 
tends all over the State. 

On October 4, 1877, Mr. Cahow was mar- 
ried to Nellie M. Garman, who was reared at 
Akron, and they have three children : Grace, 
who married M. J. Hallinan, assistant city 
engineer at Akron; and Roy and Ray, twins, 
the former of whom is a lithographic artist 
and the latter is with the pump manufactur- 
ing concern of F. E. Myers & Brother, of 
Ashland, Ohio. Politically, Mr. Cahow is a 
Republican. He has fraternal membership 
in Akron Lodge, No. 88, F. & A. M. ; Nemo 
Lodge, No. 746, I. 0. 0. F. ; also the Encamp- 
ment ; the Daughters of Rebecca ; the Knights 
of the Maccabees, and the Protected Home 
Circle. 

GEORGE H. WADSWORTH, general su- 
perintendent of the machinery department of 
the Falls Rivet and Machine Company, at 
Cuyahoga Falls, is well known locally in 
this connection while his name is a familiar 
one in all the leading foundries of the United 
States, Canada and Europe, as the inventor 
of machinery of the greatest utility. Mr. 
Wadsworth was born near Chester, England, 
February 11, 1857, and is a son of William 
Collins and Agnes (Hogg) Wadsworth. 

On the paternal side, Mr. Wadsworth 
traces his ancestry to Holland and on the ma- 
ternal, to Scotland. His father, William C. 
Wadsworth, was born at Liverpool, England, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1055 



where he later held a position as harbor mas- 
ter, and was killed in the performance of 
his duty, when his son, George H., was 
twelve years of age. He had four children, 
namely: John Murray, who has been gov- 
ernor of a province in India, for thirty years ; 
Agnes, who is deceased; George H.; and 
Elizabeth, who resides with her aged mother, 
at Colwin Bay, North Wales. The family 
is of the Presbyterian faith. 

In Eis boyhood, George H. Wadsworth 
showed a natural leaning toward mechanics, 
and as soon as his education was considered 
to be far enough advanced, he entered the 
Great Western Railway shops, at Wolver- 
hampton, where he served an apprenticeship 
of six years in what was there denominated 
the fitter and turner trade. This trade he 
followed until he was twenty-three years of 
age, when he came to Cleveland, Ohio, and 
entered the old Cleveland Bridge and Gar 
Worlcs. He continued work at his trade, 
mainly in Ohio, and was the first tool-maker 
employed by the National Cash Register Com- 
pany, and organized their tool room. Later, 
Mr. Wadsworth entered into business for him- 
self, at Findlay, Ohio, and from 1887 until 
1891, he ran a machine shop under the firm 
name of Wadsworth, Sheesley & Company. 
Erom there he returned to Cleveland and re- 
mained superintendent of the Avery Stamp- 
ing Company until the spring of 1894. He 
was then called to Chicago and was with the 
firm of Frazer and Chalmers, coming from 
there to take the position of foreman of the 
machine shop of The Falls Rivet and Ma- 
chine Company. After one year, Mr. Wads- 
worth became superintendent, but six months 
later left the company in order to engage in 
other business. 

When the business of this company was re- 
organized and changes made under the ad- 
ministration of Jeremiah Long, about 1897, 
Mr. Wadsworth returned to the company as 
general superintendent. At this time, owing 
to his past experience. The Falls Rivet and 
Machine Company was successful in obtain- 
ing some large contracts for government work 



amounting to about $140,000, which were 
completed with satisfaction to the Govern- 
ment and with financial advantage to the 
company. Mr. Wadsworth continued with 
the company as general superintendent until 
1901, when he again severed his relations in 
order to engage in the manufacture of a core- 
making machine, which was an invention of 
his own. The Wadsworth Improved Core 
Machines and Equipment, including the 
Wadsworth Portable Core Oven, have won 
their way through their obvious utility, and 
thousands are now in use in foundries 
throughout this and other countries. There 
are many similar machines on the market but 
the only medal given for a core machine, at 
the St. Louis Exposition, was awarded to The 
Falls Rivet and Machine Company for the 
machines invented by Mr. Wadsworth. He 
has made many other inventions relative to 
foundry work, all of them proving practical 
and valuable. He was the oldest continuous 
exhibitor at the American Foundrymen's As- 
sociation. 

In 1902, Mr. Wadsworth went to Cleveland 
and there engaged in the manufacturing of 
automobiles and was general superintendent 
and a stockholder in the American Motor 
Carriage Company. At the reorganization 
of The Falls Rivet and Machine Company, 
in 1903, Mr. Wadsworth again becme super- 
intendent of the machinery department, a 
position for which he is so thoroughly quali- 
fied. He has some 300 men under his super- 
vision and through his knowledge and care 
the great output is kept up to the standard 
which has won its present reputation for this 
concern. Mr. Wadsworth's interests have 
never centered in politics, but he gives a good 
citizen's support to all laudable public meas- 
ures and casts his vote with the Republican 
party. In England, Mr. Wadsworth was mar- 
ried to Cecily Blower, who is a daughter of 
Samuel J. Blower, of . Wolverhampton, and 
they have three children, namely: Florence 
E., Agnes K. and George H. The family 
belong to the Episcopal Church. 



1056 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



ALEXANDER STEESE, proprietor of 
the Copley Mill, situated on Wolf Creek, has 
been a resident of Summit County, Ohio, for 
nearly a quarter of a century, and is one of 
Copley township's well-known business men. 
Mr. Steese was born November 20, 1862, in 
Stark County, Ohio, and is a son of Abraham 
and Lydia (Bowers) Steese. 

Abraham Steese was born in Pennsylvania, 
and when a young man of eighteen years 
moved to Akron, Ohio, which was then but a 
small village. He was employed for some time 
in digging wells in and around Akron, 
constructing probably 600 or 700 in the 
vicinity, but after his mai-riage he engaged 
in agricultural pursuits in Stark and Sum- 
mit Counties, and in this occupation spent 
the remainder of his life, which closed 
in 1902 when he had attained the 
age of eighty-five years. Mr. Steese was mar- 
ried to Lydia Bowers, a native of Stark 
County, Ohio, who died in 1882 at the age of 
fifty-nine years, and to them eleven children 
were born, namely: Elizabeth, who married 
Thomas Beck; Lewis; Susan, who married J. 
Guttenberger ; Levi, who was drowned at the 
age of eleven years; Elvina, who married 
Solomon Arntz ; Cecelia (deceased), who mar- 
ried Fred Shoemaker, the original jiroprietor 
of the Copley Mill; Israel; Melvin ; Alex- 
ander; Amanda, who married A. Phile; and 
Frances, who married Charles Phile. 

Alexander Steese grew up on his father's 
farm in Stark County, Ohio, where he at- 
tended school, and in 1885 started to work 
in his brother-in-law's mill, Mr. Steese's pres- 
ent property, where he continued for five 
yeai-s. In 1890 he removed to Tallmadge, 
where he worked imtil the fall in the plant 
of the Sewer Pipe Company, subsequently 
returning to his brother-in-law's mill in Cop- 
ley Township. In the spring of 1891 he went 
to Indiana, where he worked at the carpen- 
ter's trade with his brother Lewis, but he 
again returned to Copley Township, where he 
.spent the winter. In the spring of 1892 Mr. 
Steese went to Comet, Green Township, and 
there rented a mill from D. F. Burger, which 
he operated until 1904, at which time he pur- 



chased stock in the Clinton Milling Company, 
of Clinton, Ohio, where for two years he was 
engaged as miller. He then traded his stock 
in the company for his present business, 
which he has since conducted with much suc- 
cess. The capacity of the mill is twenty-five 
barrels daily, and the product is the well 
known "Household Favorite Flour." 

In September, 1887, Mr. Steese was married, 
first, to Jennie Fulmer, whose death occurred 
in June, 1890, and to this union th?re was 
born one child, Clark. Mr. Steese was mar- 
ried, second, in the spring of 1893 to Stella 
Kleckner, who is a daughter of John and 
Elizabeth Kleckner, of Green Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and six children have been 
born to them: Ruth, Grace, Mvra, Laura, 
Paul and Carl. 

Mr. Steese is a Prohibitionist in political 
belief. With his wife and family he attends 
the Wesleyan Methodist Church. 

CAPT. W. M. HILTABIDLE, State agent 
for the North American Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance Company, with quarters in the Hamilton 
Building, Akron, has been identified with the 
Department of Public Works under the direc- 
tion of the State board, for many years, and 
since 1905 has been interested in his present 
enterprise. He was born at Mansfield, Ohio, 
July 31, 1857, where he was reared and edu- 
cated. 

During his eai'lier years, Mr. Hiltabidle 
served four years as shipping clerk 
lor the Humphrey Manufacturing ('om))any. 
of Mansfield, and for six years was with the 
Bodine Roofing Company, of Mansfield, both 
as superintendent of their works and as trav- 
eling .salesman. In' 1887 he entered the em- 
ploy of the State Board of Public Works and 
had charge of the steam dredge, continuing 
until 1892, when he was promoted to the office 
of division superintendent and in that ca- 
pacity came to Akron. He remained super- 
intendent until 1902, and then gave" up that 
position to become superintendent of the 
water supply for the manufacturers of Akron 
and Barbertoli. performing the duties of this 
office from 1902 until 1905. In the latter 




JAMES li. CASE 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



lor.u 



year he assisted in organizing the Noitli 
American Mutual Fire Insurance Compaiiy, 
the home office being at Mansfield. The fi^si. 
policy was issued October 26, 1905. They 
started into business with policies in force of 
$773,850. On July 12, 1907, their bool-s 
showed: Policies in force, $2,038,574.01, 
premiums paid, $75,264.52 ; fire losses paid, 
$21,505.61; contingent assets, $177,992.15. 
Mr. Hiltabidle is State agent and a member 
of the Board of Directors. The enterprise 
is one which has met with a hearty welcome 
and is in a very prosperous condition. 

Captain Hiltabidle gained liis title as cap- 
tain of Company B, Eighth Ohio Regiment, 
at Mansfield, and also during his long period 
of service with the Board of Public Works, 
when he was commanding officer. 

In 1878 he was married to Roberta Cairns, 
of Plymouth, Ohio. They have one daugh- 
ter. Myrtle Rose, who graduated from the 
Akron public schools, in the cla.ss of 1907. 
With his family, Captain Hiltabidle belongs 
to Trinity Lutheran Church. He is a Thirty- 
second Degree Mason, and has held many of- 
fices in the local Masonic bodies. He is also 
an Odd Fellow, and a Knight of Pythias, 
past exalted ruler of the Akron Lodge of Elks, 
and belongs to the Ma.sonic and Elk clubs, 
and to Harry Foster Camp, No. 331, Sons 
of Veterans. 

JAMES H. CASE, who has been engaged 
in the drug business in Akron for the past 
thirty-one years, is one of the city's most es- 
teemed citizens. He is also an honored vet- 
eran of the Civil Wa;-, and one of the few 
survivors of the Third Division of Cavalry, 
which gained distinction under their brave 
and beloved leader, the gallant General Cus- 
ter. Mr. Case was born in 1844. in old Mid- 
dlehury, and is a son of Simon S. and Jane 
(McDowell) Ca,se. 

Simon S. Case, a harness-maker by trade, 
was horn in the State of New York and came 
to Akron among the early settlers. Later he 
engaged in 'general contracting, and he built 
an entire section of the C. A. & C Railroad. 



Still later he went into the stoneware busi- 
ness, and was the first shipper of stoneware 
from Summit County l)y rail. His death 
took place in 1877. 

James H. Case entered tl:e Federal army 
at the age of nineteen years, becoming a mem- 
ber of Company A, Second Regiment, Ohio 
Cavalry. This regiment was mustered into 
the sei-vice at Columbus, and it was first or- 
dered to Tennessee and Kentucky. It partici- 
pated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spott- 
.sylvania. Mine Run. Hanover Court Hoase, 
and all battles from the Wilderness to the 
surrender of Lee. After Wilson's Raid Mr. 
Case was taken sick and was confined to the 
hospital for two months in Baltimore and 
Wilmington. After rejoining his regiment 
he took part in the battles of Winchester, 
Berry\'ille, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and 
Stony Creek. In October. 1863, Mr. Case re- 
enli-sted and remained in the service until 
after the final surrender of the Confederate 
forces, being honorably mustered out at St. 
Louis, Missouri, in September, 1865. His 
most thrilling war experiepce was during Wil- 
■son's Raid, when he had his horse shot from 
under him. In recalling the various brave . 
commanders under whom he served, Mr. 
Case remembers the gallant General Custer, 
who was adored by his soldiers, who together 
keep green his memory in an annual gather- 
ing of the survivors of the old command. In 
1907 Mr. Case attended the reunion held at 
Canandaigua, New York. 

After the end of his military service, Mr. 
Case retiu'ned to Akron where he worked at 
the machinist's trade until 1.S76. He then 
engaged in the diiig busine.s.~ in which lie has 
continued ever since. He is a stanch Repul)- 
lioan, and was a great admirer of the late 
Senator .James G. Blaine, during whose candi- 
dacy, Mr. Case's store was the Blaine head- 
quarters. He has served two terms in the 
City Council and has been postmaster at Pos- 
tal Station No. 4 ever since its orgauization. 

In 1872, Mr. Ca.se was first married to Ella 
Farrar. In April, 1890, he was married, .sec- 
ond, to Mrs. Margaret Blocker. Frnternallv. 



1060 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



he is a Mason of high standing. He has been 
a meanber of Buckley Post, G. A. R., since its 
organization. 

REED DEEDS, inventor, is the senior 
member of the firm of Reed Deeds & Son, 
builders and contractors at Cuyahoga Fall^i, 
and the patentee of the Deeds Monolithic Sys- 
tem of Concrete Construction, which provides 
forms, molds and methods for the erection 
and construction of all classes of buildings, 
with either solid or double walls, doing away 
with machine-made blocks. Mr. Deeds estab- 
lished himself in business at Cuyahoga Falls 
in 1889. He was born at Portersville, Butler 
County, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1848, and is 
a son of John and Ann Catherine (Wimer) 
Deeds. His family record includes an an- 
cestor who sei-ved on General Washington's 
staff in the Revolutionary "War. 

Philip Frederick Deeds, his paternal grand- 
fatlier, operated a mill near Slippery Rock, 
Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, but had 
lived in Butler County, where his son, John 
Deeds, was born, in 1806. In boyhood John 
Deeds learned the *heelright trade and later, 
when that business declined, took up carpen- 
tering. In 1857 he moved to Youngstown 
and continued in active business there until 
he retired, in 1879, when he went to live with 
a daughter at Keokuk, Iowa, where he died 
in 1883. He was one of the old-line Abo- 
litionists and in slavery days assisted many 
a "chattel" to escape from bondage. He 
was a strict Methodist and built a church 
near Portersville, and, unknown to the gen- 
eral public, constnicted an underground tun- 
nel which led to a big .stump in the woods. 
Down the tunnel from this stump, the 
operators of the Underground railroad con- 
ducted many fleeing slaves. Later he be- 
came an ardent Republican and at the out- 
break of the Civil War, offered his services, 
which were declined on account of his age, 
but he persisted in serving in the home guard. 
He was a man of most upright character and 
at various times honestly performed the du- 
ties of public office. 

The mother of Mr. Deeds was a daugh- 



ter of John Wimer, who resided near 
Portersville, Pennsylvania, where she 
was born in 1813. Her father was 
one of eight brothers, who migrated from 
the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in about 
1790, to what was afterwards called Butler 
County, Pennsylvania. He saw military 
sei-vice in the Black Hawk War. Of the nine 
children born to John Deeds and wife, eight 
grew to maturity, namely: Thirzah, now de- 
ceased, who married John Ramp, of Cuya- 
hoga Falls, also decetised; Joseph who served 
three years in the Seventh Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and was killed near 
Kingston, Georgia, during the Civil War; 
Hiram, now residing at Cleveland, who was 
for three years a member of the same regi- 
ment, and was wounded four times; Eliza- 
beth, who married Joseph Ramp, of 
Keokuk, Iowa, and died at Cuyalioga 
Falls; Wilbur, who served one year in the 
Civil War as a member of the Second Ohio 
Battery, and who died in 1906, at Noblesville, 
Indiana; Reed, who served in the Fourth In- 
diana Cavalry, but was special orderly at Brig- 
ade Headquarters of the First Brigade, Second 
Division, Wilson's Cavalry Corps ;' Minerva, 
who married Richard Reid, residing at Cuya- 
hoga Falls; and Frank, residing at Schenec- 
tady. New York. The mother of this family 
died in 1892. She was a member of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

Reed Deeds was eleven years of age when 
his father settled at Youngstown, Ohio. 
After completing his education he learned 
the carpenter's trade with liis father, fol- 
lowing which he worked as a journeyman 
for a number of years, in Cleveland, 
Youngstown and Akron. In 1868 he 
came to Cuyahoga Falls, where he has since 
resided. In 1876 he began to work for H. B. 
Camp, building his shops, and thus he grad- 
ually worked into brick and cement contract- 
ing, which led up to the invention of his sys- 
tem of concrete construction. In 1878 he 
took up cement work, using some of the first 
Yeass Portland cement ever made in the 
United States. At Cuyahoga Falls he built 
John Walsh's residence, the Roethig Block, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1061 



the Brand Block, and the power houses and 
barns for the A. B. C. Railway, both at Cuya- 
hoga Falls and Bedford, and their additions 
to their Akron plant; also the chapel at Oak- 
wood Cemetery, and the power house for the 
Youngstown lS!^ Ohio River R. R. at West 
Point, Ohio. Other fine building that he has 
done includes his own handsome residence, 
which was completed in 1893, which is sit- 
uated on North Front Street, and in 1904 he 
built a cement house for his son, Wilber 
Clyde, who became his partner in business in 
1902, when the firm name of Deeds & Son 
was adopted. His pay-roll averages about 
thirty men. 

Mr. Deeds has always been more or less of 
an inventor and his machines have proved 
of remarkable utility. His patent on mono- 
lithic construction bears the number 787665, 
and that on hold molds No. 878664; he has 
also another on railroad water tanks. In the 
small space accorded to the present sketch it 
would be impossible to do full justice to Mr. 
Deed's invention of the monolithic concrete 
system. He has issued a clear and concise 
explanation of his invention which has been 
widely circulated, with the most gratifying 
results as to business. For some twenty-eight 
years Mr. Deeds has been a successful mason 
and builder and he has given a great deal of 
study to the use of concrete material, solving 
the problem as to its use at the smallest ex- 
pense and with the greatest amount of dura- 
bility. Mr. Deeds married Eliza Bradley, who 
was born at Cuyahoga Falls, December 17, 
1849, a daughter of Robert and Margaret 
Bradley, of that place. Mrs. Deeds' father 
was born at Middletown, Connecticut, and 
accompanied his parents to Summit County, 
in childhood. 

Mr. and Mrs. Deeds have had two children : 
Arthur, who died in childhood, and Wilber 
Clyde, who is in partnership with hLs father. 
Wilber Clyde Deeds was born December 1, 
1875. at Cuyahoga Falls, and was educated in 
the schools of his native place, and at the 
Western Reserve Academy, at Hudson, where 
he w^is graduated in 1895. He then spent one 
year in the Ohio State University, taking a 



course in mining engineering. lie learned 
the brick-laying trade with his father, whose 
business partner he became, in 1902. On 
June 25, 1898, he enlisted in Company F, 
10th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of 
which he was made corporal, for service in 
the Spanish-American War. Later he was 
transferred to the lltli Company of the Sig- 
nal Corps and in 1899 he accompanied that 
body to Cuba, where he was in service three 
and one-half months, and then returned and 
was honorably discharged at Savannali, 
Georgia. He is a member of the United 
Spanish-American War Veterans, of Camp 
Ward A. Wilford, at Akron. 

Wilber C. Deeds married Ethel Dean, who 
is a daughter of William Spray, of Mantua, 
Ohio, and they have two children, Dorothy 
and Ethel. Mrs. Wilber C. Deeds is a mem- 
ber of the Disciples Church. She also, with 
her husband, belongs to the Falls Chapter, 
No. 245, Eastern Star. He is prominent in 
Masonic circles, being a member of Star 
Lodge, No. 187, Washington Chapter, No. 25, 
R. A. M., and Akron Commandery, K. T., 
No. 25. In politics he is a Republican. 

Reed Deeds has- always been identified with 
the Republican party, but his interests have 
lain in an entirely different direction from of- 
fice-holding and he has never been willing to 
consider any such proposition. He is, how-- 
ever, a public-spirited citizen, one who has al- 
ways lent his influence in the direction of 
permanent improvements and substantial 
progress. He is not united with any religious 
body but liberally contributes to the support 
of the Congregational Church, to which Mrs. 
Deeds belongs. Fraternally he Ls a Mason, be- 
longing to' Star Lodge, No. 187, also to Pa- 
vonia Lodge, No. 301, Knights of Pythias. 
Mrs. Deeds is a member of the Woman's Re- 
lief Corps, and it was through her untiring 
efforts that the fine flag pole w^as pur- 
chased and erected at the corner of Second 
and Broad Streets, she having the honor of 
being the first to raise the flag. 

WILLIAM D. BAUER, a prosperous agri- 
culturist of Norton Township, who owns and 



1062 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



operates a tract of 151 acres of fine farming 
land, situated on the Akron-Wadsworth road, 
about five miles west of Akron, was born in 
this township, June 14, 1863, and is a son of 
Joseph D. and Sarah (Surf ass) Bauer. 

Daniel Bauer, the grandfather of William 
D., was one of the first settlers of Norton 
Township, whence he came from Northamp- 
ton County, Pennsylvania, in 1843, and, lo- 
cating about one mile northwest of Loyal 
Oak, purchased land and eventually became 
the owner of several hundred acres. His son, 
Joseph D. Bauer, was but eleven years of age 
when he came here with the family. In about 
1869 he located with his family on the farm 
now owned by Ed Laubaugh, and in the 
spring of 1888 settled at Loyal Oak, where Jo- 
seph b. Bauer died July 16. 1903. In March, 
1894, Mr. Bauer purchased the present farm 
of his son AVilliam D., which the latter has 
been operating since 1895. Joseph D. Bauer 
was married to Sarah Surfass, who was born 
in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and is a 
daughter of Andrew Surfass, who came to 
Noi'ton Township a few years after the arrival 
of Daniel Bauer. Four children were born 
to Joseph B. and Sarah Bauer, namely: AVil- 
liam D. ; Fietta E., who is the wife of Ed Lau- 
baugh; and two who died in childhood. 

William D. Bauer was educated in the 
schools of his home vicinity, and was reared 
on the farm now owned by Ed Laubaugh, 
whence his parents had removed when he was 
about six years old. In 1895 he located on his 
present property, where he has earned on gen- 
eral farming with much success to the jiresent 
time. 

In 1887 Mr Bauer was married to Phcebe 
Stimson, who is a daughter of Robert Stim- 
son, of Copley Town.ship, and they have eight 
children: Warren F., Celia L., Blanche 
May, Joseph R., Grace F., Nellie B., Elva P. 
and Floyd O. Mr. and Mrs. Bauer are mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church of Loyal Oak. 

MILLER G. MOORE, who holds the re- 
sponsible position of division superintendent 
with the Northern Ohio Traction Company, 
with headquarters at Cuyahoga Falls, was 



born at Anthony, Hunterdon County, New 
Jersey, July 20, 1872, and is a son of John H. 
and Martha (Everett) Moore. 

John H. Moore was born in New Jersey, 
where he has always lived an honorable use- 
ful life. By trade he is a blacksmith and 
conducts his own business. For some years 
he has been a justice of the peace, and he is 
now serving as postmaster at Middle Valley. 
His three children are: Miller G. ; Georgia, 
who resides in Norwich, New York; and 
Frank, residing at Garwood, New Jersey. 

After completing the common school course 
in his native place, Mr. Moore learned tele- 
graphing, which he followed in connection 
with railroad work, for two years. He has 
been connected with transportation lines ever 
since he was fourteen years of age. Mr. Moore 
began in a humble way and understands the 
business in all its details. He has filled posi- 
tions similar to his present one both in Cleve- 
land and Detroit, and"came to Cuyahoga Falls 
in June, 1902. He has charge of the A. B. C, 
Kent and Ravenna and Barberton lines, and 
has control of about 125 "men, with seventy- 
five or eighty miles of track under his juris- 
diction. His thorough technical knowledge 
and reliable character, make him a valuable 
part of the great system which he represents. 

Mr. Moore was married at Detroit, Michi- 
gan, to Marie Common, a daughter of James 
Common, of that city, and they have two 
children, Melba and I)oris. The family be- 
long to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
Moore belongs to Court Bagley, of the order 
of Foresters, of Detroit, of which he has been 
(hief ranger; and he is also a member of the 
National Union. He is an Independent in 
politics. 

DAVID E. HILL, one of Akron's old and 
prominent citizens, was born at Gowanda, 
Cattaraugus County, New York, May 25, 
1825. coming of sturdy English-Scotch an- 
cestry, lie was eighteen years old when he 
came to Middlebury, Ohio. During his early 
years at Middlebury, Mr. Hill worked in a 
machine shop and then became a.ssociated 
with others in the manufacture of the old- 




THOMAS RHODES 



AND REPRESENT;VTIVE CITIZENS 



1065 



fashioned fire engine,?. From 1847 until 
1849 he represented the firm of -McMillan & 
Irish, on the road, selling woolen maehinerj', 
in the spring of the latter year first becom- 
ing interested in what is now the Akron 
Sewer Pipe Company, which was the pioneer 
cf the great industry. Mr. Hill was the or- 
ganizer and leading spirit of the American 
Sewer Pipe Company, which has an annual 
output of 5,000 car loads, or 60,000 tons. 
His influence on the business life of Middle- 
bury was pronounced and his standing was 
high in business circles as long as he remained 
an active factor in the business life of the 
community. 

On June 5, 1848. Mr. Hill was married to 
Harriet Louise ilcMillan, who is a daughter 
of the late Reuben McMillan. They have 
had three children, namely : David W., born 
March 15, 1850, who married Grace Perkins 
McCurdy, of Akron, Septembei 6, 1877, and 
died January 30, 1880. leaving one child, 
Eva C. ; Cora T., born July 10, 1852, who 
died February 6, 1874; and George R., born 
April 3. 1855. 

All his life, Mr. Hill has been a thoughtful 
and intelligent watcher of public events. He 
has been identified with the Republican party 
ever since its organization, and almost since 
his majority, has been an incumbent of office, 
sen-ing Summit County in some capacity, 
long and well. He served either in the Coun- 
cil or on the School Board of the village of 
Middleburv, until its annexation to Akron, 
in 1872, and from 1862 to 1868, he was 
county commissioner, and was elected a mem- 
ber of the Citv Council of Akron, from the 
Sixth Ward, for the years, 1875-76-77 and 
1878. 

THOMAS RHODES, one of Akron's 
much esteemed retired citizens, residing at 
No. 610 West Market street, was born in 1826, 
in Lancastershire, England, and was about 
seven years of age when he accompanied his 
parents to America. The father of Mr. 
Rhodes settled in Sharon Township, Medina 
County, Ohio, where the son was reared, and 
under his brother's tutelage, mainlv educated. 



Mr. Rhodes followed farming and stockrais- 
ing in both Medina and Summit Counties, 
giving especial attention to the growing of 
sheep. After a busy and successful agricul- 
tural career, Mr. Rhodes erected the beautiful 
residence in Akron whioli has since been his 
home. 

In 1876, Mr. Rhodes was married to Sarah 
B. Garside. PIo and his wife are leading 
members of the West Hill Congregational 
Church. Prior to the Civil War, Mr. Rhodes 
was prominently identified with the Abolition 
party and was well known to many anti-slav- 
ery leaders, being a great admirer of William 
Lloyd Garrison. 

October 2, 1862, Mr. Rhodes enlisted in 
Company A, Seventy-second Regiment, 0. V. 
I. He took the place of his brother who had 
been drafted. Pie served till July 30, 1863, 
and was honorably discharged at a camp 
twenty miles in the rear of Vicksburg. 

CHARLES P. HELLER, who is carrying 
on extensive farming operations on his ex- 
cellent tract of 148 acres situated about three- 
quarters of a mile west of Bath Centre, Bath 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, has served 
as a.5sessor of this township for the past five 
^ears, and is one of the most influential Re- 
publicans of his section. Mr. Heller was born 
October 1, 1855, in Guilford Township, Me- 
dina County, Ohio, and is a son of Levi and 
Elizabeth (Dutt) Heller. 

Levi Heller, who was a native of North- 
ampton County, Pennsylvania, where he was 
reared and educated, removed to Medina 
County, Ohio, a short time after his marriage, 
and there cultivated a seventy-seven acre 
farm until his death in 1865. He married 
Elizabeth Dutt. who sunnved him until 1893, 
and to them was born one child, Charles P. 

Charles P. Heller was but nine years of age 
when his father's death occurred, and when 
he was thirteen years old he took full charge 
of the farm in Medina County, where he 
and his mother lived alone. In 1881 this 
farm was sold, and Mr. Heller and his mother 
removed to his present home in Bath Town- 
ship, where he erected a fine home in 1882. 



1066 



HISTORY OF SU.M:\I1T COXTNTY 



Here he has carried on successful agricul- 
tural operations to the present time. He has 
been prominent -in the ranks of the Repub- 
lican party in this section, having been a 
member of the Summit County Republican 
Executive Committee for several years, served 
four years as a member of the Bath Town- 
ship School Boai'd, and was president thereof 
for two years, and since 1902 has served in 
the capacity of assessor, filling that position 
to the satisfaction of all concerned. In 1888 
Mr. Heller was united in marriage with 
Mary Stnink, who is a daughter of William 
Stnmk, of Wadsworth, Ohio. Mr. Heller is 
a member of the Knights of the Maccabees 
and of the Masonic order. 

ALONZO SMITH, a prominent farmer 
and representative citizen of Sunuiiit County, 
Ohio, who is engaged in operating an excel- 
lent farm of 121 acres in Franklin Town- 
ship, was born December 26, 1846, north of 
Middlebranch, Stark County, Ohio, and is a 
son of George E. and Sarah (Crist) Smith. 

George E. Smith was born in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, and when a boy 
of twelve years came to Ohio with his parents, 
settling about seven miles north of Canton. 
He grew to manhood on the home farm, 
and in his youth learned the tanner's trade, 
which he followed for some years, conduct- 
ing a tannery north of Middlebranch, Stark 
County. In 1859 he purchased a farm near 
Canton, where the rest of his life was spent, 
his death occurring igni his eightieth year. Mr. 
Smith married Sarah Crist, who died at the 
homestead at the age of eighty-seven years. 
Owing to a fire accident when a child he lost 
the fore part of both feet, which much inter- 
fered with his ability to walk. At his death 
Mr. Smith owned 1,132 acres of choice land 
in Stark and Summit Counties, as follows: 
Eighty acres in Canton Town.ship near Ful- 
ton; ninety acres in Plain; 268 in Lake; 160 
in Nenieshellen, and 190 in Perry Township, 
south of Massillon, and in Summit County he 
owned 344 acres. They were the parents of 
eight children, namely: Sarah Ann, who 
was the wife of Israel Bixler; Susan, who was 



the wife of Christ Wingerd; Christian, who 
went' West and has never been heard from; 
-Andrew H., who was a soldier in an Ohio 
regiment during the Civil War; Benjamin 
H., who was also a soldier during the Civil 
War, and now resides at Canton ; Joel, who 
lives in Stark County; Alonzo; and Philo, 
of Canton, 

Alonzo Smith was reared on the home 
farm, and for one year worked at the plaster- 
ing business in Canton, In 1872 he pur- 
chased his present farm from John Genine, 
and here he has continued to reside. Mr. 
Smith is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, of which he is treasurer. He is 
agent for the Norton Mutual Fire Associa- 
tion for Franklin Township. In December, 
1867, Mr. Smith was married to Harriet H. 
Longabaugh, and to them were born five 
children : Phidello, who married Maude 
Mefi'; Rahama, who married Dr, Harper; 
John, who conducts a general store; Orlando; 
and Sadie, who married Bert Pni'dy. 

WILLIAM J, POWELL, general farmer, 
cultivating 125 acres of valuable land in 
Northfield township, is a son of William and 
Sarah (Baum) Powell, He is a great-grand- 
son of George Powell, who was born at Bei'- 
lin, Germany, and who, during the times of 
Napoleon, Avhen the country was in an un- 
settled condition, became involved in politics, 
and, with other revolutionists, prepared to 
flee to America, He .succeeded in getting his 
wife and children on board of a sailing vessel 
and then, being hard pressed, endeavored, 
with soiue companions, to escape to the ship 
on a floating log, in which attempt he was 
drowned. His son, Henry Powell, grand- 
father of AA^illiam J,, came from Germany 
with his mother and two sisters. He was sold 
in New Jersey to work out the passage money 
for the family, he then being eight years of 
age. He lived up to the agreement and re- 
mained with his owner until he was twenty- 
cne years old, when he married Rachel Fow- 
ler and they subsequently came to Mahoning 
County, William Powell, the father, was 
born in New Jersey and emigrated to Alahon- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1067 



ing County, Ohio, with hi^ father, when six 
yeajs old. He lived there until he was eight- 
een, and then came to what is now North- 
field, Summit County. In 1840, he married 
Sarah Baum, and settled on her homestead 
farm of fifty acres, to which he added until 
he owned 125 acres. On this land he carried 
on general farming and sheep growing. He 
voted \vith the Republican party, but never 
sought office. He died in 1868. He was 
leared in the Society of Friends, but as there 
was no religious organization of that body in 
this locality, he united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. His death occurred in 
1868. 

Thomas Baum, the maternal grand- 
father of Mr. Powell, was born in 1798, 
in We.-^tmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and 
in 1801, was brought by his parents to Salem, 
Columbiana County, Ohio. He subsequently 
married Mary Perkey, and they had the fol- 
lowing children: John, deceased, served in 
the Civil AVar; Sarah, the mother of Mr. 
Powell, born June 1, 1824; Mary, now de- 
ceased; Martha, who is the widow of U. R. 
Plorner. of Akron; Elizabeth, who married 
David Silver, of Jennings County, Indiana; 
and .James M., who resides at East Toledo. 

To William and Sarah Powell were born 
five children, of whom the following now sur- 
vive: Louisa, widow of Elihu Griswold, re- 
siding at Akron; Harriet E., who married 
Andrew J. Kelty, of Bedford; Mary R., resid- 
ing at home with her mother; and William 
J., whose name begins this sketch. 

William J. Powell grew up on the farm 
which he now cultivates, and was thoroughly 
trained in agricultural work. He raises on 125 
acres, wheat and potatoes for market, giving 
twelve acres to wheat and three to potatoes, 
and grows hay, com and oats for feed and 
dairy bu.siness, keeping about twenty-five 
bead of cattle.- The milk from his cows, all 
of excellent breed, is shipped to Cleveland. 
Hi? apple orchard is in fine producing condi- 
tion. Mr. Powell looks well to his buildings 
and his immense barn is of 30 by 90 feet, 
with eighteen-foot po.sts. He farms along 



modern lines and meets with excellent suc- 
cess. 

Mr. Powell married Margaret R. Nesbitt, 
who is a daughter of the late James Nesbitt, 
formerly county commissioner, and a promi- 
nent citizen of the county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Powell are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. Politically, Mr. Powell is a Re- 
publican, and for six years has been a mem- 
ber of the Republican County Executive com- 
mittee. He served for seven years on the 
School Board and one j^ear as a member of 
the Council at Macedonia. He has since been 
elected councilman for a term of two years. 

THE BAUM FAMILY. The immigrant 
ancester of this family was George Baum, Sr., 
who was born in Germany, November 17, 
1754, and who, when seventeen years of age, 
sailed for America with a brother. The lat- 
ter died on ship-board and was buried at sea. 
The ship must have met with tempestuous 
weather, or have been a very slow- sailor, as 
it is recorded that the voyage lasted sLx 
months. He landed at Philadelphia in the 
year 1772, when public affairs were in more or 
less of a ferment owing to the troubles with 
England which were in a few years to bring 
on the Revolutionary War. In accordance 
with a not unfrequent custom in those days, 
his services had been sold to a man for three 
years to pay his passage. In 1783 he was 
married to Mary Higgin, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1801 he moved to Ohio, settling 
in Columbiana County, where he purchased 
160 acres of land of the government, at $1.25 
].er acre, which land is now the site of the 
city of Salem. The nearest gristmill was 
then at Marietta, about sixty-five miles away, 
the route being through the woods, and it 
used to take him from three to four days to 
make the trip, leading his horse, which car- 
ried the grist. On each occasion he was 
obliged to camp at least two nights in the 
^^ oods. 

Thomas Baum, son of George and Mary 
Baum (and maternal grandfather of William 
J. Powell, of Northfield Township, Summit 
County, Ohio), was born in Westmoreland 



1068 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



County, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1798. In 
1801 he accompanied his parents to Salem, 
Columbiana County, Ohio. Here he subse- 
quently married Mary Perkey. In 1821 he 
became a resident of Northfield Township, 
Summit County, where he purchased a farm 
for three dollars per acre. This farm was 
located about eighteen miles from Cleveland, 
and is now known as the G. T. Bishop farm. 
Here his death occurred, December 24, 1862. 
His wife had preceded him to the grave, dy- 
ing on her fifty-eighth birthday, June 28, 
1855. They reared a family of six children 
- — John, Sarah, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, and 
James M. The record of these children is, in 
brief, as follows: 

John enlisted in the 111th Regiment Ohio, 
Volunteer Infantry, in Williams County, 
Ohio, and served nearly three years. He died 
in that county November 16, 1865. Sarah 
became the wife of William Powell, of North- 
field Township, where she now resides. Mary 
married a Mr. White, of Jennings County, 
Indiana. Martha, who is the widow of Mr. 
Horner, resides in Akron, Ohio. Elizabeth is 
the wife of David Silver, of Jennings County, 
Indiana. 

James M. Baum, the remaining member of 
the above-mentioned family, was born on 
Christmas Day, 1838. He was educated in 
the district schools, and assisted his father in 
clearing and developing his land. In 1872 
he located in Section 33, Ross Township, 
Wood County, Ohio, where he is now engaged 
in general farming and gardening, having a 
T^ ell improved farm of some forty acres. He 
also devotes a part of his attention to fruit 
raising. Being located but a short distance 
from Toledo, he finds a ready market for his 
produce, and has been quite successful. He is 
numbered among the prosperous and repre- 
sentative citizens of his locality. 

GEORGE R. HILL, viec-]iresident of the 
American Sewer Pipe Company, and inter- 
ested in other commercial enterprises, is one 
of Akron's leading business citizens. He was 
born at Akron, Ohio, and is a son of David E. 
Hill, who was the pioneer manufacturer of 



sewer pipe in America. The late David E. 
Hill was born in the State of New York and 
came to Akron in 1848, when the village was 
known as Middlebury. Here he established 
himself in business and after many experi- 
ments succeeded in manufacturing a drain- 
age pipe which was the very first article which 
proved of real utility in handling sewerage. 
He was the founder of the Akron Sewer Pipe 
Company and subsequently of the Hill Sewer 
Pipe Company, and at the time of his death, 
in August, 1901, was one of the leading man- 
ufacturers and capitalists of Akron. 

George R. Hill was reared and educated 
at Akron and from boyhood has been con- 
nected with the manufacture of sewer pipe. 
He was an early assistant of his father and 
succeeded to many of his interests. The 
American Sewer Pipe Company has thirty- 
seven plants, three of these being in the Akron 
district; the one located at Barberton is the 
largest plant of its kind in the world. From 
small beginnings the business has grown to 
enormous proportions. In 1884, Mr. Hill 
was married to Alice A. Hinman. He is a 
member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and 
also of its vestry. He is a Thirty-second De- 
gree Mason. 

JOHN CRISP & SON, a leading busine.-^,^ 
firiu at Akron, engaged in general contract- 
ing and dealing in all kinds of building ma- 
terial, is a prominent factor in the commercial 
life of this city. John Crisp, the founder of 
the firm, was born in England and learned hi.'^ 
trade in London. When he emigi'ated he 
lived for about one year at Hamilton, Can- 
ada, and then came to Akron. 

In 1876 the firm of Crisp Brothers was es- 
tablished at Akron, and it continued in busi- 
nes.s here for twenty years. Then John Crisp 
withdrew on acount of being elected a mem- 
ber of the Board of City Commissioners, on 
which he served for four years. In August, 
1901, the firm of John Crisp & Son was or- 
ganized, compo.sed of John Crisp and his son, 
Edmond F. Mr. Crisp was married at Ham- 
ilton, Canada, to Susan Akell, and they had 
three sons: Edmond, Lee and Roland. Mr. 




ABNER E. FOLTZ, M. D. 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1071 



Crisp is a Knight Templar Alasoii and is a 
member of the board of directors of the Em- 
ployers' Association. With his whole family, 
he is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Edniond F. Crisp was born at Hamilton, 
Canada, and was one year old when his par- 
ents came to Akron, where he was reared and 
educated, graduating from the Akron High 
School. He immediately went into the office 
of Crisp Brothers, and then took a course in 
a business college in this city. Lat-er he 
learned his father's business, from the ground 
up, and when taken into partnership, was 
thoroughly familiar with the work as an arti- 
san, and perfectly competent to handle it in 
a business way. Among the first buildings 
•erected by the firm of John Crisp & Son, was 
the First National Bank building, and this 
was followed by the brick work for the Co- 
lonial Salt Company, the Wellman Seaver 
Morgan Company's plant, the Gothic flats, the 
Long & Taylor building, the shipping build- 
ing for the B. F. Goodrich Company, and 
many more of size and importance. 

In June, 1905, Edmond F. Cri.sp was mar- 
ried to Frances "Wilson, who is a daughter of 
John Wilson, a wealthy pioneer settler at 
Akron. Mr. Crisp belongs to the Knights 
•of Pythias and is a captain in the Uniformed 
Rank. He is as.sociated with the Masons and 
•other organizations and is vice-president of 
the Builders' Exchange. 

ABNER E. FOLTZ M.D., physician and 
surgeon and oculist at Akron, has been in 
active practice in this city for more than 
thirty years. He is a veteran of the Civil 
War and has more than a local reputation as 
a poet and professional author. Dr. Foltz 
was born in 1840, in Wayne County, Ohio. 

He obtained his literary education at 
Sharon Center, Medina County, and he and 
his four brothers served together in the same 
company, in the Civil War. They enlisted 
about August 6, 1862, in Company T. 102nd 
Regiment. 0. V. I., and remained in the 
army until the close of the war, during the 
larger part of this period being on detached 



duty. Dr. Foltz is a valued member of Buck- 
ley Post, No. 26, G. A. R., and also of the 
National Union. 

After completing h^ literary .education, 
Dr. Foltz began the reading of medicine. He 
spent six months in the medical department 
of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 
and in 1868 was graduated from the medical 
department of the Western Reserve College. 
In 1869 he took a post-graduate course at Jef- 
ferson Medical College, after which he was 
engaged in practice for one year, at Ashland, 
Ohio, and then came to Akron. 

Dr. Foltz was married in 1869, to Frances 
C. Bowen, who is a daughter of the late Dr. 
William Bowen. one of the early physicians 
of Akron. They have one son. Esgar Bowen, 
who is associated with his father in medical 
practice. Dr. E.sgar Bowen Foltz completed 
the High School course at Akron, was subse- 
quently graduated A. B. from Buchtel Col- 
lege, and later from the medical department 
of the University of Cincinnati. He has also 
a diploma from Christ Ho.spital. where he 
practiced for eighteen months. He is a close 
and earnest student of his profe.s.sion. 

Dr. A. E. Foltz is a member of the County. 
State and Northeastern Ohio Medical socie- 
ties, and Dr. Esgar belongs also to the Ameri- 
can Medical Association. .\ clinical chart, 
prepared by Dr. A. E. Foltz is in use all over 
the world and he also designed the optician* 
chart and is the designer and patentee of what 
is known as the Wizard Hinge. 

CHATTNCEY B. LANE, a prominent citi- 
zen of Twinsburg Township, resides on his 
A'aluable farm of 175 acres, on which, with 
only temporary periods of absence, he has 
spent his whole life. He was born on thi.-^ 
farm, in Summit County, Ohio, January 14, 
1 844. and is a son of Chauncy and Phebe W. 
(Bailey) Lane. 

Chauncey Lane was born at Killingsworth. 
Connecticut. August 31, 1803. and died in 
Ohio in March. 1885. He was a son of Philip 
Lane, whose w'hole life was passed in Connec- 
ticut. The family was established in New 
England by three brothers, Joseph, John and 



1U72 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Robert, who came from Englaud in 1670. 
Luman Lane, brother to Chauncey, was the 
first of the family to come to Summit County, 
reaching here November 2, 1820. In Novem- 
ber, 1828, Chauncey Lane came to Twinsburg 
Township, walking through the snow already 
fallen in the woods, and bought 100 acres 
of land, a part of Chauncey B.'s farm, cm 
which just enough clearing had been done 
to make possible the building of a log cabin, 
which was subsequently replaced by a com- 
fortable home. In 1837, Chauncey Lane was 
married to Phebe Worthington Bailey, who 
■\Aas born at Groton, Connecticut, January 20, 
1811, and died in 1885, when nearly seventy- 
five years old. Her parents were Asher and 
Abigail (Smith) Bailey, and her grandfather 
was Samuel Smith. She accompanied her 
brother to Geauga County, in 1836, settling 
in the town of Munson and came to Twins- 
burg to teach school. The two survivors of 
their family are: Caroline A., who is the 
wife of Hon. William Fowler, who was mayor 
of Redlands, California, and a very promi- 
nent citizen; and Chauncey B., of Twinsburg 
Township. 

Chauncey B. Lane was reared on the home 
place and was afforded much better educa- 
tional advantages than were enjoyed by many 
youths of his acquaintance. He was given 
academic training at the Bissell Institute at 
Twinsburg, and was but eighteen years _ of 
age when he enlisted for service in the Civil 
AVar. At Camp Chase he entered Company 
I), Eighty-fourth Regiment, 0. V. I., and 
served through his first three months of en- 
listment, mainly in Eastern Virginia and 
Maryland. In August, 1864, Mr. Lane re- 
onlisted, entering Company H, 177th Regi- 
ment, 0. V. I., in which he served until the 
close of the war. He participated in many 
battles and skirmishes, weary marches and 
tiresome and dangerous guard duty, travel- 
ing over a large extent of the southern coun- 
try, and received his honorable discharge at 
Greensboro, North Carolina. 

After the close of his military service, Mr. 
Lane went to Michigan, where he purchased 
a tract of eighty acres, but shortly after sold 



out and returned to his parents at Twinsburg. 
Here he has continued to reside, taking an 
active part in public affairs and carefully 
regulating a large private business, looking 
after the operation of a farm of 175 acres. 
For seven and a half yeai-s he served as a 
justice of the peace at Twinsburg, for many 
years has been connected with the Board 
of Education, serving frequently as its presi- 
dent, for two years was township assessor, and 
for a number of years was township trustee. 
On February 27, 1867, Mr. Lane was mar- 
ried to Mary E. Ames, who was born in Ver- 
mont, and is a daughter of Edwin and Anna 
(Scribner) Ames. The father of Mrs. Lane 
was born in Massachusetts, moved later to 
Illinois and still later to Minnesota, where 
he died. Her mother was bom at Pough- 
keepsie, New York. After her widowhood she 
moved to Ravenna, Ohio, and subsequently 
died at the home of her daughter. Mr. and 
Mrs. Lane have had four children, namely: 
Carrie A., who married E. W. Hull, and has 
two children, Florence L. and Lois M. ; Frank 
C, who died February 21, 1902, married 
Cleora B. Chamberlain; Edwin A., residing 
at Cleveland, who married Blanche Force, and 
they have one son, Wilbur C. ; and Edna, 
who is a student at Oberlin College. Mr. and 
Mrs. Lane are members of the Congregational 
Church at Twinsburg. Mr. Lane is a Repub- 
lican. 

T. M. PARKER, Sr., vice-president and 
manager of the Summit Lumber Company, 
with an extensive plant on West State street, 
Akron, has been a resident of this city since 
1867. He was bom in 1837, in Kent County, 
Delaware, where he was reared and educated. 

Prior to leaving his native State, Mr. 
Parker engaged in farming, after which he 
spent eighteen months in the oil fields near 
Oil City, Pennsylvania. In 1867 he came to 
Akron and during the following year engaged 
in shipping fruit, when he became associated 
with the Thomas Company, contractors and 
builders, with whom he continued for eight- 
een years. Mr. Parker then engaged in a 
contracting business in partnership with Wil- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1073 



Ham H. Jones, who died in 1897, after which 
Mr. Parlcer purchased a tract of land on State 
and Canal streets for a site, and proceeded to 
organize the Summit Lumber Company. It 
was incorporated with a capital stock of $15,- 
000, with T. M. Parker, Jr., president; T. M; 
Parker, Sr., vice-president and general man- 
ager; and William H. Mantz, secretary and 
treasurer. The business is both wholesale and 
retail and in addition to dealing in lumber 
of all kinds the company operate a pla,ning 
mill and manufacture doors, sash and blinds, 
and do a general contracting business. This 
great industry gives employment to many 
men, adding both to the material prosperity 
of the individuals concerned and to the city 
at large. 

In 1861, Mr. Parker was married to Cather- 
ine Millington, of Caroline County, Mary- 
land, who died in 1905, leaving one son, T. 
M. Parker, Jr. He was educated in the 
Akron schools and subsequently traveled for 
ten years in the theatrical business. For the 
past ten years he has given his attention to 
the demands of the increasing business of the 
Summit Lumber Company, and like his 
father, is numbered with the city's reliable 
and substantial citizens. 

JOHN P. MACKEY, dairyman and gen- 
eral farmer, in Northfield Township, was born 
in Boston Township, Summit County, Ohio. 
August 23, 1853, and is a son of Thomas and 
Margaret (Pope) Mackey. 

The father of Mr. Mackey came to America 
from County Antrim, Ireland, when seven- 
teen years of age, and joined an older brother, 
who had located in the State of New York. 
There he learned the carpenters' and joiners' 
trade, which he followed for seventeen years, 
and then, about the time of his marriage, set- 
tled down to farming. While following his 
trade exclusively, he worked in various cities 
through what is now the Central West, thus 
visiting Summit County. He was pleased 
with this section and subsequently bought the 
farm on Oak Hill, in Boston township, on 
vdiich he spent the rest of his life. He was 
married in 1850 to Margaret, daughter of 



John Pope, of Northfield Township, and four 
of their eight children grew to maturity, 
namely: John P., above mentioned; Amy, 
who married Rev. William G. Harper, a 
-Methodist clergyman, residing at Washington 
Village; George F., residing at Rocky River; 
and T. Harvey, also rasiding at Rocky River. 
The mother of the above mentioned family 
died in 1895. She was a member of the 
United Presbyterian Church. The father, 
Thomas Mackey, died in 1891, lacking a few 
days of being seventy-five years old. His 
father, James Mackey, also came to America 
and farmed for a time in Northfield Towm- 
ship,> but later bought a farm near Everett, 
in Boston township. 

John P. Mackey obtained his education in 
the public schools and remained on the home 
farm until the second year after his marriage. 
He then moved to Portage County where he 
farmed for one year, then returning to the 
home farm on Oak Hill, where he remained 
until February, 1907. While there he lived 
on a tract of sixty acres just across the road 
from the old homestead, which he had pur- 
chased, and on which he carried on agricul- 
tural operations for twenty-seven years, fin- 
ally selling it to J. P. Nolan." In March, 1906, 
Mr. Mackey bought his present farm in North- 
field Town.ship. It originally contained 100 
acres and was settled by his maternal grand- 
father. Later 108 acres were added, but the A. 
B. C. Electric Railroad has taken forty-one 
fi.cres, so that the present farm contains about 
167 acres, ninety of which Mr. Mackey has 
under a fine state of cultivation. He keeps 
twenty-four head of cattle and sells his milk 
to- the Brooks Creamery Company, uses all 
the oats he raises for feed, and markets his 
wheat and potatoes. He has taken a great 
deal of interest in his a.gricultural operations, 
and has paid considerable attention to improv- 
ing the stock of horses in this neighborhood. 
He owns a magnificent Percheron stallion, 
■'Valiant," the pedigree of which is recorded 
in the Percheron Stud Book of America. 

Mr. Mackey married Amelia Darrow, who 
is a daughter of Malcolm Darrow, of Bedford. 
They have one daughter, Margaret I., who 



1074 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



married Henry Harrington and she and her 
husband reside with them. Mr. Mackey and 
family are members of the Congregational 
Church on Oak Hill, Boston Township, which 
is a branch of the Richfield Congregational 
Church, and of which formerly, Mr. Mackey 
was a trustee.. Mr. Mackey is one of North- 
field's most substantial men and highly re- 
spected citizens. 

SAMUEL WARNER, a higlily esteemed 
citizen of Copley Township, and the owner 
of 109 acres of fine farming land, was born 
January 13, 1852, in an old log house on his 
father's farm in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Weaver) Warner. 

Henry Warner, the grandfather of Samuel, 
^as an early pioneer of Stark County, Ohio, 
settling in the woods with the Indians for 
neighbors, at which time Akron was still a 
small village, and Cleveland the nearest point 
at which salt could be procured. Later Mr. • 
"\¥arner with his wife and several children 
came to Summit County, and became well 
known and highly esteemed residents of Cov- 
entry Township, where both passed away. Mr. 
and Mrs. Warner had eight children — John, 
the father of Samuel; Adam, now deceased; 
William; Jacob; Abraham; Samuel; Solo- 
mon, and Daniel (deceased). Of this family 
Jacob and William were in the Civil War. 

John Warner, father of Samuel, spent his 
boyhood days in the woods of Coventry 
Township, and attended the old log school- 
house. Throughout his life he engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and he was the owner 
of the present farm of Samuel Warner, which 
he purchased from the Yearick estate. John 
Warner was married to Elizabeth Weaver, 
who died in 1901, and to this union there 
were born children as follows: William a 
resident of Coventry Township; Henry, who 
lives in New Portage; Samuel; John, of Nor- 
ton Township ; Adam, who lives in Coventry 
Township; and a daughter who died young. 

Samuel Warner was reared on his father's 
farm, and helped to clear the home place, 
modern machinery having come into use 



;'.l)out that time. After his marriage he 
rented a farm in Norton Township for about 
four years, and then returned to Coventry 
Township, where he carried on operations on 
(he Thornton farm for a time, removing 
thence to the old Warner farm. There Mr. 
and Mrs. Warner lived until locating on the 
prasent property, originally the Yearick es- 
tate. 

On May 26, 1872, Mr. Warner was mar- 
ried to Emma Sailor, who is a daughter of 
Lewis and Rebecca (Sonon) Sailor, and one 
child has been born to this union: Clara, 
v.ho married Charles Winkleman, resides in 
.\kron and has one child, Thore Wayne. 

Mr. Warner has always been a Democrat 
ill politics, but has never aspired to public 
office. With Mrs. Warner he attends the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

PETER W. DOYLE, residing on his well- 
improved farm in Hudson Township, was 
born at Canton, St. Lawrence County, New 
York, June 5, 1853, and is a son of Michael 
and Mary (McGinnis) Doyle. 

Both parents of Mr. Doyle came to America 
from Ireland, about 1825, unmarried at the 
time. Mrs. Doyle accompanied her parents, 
Thomas and Catherine (Rooney) McGinnis, 
;.nd they located at Waddington, New York. 
Peter W. Doyle is the sixth member of a 
family of fifteen children born to his parents 
twelve of whom survived infancy, as follows: 
John, who served in the Civil War, died in a 
hospital at Washington, D. C, May 11, 1865; 
Catherine, who married James O'Brien, of 
Morlcy, New York; Thomas H., in the con- 
fectionery businass, residing at Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts; Mrs. Margaret Bushaw, residing 
at Canton, New York; Mary A., residing at 
Columbus, unmarried ; Peter W. ; Jane, de- 
ceased, who married Harmon Sanford, also 
deceased; Michael J., who is ticket agent for 
the great Pennsylvania system on Euclid 
avenue, Cleveland; Elizabeth, who married 
Henry Mohan, of Holyoke, Massachusetts; 
Edwin C, residing in San Diego County, 
California; Julia A., residing at Columbus, 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1077 



unmarried; and Agnes, who died at Colum- 
bus, in 1886. 

Peter W. Doyle was twenty-four years of 
age when he came to Ohio and located at 
the town of Hudson. For a time he worked 
tor the Straight cheese factory, and from 
1879 until 1883, he engaged in farming for 
W. I. Chamberlain. From there he worked 
for Harvey Baldwin for three years, and at 
several other places prior to 1888, when he 
went to William Post's farm in Hudson 
Township, where he continued until 1892. 
He then came to his present farm, which he 
bought from W. B. Straight. He has made 
many improvements here and has a valuable 
property. 

On April 25, 1881, Mr. Doyle was married 
to Mary Raleigh, who was l)orn near North- 
ampton, Ohio, who is a daughter ot Edward 
and Mary (Ryan) Raleigh. They have had 
eight children, two of whom, twins, died in 
infancy. The others are: Sarah T., Mary 
Leona, Edward Walter, Leo Ignatius, Joanna 
Agnes; and Dorethy. Mr. Doyle and family 
belong to the Catholic Church at Hudson, 
of which he is secretary and one of the trus- 
tees. He is a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion of Hudson Township. In local affair.*. 
Mr. Doyle vot-es independently, but in Na- 
tional affairs he supports the candidates of 
the Democratic party. 

ALLEN F. HOFFMAN, one of the lead- 
ing business citizens of Kenmore. Ohio, where 
he holds the office of postmaster, was born on 
his father's farm in Medina County. Ohio, 
May 4, 1862, and is a son of .\dam W. and 
Julia (Sutter) Hoffman. 

Isaac Hoffman, grandfather of Allen F., 
came from Pennsylvania to Ohio as a pioneer 
and settled in Mahoning County, later re- 
moving to Burbank. Wayne County, where 
he died. Mr. Hoffman was a mason by trade, 
but in his later years engaged in farming. 
He had three children : Joseph, who died 
when a boy: Caroline, who was the wife of 
J. Baker: and Adam W., the father of 
.Mien F. 

.\d;ini W. Hnffmnn srew \n> on ])is fntlier's 



fai'm and was reared to agricultural pursuits, 
which he carried on in his younger years. 
He now holds a responsible pasition as sta- 
tionary engineer at Burbank. He married 
Julia Sutter, who was born in Pennsylvania 
and who came to Ohio with her parents. Al- 
len F. was the only child born of this union. 

Allen F. Hoffman attended the common 
schools and the Burbank High School, after 
graduating from which he began work as a 
clerk in a hardware store. He then spent 
some time in the hardware, grocery and post 
office of William Frary. In 1899 he removed 
to Barberton and entered the employ of the 
Barberton Hardware Company, in which he 
became a stock holder. His present place of 
business was then a branch of this company, 
he being the general manager thereof, and in 
1907 he and his son Max L. purchased this 
place which is known as the Kenmore Sup- 
ply Company. Mr. Hoffman handles gen- 
eral merchandise, hardware, dry goods and 
groceries, and enjoys a .steady trade. He is a 
director and stock holder in the People's Sav- 
ings and Banking Company of Barberton, at 
which place he owns property. In 1901 Mr. 
Hoffman was appointed postmaster at Ken- 
more. being the first to hold that office here, 
and he was one of the organizers of the 
Fourth Class Postmasters' League, of which 
he wa< elected president Mr. Hoffman is 
connected fraternallv with the Knights of 
the Maccabees. With his familv he attends 
the TTnited Brethren Church of Barberton. 

Mr. Hoffman married Alta M. Lnse. who is 
n daughter of W. B. and Sarah fPelton) 
Luse. The fruit of this marriage is one child 
— Max L. — who at present is associated with 
his father in business, having been formerly 
connected with the Babcox-Wilcox Companv 
of New York City. He married Olive 0. 
Hoak. who is a daughter of Rev. J. T. Hoak. 
Mr. Hoffman is located on Kenmore Boule- 
vard. Kenmore. Ohio. 

GENER \L CHARLES DICK. The State 
of Ohio has onlv once come to Summit 
Countv for a T^nitod States Senator. That 
was in Februarv. 1904. when Charles Dick, 



1078 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



then representing the nineteentli district in 
Congress, was triumphantly elected to the 
higher station. The fact that a trainload of 
the representative citizens of Akron journeyed 
to Columbus to be present at the joint-ses- 
sion of the legislature electing him, is evi- 
dence of the esteem in which he is held by 
his neighbors. 

Most of those who have risen to high places 
during their residence in Summit County 
were born elsewhere. Most of them had the 
advantages of a splendid education obtained 
elsewhere. The subject of this sketch, on the 
other hand, is. in all respects, a product of 
our own county. 

He was born in the city of Akron, Novem- 
ber 3, 1858. His parents were very poor, but 
eminently respectable people. His father, 
Gottlieb Dick, was born in Germany, and be- 
sides being able to rear his family in comfort 
and give them the benefit of the public schools 
education, he had not found America to be a 
place of riches for all who came to it. His 
mother, Mary M. (Handel) Dick, was also 
of German ancestry. 

In September, 1864, he began his education 
in the Akron jmblic schools and completed 
it by graduation from the Akron High School 
with the class of 1876. He was then com- 
pelled by circumstances to begin a business 
career at once and he secured a' position as 
clerk in the store for men's furnishings on 
the corner of Market and Howard Streets, 
then kept by Chipman & Barnes. He clerked 
for two years, continuing his studies the 
meanwhile, especially the business branches. 
The banking concern known as The Citizens' 
Savings and Loan AvS.sociation, since merged 
with The Second National Bank, offered him 
a position as bookkeeper and teller, which he 
accepted and honorably filled for a period of 
six years. His next advance was in 1879 
when he became bookkeeper for the J. F. 
Seiberling Co., manufacturers of the Empire 
mowers and reapers. 

In 1881, he formed a partnership with 
Lucius C. Miles, a son-in-law of Mr. Seiber- 
ling. imder the firm name of Dick and Miles, 
and towther thev conducted the lending grain 



and commission business of the city. In Fel)- 
ruary, 1890, J. Ed. Peterson, brother-in-law 
of Mr. Dick, succeeded Mr. Miles in the part- 
nership. The new firm of Dick & Peterson 
continued until the increasing political re- 
sponsibilities of Mr. Dick made it necessary 
for him to withdraw from the active conduct 
of the business. 

In the spring of 1886, Mr. Dick was nomi- 
nated for Auditor by the Republicans of Sum- 
mit County, after one of the hardest fights in 
Summit County's history. The Republican 
ticket that year was elected by good plurali- 
ties, and Mr. Dick took up the duties of audi- 
tor early in 1887. In 1889, he was re-elected 
and served the county faithfully until the ex- 
piration of his second term in 1893. In the 
conscientious discharge of his duties, he felt 
obliged to proceed against some of Akron's 
wealthy and most influential citizens because 
of their failure to list personal property for 
taxation. It was at best a disagreeable and 
unwelcome task; but he performed it faith- 
fully and to the satisfaction of the great mass 
of citizens of the county, even though one or 
two unavoidable enmities resulted from this 
resolve of a conscientious office-holder to per- 
form his full duty, without fear or favor. As 
an evidence of the commendation accorded 
his course, his second election as county audi- 
tor was by a largely increased majority over 
his first. 

He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1894, 
and to practice before the United States Su- 
preme Court in 1897. For about ten years 
he was senior member of the law firm of 
Dick. Doyle & Bryan at Akron, Ohio, until 
this partnersEip disbanded upon the election 
of Mr. Doyle to the Common Pleas bench. 

Senator Dick was continuously and more 
or less actively interested in many of Akron's 
indu-strial and financial institutions until the 
point was reached when his genius (for such 
it is) for organization in the political field 
was afforded full opportunity to display itself 
and consumed most of his time. 

His first experience was as meinber and 
chairman of the Summit County Republican 
Committee, with which he was actively identi- 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1079 



fied for a long time. Splendid success crowned 
his efforts, and throughout his entire public 
career of more than a score of years, practi- 
cally all political contests under his leadership 
have resulted victoriously. No one having 
knowledge of his record would assume to 
question his fame and merit as a great politi- 
cal general. In 1892 he was made Chairman 
of the Ohio Republican State Executive Com- 
mittee, in which capacity he is still serving, 
and during more than a decade of his sei-vice 
as State Chairman increasing majorities have 
been piled up for the Republican ticket. 

In 1895-6 he co-operated most effectively 
with Senator Hanna in promoting the can- 
vass of William McKinley for nomination as 
Republican candidate for President, and dur- 
ing the ensuing campaign officiated as Secre- 
tary of the Chicago headquarters of the Re- 
publican National Committee, continuing as 
Secretary of that Committee until 1900. He 
was a delegate to the Republican National 
Conventions of 1892 and 1896, and delegate- 
at-large from Ohio to the Republican Na- 
tional Conventions of 1900 and 1904, 

In recognition of the statesmanlike quali- 
tie.« he had displayed and of his efforts in be- 
half of the party, the Republican Congres- 
sional convention at Warren, in .lune, 1898, 
nominated him as its candidate for the House 
of Representatives. He was selected from a 
field of most worthy opponents after a hard 
fight. In March. 1899, he began his duties 
at AVa=hington as Congi-essman and has been 
a national figure ever since. He wa^s re-elected 
in 1900 and in 1902. 

In February, 1904, on the death of Senator 
Hanna, he was elected to the United States 
Senate, to serve the remainder of the term 
expiring in 1905, and also for the full term 
expiring in 1911, receiving the unanimoas 
vote of his party in the Ohio General As- 
sembly. 

Mr. Dick's career in Congress has been such 
as to ju.?tify fully all the confidence and hopes 
which the people of Ohio have had in him. 
Senator Dick is the author of the Dick Militia 
Law. was the main instrviment in securing 
its passage, and ha.= actively participated in 



much other important legislation. The Mi- 
litia Law put the affairs of the entire National 
Guaixi on a practical and efficient basis, for 
the first time in our history. He is now 
Chairman of the Committee on ilines and 
Mining, and a member of several important 
committees, including that on Naval Affairs. 

Early in his career Mr. Dick became inter- 
ested in military affairs and joined Company 
B of the Eighth Regiment, O. N. G. He rose 
by steady promotion to be captain of the com- 
pany, and in 1888 was elected major of the 
Eighth Regiment. He was afterward made 
colonel and brigadier general, and finally, in 
1904, he was put at the head of the Ohio 
National Guard with the rank of major-gen- 
eral. He is also president of The Interstate 
National Guard Association. In 1898, on the 
breaking out of the war with Spain. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Dick went to the front with the 
Eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and served with the regiment in the short 
Cuban campaign. He was not one of the offi- 
cers participating in the famous "Round 
Robin," but was chosen and detailed by Gen- 
eral Shafter as the one to make personal rep- 
resentation to President McKinley and the 
War Department concerning the precarious 
situation of our troops in Cuba after the ces- 
sation of hostilities. 

Mr. Dick was married to Miss Carrie May 
Peterson, of Akron, on June 30, 1881. Seven 
children have been born to them, of whom 
five are now living, namely: Carl P.. .James 
E., Lucius A., Grace and Dorothy. 

:\IORDECAI JOHN MORRIS, superin- 
tendent of the Ma.ssillon Navarre Coal Com- 
pany, the mines of which are situated four 
miles northwest of Clinton, in Summit 
County, with offices at Massillon and Cleve- 
land, is a practical coal miner and ha« had 
years of experience in the mining field, both 
a.-; a worker and as an official. Jlr. Morris 
was born in Cumbach, Wales, the name of 
his home being translated into English as 
•'little valley," March 17, 1849, and is a 
son of .John and Ann (Edmunds) Morris. 

The father of Mr. Morris was a mining 



1080 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



engineer who was educated at Oxford Uni- 
versity. After his marriage he emigrated to 
America, locating at Youngstown, Ohio, in 
1845, where he engaged in a mining business 
with his cousin, David Morris, later coming 
to Summit County, where David Morris oper- 
ated the Chippewa mines in Franklin Town- 
ship, John Morris entering his employ. He 
was accidentally killed on the railroad at Orr- 
ville, in 1854, at the age of sixty-hve year- 
His widow survived to the age of seventy-two 
years, dying in Arkansas. Of their family 
of twenty children, the following survive; 
Mai'garet, who married Benjamin Morris; 
Jane, who married Peter Brown; Martha, 
who married William Jones; AVilliam and 
Mordecai John. Five of the sons proved 
their patriotism during the Civil War, 
namely: John, William, Thomas, Benja- 
min and Mordecai, all of whom were brave 
soldiers, several of them gaining distinction. 
John and William were members of the Thir- 
ty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, William 
being captain of Company D, and John be- 
ing first sergeant. Thomas was a member 
of Company A, Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and served in that regiment for 
four years and six months. Benjamin was a 
member of Company H, Ninetieth Regiment, 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and Mordecai 
served in Company G, 179th Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry. It was brave John Mor- 
ris who was the engineer that blew up Fort 
Hill, at Vicksburg, his death following from 
wounds received. 

Mordecai J. Morris was a child when the 
family came to the United States, several 
weeks being passed on 'the sailing vessel that 
transported them. He went to school in a 
little stone structure that still stands across 
the road from his residence in Franklin 
Township, and later attended the Union 
School at Massillon. His first experience as 
a miner came while still very young. He 
found employment in Clark's mine at Mas- 
sillon, first as mule driver and later as laborer, 
and he was thus employed when the Civil 
War was declared. Although but sixteen 
years of age he was of robust figure and when 



he offered his services he looked capable of 
carrying a gun and was accejjted as a member 
of the 179th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, and he sei-ved from 1864 until the 
close of the war, in the meanwhile jjarticipat- 
ing in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. 

After the end of his milittury sei^vice, Mr. 
.Morris returned for a short time to Massil- 
lon, from which place he went to Mineral 
Ridge, in Ti'umbuU County, where he worked 
for his uncle until 1868. From there he went 
to Brazil, Indiana, in the heart of the coal 
fields, and was made assistant superintendent 
of the Clay Coal Company of Indiana, 
his brother William at that time be- 
ing general superintendent. He remained 
there for two years and then accepted 
the position of superintendent of the 
Sand Creek Coal Company of Parke 
County, Indiana, and continued there 
until the great business depression caused by 
the panic of 1873. Mr. Morris then went 
liack to Summit County and subsequently be- 
came superintendent of the Johnston Coal 
Company. The mines of this company are 
Idcated five miles south of Akron. He con- 
tinued to perform the duties of this office for 
five years, becoming well known. Mr. Mor- 
ris then went to Massillon, where he became 
superintendent of the Massillon Pigeon Run 
Coal Company, remaining for five years with 
that concern, and then spent one year as su- 
]ierintendent of the J. F. Card Coal Company, 
at Wadsworth, Ohio. 

In 1882, Mr. Morris retired from the coal 
mining business for a time, and turned his 
attention to farming on his father-in-law's 
property until 1887. At that time he went to 
Springfield, Missouri, where he embarked in 
a real estate and mining busine&s, which he 
caried on luiitl 1893, when he returned to 
Summit County. He is interested in several 
mine properties in this section and is superin- 
tendent of one of the large coal industries of 
this part of Ohio. 

On April 16, 1876, Mr. Morris was married 
to Sarah Ellen Rhodes, who is a daughter of 
Peter and Nancy Rhodes. Mr. and Mrs. Mor- 
ris belong to the United Brethren Church. 




L. M. KAUFFMAN 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CmZENS 



1083 



Politically, iMr. Morris is a Republican and is 
serving as a member of the Republican 
County Central Committee. As far back as 
the Morris family can be traced, its occupa- 
tions have been mining and fanning. 

L. M. KAUFFMAN, a promiuonl member 
of one of the representative families of Sum- 
mit County, a large land owner in Franklin 
Township, and president of the Summit 
County Agricultural Society, was born on his 
present farm of 200 acres in the southeastern 
corner of Franklin Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, January 25, 1851, and is a son 
of William and Catherine (Stump) Kauff- 
man. 

John and Mary (Young) Kauffman, the 
paternal grandparents of Mr. Kauffman, came 
to Ohio overland in 1827 from Pennsylvania 
and settled for a short time near Uniontown, 
whence they removed to Franklin Town- 
ship, and purchased IBO acres of the present 
farm of the subject of this sketch for about 
$450, receiving a deed therefor signed by 
President Andrew Jackson, which is still in 
the possession of Mr. Kauffman. This land 
had been entered prior to this time, but little 
clearing had been done on it. In their later 
years John and Mary (Young) Kauffman 
retired to Manchester, where Mr. Kauffman 
died in 1876, at the age of seventy-nine years, 
and his wife in 1867. They were the parents 
of two children: William, the father of L. 
M. : and Sophia E., who married Jonathan 
Sours and resides in Illinois. 

William Kauffman grew up on the Frank- 
lin Township farm, his education being se- 
cured in the schools of Manchester. He be- 
came a prominent citizen and leading agri- 
culturist of his section, and at his early death 
in 1859, at the age of thirty-four years, the 
township and county lost a good and useful 
man. For some years Mr. Kauffman had 
served on the School Board, and he had al- 
ways taken a great interest in educational 
work. He was married to Catherine Stump. 
who also came from Pennsylvania when 
young, and she .still survives him. >?ix chil- 
dren were born to Mr. and Mi\s. Kauffman. 



namely: Rev. J. C. Kauffman, D. D., who 
graduated from Wittenberg College, Spring- 
field, Ohio, and is now a resident of Mount 
Carmel, Illinois; L. M. ; Mary, who died in 
1859; Ella, who married Dr. J. M. Sissler, 
now deceased; William F., who died in 1859; 
and Rev. S. S. Kauffman, D. D., a graduate 
of Wittenberg College, and of Union Semi- 
nary, New York City, who now resides at Chi- 
cago, Illinois. 

L. M. Kauffman removed with the family 
to Manchester after the death of his father, 
and there he secured his education in the pub- 
lic schools. He then attended Greensburg 
Academy, and at the age of sixteen years 
commenced teaching, which he continued for 
many years in Franklin Township, although 
his first term was in Coventry Township. 
Since retiring from the educational profession 
Mr. Kauffman has given his entire attention 
to farming and stock-raising, and his fine 
farm is one of the best improved and most 
valuable in Franklin Township. Mr. Kauff- 
man is a Democrat in jiolitics, and has been 
very prominent in public life. For about 
twenty years he was a member of the School 
Board, most of which time he was its presi- 
dent, and resigned from that position in 1906, 
at which time he was elected township treas- 
urer. He has been on the Fair Board for 
nineteen years, representing Franklin Town- 
ship, has served in the capacity of vice-presi- 
dent for some years, and since 1905 has 
been the official president of this important 
organization. With his family he belongs to 
the Lutheran Church, in which he is super- 
intendent of the Sunday School and a deacon. 
Mr. Kauffman takes rank among the solid, 
substantial men of the township. 

Mr. Kauffman was married to Amanda E. 
Marsh, who died .Januarv^ 22, 1903. She 
was a daughter of George L. and Elizabeth 
(Hayne) Marsh, of Franklin Township. Of 
this union there has been born a family of 
four children, namely: Leman W., who 
married Myrta V. Guiley, and died June 7, 
1904, aged thirty years, leaving two children 
— Lenore and Kathryn; Edna E.; Myrtle E., 
and Edgar M. All of these children have 



1084 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



been actively concerned in educational work 
as teachers in the public schools. 

CLARENCE EDWARD DIEHL, who 

owns 140 acres of excellent fai'ming land in 
Green Township, was born October 2, 1873, 
on his father's farm near Manchester, Frank- 
lin Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is 
a son of William and Eliza M. (Diehl) Diehl. 

William Diehl was born in York County, 
Pennsylvania. He served throughout the 
Civil War, and although never wounded, he 
was confined in a hospital for several months 
with typhoid fever. He returned to Penn- 
sylvania after the war, but shortly thereafter 
moved to Ohio and settled on a small farm 
south of Manchaster, in Franklin Township, 
Summit County. There he resided until after 
his marriage, when he removed to the 165- 
acre farm now owned by his son, Clarence E. 
Diehl. On this property William Diehl re- 
sided until retiring from farm work, in 1905, 
when he moved to Barberton, where he is a 
foreman in the Barberton Boiler Works. Mr. 
Diehl was married in Franklin Township, to 
Eliza M. Diehl, who was born in that town- 
ship, and is a daughter of Daniel Diehl, a 
pioneer of Summit County. Daniel Diehl 
reached this section with but fifty cents in 
his pocket, and lived to become the owner of 
11,000 acres of land in addition to other 
property. To Mr. and Mrs. Diehl the follow- 
ing children were born : Hattie, who married 
C. C. Swigart; Clarence Edward; Curtis; 
Bertha, who married H. Thornton; Claude; 
Wallace and Harley, twins; and Grace and 
Maude, the latter three being deceased. 

Clarence Edward Diehl was one year old 
when the family settled on the old Diehl farm 
on the township line, and there he spent his 
boyhood days. He attended the district 
school and spent one year at the High School 
at Manchester. Until his marriage he worked 
on his father's farm, after w^hich he bought a 
one-half interest in the farm where Otis Tritt 
now lives. He cultivated this property for 
three years, but subsequently moved to East 
Liberty. 

Mr. Diehl was married in September, 1900, 



to Laura M. Foust, who is a daughter of 
Frederick and Lucetta (Keplar) Foust, the 
former of whom died in 1902. The latter re- 
sides at East Liberty. One child has been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Diehl, namely: Lottie 
N. Mr. Diehl is an active member of the 
Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He is a 
Democrat in politics, and he has served three 
terms as school director and has also been 
road supervisor. He is a member of the 
Lutheran Church. Mrs. Diehl belongs to the 
Reformed Church. 

GEORGE W. FOUST, township trustee 
and owner of sixty-three acres of farm land 
in Coventry Township, is one of the promi- 
nent citizens of this section. He was born July 
5, 1842, in Coventry Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, and is a son of George and 
Nelly (Farnsworth) Foust. 

George Foust was born in Pennsylvania, 
and grew to manhood in his native locality, 
there learning the wagon-making trade. After 
his marriage, Mr. Foust emigrated to Ohio, 
making the journey in wagons, and in 1832 
settled in the woods of Coventry Township, 
where he pui'chased a small farm and erected 
a wagon-making shop. He also carried on 
farming to some extent, and was an indus- 
trious and useful citizen. His old sledge ham- 
mer, used by him for many years, is now in 
the posse.ssion of his son, George W. Mr. 
Foust died in 1878 at the age of 72 ye^rs, and 
his widow, who was born in 1810, passed 
away about five years later. Of the seven 
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Foust, five 
grew to maturity, namely: Louisa, who is 
the widow of E. McCamm ; Julia, now de- 
ceased, who was the wife of E. ShoUey ; George 
Wa.shington ; Elizabeth, who married J. Hem- 
melrick; and Frank J. 

George W. Foust attended the old district 
school near his home, where he obtained a 
fair education. He remembers a custom 
which was in vogue at that time, that each 
family with children attending school should 
furni.sh wood according to the number of 
pupils. Mr. Foust remained at home until 
after his marriage, and in 1869 ptu'chased 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1085 



forty-two acrei- of laud from Andrew Metzler, 
later adding thereto from time to time until 
he became one of the township's large land- 
holders. This property, which is bounded on 
the south by the Erie Railroad, is situated 
about three miles southwest of the city of Ak- 
ron, and is well cultivated and very valuable. 
Mr. Foust recently sold forty-two acres of his 
land for town lots, and the remainder is rented 
by him, he having retired from 'active pur- 
suits. In political matters he is a Democrat, 
and in 1900 he was elected to the office of 
township trustee, a position which he still 
holds. 

On March 3, 1867, Mr. Foust was united 
in marriage with Marietta Triplet, who was a 
daughter of John and Laui'a (Bellows) Trip- 
let, and whose grandfather was a laborer on 
the canal at fifty cents per day. Mr. and Mrs. 
Foust attended the same district school, hav- 
ing grown up together in the same school dis- 
trict. Mrs. Foust died May 3, 1905, aged 
fifty -eight years, "having been the mother of 
two children, namely: Adda, who married 
Peter Carl, resides at Akron and has two chil- 
dren — Bessie and Park; and Lilly B., who 
married .John Wagoner, resides at Akron and 
has four children — Ernest. Florence, Harold 
and Ethel. Mr. Foust is a member of the 
Evangelical Church, which at the present 
time he is serving as trustee. 

T. M. COOICE, secretary of the Bruner- 
Goodhue-Cooke Company, of Akron, and also 
of the Akron Building and Loan Association, 
with offices at No. 136 South Main Street, is 
one of the popular and successful young bus- 
iness men of this city. He was born at Mid- 
dlepoint, Van Wert County, Ohio, in 1869. 

At the age of fourteen years, Mr. Cooke 
went to Blufi'ton, Ohio, and was graduated 
from the Bluffton High School, after which, 
in 1886. he entered Buchtel College, where 
he was graduated in 1891. with the degree of 
A. B. He at once accepted a position with 
the Crescent Fire Insurance Company, of 
Cleveland, where he remained one year. In 
June, 1892. he entered the office of Wilcox 
& Noah, at Akron, and when a stock company 



was formed, in 1897, he became secretary of 
the Wilcox-Bruner Company, which became 
the Bruner-Goodhue-Cooke Company in 1899. 
Since June, 1894, he has also been secretary 
of the Akron Building and Loan Association, 
having been assistant secretary for many 
years prior to that date. He is also a stock- 
holder in several other important business en- 
terprises of this city. Mr. Cooke is president 
of the Akron Board of Undenvriters and past 
president of the Ohio Association of Fire In- 
surance Agents. He belong to the Board of 
Trustees of Buchtel College, being a mem- 
ber of the Executive Committee. 
. In 1897, Mr. Cooke was married to Mabel 
K. Page, who is a daughter of Thomas S. 
Page, of Akron. Mr. Cooke is a Thirty-second 
Degree Mason, has held all the offices in the 
Blue Lodge, and was worshipful master of 
Adoniram Lodge, in 1903. He is president 
of the Akron Masonic Club and is a member 
of the Portage Country Club. 

MARTIN LIMBACH, JR., a prominent 
citizen and representative business man of 
Clinton, Ohio, who is a member of the well- 
known firm of Limbach Brothers, was born 
July 4. 1852, in Bavaria. Germany, and is a 
son of Martin and Mary (Zepp) Limbach. 

Mai'tin Limbach, Sr.. was born in 1806 in 
Bavaria, Germany, where he carried on shoe- 
making and farming until the fall of 1852, 
when with his family he came to America, 
where his son George had come some time 
before. The family made their way to Mas- 
sillon, via Cleveland, and in 1853 came to 
Clinton, where Mr. Limbach- established a 
shoe business, and here continued the re- 
mainder of his life. His death occurred 
March 28, 1885. Mr. Limbach married Mary 
Zepp, who was born September 12, 1808, and 
died September 14, 1863. and to them were 
born a family of eight children: George; 
Christina, who married John A. Weil; Mary, 
who married Peter Miller: Henry; Jacob, of 
Clinton ; Balzer. who was last heard of in the 
West, where he had gone in 1867; Adam, 
who is in partnership with Martin ; and Mar- 
tin. 



1086 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Martin Linibach, Jr., spent his boyhood at 
Chnton, where he attended the district schools, 
and also went for a short time to the public 
schools at Ashland, after which he worked 
for a time at farming and at driving his 
brother Jacob's canal boat. In 1867 he started 
to learn the shoemaker's trade with his broth- 
er Henry, and this he has followed success^ 
fully to the present time. For thirty years 
he had the agency of the Domestic sewing 
machines, and in this time became well 
known throughout this part of the country. 
He and his brother v\dam then formed a 
partnership and started a shoe business in a 
small way. In 1872 they began adding fac- 
tory stock to their supply, and they now carry 
a full stock of all the best lines of shoes. In 
1887 they built the fir,st brick block in Clin- 
ton and they now own all of the brick busi- 
ness buildings in Clinton except one. Martin 
Limbach also owns much property in Texas, 
as well as throughout Summit County. He 
is vice-president of the Clinton Savings Bank. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and has served 
one term as township treasurer and two terms 
as jury commissioner. On November 22, 
1879, Mr. Limbach was married to Minnie M. 
Casenhiser, who is a daughter of Peter and 
Elizabeth (Emory) Casenhiser. 

W. E. WILSON, junior member of the 
firm of Betzler and Wilson, manufacturers of 
the Betzler and Wilson Fountain Pen, a pros- 
pering industry at Akron, came to this city 
in 1878. He was born at Niles, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 3, 1869, and was about nine years old 
when his parents — James and Isabella (Big- 
gers) Wilson — located in Akron. 

Mr. Wilson was educated in the Akron 
schools and, being an ambitious boy, early 
began to be self-supporting, securing a posi- 
tion with the B. F. Goodrich Company while 
still young. He was faithful and industrious 
and remained with that company and the 
American Hard Rubber Company until 1891. 
He then went to Cincinnati, where he was en- 
gaged in the fountain pen business until 1892, 
when he returned to Akron and, in partner- 
ship with J. F. Betzler, established the firm 



of Betzler and Wilson, for the manufacture 
of the fountain pen bearing the name of the 
firm. The business has prospered and fifteen 
men are employed in the factory at Nos. 54- 
56 South Street, while four traveling salesmen 
represent the firm on the road. They manu- 
facture 100 different styles of pen, making a 
specialty of the Betzler and AVilson Self-filling 
Pen. 

In 1892 Mr. Wilson was married to Ella I. 
Gregory, of Akron. He is a Thirty-second 
DegiTc Mason and belongs to the Blue Lodge, 
Chapter and Council at Akron, the Alkoran 
Shrine and the Lake Erie Consistory at Cleve- 
land. He is prominent also as an Odd Fel- 
low, belonging to both branches of the order. 
Mr. Wilson, like Mr. Betzler, is an enterpris- 
ing business man, one who not only under- 
stands the demands of the public for a first- 
class article, but knows also how to push its 
.sale. The firm .stands high as a business 
house of Akron. 

CHRISTIAN VOGT, a retired capitalist of 
Akron, was born in Germany, in 1846, and 
was six years of age when his parents brought 
him to America, locating in Springfield 
Township, Summit County, Ohio, near the 
old Western Reserve mill. They were John 
and Su.san M. (Selzer) Vogt, the former of 
whom died on his farm in Springfield Town- 
ship, September 8, 1856, being survived by 
his widow until 1886. 

Left fatherless when still young. Christian 
Vogt had heavy responsibilities fall on his 
shoulders, and had fewer advantages than 
would have been his had his father's life been 
longer. Whenever he had the opportunity he 
attended school, but most of his time until he 
was sixteen years old was spent in working on 
a farm and in the coal mines. He subse- 
quently came to Akron, where he learned the 
blacksmith's trade, at which he worked until 
1876. Then he opened a business of his own, 
which he conducted for about fifteen years, 
prospering in the meanwhile, and at various 
times being a good judge of values, investing 
in property. In 1880 he built the Vogt 
block, on the corner of Buchtel Avenue and 




MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL FREDERICK 



AND REPRESENTATR'E CITIZENS 



1089 



Main Street, a fine brick structure, 62 by 60 
feet in dimension in its main part, and 40 
bj' 60 in the rear, and another three-story 
frame 25 by 60 feet. Mr. Vogt owns a con- 
siderable amount of real estate in other parts 
of the city. In 1869, Mr. Vogt was married 
to Mary E. McDonald, who is a member of an 
old Summit County family. Politically Mr. 
Vogt is a Democrat and is his party's nominee 
for membership on the Board of Public Ser- 
vice, a position for which he is eminently 
fitted. Perhaps no citzen of Akron has done 
more to improve and beautify the city than 
has he. Its public parks have been improved 
greatly through his deep intei'est in the work, 
which he has carried on niore or less for 
twenty-three yeare, and for which he has 
never accepted any compensation. He served 
fifteen years as a park commissioner, four 
. yeare on the School Board and for four years 
occupied a seat in the City Council. . A true, 
public-spirited citizen, he has worked for the 
betterment of Akron from unselfish motives. 

SAMUEL FREDERICK, superintendent 
of the roads of District No. 3, Portage Town- 
ship, is a leading citizen of this section and 
now lives retired from agricultural pursuits, 
at his comfortable home on Wooster Avenue, 
Sherbondy Hill. He was born at Doylestown, 
Wayne County, Ohio, February 27, 1831. and 
is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Rasor) Fred- 
erick. 

.Tacob Frederick was born at New Lisbon, 
Columbiana County, Ohio, and at Dojdestown 
was married io Margaret Rasor, who was born 
in Trumbull County', Ohio. In 1841 Jacob 
Frederick moved from Doylestown to Copley 
Township, Summit County, where he pur- 
chased his first farm of eighty-four acres, to 
which he subsequently added until he owned 
120 acres of excellent land. In partnership 
with his eldest son, Samuel, he bought forty 
acres of timberland, twenty of which came 
later into Samuel's possession. Both pai'ents 
of Samuel Frederick died in Copley Town- 
ship. Mrs. Frederick passing away first, fol- 
lowed by her husband four years later, when 
ho had reached his eighty-fourth j'ear. They 



were people of high character, honest, indus- 
trious and kind. 

For sixty-one years Samuel Frederick was 
a resident of Copley Township, the period 
covered being from the age of ten years to 
1901, when he retired from his farm and 
settled at Sherbondy Hill. In early manhood 
Mr. Frederick went to Wadsworth and worked 
at the shoemaking trade with his uncle, John 
Rasor, but did not continue at this trade very 
long, later learning the cooper's trade, at 
which he worked for several yeai's, making 
flour barrels. He purchased his first farm 
in Copley Township, shortly after his mar- 
riage in 1851 and lived on it for almost fifty 
years. It contains 127 acres and is a good 
property. For sixteen years Mr. Frederick 
operated a threshing machine, engaging for 
two years in threshing clover seed, and during 
the last season he made the record of 1,300 
bushels of this seed. In the meantime, he 
bought an acre of land on Sherbondy Hill, on 
which his son built a barn and comfortable 
residence, and in 1901 Mr. Frederick sold his 
farm to Hustus Keppler and removed to this 
quiet home. 

In 1851, at Wadsworth, Ohio, Mr. Freder- 
ick was married to Sarali Fryman, a daughter 
of Daniel Fryman. Mrs. Frederick was born 
in Pennsylvania and died in Copley Town- 
ship, September 8, 1901. She was a woman 
of many Christian vii'tues and was the mother 
of the following children: Susan, Benjamin 
F., John H., Jacob, Eliza, Ellen Elizabeth, 
Daniel and George Byron. The survivors are: 
Susan ; Benjamin F., who resides in Portage 
Township; Ellen Elizabeth, who married M. 
J. Lohr, and died November 8, 1907; and 
Daniel, who resides also in Portage Township. 

Mr. Frederick has been a leader in town- 
ship affairs for many years and has frequent- 
ly held offices of responsibility. He served as 
trustee and as road supervisor in Copley 
Township and now fills an important office 
in Portage Township. He is a member of the 
Loyal Oak Lutheran Church, having joined 
this religious body at Dojdestown, when but 
eighteen years of age. For sixty years he 
has kept the faith and lived according to the 



lOliO 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



precepts of his church. He is widely known 
and universally respected. 

FREDERICK W. McCIlESNEY, a lead- 
ing citizen of Si^ringfield Township, in which 
his family has been an old and honored one 
for several generations, was born at Krum- 
roy, Summit County, Ohio, March 11, 1860, 
and is a son of William and Louisa (Gras- 
sard) McChesney. 

The father of Mr. McChesney was born in 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and 
was seven years old when his parents moved 
to Ohio and settled on the farm now occupied 
and owned by William H., their grandson. 
They died in the house in which Frederick 
W. was born. William McChesney was reared 
in Springfield Township and became a man 
of property — owning 250 acres of land — and 
of much local prominence. It was mainly 
through his efforts that the Valley Railroad 
was extended through this section, and he 
gave the land for the site of the depot and 
even helped to build it. His death occurred 
in the fall of 1905, when he was in his eighty- 
ninth year. He married Louisa Grassard, 
who was born in France and was a daughter 
of Peter Grassard, who served as a soldier 
under the great Napoleon, afterward coming 
to America. She died January 25, 1897. 
Of the six children born to William and 
Louisa McChesney, Charles died in infancy. 
The survivors are: Edward A., residing in 
Springfield Township, a farmer, contractor 
and builder, married Sarah Wise; William 
H., residing on the old homestead, which he 
owns, married Lucy Thomp.son ; Philora E., 
residing at Akron, the wife of George L. 
Sypher; Herman G., residing at Akron, mar- 
ried Lucy Wright, a daughter of Hon. 
Thomas Wright, formerly a member of the 
State Legislature from Summit County (Lucy 
Wright McChesney died December 14, 1907) ; 
and Frederick W. 

Frederick W. McChe.sney was educated in 
the public schools of Springfield Township, 
and after attaining manhood, he engaged in 
farming and in real estate and loans. In 1884 
he settled on his present farm of 115 acres. 



which he has placed under fine cultivation. 
He has done much improving and in 1904 
he built his fine bank barn, 80 by 40 feet in 
dimensions. It is of modern architecture and 
is equipped with all sanitary conveniences. 
He carries on mixed farming and dairying 
and keeps first-class milch cows. His land is 
situated on the Massillon road and near 
Springfield Lake and close to the city of Ak- 
ron. 

March 6, 1884, Mr. McChesney. was mai-- 
ried to Nettie Yerrick, who was born in 
Springfield Township and is a daughter of 
Cyrus and Catherine (Swinehart) Yerrick, 
the former of whom was formerly a justice 
of the peace in this township. Mrs. McChes- 
ney before her marriage was a teacher in the 
public schools. Mr. and Mrs. McChesney 
have six children, namely: Maud, Leo, Lura, 
Fred, Mark and John. All the children have 
had superior educational advantages. 

Politically, Mr. McChesney i.s a Repub- 
lican, and has taken an active part in party 
work, attending many important conventions 
as a delegate. He has served as a member of 
the Springfield Township School Board for 
fourteen years, and has assisted in bringing 
the schools of liis township to a high standard 
excelled by few in the state of Ohio. With 
his family, he belongs to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

NEWTON CHALKER, a retired law- 
yer of Akron, who has been identified with 
both the business and professional life of the 
city for over thirty years, is generally recog- 
nized as one of Akron's prominent men. 

The Chalker family originated in England 
and became established about 1640 in Con- 
necticut, and in 1805 in Ohio. James 
Chalker, the grandfather of Newton Chalker, 
was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, where he 
married IMercy Norton, and with his wife and 
an infant son he came to the Western Reserve, 
locating in Southington, Trumbull County, 
in the year 1805. Selecting a location in the 
midst of the forest, he built a cabin of logs, 
and entered upon a pioneer existence. He 
lived until 1867. his span of life covering 



AND EEPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1091 



ninety years, and the death of his aged wife 
but shortly preceding his own. They reared 
thirteen children — OiTin, Joseph, Edmond, 
James, Phoebe, Anna, Polly, Calvin, Daniel, 
Philander, Harrison, Allen and Mercy. 

James Chalker, Jr., the father of Newton, 
was born in Southington, June 15, 1811. His 
educational opportunities were confined to 
three winter terms in an old log schoolhouse, 
situated one mile east of Southington Center, 
but by much reading he became in after years 
well versed in history, and was also a thor- 
ough student of the Bible. When a young 
man he purchased on credit a tract of fifty 
acres of woodland, located two miles west of 
Southington Center, where, after years of 
earnest labor, he established a comfortable 
home for himself and family. He eventual- 
ly became one of the largest land owners in 
the township, having added to his original 
property from time to time. Mr. Chalker 
. was married (first) to Eliza Jane Hyde, of 
Farmington, who died in 1849, leaving three 
children: Byron, who became a farmer, and 
died in Southington at the age of fifty-two 
years ; Newton, subject of this article ; and Co- 
lumbus, who died at the age of twenty-seven 
years; another child, Benson, died in infancy. 
In 1851 Mr. Chalker was married (second) to 
Adeline Timmeranan, who was born in the 
state of New York, and they had two daugh- 
ters, Mary Jane and Bertha. The former 
married A. J. Morris, a resident of Southing- 
ton, and died in lier thirty-seventh year. The 
latter became the wife of Thomas McConnell, 
a resident of Young.stown, Ohio. James 
Chalker died September 23, 1893, having 
passed his eighty-second birthday. For years 
he was a pillar of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Newton Chalker, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Southington, Trumbull County, 
Ohio, September 12, 1842, and was the third, 
but is now the only surviving, son of the above 
named James, Jr., and Eliza J. Chalker. In 
childhood and early youth he lived and 
labored on the farm of his father, and at- 
tended the district schools until he was four- 
teen years of age, after which, for six years, 



at irregular intervals, he was a student at the 
Western Reserve Seminary, West Farming- 
ton, Ohio, at times boarding himself and do- 
ing the janitor work of the school to pay his 
room rent and tuition; in the meanwhile be- 
coming a very successful district school teach- 
er. Beginning at the age of sixteen years he 
taught successively the winter term in the 
townships of Braceville, Southington, Park- 
man and Champion, in Ohio, and Litchfield, 
in Michigan. In the spring of 1862, while 
in attendance at school he ofi^ered his services 
in defense of his country, enlisting in Com- 
pany B, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, which belonged to the de- 
partment of the anny then under the com- 
mand of General George B. McClellan. The 
most important militai'y event of his term of 
service was the protracted battle of Plarper's 
Ferry, September 12-15, 1862, in which the 
Union forces were captured by those of Stone- 
wall Jackson, the latter having a very much 
larger force. In the fall of 1862, on account 
of the expiration of its term of enlistment, the 
Eighty-seventh Regiment was mustered out, 
and the membeis who had survived its many 
dangers returned to their homes, Mr. Chalker 
being one of them. 

In the spring of 1863, Mr. Chalker entered 
Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was graduated in June, 1866, 
with the degree of B. A., later receiving that 
of M. A. During 1866-7 he sei-ved as prin- 
cipal of Dixon Seminary, at Dixon, Illinois, 
and in the year following he accepted the su- 
perintendency of the public schools at Dar- 
lin,gton, Wisconsin. But while successful to 
a flattering degree as an educator, this was not 
the full extent of his ambition. In Septem- 
ber, 1868, therefore, after some preliminary 
preparation, he entered the Albany Law 
School, and in 1869 he was graduated with 
the degree of B. L. In the fall of that year 
he entered iipon the practice of his profes- 
sion at Cameron. Mi.s.«ouri, where he remained 
until 1874. He then returned to Ohio, in the 
sunmier of that year locating in Akron, since 
which time, imtil recently, this city has been 
his home. 



1092 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Mr. Chalker continued actively engaged in 
the practice of law until 1894, when he began 
to give the greater pai-t of his attention to 
his other large and varied interests. He was 
one of the founders of the Peoples' Savings 
Bank at Akron, and of the Savings Bank at 
Barberton, owning a large amount of stock, 
and serving on the Board of Directors of the 
former institution. He owns a large amount 
of property, including a farm adjoining 
Southing-ton, which he now makes his legal 
residence; also several hundred acres of land 
in the island of Cuba. He has purchased and 
improved a number of tracts in Summit 
County, several of these being new additions 
to Akron, notably that choice residence section 
known as North Hill. 

After giving up his law prac?tice, Mr. Chalk- 
er, in 1895-6, made a busy trip around the 
■globe, having previously visited, by prefer- 
ence, almost evei"y interesting portion of his 
own land. Among the countries he visited on 
this trip were Ireland, England, Scotland, 
France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, 
Italy, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Nubia, 
India, Burmah, China, Japan and our own 
Sandwich Islands, in all of which he found 
much to interest a man of cultured mind. 

Mr. Chalker is identified politically with 
the Republican party. Since 1892 he has 
been a member of Buckley Post, Grand Army 
of the Republic, and has served as its com- 
mander. One of his distinguishing charac- 
teristics is his civic pride in regard to Akron, 
and another, his tender memory of the old 
home where he was reared, and of the locality 
with which his parents and grandparents were 
so closely identified. The old Methodist 
Church in which they worshipped has profited 
many hundreds of dollars by his bounty in 
the past few years. There has also just been 
completed at Southington the Newton-Chalker 
High School, which Mr. Chalker has erected 
at a cost of $20,000, and which was donated 
by him to the Board of Education, the dona- 
tion ceremonies taking place on AugiLst 22, 
1907. His charities have always been large, 
their full extent being known only to himself. 
His acquaintance is extensive, and his friend- 



ships include individuals of taste, learning 
and culture in many parts of the world. 

JOHN WILLIAM SORRICK, M.D., one 

of Coventry Township's leading physicians 
and respected citizens, a veteran of the great 
Civil War, and a- worthy representative of an 
old and honored Summit County family, was 
born March 10, 1848, in Franklin Township, 
Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of Adam 
and Sophia (Hoy) Sorrick. 

John Sorrick, grandfather of John W., 
came from Huntingdon County, Pennsyl- 
vania, to Ohio in wagons, and settled in 
Franklin Township, Summit County, where 
the, rest of his life was spent in clearing a 
farm from the woods. He passed a very 
eventful life, accumulated considerable prop- 
erty, and died at a ripe old age, honored and 
esteemed. He was the fatlier of five children 
— Adam, John, Jacob, Solomon, and Ann. 
The la.st menrtioned married AValdo Wag- 
ner. 

Adam Sori'ick was a native of Huntingdon 
County, Pennsylvania, and was about six 
years old when the family came to Ohio in 
1817. He grew up on his father's farm and 
was reared to agricultural pursuits, but in 
his youth became a successful suiweyor. 
which occupation he carried on t« quite an 
extent in connection with farming. His 
death occurred in 1860, and that of his ^^^fe 
in 1889, when she was in her seventy-third 
year. Mr. and Mrs. Sorrick were the parents 
of thirteen children, of whom eight grew to 
maturity, namely: Oliver, A., a resident of 
Akron ; -John William ; Mai-shall H., who 
Jives at Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Thomas 
E., now deceased; Alice Ann, who is the 
widow of B. F. Grove; Lewis E. and Charles 
0., deceased; and Mary E., who married Rev. 
E. P. Wise, of East Liverpool, Ohio. 

John William Sorrick was reared on his 
father's farm in Franklin Township, and se- 
cured his primary education in the district 
schools. In 1871 he began reading medicine 
with Dr. A. Sisler of Manchester, Ohio, and 
he was later under the preceptorship of Dr. W. 
C. Jacobs of Akron. He then entered the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1095 



Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
from which he was graduated with his degree 
in 1875, when he immediately formed a 
partnership with Dr. Jacobs, with whom he 
remained three years. Dr. Sorrick spent 
three months in a trip to Paris, France, to 
visit the first exposition, and on his I'eturn 
settled at Thomastown for two years, subse- 
quently locating at his present offices, which 
he purchased from David Tritt in 1885. In 
1898 Dr. Sorrick joined an Alaskan gold 
hunting party, but after about a year's unsuc- 
cessful prospecting he returned to his home, 
although he still owais claims above the arctic 
circle. Dr. Sorrick is now engaged in a very 
successful general practice at East Akron, 
where he has the confidence of the com- 
munity. At the age of sisteen years. Dr. 
Sorrick enlisted in Company A, 191st Ohio 
Volunteer Infantrv, and served eight months 
to the close of the war, when he received his 
honorable discharge. He can still call the 
roll from memory, and is a popular comrade 
of Buckley Post, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, of Akron. 

On July 3, 1884, Dr. Sorrick was married 
to Lucy S. Neitz, who was a daughter of 
Elias and Mary Neitz. She died April 28, 
1904, aged thirty-nine years. To Dr. and 
Mrs. Sorrick there were born four children, 
two of wliom died in infancy. The survivors 
are: Kenneth Blaine, who married Maggie 
Whitfield, and resides at East Akron; and 
Esther, who makes her home with her father. 

CLINTON RUCKEL, whose valuable farm 
of 100 acres is situated at Fairlawn, on the 
Medina road, three miles west of Akron, has 
a home which excites favorable comment from 
every visitor through this section. Mr. Ruckel 
was born in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, 
November 15, 1840. and is a son of George 
and Hannah (Crevling) Ruckel. 

The parents of Mr. Ruckel left Pennsyl- 
vania in 1846, and made the OA'erland journey 
in a covered wagon to Three Rivers, Michi- 
gan, with the intention of buying a farm. 
Conditions there did not suit them, and the 
family all came to Medina County. Ohio, 



where the father invested in a small farm. 
This he cultivated for three years and then 
sold it and moved to Tallmadge Township, 
Summit County, where he bought some good 
land, and both he and wife died there. 

Clinton Ruckel was six years of age when 
his parents left Pennsylvania, and he was 
mainly reared in Ohio, attending school in 
Tallmadge Township and also two terms in 
the Middleburj', now the Sixth Ward school, 
at Akron. The country at this time was in 
an unsettled condition, owing to the Civil 
War, and on August 5, 1862, Mr. Ruckel 
threw in his lot with the defenders of the 
Union, enlisting in Company H, 104th Reg- 
iment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and con- 
tracting to serv-e until the end of the war. 
His regiment was attached to the Army of 
the Ohio, under General Schofield, who sub- 
sequently joined his forces to those of General 
Sherman for the Atlanta, campaign. After 
the capture of Atlanta the Twenty-third 
Army Corps, to which Mr. Ruckel's regiment 
belonged, was sent back to Tennessee. Dur- 
ing the first year of service, his regiment was 
mainly involved in the fighting in Kentucky, 
participating in the siege of Knoxville. In 
the spring of 1864, when the regiment went 
to Atlanta, it was in good condition, but from 
that expedition many never returned. With 
the exception of having his ear drum dam- 
aged from concussion at Franklin, Tennessee. 
November 30, 1864, Mr. Ruckel was fortunate 
in suffering no serious injury. Having hero- 
ically performed his full duty as a soldier, 
he was mustered out at Greensboro, North 
Carolina, -Tune 17, 1865. For a short time 
Mr. Ruckel rested at home with his parents 
and then went to work in a pottery at Akron, 
where he remained several years. In the 
spring of 1882 he settled, with his wife, on 
his present farm, which he began imme- 
diately to improve. All the substantial build- 
ings, including the fine home, were erected 
by him. He has been engaged in general 
farming and dairying up to the present time. 

On November 10, 1869, Mr. Ruckel was 
married to Fannie A. Hart, who is a daugh- 
ter of .John C. and Margaret .\. fStorliug) 



1096 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Hart, early settlers in Summit County. John 
C. Hart, who waa in his later yeai's a railroad 
man, served in the War of 1812 ; he died very 
suddenly at Cincinnati in 1902. He left five 
children, one of whom — George — is living 
with his grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Ruckel 
have had two children : John C. and Lorena, 
both of whom are now deceased. The little 
daughter, Lorena, was accidentally killed by 
falling from a hammock, when aged five 
years. 

FRANK FOWLER LOOMIS, city elec- 
trician of Akron, and one of the most expert 
electrical engineers of Ohio, is a native of this 
city, where he was born in 1854, a son of 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Taylor) Loomis. 

Joseph Loomis located at Akron about 
1845, and commanded one of the boats plying 
on the Akron Canal, which did a large busi- 
ness in those days. At the outbreak of the 
Civil War he enlisted in Company H, Twen- 
ty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
serving until his death, in 1862, from the ef- 
fects of a cold contracted while crossing the 
Cumberland River in the line of duty. His 
widow survived until 1892. 

Frank F. Loomis was eight years old when 
his father died, and he was taken to the home 
of his uncle, who operated a farm near AVads- 
worth, where he remained until 1868. He 
then came to Akron, where he worked for one 
year on the canal and one year for the Mor- 
rell Pottery Company. He then learned the 
blacksmith's trade, serving an apprenticeship 
of three years, and during that period became 
a meml^er of the Akron Fire Department, an 
organization with which he has remained 
identified ever since. In the very early days 
of the general study of electricity he became 
interested and soon began to experiment with 
motors and dynamos, ability for this line of 
work seeming to belong to him naturally. He 
soon devoted all of his time to experimenting 
and inventing, and has been very success- 
ful, not only in bringing OTit new inventions, 
but also in materially improving many old 
ones. He has had five patents granted him on 



motors and dynamos, and four patents on 
alarm boxes, two on electric drills and two 
on electric railway signals. It may not be 
generally known, for Mr. Loomis is modest, 
notwithstanding his many successes, that he 
designed and built the first electrical motor 
police patrol in the world. Since 1880 he has 
been city electrician at Akron. He practical- 
ly started the Akron Electrical Manufactur- 
ing Company, and he owns stock in a num- 
ber of other city enterprises. He is considered 
exceptionally expert in the placing of under- 
ground wires. In 1878 Mr. Loomis was mar- 
ried to Barbara Grad. Fraternally, he is an 
Elk and an Odd Fellow. 

C. W. MILLIKEN, M. D., one of Akron's 
representative medical men, who has been es- 
tablished in this city in the active practice of 
his profession for the past quarter of a cen- 
tury, is well known all over Summit County. 
Dr. Milliken was born in Trumbull County, 
Ohio, in 1856, belonging to an old pioneer 
family of that section. 

From the district schools Dr. Milliken en- 
tered the We-stern Reserve Academy at West 
Farmington, and completed his literarj' edu- 
cation at Scio, in Harrison County. Follow- 
ing this, he taught school for five years. In 
the meantime he engaged in the preliminary 
study of medicine, and in 1877 he entered the 
medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 
1880. He then served as an interne in the 
City Hospital of Harrisburg. and in the Phil- 
adelphia City Hospital, coming to Akron in 
1882. Dr. Milliken has confined his atten- 
tion to his profession and ranks very high, 
both as a physician and STirgeon. He is a 
valued member of the Ohio State, the Ameri- 
can and the Northwestern Ohio Medical As- 
sociations, whenever practicable, attending 
the conventions of these bodies, and frequent- 
ly contributing to their literature. 

Dr. Milliken married Kathryn McEbright, 
who is a daughter of Dr. Thomas McEbright. 
of Akron. He takes considerable interest in 
local pontic's and has .served as a member of 




SHERMAN P. THOMPSON 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1091) 



the Board of Education. His fraternal asso- 
ciations include membership in the Masonic 
and Odd Fellow bodies, and he belongs also 
to the Royal Arcanum and the Celsus club. 

URIAS C. WITNER, a prominent citizen 
and justice of the peace, in Portage Town- 
ship, resides on a valuable farm of thirty-one 
and one-half acres, which has been his home 
since his marriage. He was born in Coventry 
Township, Smiimit County, Ohio, March 20, 
1852, and is a son of Urias and Louisa 
(Heintz) Witner. 

The father of Justice Witner was born in 
Northampton County, Pennsylvania, May 3, 
1822, and was a son of Daniel and a grand- 
son of George Witner. The latter was the 
pioneer of the family to Siimmit County, 
where he secured land and formed the 
present site of Buchtel College. Daniel 
Witner remained in Pennsylvania, work- 
ing as a weaver until 1828, and secur- 
ing land, which is now included in the Fourth 
Ward of Akron, on which he lived for six 
years. He then purchased 113 acres in what 
is now Thorntontown, residing there for 
seven years, and then bought 151 acres on 
which he and wife lived until death. Of the 
thirteen children born to Daniel Witner and 
wife, Urias, the father of Urias C, was the 
third in order of birth. He was one year old 
when his parents came to Ohio, and with 
other member.= of the family, passed through 
the usual hardships of pioneer life, growing 
to manhood strong in body and vigorous in 
mind. He possessed in youth the qualities 
which made him friends. In 1850 he pur- 
chased a farm in Coventry Township, one 
which he cleared from the wilderness, and on 
which he still resides. 

Urias AVitner married Louisa Heintz on 
April 30, 1846, with whom he celebrated the 
sixtieth anniversary of this event in 1906. 
Mrs. Witner was born in Germany, June 1, 
1822, and is a daughter of Peter and Louisa 
(Bauer) Heintz. Her parents having died, 
she came to America with a sister. To Urias 
Witner and wife were born eleven children. 



the four present survivors being: Uritis C, 
of i'ortage Township; Mathias, who married 
Louisa liallauer; Adeline, who married Wil- 
liam Bowers; and George, who married Lulu 
Killian. Mr. Witner is probably the oldest 
resident of Coventry Township. Both he and 
wife have long been valued members of tlie 
Baptist Church. 

Urias C. Witner was reared in Coventry 
Township, and in boyhood attended the dis- 
trict schools. Later he taught school, both in 
Coventry and Portage Townships. On April 
2, 1885, he married Blanche Fenner, who is 
a daughter of Arthur Fenner, and they have 
four children, namely: Ava, who is a popu- 
lar teacher in the Grace school, is a graduate 
of Buchtel Academy and of the Normal 
school; Arthur, who is in the employ of the 
Goodrich Rubber Companv ; Joseph and 
Ruby. 

Following his marriage, Mr. Witner settled 
on his present farm, which he has greatly im- 
proved. In 1886 he erected a conmiodious 
frame residence, and in 1897 he remodeled 
it, introducing many modern comforts. 
Politically, he is a Democrat, and for twelve 
years sen-ed as a member of the School 
Board. In 1901 he was elected a justice of 
the peace and has continued in office to the 
present time. He is a leading member of 
the Baptist Church. 

SHERMAN P. THOMPSON, one of Hud- 
son Township's representative men, where he 
owns a large estate, consisting of 335 acres 
of valuable, highly-improved land, was born 
in Summit County, Ohio. February 2, 1840. 
He is a son of Hon. Sylvester H. and Caroline 
D. fPeck) Thompson, and a grandson of Dr. 
Moses Thompson. 

Dr. Moses Thompson was born January 22, 
1776. at Goshen, Connecticut, where he was 
liberally educated and became a medical 
practitioner. On December 22, 1797, he mar- 
ried Elizabeth Mills and immediately after- 
ward moved to Kinderhook, New York. There 
ho practiced his profe.s.-^ion until 1800. when 
he joined the first party of settlers coming to 
Summit County. He accompanied David 



1100 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Hudson and purchased 750 acres of land in 
the southwestern part of Hudson Township, 
for himself and two brothers, Abraham and 
Stephen, and for his father. Deacon Stephen 
Thompson. Dr. Thoini^son then walked baclv 
to Connecticut, making the trip in twelve 
days, and in the spring of 1801, accompanied 
by his wife and one child, he returned to 
Summit County and settled on a farm two 
miles southwest of Hudson, where he spent 
the rest of his life. On this land he built a 
log house, which he later replaced by what 
was considered a very grand house in those 
daj's. He lived to the venerable age of over 
eighty-two years, and even then an accident 
terminated a life which has been in high de- 
gree useful to his fellow-citizens. He was the 
first medical practitioner in what is now Port- 
age County, and the territory over which he 
practiced covered a radius of fifty miles. Dur- 
ing the War of 1812, Dr. Thompson served as 
a surgeon. His land in the meantime had 
proved very productive, and he engaged in 
the business of shipping produce from it to 
the southern markets. He was an earnest sup- 
porter of all religious and educational enter- 
prises, gave liberally to charity and was a 
leading man of his day and locality. 

Dr. Thompson has the following children : 
Eliza Lemira, who married Horace Metcalf; 
Susan, who married Horace Holbrook; Mills: 
Emily, who became the widow of Sanuiel 
Woods; Sylvested H. and Virgil M.; Ruth B., 
who married Leander Starr; Mary, who 
married John Hazelton ; Martha, who died 
aged twenty-two years; and Elizabeth, who 
never married, and survived all the other 
members of the family. 

Hon. Svlvester H. Thompson, father of 
Sherman P., was born July 28, 1808, on the 
old homestead, and attended the preparatory 
school in the Western Reserve. He was reared 
as a farmer and when twenty-two years old 
began farming on his own account. On May 
14, 1832, he was married to Caroline D. Peck, 
who was born December 6, 1808, at Water- 
bury, Connecticut. She met Sylvester H. 
Thompson, whom she subsequently married, 
while on a visit to her brother at Hudson. 



She died November 23, 1876, having been the 
mother of seven childi'en, as follows: Charles 
S., now deceased; Sherman P., whose name 
begins this sketch ; Mai'tha E., who married 
P. G. Clark and resides at Cleveland; Theo- 
dore F'., residing in Akron; Albert S., resid- 
ing at Cleveland; and two died in childhood. 
Judge Thompson died January 15, 1883, aged 
seventy-four years, five months and seventeen 
daj's. 

After his marriage, Sylvester H. Thomp- 
son went to farming on a tract of land for 
which his father paid $420. He soon gained 
the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and was 
called upon to hold office more or less all 
through his life. He sen'ed first as assessor, 
and in other positions, and then was elected 
justice of the peace, an office he resigned with- 
in one year in order to accept an appointment 
as associate .judge. He served in this latter 
capacity from 1845 until the office was abol- 
ished by the new state constitution in 1851. 
In 1864 he was appointed commissioner of 
the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad. For 
thirteen years he was connected with the City 
Bank of Akron. In all things he worked 
faithfull}^ for the good of the community, 
and the annals of this section of . Summit 
County show his usefulness and prominence 
in public affairs. 

Sherman Peck Thompson was born on the 
farm now occupied by Judge Phillips, and 
was there reared until six years of age, when 
his father settled on what is now the Town- 
send farm, west of the depot, in Fludson. He 
resided until September 12, 1861, on this 
place, which he purchased from his brother 
in 1862, He has erected all the buildings ex- 
cept a part of his residence, and, distributed 
over his property, he has fifteen liouses and 
barns, be,«ides a number of silos. He rents 
three properties in Cleveland. AVhen he came 
here first lie had 130 acres, which he has in- 
creased to 335, the larger part of the property 
being under the capable management of his 
son. Dairying has been made a specialty, 
and at one time as many as seventy milch 
cows were kept. His land is well adapted to 
the growing of both wheat and potatoes, and 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1101 



Mr. Thompson recalls that one year he har- 
vested 7,000 bushels of the tubers. His 
orchards have also been great producers. The 
history of apple-growing in this section is in- 
teresting. The first apples were probably 
grown on the old Dr. Thompson place, trees 
having been produced from seeds taken from 
a piece of pomace, which Dr. Thompson in- 
advertently picked up when he stopped to 
feed his ox-team, when coming through 
Pennsylvania in 1801. The wonderful vital- 
ity of the seeds were shown by their produc- 
ing trees, some of which are still living. The 
late Judge Thompson remembered the appear- 
ance of one apple that wa.'^ grown in 1813, 
and what a temptation it wa^ to the eager 
children who scarcely permitted it to reach 
perfection. 

In early manhood Mr. Thompson was mar- 
ried to Cordelia M. Chamberlain, who was 
born in Hudson Township, north of Hudson, 
and is a daughter of Amos and Jerusha 
(Crane) Chamberlain. Her father came to 
Ohio from Winchester, Connecticut, before he 
had attained maturity. William Chamber- 
lain, Mrs. Thompson's grandfather, emigrated 
from England to Connecticut, in 1780, and 
with his' wife came to Ohio in 1809. settling 
on a farm in Hudson Township, where he 
lived until the death of his wife, when he 
made his home with his son Amos. The hot- 
ter married Jerusha Crane, who was born at 
Saulsbury, Connecticut, and they had ten 
cliildren as follows: Horace, residing in 
Northfield Township; Harris, residing on the 
old John Brown fann in Hudson ; Schyler, 
also residing on the Brown farm; Mark, who 
died in infancy; Laura, who married Mr. 
Egbert, and resides in Bedford; Mrs. Jerusha 
Baldwin, a r&sident of Akron; Or\dlle, resid- 
ing at Freedom ; Catherine, who is unmarried, 
residing at Hudson; Cordelia M.. who mar- 
ried Sherman P. Thompson ; and Henry, who 
married Mary Thompson. Amos Chamber- 
lain had a farm of 288 acres, the larger part 
of which he cleared himself. The family set- 
tled in a log house there at a time when 
wolves and bears were very plentiful. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had five 



children, namely : Charles Sylvester, born at 
Hudson, Ohio, February 18, 1S{}4, died 
February 6, 1879; Eddie S., born April 17, 
1866, died young; Frederick Sherman, born 
January 4, 1868, was married to Lillian M. 
Terry, October 18, 1893, who died April 26, 
1898, leaving two children — Carroll, born 
October 24, 1894, and Lynn M., born April 
19, 1898; Caroline Estella, born August 28, 
1870, died May 28, 1879; and Corda May, 
born May 8, 1876, who married Carl Case 
Scott, October 9, 1901, and has two children 
— Sherman and Dorothy. Their home is 
within one and one-half miles of Hudson. 

Mr. Thompson is independent in politics. 
Formerly he was identified with the Repub- 
lican party, but voted with the Democratic 
party during Mr. Bryan's first campaign, 
since which time he has been disconnected 
from both of the leading political organiza- 
tions. He has never sought political prefer- 
ment for himself. 

EBER HAWKINS,* president of the 
Board of County Commissioners of Summit 
County, and a member of one of the old pio- 
neer families of this part of Ohio, was born 
in Summit County, April 5, 1840, and is a 
son of Ira and Phoebe (Jones) Hawkins. 

The father of Mr. Hawkins was born near 
Bridgewater, Vermont, and his mother was a 
native of the State of New York. She came 
of a distinguished family of Revolutionary 
stock and she was the first school teacher in 
Akron. Ira Haw'kins was one of the very 
early settlers and for twenty-one years he 
was superintendent of the Ohio Canal. The 
latter years of their lives Mr. and Mrs. Hawk- 
ins spent on their farm in Portage Township. 
They had four children, namely: R. W., 
now deceased, formerly a merchant at Au- 
burn. Illinois: 0. P. Hawkins, residing in 
Kansas; Eber: and Addie. deceased. 

Eber Hawkins was reared in Portage 
Township and obtained his education in the 
neighboring schools. Shortly after his mar- 
riage he moved to Akron, but in 1870 located 
at Richfield, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing for a time. Ho suteequently went out on 



]102 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the road as traveling representative of the 
Aultman-Miller Company, with which he 
continued for twenty-four years. His election 
to the responsible office of a commissioner of 
Summit County, took place in the fall of 1900 
and he assumed its duties in 1901 and is now 
serving his fourth year as president of the 
board. 

On April 26, 1865, Mr. Hawkins was mar- 
ried to Clara Sweet, who is a daughter of the 
late Richard Sweet, who was an early settler 
in Richland Township, Summit County. 
They have three children, namely: Mrs. 
Janette Farnham, Richard S., residing in Illi- 
nois, and Nellie, residing at home. 

P. C. HUBER,* vice-president of the J. 
Koch Company, the largest clothing enter- 
prise at Akron, is interested also in other 
successful business concerns of this city and 
vicinity. Mr. Huber was born in Germany, 
June 5, 1845. and was eight years of age 
when he accompanied his parents to America, 
His father established the family home at 
Clinton, Ohio, and there he was reared and at- 
tended school. Later he worked on the home 
farm and in the coal mines, but as his incli- 
nations lay in an entirely different direction, 
in 1871 he came to Akron, and entered the 
employ of George Rosentahl, a clothing mer- 
chant, in the capacity of clerk, remaining 
there for six years. For three years subse- 
quently he was with the firm of Hoffman & 
Moss. In 1882, in partnership with a brother, 
Mr. Huber started a shoe store at Poylestown, 
Ohio, which they operated together for six 
years, although Mr. P. C. Huber, after a stay 
of one year at Doyleston, returned to Hoff- 
man & Moss and remained with that firm 
until it sold out to J. Koch & Company. 

On February 1. 1907. the J. Koch Com- 
pany was incorporated with Louis T^oeb as 
president: P. C. Huber, as vice-president; and 
S. M. Goldsmith as secretary and manager. 
Mr. Huber has been identified with the pres- 
ent business for twenty years and has labored 
faithfully in its interest before becoming one 
of its officials. 

In 1875. Mr. Hulier was married In Anna 



A\'illiams, of Wayne County, Ohio, and they 
have one daughter, Nellie M., who is the wife 
of AVilliam N. Fitch, paymaster for the Dia- 
mond Rubber Company. 

Mr. LIuber is a member of Trinity Luth- 
eran Church and for years has sen-ed 
on its official board. He belongs to the 
Knights of Pythias, is treasurer of the Uni- 
form Rank, and trustee of Aetotia Lodge, 
while he is also a member of the board of 
directors of both lodges, and has served as 
chairman. Mr. Huber's standing in the busi- 
ness world is of such an honorable character 
that it cannot be assailed. 

Jl'LIUS FRANK,* a leading citizen and 
lownship trustee of Portage Town.ship, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, who is proprietor of the 
Tip Top Poultry and Fruit Farm, a tract of 
sixteen acres on Sherbondy Hill, adjoining 
the old Wooster road, was born February 1, 
1850, in Germany, and is a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Heintz) Frank. 

Juliais Frank was but seven years of age 
when his father died, and he was left an or- 
]')han when ten years old by the death of hi~ 
mother. Of the five children of his parent*, 
two brothers, Charles, an electrician, and 
William, a shoemaker, live in Germany, while 
his two sisters, Minnie, who married August 
Waxter. and Carrie, single, came to America. 
Until he was fourteen years of age. Julius 
Frank attended school and resided with his 
guardian, and at this time learned the wood 
turner's trade, at which he worked for five 
years in Germany. Until 1879, he traveled 
as a journeyman at this trade, and in this 
year came to America, locating first at Pitts- 
burg, from whence he went to Braddock, 
Pennsylvania, where for three years he was 
employed in the Carnegie Steel Works. After 
his marriage, Mr. Frank conducted a bird 
store for six months, and then went to Stew- 
artson, Shelby County, Illinois, with the in- 
tention of buying a farm, but not liking the 
country, after four months he settled in 
Akron, Ohio, and purchased a home on South 
Bowery Street. For one year he worked at 
his trade with Baker and McMillau. and for 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



lo;^ 



several j'ears was in the employ of the Akron ■ 
Iron and Steel Company, then becoming em- 
ployed by the Goodrich Rubber Company, 
with whom he continued for sixteen years as 
a rubber turner. In 1898 Mr. Frank pur- 
chased his present farm, then a tract of four- 
teen acres, to which he has added two acres, 
and in the following April located thereon. 
For the past twenty-two years Mr. Frank has 
engaged in poultry raising, having started 
that industry as a side issue, but since .settling 
in the country he has made a specialtj' of rais- 
ing Hamburg, Polish and Bantam poultry^, 
which he has exhibited at various poultry 
shows, where he received premium.*, includ- 
ing the Pan-American Exposition, the St. 
Louis Exposition, and poultry show.- at New 
York City. Chicago, Washington, I). C, and 
Cleveland. Mr. Frank also grows a great dial 
of fruit, especially berries, which he disposes 
of in the retail markets. 

In 1884 Mr. Frank was married to Maria 
King, who was born at Newton Falls, Ohio, 
and is a daughter of William King. Three 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Frank, namely: Otto, who is engasefl in 
teaming, owning his own team; Nelson A., 
who attends the Ohio Law University, at Co- 
lumbus, Ohio ; and Harry, who will be a grad- 
uate of the Akron High School in 1908. Mr. 
Frank has sen-ed as township trustee .since 
1890. having been elected to that office the 
year after his arrival here. He is a member 
of the National Union. With his family he 
attends the German Lutheran Ohurch. 

HON. CHARLES W. KEMPEL,* mayor 
of Akron, serving in his second term, is a 
progressive and enterprising young man who 
has mainly made his way in the world and 
secured public position and esteem through 
his own personal ability. He wa* born at 
Akron, May 22, 1863, and is a son of Adam 
and Barbara fGonder) Kcmpel. The par- 
ent? of Mayor Kempel were horn in Bavaria, 
Germany, and came to America in 1844. in 
the same year settling in Akron. The father 
died in this city in 1904. The family con- 
si.sted of twelve children. 



Mayor Kempel was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Akron and when old enough be- 
gan to make his own living. He was in the 
clothing business for fourteen years and after 
retiring from it was engaged in sign-writing, 
having developed a special talent for thi.< 
work in advancing his clothing interests. 
From early manhood he has been active in 
Democratic politics, and in 1903, he was 
nominated and elected by that party mayor 
of Akron. So well did he guide the munici- 
pal ship that his re-election followed in 1905, 
and it is generally conceded that few cities 
of its size have a more efficient administration 
than Akron has at the present time. 

Mayor Kempel was married to Nellie M. 
Bu.*hnell. who is a daughter of T. Bushnell. 
They have a pleasant home at No. Ill Beck 
avenue. Fraternally, Mayor Kempel is as- 
sociated with the Elks, the Knights of Co- 
lumbus, the Woodmen, the Maccabees, the 
Protective Home Circle and other societies. 
He is a member of the Catholic Church. 

EDWARD D. COX,* the owner and opera- 
tor of a tract of 100 acres of excellent farm- 
ing land in Norton Township, was born Sep- 
tember 9, 1860, in Franklin Township, Sum- 
mit County, Ohio, and is a son of Christopher 
and Mary fChisnell') Cox. Christopher Cos 
was born in Fayette County, Ohio, from 
whence he came to Green Township, Summit 
County, at the age of nineteen years. Leav- 
ing home with five dollars in his pocket, he 
walked most of the way to his sister's home 
in Green Township, where he worked one 
summer on the farm and (aught two winter 
terms in the district school. After his mar- 
riage Mr. Cox engaged in farming, his first 
property being in Green Township, on which 
he operated for two years, and after a like pe- 
riod .spent on another farm in the same town- 
ship, removed to Franklin Township, and 
purchased the old Ludwig farm. Being a 
hard-working, industrious man, he .soon be- 
gan to accumulate propertv and at the time 
of his death, March 20, 1903, his holdings 
aggregated over 1,100 acres. Mr. Cox was 
married in Green Township to ^lary Chis- 



1104 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



nell, whose death occurred in Augiiat, 1889. 
Of this union tliero were eleven children, 
ten of whom still survive. 

Edward D. Cox was reared and educated 
in Franklin township, where he resided until 
his marriage, since which time he has lived 
on his present farm in Norton Township, on 
which he has erected good substantial build- 
ings. About thirty acres of the farm were 
cleared by Mr. Cox himself. He engages in 
general farming and stock-raising and i* con- 
sidered one of the good, practical agricultur- 
ists of the township and a valued and public- 
spirited citizen. On December 4, 1884, Mr. 
Cox was married to Leora High, who' is a 
daughter of AlemHigh and sister of U. fi. 
High, county treasurer of Summit County. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Cox there have been born 
nine children, eight of whom survive, 
namely: Grace, who attends a summer 
school at Ada, Ohio, and teaches school in the 
winter terms; Gertrude; Ethel; Blanche, who 
died at the age of twelve years; Feme; 
Gladys; Florence; Raymond; and Mary. 

JOHN MEMMER,* senior member of the 
insurance firm of John Memmer & Son, at 
Akron, has been an active business man of 
this city since 1861. He was born at Suffield. 
Portage County, Ohio, .June 14, 1839, and 
is a son of David and Margaret (Archart) 
Memmer. 

John IMemmer was reared on the paternal 
farm and obtained his education in the dis- 
trict schools and in the private school taught 
by Professor Fitzgerald, at Cleveland. Dur- 
ing this time he became well acquainted in 
that city and followed his school term by 
clerking in a grocery store and in a confec- 
tionery store for .some five years. On March 
1. 1861, he came to Akron and &?tablished 
a business which he followed for seven and a 
half vears. opening up a confectionerv store 
ait No. 1R7 Howard Street. In 1868 'he in- 
augurated his present business and for almost 
twenty-five years his establishment on the cor- 
ner of Main and Market Streets was the home 
of large in.surance interests. Since admitting 
his son, George W., to partnership the firm 



style has been, John Memmer & Son. They 
do a large business in fire, life and accident 
insurance and Mr. Memmer has other inter- 
ests, including membei-ship on the directing 
board of the Central Savings & Trust Com- 
pany, of Akron. He is president of the 
.\kron Odd Fellows Temple Company. 

On August 22, 1880, Mr. Menuner was 
married to Louisa Boyer, who was born at 
Cleveland, Ohio, and died at Akron, Decem- 
ber 29, 1904. They had five children, as fol- 
lows: Laura, now deceased; Nellie M., also de- 
ceased; Ida May, who is the wife of Alex- 
1 der W. Maynes, of Akron; George W., 
junior member of the insurance firm of John 
^fcmmer & Son ; and Louise, wife of Mr. E. 
.V. Palmer. The handsome family home is 
located at No. 410 Ea.st Market Street. Mr. 
Memmer has always been actively interested 
in politics and has served on the City Council 
of Akron. He is an Odd Fellow and a Ma- 
son, holding membership in the latter order 
in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Command- 
ery. He is one of the best known residents of 
the city of Akron. 

EDWARD P. LAUBACH,* residing on 
his excellent farm of 135 aci'es, which is 
situated on the Wadsworth-Akron highway, 
fine-half mile ea.st of Loyal Oak, in Norton 
Township, was born in this' Township, Feb- 
ruary 24, 1868, and is a son of Edward and 
Lavina (Dewatch) Laubach. Edward Lau- 
bach was reared and married in Pennsyl- 
vania, and came to Norton Township accom- 
panied by his wife and two children. He 
settled at the village of Loyal Oak when his 
son, Edward P., was a few months old. mov- 
ing from the farm of 145 acres, and placing 
it under rental while he engaged in the 
operating of a sawmill in the town. His 
mill was twice burned to the ground and each 
time he rebuilt it. Tlie structui'e still stands, 
but Mr. Laubach sold it prior to removing 
to Akron, where he now lives retired. 

Edward P. Laubach has always lived in 
Norton Township, with the exception of two 
years which he spent in Fulton County, his 
parent.* having resided there from 1890 until 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



iiorj 



1903. He was educated in the common 
schools and has made farming his chief occu- 
pation. In the spring of 1895 he settled on 
his present farm, which he has since con- 
tinued to opei'ate. It is fine, tillable land 
and yields good returns for the labor ex- 
pend on it. On October 24, 1894, Mr. Lau- 
bach was married to Fi'etta E. Bauer, a 
daughter of Joseph D. and Sai"ah E. Bauer, 
and they have two children, Mahlon George 
and Maud. Mr. Laubach and wife belong to 
the lleformed Church at Loyal Oak, in which 
he fills the office of deacon. He is one of 
the township's honorable men and most suc- 
cessful farmers. 

HON. ERNEST L. FILLIUS,* mayor of 
Hudson, ex-county commi.ssioner of Summit 
County, and head of the firm of Fillius & 
Companj', at Hudson, is a prominent citizen 
who is well and favorably known all through 
this section. Ernest L. Fillius was born in 
Hudson Township, Summit County, Ohio, 
May 20, 1856, and is a son of Philip and 
Anna (Keyes) Fillius. 

Philip Fillius, the grandfather of Mayor 
Fillius, accompanied by his three sons, John, 
Jacob and Philip, came from Baden-Baden, 
Germany, and reached Cleveland, Ohio, in 
1832, with considerable capital. They were 
looking for a suitable investment and had the 
opportunity of buying land wliich now is 
worth thousands of dollars on Euclid Avenue, 
for $18 an acre, but to them it looked too 
light for farming purposes. They remained 
at Cleveland for two years, looking around 
in the meantime, and in 1834 the grand- 
father bought 600 acres of land in Hudson 
Township, Summit County, on which he 
continued to live during the rest of his life. 

Philip Fillius the second, son of Philip 
and father of Ernest L., married Anna 
Keyes. who had come from Germany in her 
youth. There were nine children born to 
this union, all of whom still survive, pro- 
claiming a vigorous ancestry. Their names 
and places of residence are as follows: Mrs. 
Katherine Corbett. residing at Bethany, Mis- 
souri : .Tohn. residimr in San Francisco; Mrs. 



Elizabeth Thomas, residing at Kansas City, 
Kansas; Philip, residing at Reading, Califor- 
nia; Mrs. Josephine Nesbitt, residing in 
Northfield Township; Jacob, residing at Den- 
ver, Colorado; Mrs. Ella Sherman, residing 
at Augusta, Michigan; Charles, residing at 
Warren, Ohio; and Ernest L., of Hudson. 

Ernest L. Fillius takes justifiable pride in 
the fact that he is what may be termed a self- 
made man. It fell to him, as the young- 
est member of the family, to remain on the 
home farm, southeast of the city of Hudson, 
and to care for his parents. He lived at 
home but began working ■ on the outside 
when fourteen years of age, in the meanwhile 
attending the district school as opportunity 
offered. In 1890 he cafne to Hudson and 
his advent into the milling business was due 
to a rather unusual circumstance. He wa.< 
called on to sit on a juvj in a damage suit, 
where the plaintiff, a miller, sought redi'ess 
for damages to the mill-race, and in proving 
his case it was necessary to show his profit on 
a barrel of flour. This brought the subject 
to Mr. Fillius's attention and convinced him 
that there was money in the milling busi- 
ness. Consequently he laid his plans for 
.several years and the result was the establish- 
ing of the firm of Fillius & Company, the 
ownership of the business being invested in 
Ernest L. Fillius and the estate of H. H. 
Chamberlain. The old mill standing on the 
present site was torn down and a modern 
building of brick t(X)k its place, which is 
equipped with the best improved machinery. 
Fillius & Company are merchant millers and 
wholesale and retail dealers in flour, feed, 
hay, grain, coal, brick, hollow brick, cement, 
salt, sewer pipe and drain tile. 

Mr. Fillius has been a prominent factor in 
politics for the past fifteen j^ears serving al- 
most continuou.sly in office for that period. 
He has served in the Town Council and later 
was elected county commissioner on the Dom- 
ocratic ticket, ser\'ing one term, but as the 
county is normally largely Republican, he was 
defeated for re-election. He was elected 
treasurer of Hudson Town.«hip and later 
mavor of PTudson and hold lioth offices for 



1100 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



several terms, and at present is completing 
his third term as mayor. His administra- 
tion has been marked with many forward 
strides for Hudson and in every way he can 
point to a creditable record. He was also 
put forward by the Democratic party as its 
candidate for sheriff and came nearer than 
any other of his organization to overcome the 
Republican majority. 

On August 18, 1880, Mayor Fillius was 
married to Irene Carson, who was born at 
Galesburg, Michigan, where her people lived 
prior to her marriage, although originally 
they were from Ohio. They have two chil- 
dren, Florence and Helen. The former 
married George Patterson, residing at Cleve- 
land, and they have one child. The latter 
resides at home and is bookkeeper for the 
mill company. Mr. Fillius is a mem her of 
the Hudson lodge of Knights of Pythias. 

ARTHUR R. SHAW,* a prominent citi- 
zen of Johnson's Cornere, and half owner of a 
farm of sixty-three acr&s, situated in Norton 
Township, on which are located the famous 
Pebble Rock stone quarries, was born August 
10, 1866, in the very house in which he now 
lives. It is an historic old mansion, built by 
one of the pioneers more than 100 years ago. 
His parents were George and Haretta (Doug- 
las) Shaw. George Shaw was born in Me- 
dina County, Ohio, April 13, 1835, and was 
seven years old when his parents brought him 
to Johnson's Corners. His father, Joshua T. 
Shaw, came to Ohio from New York, when 
he was a young man, and in the old home 
mentioned above the father, grandfather and 
great-grandfather of Arthur R. Shaw died. 
There were three children born to George 
Shaw and his wife: Georgia, who died in in- 
fancy, Arthur R., and Bert. For three years 
during the Civil War, George Shaw was a 
soldier and was leader of a brigade band. He 
survived all the dangers and harships of that 
stormy time, and died at his home, June 20, 
1902. His widow still survives. 

Arthur R. Shaw was reared at Johnson's 
Corners and acquired a common school edu- 
cation. For several years in early manhood 



he followed farming and then traveled one 
year as a representative of a grocery house, 
for a time dealt in real estate and then turned 
to developing his quarries, which he owns in 
partnership with his brother Bert Shaw. The 
farm formerly contained 120 acres, fifty-seven 
having been sold in the spring of 1907. The 
Pebble Rock quarries are widely known, the 
output being very large. The Shaws have in- 
.stalled a gas engine and crusher, and give 
employment to fifteen men. They have ex- 
cellent transportation facilities, having built 
a siding running down to the Belt Railroad 
line and their facilities are such that they can 
ship on four lines. They are energetic and 
progressive business men. Mr. Shaw was mar- 
ried to Inza C. Miller, who is a daughter of 
A. W. Miller, of Akron, and they have had 
six children, of whom George, the eldest, lived 
but one year. The survivors are: Stanley, 
Hattie, Arthur, Esther and Leslie M. 

GEORGE li. HELFER,* formerly a well 
known business man of Akron, was born Jan- 
uary 25, 1820, at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 
and was a son of Christopher and Lydia ( Hel- 
man ) Heifer. 

The parents of Mr. Heifer were born in 
Pennsylvania, the mother being of Scotch, 
and the father of German ancestry. In 1820 
they moved to Ohio and settled in Congress 
Township, Wayne County, where Christopher 
Helfor followed the trade of shoemaker. In 
1840 he turned his attention to farming and 
bought property in Congress Township, where 
he spent the re^t of his life. His children 
were: Mrs. Royce Sommerton, George H., 
Mrs. Stephen Collins, Mrs. Parker Campbell, 
Daniel and Mrs. Jo.seph Sharp. 

George H. Heifer was an infant when the 
family made the overland journey from 
Pennsylvania to Ohio in the winter of 1820. 
He attended .school pretty regularly until he 
was fourteen years of age, when he became a 
clerk in a dry goods store, in which capacity 
he worked for nine years. In 1843 he en- 
tered into partnership with Mr. Pancoast, and 
'the firm of Pancoast and Heifer was engaged 
in a dry goods business in Congress Township 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1107 



until 1847, when Mr. Heifer bought Mr. Pan- 
coast's interest, and continued at the same 
place for two years more. In 1849 he sold 
out and came to Akron, entering into general 
business in this city as senior member of the 
firm of Heifer and Sechrist. This firm con- 
tinued until 1867, when Clinton Heifer 
bought the interest of Mr. Sechrist and the 
firm style then became Heifer & Son, and no 
change was made until 1877, when the young- 
er partner became sole proprietor. Mr. Heifer 
was one of the original stockholders in the 
Akron Iron Company and he now entered the 
office of this concern as shipping clerk, a pos- 
ition he filled for twenty-one years. He was 
one of the first dniggists at Akron, and for 
many years was an extensive local dealer in 
coal. He retired from business in 1898. 

Mr. Heifer was married (first) to Mary 
Elgin, who was born in Wayne County, a 
daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Elgin. Of 
the five children of this marriage, the only 
survivor is Clinton E. Mr. Heifer was mar- 
ried (second) to Rebecca Luce, of Wayne 
County, who is a daughter of Jonathan and 
Elizabeth Luce. The four survivors of the 
five children born to this marriage are: 
William A., Emma (Mrs. Clarence Rudolph) , 
Edwin W. and Minnie B. (Mrs. Henry 
Adams). Politically. Mr. Heifer was affili- 
ated with the Republican party from its birth. 

GEORGE HEER,* superintendent of the 
plant of the Wellman, Seaver, Morgan Com- 
pany, at Akron, is serving in his second year 
in this capacity. He was born in 1875, at 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, but was reared and 
educated at Alliance, Ohio. After leaving 
school, he served an apprenticeship in the 
machine shops of the Morgan Engineering 
Company, at Alliance, following which he was 
with the Harris Automatic Printing Com- 
pany, of Niles, Ohio, later with the Lloyd 
Booth Engineering Company, of Youngstown, 
for four months, and with the Diamond 
Match Company, of Barberton, for one year. 
Mr. Heer then entered the Sterling Boiler 
Works, where his training was severe and 
]>rnc(ical. He remained there imtil Septem- 



ber, 1901, when he entered the Cleveland of- 
fice of his present firm, where he continued 
three years as an inspector, after which he 
came to Akron as assistant superintendent, 
later becoming superintendent of the whole 
plant, Mr. Heer is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias. He belongs' to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

WILLIAM A. HELFER,* proprietor of 
tlie Imperial greenhovises at No. 565 Bowery 
Street, Akron, is one of the enterprising busi- 
ness men of this city. He was born July 24, 
1860, at Akron, Summit County, Ohio, and is 
a son of the late George H. and Rebecca 
(Luce) Heifer. 

The grandparents of Mr. Heifer were the 
first of the family to come to Oliio. They 
were natives of Pennsylvania and they crossed 
the mountains in the winter of 1820 and set- 
tled at Millbrook, Wayne County. Grand- 
father Christopher Heifer was a shoemaker 
by trade, but he later became a landowner 
and farmer in Congress Township. Of his 
six children, the late George PI. Heifer was 
the second in order of birth. 

George H. Heifer was born at Bellefonte, 
Pennsylvania, January 25, 1820. Until 1849 
he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Wayne 
County and then settled at Akron, where he 
I>6came the senior partner in tlie general mer- 
cantile firm of Heifer and Sechrist, which con- 
tinued until 1867, when Clinton Heifer, the 
eldest son of George H., purchased Mr. Se- 
christ's interest. The firm continued Heifer 
and Son until 1877, when Clinton H. bought 
his father's interest and still conducts the 
business. For some twenty-one succeeding 
years Mr. Heifer was associated with the Ak- 
ron Iron Company, of which he had long 
been a stockholder. 

George H. Heifer was married (first) to 
Mary Elgin and they had five children, Clin- 
ton E. being the only present survivor. Mr. 
Heifer was married (.second) to Rebecca Luce, 
who was born in Wayne County and is a 
daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Luce. 
Five children were born to the second mar- 
riage, the four survivors being: William A., 



1108 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



Emma, Mk. Clarence Rudolph ; Edwin W., 
and Minnie B. (Mrs. Henry Adams). 

AVilliam H. Heifer was educated in the Ak- 
ron schools and subsequently entered the Ak- 
ron Iron Companj', where he learned the prac- 
tical details of the business and became a 
skilled workman. Later he became shipping- 
clerk, and remained with the company for 
five years as general foreman of the polishing 
depai'tment. He then went into the retail 
coal trade, which he followed from 1885 until 
March 1, 1897. In the meantime he had 
permitted his natural inclinations to domi- 
nate his future business career, from boyhood 
having been interested in the growth 
of flowers and plants. He sold his 
coal business in 1895 and erected his 
modern greenhouses which are situated at Ko. 
565 South Bowery Street. He soon found 
himelf forced, in order to meet the demands 
of his trade, to greatly enlarge his capacity, 
and he now has six houses and does the largest 
business in his line in Summit County, giving 
constant employment to four .skilled men. 
The business includes the growing of cut 
flowers and plants, fine decorating being a 
specialty. Baskets, bouquets and designs are 
made to order and weddings, parties and fu- 
nerals are supplied. On June 23, 1893. Mr. 
Heifer Avas married to Hattie May Rothrock, 
who died JanuarA' 1, 1902. She was a daugh- 
ter of William H. and Sarah (Messer) Roth- 
rock, prominent residents of Akron. Poli- 
tically Mr. Heifer is identified with the Re- 
publican party but he has never sought polit- 
ical honors. Fraternally he belongs to the 
Knights of Pythias and to the Woodmen. He 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, with which his late wife was also 
identified. 

CHARLES B. CARR, M. D.,* physician 
and surgeon, has been a re,*ident of Barber- 
ton since 1890, and can almost lay claim to 
being one of the oldest inhabitants, as the 
town was then being just laid out. Dr. Carr 
was born July 25, 1861, in East Union Town- 
ship, Wavne County. Ohio, and is a son of 
David F.'and Sarah E. (Boydston) Carr. 



The father of Dr. Carr was a farmer and 
stockraiser and the boyhood of the future 
physician was spent in learning the details of 
agriculture, while securing a good primary 
education in the local schools. Later, after a 
literary course at Smithville, in Wayne 
County, he entered the university at Wooster. 
His inclination and ambition being in the di- 
rection of medicine as a profession, he made 
the necessary preparation and then entered the 
Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, where 
he was graduated in 1890. He came to Bar- 
berton July 14, of the same year, which fact 
makes him the oldest physician in point of 
service, in the town, having practiced here 
continuoasly ever since, with the exception of 
the years 1893 and 1894, when he practiced 
at Youngstown. His reputation as physician 
and surgeon has cai-ried his name all over 
Summit Count}', and he is often called into 
consultation at distant points. He is a mem- 
ber of the American Medical Association and 
of the Summit County Medical Society. For 
some seven years he served as surgeon for the 
Erie Railroad. On February 14, 1904, Dr. Carr 
was married to Mary H. Morgan, of Shreve, 
Ohio, who is a daughter of John Morgan, a 
well-known citizen. They have two sons, 
Charles B. and Otis Paul. . Dr. Carr owns a 
large amount of valuable property at Ken- 
more, where he has a beautiful summer home, 
in which he has resided since 1905, and he 
is making preparations to build residences on 
his lots in this section. 

PERRY DELAZEN HARDY,* the owner 
of 106 acres of fine farming land in Nortli- 
amjrton Township, who has been prominent in 
the agricultural, educational and political af- 
fairs of this section of Summit County for 
many years, w'as born in Northampton Town- 
ship, Summit County, Ohio, April 11, 1834, 
and is a son of Nathaniel and Rebecca 
(Reed) Hardy. 

Nathaniel Hardy, the grandfther of Perry 
D., was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
in which he lost a leg. He came from New 
York State to Northampton Township, Ohio, 
at an earlv dav, and lived here retired for the 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



UOft 



rest of his life being a peusioner. Nathaniel 
his son, father of Perry D., was born in Mas- 
sachusetts, October 11, 1798, went to Western 
New York as a child, and when sixteen years 
old came to the vicinity of Old Portage, Sum- 
mit Count}', Ohio,, where his first emploj- 
ment was farming. Later he assisted in 
building several locks on the Ohio Canal, and 
after the completion of that waterway, 
erected, and for many years conducted a hotel 
and small store at Yellow Creek Basin, now 
known as Botzum Station. Mr. Hardy sub- 
sequently engaged in farming, purchasing 
250 acres of land in Northampton Township, 
east of the Cuyahoga River. iVfter cultivat- 
ing it successfulh' for many years, he sold it 
to his sons, AVilliam and Noi'ton R. For a 
long period Mr. Hardy served as justice of the 
l^eace and was active in ridding the township 
of many disreputable character and prac- 
tices. Mr. Plardy was married in 1824 to Re- 
becca Reed, who was born June 11, 1805, at 
Delaware, Ohio, and to them were born eight 
children : Caroline, who married Jasper 
Drake ; William ; Norton Rice ; Perry Delazen ; 
Mary, who married (first) Champion Belden 
and (second) Hiram vVyres, and resides in 
Akron ; Harriet, who is the widow of Henry 
Hall, of Akron ; Clarissa, who is the wife of 
Charles AValters of Cuyahoga Falls; and Na- 
thaniel, Jr. Of this family Caroline and 
AVilliam are deceased. The father of these 
children died December 4, 1866, his wife hav- 
ing passed away July 11, 1865. 

Perry Delazen Hardy received his educa- 
tion in the piimitive log schoolhouse of his 
district, and was reared on the home farm. 
Early in life his energy and tenacity of pur- 
pose earned for him the nickname of "Com- 
modore Perry," and this was later changed to 
that of "Old Zach," after General Zachary 
Taylor, the hero of the Mexican War. Dur- 
ing the Civil AA^ar Mr. Hardy was very active 
in raising bounty money and securing recruits 
for the Union Army, and served as constable 
for several years, during which time by his 
vigilance he succeeded in ridding the town- 
ship of a gang of toughs known as the "Nor- 
wegians." For eiafht or nine vears he served 



as school director of District No. 9, being for 
one year president and the remainder of the 
time clerk, was township trustee for four 
years, and ex-ofhcio member of the Board of 
Education, securing after a long fight, a 
schoolhouse, for his district of the township. 
ilr. Hardy remained on the home farm until 
1858, when he purchased fifty-five acres of 
farming land in Northampton Township, to 
which he has added from time to time by pur- 
chase until now he owns about 106 acres. He 
marketed large quantities of hay and wheat 
and did a large dairy business, his milk be- 
ing sold at the cheese factory, but he has now 
retired from active pursuits and is renting his 
property. For thirty years he was engaged 
in selling agricultural implements, traveling 
through Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, 
and during all this time did a large business 
on his own account. 

In 1854 Mr. Hardy was married to Eliza- 
beth A. Lanphier, who was a daughter of Al- 
bert Lanphier, of Coddingberg, Ohio, and to 
this union there M^ere born nine children, 
six of whom grew to maturity, as follows: 
Ida S., born October 2, 1855, who was mar- 
ried October 1, 1888, to AVilliam Darrow, of 
Hudson; Harry B., born November 1, 1857, 
who resides in Portage Township; AA^illis 
Perrjr, born December 12, 1865, wa.s maiTied 
September 18, 1887, to Ida Lilley, and lives 
in Cleveland, Ohio: Nellie B., born July 2, 
1869, M'ho is the wife of AA'illiam AA'alters of 
Northampton Township; Myrtle I., born De- 
cember 18, 1871, who is the wife of Dennis 
Clements of Akron; and A^'inton M., who was 
born January 1, 1874, and resides in Akron. 
The mother of the.se children died April 11, 
1907, after a long and painful illness. She 
had borne her suffering with patience, and 
passed away in the faith of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. !Mr. Hardy completed a 
new home to replace the one totally destroyed 
by fire in 1905, in which he lost his violin, 
bass viol and several other stringed instru- 
ments. From boyhood he had been a lover 
of music and was vei'v proficient on the 
violin, often playing at dances in the early 
days. He is known to be one of Northamp- 



1110 



HISTORY OF SUjNBIIT COUNTY 



ton'.s foremost citizens and he stands deserved- 
ly high in the estimation of his fellow-citi- 
zens. 

(iOTTLIEB A'ONGUNTEN,* one of the 
self-made inen of Copley Township, Summit 
County, Oliio, the products of whose fine 
138-acre truck farm find a ready sale in the 
markets of Akron, was born in April, 1858, 
in Switzerland, where his father followed 
agricultural pursuits all of his life. 

^Ir. ^^ongunten lost his parents when a 
boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, and 
Avhen nineteen years old he came to America, 
locating at once in Wayne County, Ohio, 
where he worked at the shoemaker's trade, 
an occupation which he had learned in his 
native country. Two years later he re- 
tiUMied to Switzerland, but in a few months 
he again came to America, bringing with 
him his three sisters and one brother. He 
worked at odd jobs in AVayne County until 
his marriage, wlien he removed to Ashtaliula 
County, Ohio, purchasing a small farm. 
which he later sold in order to rent a much 
larger property. After living there for ten 
years ^Mr. Vongunten and his family came 
to Summit County, where he purchased ten 
acres of land located in Portage Township, 
but in October, 1901, he came to his pres- 
ent property, buying at first ten acres, the 
balance being purchased in 1906. On this 
fertile tract, the old Sackett farm, Mr. Von- 
gunten has carried on truck farming to the 
present time and his onions, celery and other 
small vegetables are of the finest grown in 
the county. He has always made a point of 
thoroughly cleansing his produce before put- 
ting it on the market, and for this purpose 
keeps large vats of running water, through 
which everything passes before leaving his 
hands. His success is due to his own indus- 
try and earnest efforts, and be is respected 
and esteemed as one of the representative 
agriculturists of Copley Township. 

Tn March. 1882, Mr. A'ongnnten was mar- 
ried to Anna Hein, also a native of Switzer- 
land, who came to America as a girl of 
twenty years, her parents haviu^ died some 



years jjreviously. Ten children have been 
born to Mr, and Mrs. A^ongunten, namely: 
Fred, who conducts a dairy, married Mary 
AA'ith, and ha.s one child — Ruth Anna; Ed- 
ward; Mary, who married P. Dockus, has 
one child — Mabel Anna; Christ; Emma; 
Elizabeth ; Ernst ; Clara ; AA'illiam, and Her- 
man. AA^ith his family Mr. A^ongunten at- 
tends the Apostolic Christian Church. 

CHARLES E. PERKINS,* chief engineer 
of the i^ublic works at Akron, is a graduate 
of the School of Mines of Columbia College, 
New York, and has had many years of prac- 
tical experience in his line of work. He 
was born May 7, 1850, at Akron, and is a 
son of Col. Simon Perkins, one of the early 
settlers of this region. Charles E. Perkins 
was educated and trained in his specialty in 
the AVcstern Reserve College, the Polytechnic 
Institute, at Troy, New York, and later at 
Columbia College. Upon his return to 
Akron he was made city engineer and served 
as such from 1878 to 1877 inclusive. From 
1S7N until IS.S:!. be conducted an agricul- 
tural wareliduse business at Akron. In Oc- 
tober, 1883, he was elected county surveyor, 
and was re-elected in 1883 and again in 1889. 
He stands at the head of his profession in 
Akron and fills the most responsible posi- 
tion, in his line, in the gift of his fellow- 
citizens. On January 14. 1880, Mr. Perkins 
was inarricd to May Adams, who is a daugh- 
ter of Frank Adams, of Akron. 

JOHN S. BARLET,* one of the represen- 
tative citizens of Green Township, Summit 
County, Ohio, who in addition to farming 
twenty acres of fine land, has been in the 
auctioneering business for the past thirty 
years, was born December 5. 1848, in 
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and is a son 
of AVilliam and Harriet (Sonnon) Barlet. 
AA'illiani Barlet was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and there learned the trade of lime 
burner. On December 9, 1862, he brought 
liis family to Ohio, and the train on which 
lliey traveled was frequently side-tracked to 
allow Ibe train-loads of soldiers udiug to the 



AND REPRESENTATIA'E CITIZENS 



nil 



front to pas-s. The family came immedi- 
ately fi'om Canton to Green Township, where 
Mr. Barlet rented a farm from Jaeolj King 
for five years, and then purchased a home 
at Greensburg, where he died at the age of 
seventy-six years, his wife having passed 
away in 1895 when sixty-seven years old. 
Mr. Barlet wa.s married to Harriet Sonnon, 
also a native of Pennsylvania, where all 
their children except the youngest were born. 
These were: Lydia, deceased, who wa.s the 
wife of F. Winkelmau ; John .Samuel ; Har- 
riet, who married a Mr. Perry; Ellen, who 
married Benjamin Allman ; and .Jennie, who 
married Newman Smith. 

John Samuel Barlet attended the old 
frame district school in his native locality, 
and remained with his jaarents until his mar- 
riage. Wlien a young man he became a very 
successful auctioneer, and this occupation 
he has followed for the pa.st thirty years, hav- 
ing had charge of most of the important 
salefi in this section of the State. In addi- 
tion to his own twenty acres of land. Mr. 
Barlet rents fifty-five acres more, and en- 
gages in general farming. For the past ten 
years he has been overseer of the grounds of 
the Highland Park Camp Meeting Associa- 
tion. In 1869, Mr. Barlet was married to 
Emma Dickerhoof, wlio is a daughter of 
William Dickerhoof, an old Civil War veter- 
an and pioneer of Summit County, who was 
killed on a railroad. Four children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Barlet, namely: 
Eflfie May, who married Charles Leonard, of 
the O'Neil Boiler Works, Akron, has one 
child — Harold ; Harvey, foreman of the 
Akron Linoleum Works, is married and has 
two children. Myrtle and Dorothy; Lloyd, 
a farmer and auctioneer in busine.ss with his 
father, married Catherine Stark; and 
Ward, foreman of the Diamond Rubber 
Works at Akron, who married Lovina Fes- 
.«ler. 

J. DWIGHT PALMER,* one of Akron's 
native sons and prominent bvisiness men, 
wa.~ born in this city in 1867, a son of R. F. 
Palmer. He was reared in Akron and 



graduated from the High School in 1886. 
For .some time after leaving school, Mr. 
Palmer traveled for his health, mainly 
through the New England States, but when 
prepared to enter into business life, he re- 
turned to his native city and shortly after- 
ward became connected with the collection 
department of the Aultman-Miller Company, 
with which he continued for eighteen 
years. On .severing his relations with that 
firm he decided to remain in the collection 
business, in wJiich lie had become experi- 
enced, and in December. 1904. he es1.ablished 
the J. D. Palmer Collecting Agency, which 
he has successfully operated ever since. Mr. 
Palmer is a prominent factor in local politics, 
being a leading Iiepublican, and at the pres- 
ent writing, has just received the nomina- 
tion for councilman, from the Second Ward. 
He has every qualification for a first-class city 
official, being public-.spirited, judicious and 
popular. In 1897, Mr. Palmer was married 
to Jeannette Groesel, who is a daughter of G. 
A. Groesel, of Akron, and they have two 
sons: Roland F. and George A. Mr. 
Palmer is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal 
Church. Fraternally he is connected with 
the Masons, in which order he has advanced 
as far as the conunandery. 

SOAVARAS GOUGLER,* a highly re- 
spected citizen and successful farmer, resid- 
ing on an excellent property of 140 acres in 
Coventry Township, not only owns this valu- 
able farm but also a tract of twenty-five acres 
which is situated across the line in Spring- 
field Township. Mr. Gougler was born in 
Snyder County, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1850, 
and is a son of Daniel and Phoelie (Arnold) 
Gougler." 

Daniel Gougler was born in Snyder 
County, Pennsylvania, and was a .son of Til- 
den Gougler, whose wliole life was passed in 
Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of 
eighty years. His children were: Samviel, 
Susan, Peggy. George, !Mrs. Stoll, Bivy, 
Daniel, Jacob, Sarah and Mary. Daniel, the 
seventh member of the above mentioned 
family, grew up on the farm, and learned 



1112 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



the blacksmith trade. He married Phoebe 
Arnold, who was bora in Snyder County, 
and in 1870 they came to Ohio, settling at 
"Greensburg for one year, and then nioviilg 
to near East Libei-ty, where Mr. Gougler died 
March 15, 1887, aged fifty-nine years. His 
widow survives, having reached the age of 
seventy-four years, and lives on the old home- 
stead near East Liberty. The children of 
Daniel Gougler and wife were: Sowaras; 
Louisa, who married Frank Miller; Jacob; 
Jackson; jMaria, who married Julius Gear- 
hart; and Calvin. The whole family, with 
the exception of Jackson, who lives at Kent, 
are residents of Summit County. 

Sowaras Gougler received his education in 
the district schools of Snyder County and 
was about twenty years of age ^^•hen he ac- 
companied the family to Ohio. He attended 
school for a short time afterward. He en- 
gaged in farming and teaming, driving a 
team for two years and ten months for Steas 
& Company, after which he returned to work 
on the farm. 

On November 23, 1876, Mr. Gougler was 
married to Mary Bettler, who died October 
14, 1902, aged forty-seven years. She was 
a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Tritt) Bet- 
tler. Mr. and Mrs. Gougler had six chil- 
dren, namely: Frank, who married Susan 
Spreggle, has three children — Park, Pearl 
and Dayton — and he lives on a part of his 
father's land; Elmer; Emma: Daniel; Lulu, 
and Clara Leona, the last mentioned of whom 
died aged six months. 

Mr. Gougler rented his present farm be- 
fore he purchased it. In partnership with 
his brother-in-law, Joseph Bettler, he bought 
140 acres, and in 1890, Mr. Gougler bought 
Mr. Bettler's interest. The house was stand- 
ing, and this was remodeled and improved 
and the whole farm was gradually pvit into as 
fine shape as it is today. Mr. Gougler has 
resided right here for the past thirty years 
and can count all his neighboi"s as friends. 
He is a Democrat in his political views, but 
has never taken any very active part in poli- 
tics. 



F. II. ADAMS,* cashier of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Akron, has been identified 
with this financial institution for a long 
period and for the past eleven years has 
filled the responsible office of cashier. Mr. 
Adams was born at Akron, Summit County, 
Ohio, in ISSo, and is a son of Franlc Adams, 
who came to Akron as early as 1838 and who 
still survives, being a representative pioneer 
citizen. 

F. H. Adams was reared in this city, where 
his father was one of the early manufact- 
x;rers, and his education was secured in the 
excellent schools for which Akron has an 
established reputation. iVfter leaving school, 
the young man went to Mexico, where he re- 
mained for one year interested in mining. 
He returned to Akron for a short time and 
then became connected with a large manufac- 
turing concern at Fort Wayne, where he re- 
mained for two years. He then returned to 
Akron in order to become bookkeeper in the 
First National Bank, with which he has been 
associated ever since. He is interested also 
in otlier prospering enterprises at Akron and 
is recognized as one of the city's able busi- 
ness men. In 1891, Mr. Adams was married 
to Frances Robinson, who is a daughter of 
William Robinson, who was the pioneer 
manufacturer of sewer pipe at Akron. Mr. 
and Mrs. Adams are members of the First 
Presbyterian Church of this city. His social 
connections include membership in the Por- 
tage Country club. 

JOHN F. DICE,* one of Summit County's 
good, practical farmers, who resides on an ex- 
cellent farm of ninety acres, located in Frank- 
lin Township, w'as born May 9, 1856, near 
Manchester, Summit County, Ohio, and is a 
son of Jeremiah and Caroline (Dissinger) 
Dice. 

Jeremiah Dice, who was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, came to Ohio as a young man, and 
for some years was engaged in work on vari- 
ous farms in Franklin Township. He sub- 
sequently purcha.sed the farm now operated 
by John F. Dice, and at tlie time of his 
death, Fcliruarv 28, 1904, in his seventv- 



AND EEPKESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1113 



seventh year, he was considered a man of 
ample means. Shortly after coming to 
Ohio, Mr. Dice was married to Caroline 
Dissinger, daughter of John Dissinger, one 
of the early pioneers of this section, and a 
native of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Dice, who was 
born in Ohio, survives her husband. Seven 
children were born to Jeremiah and Caroline 
Dice, namely : John Fra'tiklin ; Mary, who 
married I\I. Waltz; William; Alma, who mar- 
ried J. Baughman ; Elton ; Emma, who mar- 
ried Thomas Sauers; and Alarvin. 

John F. Dice received his early educa- 
tional training in the district schools of his 
native township, and here he has spent his 
entire life in agricultural pursuits. In as- 
sociation with his mother he owns the home 
farm of ninety acres, and his careful cultiva- 
tion has largely increased its value. On 
January 31. 1877. Mr. Dice was married to 
Savilla Snyder, who is a daughter of George 
and Susan (Kepler) Snyder. Two children 
have been born to this union, namely: 
Bertha, who married Clarence Snyder, resid- 
ing in Akron ; and Irving, who also makes 
his home at Akron. Mr. Dice is a member 
of the Reformed Church, of which he is now 
sen'ing as treasurer. In political matters 
Mr. Dice is a Democrat, but he has never 
aspired to public office, preferring to give his 
time and attention to his home interests. He 
is fraternally connected with the Maccabes. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TRACY,* capi- 
talist and a leading citizen of Barberton, 
is vice-president of the Rubber Product 
Company, of this place, a large and im- 
portant industry, and has been for many 
years identified with the strawboard interests 
of this section of Ohio. Mr. Tracy was one 
of the original settlers at Barberton, coming 
to this point in 1879 when the town was 
founded. Mr. Tracy was born in Parkman 
Township, Geauga County, Ohio, December 
10, 1840, and is a son of Evander and Almeda 
Tracy. The father of Mr. Tracy was born 
in the State of New York and the mother 
in Trumbull county. Ohio. Evander Tracy 
was an earlv settlor in Trumbull Countv. 



after marriage moving to Geauga County, 
where he engaged in farming. Both he and 
wife died when their son Benjamin F. was 
young. 

Benjamin Franklin Tracy was reared on 
a farm in his native county, where he resided 
until 1879. Through boyhood he attended 
school there and when a young man was 
married in the same county. When Mr. 
Tracy left his farm he went first to Akron 
and then, for a time to Barberton, where" he 
subsequently acquired much land. Mfr. 
Trac3^ about this time entered the employ of 
the Seiberling Straw Board Company, gather- 
ing straw for Mr. Inman, who had the con- 
tract for that work. After two years in that 
line he took charge of the straw department 
of the Straw Board Company, at New Por- 
tage. In 1884 he moved to Circleville, where 
he organized a straw board company, re- 
maining there eight years, during which time 
he had charge of the straw department. In 
1892 he returned to Barberton and after the 
American Straw Board Company took charge 
of the New Portage Straw Board Company, 
he became superintendent of all their twenty- 
five different mills. After settling perma- 
nently at Barberton, Mr. Tracy erected the 
fine structure known as the Tracy Block, 
three stories in height, 96x100 feet in di- 
mensions, constructed of brick. The city of- 
fices are all located in this block. Mr. Tracy 
was married to Sarah White, and they have 
one son. Jay W. The latter also resides at 
Barberton and is associated with his father 
in an extensive real estate business. He 
married Stella Richards and they have one 
child, Harriet. Mr. Tracy is a member of 
the Masonic fraternitj'. 

BERT RODENBAUGH, M. D..* one of 
Summit County's rising young medical prac- 
titioner, who is serving as health officer of 
Barberton, Ohio, was born at Thomastown, 
Summit County. Ohio, in August. 1874. and 
is a son of N. J. and Nellie (Wagoner) Rod- 
enbaugh. the former a retired school teacher 
and farmer of Summit County, Dr. Rod- 
enbaush has one brother, Harrv, and one 



1114 



HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 



sister, !Mabel, who married Tliomas Stahl. 
Dr. Rodenbaugh attended the comniou 
schools of Tljomastown and Buclitel College 
for five years, and' after spending several 
years in the pottery works at Akron, Ohio, 
he entered the Ohio Medical University at 
Columbus, and after a four years' course was 
graduated therefrom in 1902. He immedi- 
ately located at Barberton, where he engaged 
in practice alone for a short period, then 
forming a partnerehip with his uncle, Dr. N. 
F. Rodenbaugh, with whom he has since 
been tissociated. They are surgeons for the 
Sterling Boiler Company, the Columbia Ce- 
real Company, the American Sewer Pipe 
Company, the Diamond Match Company, the 
Diamond Machine Shop and the Pittsburg 
Valve Company, all of Barberton. In Sep- 
tember, 1905, Dr. Bert Rodenbaugh was 
elected health officer of Barberton, on the 
Republican ticket. He is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World, and the State and 
county medical societies. In January, 1905, 
Dr. Rodenbaugh was married to Grace Robin- 
son, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio. 
Dr. and Mrs. Rodenbaugh reside at their 
residence, situated at No. 602 West Beard 
Avenue, Barberton. 

GEORGE A. SMEAD,* a leading business 
man of Akron, is located at No. 65 South 
Main Street, where he is proprietor of the larg- 
est art and wall-paper store in Northern Ohio. 
He was born in 1882, in Clearfield County, 
Pennsylvania, but was practically reared and 
educated at Akron. Mr. Smead has been 
identified with his present line of business 
ever since his entrance into the industrial 
world. For two years he was with" M. D. 
Brouse, following which, for three years he 
was in the wall-paper department of M. 
O'Neil, and for three years managed the wall- 
paper store of C. G. Oliver. In June, 1906, 
he Ijought the business and conducts the 
largest wall-paper store in all this section of 
the State, carrj'ing all grades of paper, and 
of the simplest to the most expensive and ex- 
clusive designs. In connection therewith he 
also carries on an art department, in which 



he handles only works of real merit, ^lany 
visitors go to his establishment to see the ex- 
quisite wall hangings and choice works of 
art always on exhibition. In 1903, Mr. 
Smead was ' married to Elta M. Biltz, who 
died June 9, 1903, leaving two little sons: 
Elmer E. and Chester Ray. Mrs. Smead is 
greatly missed, both in her home and in so- 
cial circles, where she was a favorite. ^Ir. 
Smead is a member of the Wooster Avenue 
Methodi-st Episcopal Church. Fraternally, 
he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the 
Royal League, and the Pi'otected Home 
Circle. 

GEORGE V. BILUOW,* president of the 
Akron Paving and Plastering Company, of 
Akron, was born in 1854, at Kendallville, In- 
diana, but he was reared and educated in 
Williams County, Ohio. 

In young manhood, Mr. Billow learned the 
plastering trade and after removing to Mans- 
field, Ohio, he was engaged in contracting 
in plastering, for twenty years, and then he 
came to Akron, where he did the plaster work 
on the Post Office, and also work of this 
kind on many buildings in Cleveland. He 
did the plaster work on the Hamilton Build- 
ing and at this time, in 1900, he moved his 
family to Akron, where he took contracts for 
plastering the First National Bank, the Li- 
brary Building, the new Summit County 
Court-Hou.se and other large buildings. 

In 1901, Mr. Billow, in partnei'ship with 
George W, Carmichael and George J. Shaffer, 
organized the Akron Paving and Plastering 
Company, locating at No. 262 South Broad- 
\vay, and this enterprise is already numbered 
with the important industries of the city. 

In 1S75, Mr. Billow was married to Alice 
Bell, of Mansfield, Ohio, who died in 1883, 
leaving three children, namely: Paul, who 
is a student in the medical department of the 
Univei"sitv of Wisconsin, at ]\Iadi.*on; George 
15., residing at Evansville, Indiana; and 
Grace, who married C. K. Reamer, residing 
at Akron. Mr. Billow was married (second) 
.Tuly 22, 1885, to Mary McGray. of Holmes 
County, Ohio, and thev have the following 



AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



1115 



children : Herbert, Alice, Fern, May M., 
John, Kathryn and Dollie M. Mr. Billow 
and family are connected with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

WILLARD N. FITCH,* who fills the im- 
portant office of paymaiiter for the great army 
of employes coimected with the Diamond 
Rubber Company at Akron, was born in 
1872, in Medina County, Ohio, where he ob- 
tained a good, common school education and 
remained until he was twenty years of age. 

In 1892, Mr. Fitch came to Akron and 
for one year worked for the Akron Grocery' 
Company, after which he was with his father 
for a short time in an insurance business. 
Following this he entered the employ of the 



B. F. Goodrich Company and eighteen 
months later became foreman of a special de- 
partment of the Diamond Rubber Company, 
a position he filled until 1897. when he be- 
came time-keeper. In 1900, Mr. Fitch was 
made paymaster and as such has entire charge 
of the pay rolls of this company, handling 
annually vast sums of money and disbursing 
the same which is mainly spent in Akron. 

In 1898, Mr. Fitch wtis married to Nellie 
M. Huber, who is a daughter of P. C. Huber, 
of the Jacob Koch Company. They have 
two sons, James Huber and Robert Philip. 
With his family, Mr. Fitch belongs to Trinity 
Lutheran Church. He is a member of the 
Diamond Rubber Relief Association. 



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